¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”

Did Jesus speak generically when He made this promise concerning, “he who believes in Me,” in which case it extends to all believers? Or was He talking specifically concerning those out of the masses who had believed in Him to this point, that is, the eleven disciples?

The case can be made for specificity, in that we do see the apostles uniquely endued with miraculous powers. To be sure they were promised perfect recall of all Jesus taught (John 14:26), something which most Christians today do not have. They were to be the uniquely authorized witnesses of Christ’s message (Acts 1:8). Confirming this, shortly after Pentecost, we find Peter and John healing the lame man at the gate called Beautiful (Acts 3). The writer of Acts comments: “With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus …” (Acts 4:33). “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place …to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets…so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them…bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed” (Acts 5:12, 5–16).

Paul in defense of his own apostleship, though not one of the original apostles, said, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles” (2 Cor 12:12). The writer of Hebrews tells us that, “God [was] also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will” (Heb 2:4). We take the “them” to be the apostles.

Historically when God moved in His largest, most unprecedented ways, He accompanied it by miraculous signs. We only need mention the Exodus from bondage in Egypt and entry into the Promised Land accompanied by the confirmatory, miraculous events at the hands of Moses and Joshua. Also include the succession of miracles during the ministries by Elijah and Elisha, warning of punitive captivity for national disobedience against God. Now, during the change of dispensations to spiritual freedom and the new covenant under the ministry of Jesus and His apostles, we again see the confirmatory miraculous signs. Though miracles do happen at other times, historically the outpouring seems largely confined to these time periods, where God was changing how He was dealing with His people. That is the case with the apostles of Jesus Christ.

Lord, thank You for confirming Your message through the Apostles, so that we have the message preserved for us today.