TASTED OF GOOD THINGS
“And have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to
come.” Heb. 6:5
In the scriptures great public exhibitions of miraculous
Divine power are invariably connected with the Mediatorial Kingdom of God. They
were seen at its establishment at Sinai and did not wholly cease until the
departure of the Shekinah Glory. Such miracles are also recorded in the Old
Testament predictions of a future establishment of the Kingdom under the reign
of the coming Messiah. (Isa. 35:1-7)
These were present when the Kingdom was announced as
immanent during the period of the Gospels, and their continuance in the Book of
Acts must be explained in the same way. They were the signs given primarily as
a testimony to the Nation of Israel to whom in a peculiar sense that Kingdom
belonged by Divine Covenant, and upon whose repentance depended its immanent
establishment upon earth. This was the Prophets burden (Isa. 35:1-7).
Also affirmed by our Lord in His earthly ministry (Matt. 11:1-5) and reaffirmed by the
Apostles in their testimony to Israel through the Book of Acts (Acts 2:1-20, 43).
During the presence of the Messianic King, the disciples had
surely tasted the "powers of the age
to come" (Luke 22:36), as
far as physical blessing had been concerned. There is no record of any illness
among them. For friends and relatives, healing was available without reserve (Matt. 8:14-16). Even death itself was
no longer irreversible (Mark 5:35-43;
John 11:1-47). If food and drink were lacking, the miracle-working power of
the King was sufficient for the emergency (John
2:.1-11; 6:1-15). For His disciples and Himself there was a supernatural
immunity to the ordinary hazards of life (Matt.
14:24-33; Luke 4:28-30). Even such mundane things, as a need for tax money
and the means of daily livelihood, were not beyond His interest and power (Matt. 17:24-27; Luke 5:2-9). By no
process of "spiritualization"
can these things be robbed of their physical reality.
The miracles God uses through His Sovereign power are
different in character today. See article MIRACLES TODAY.
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