The gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to God’s will, are uniquely connected to that age of final revelation. But once that final revelation has been spoken—once those who confirmed what the Lord Jesus announced, once those who heard him confirm that died—then the word is complete. That’s the big idea; the word is complete. The Bible is finished, which is why, as a side note, you may have sensed, if you’ve been with us for a while, that we’re quite careful when it comes to Christians in our own day speaking about signs, wonders, and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit in our age.
Now, of course, there are certain types of signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit which still exist in our own age, but they are not the same as those Apostolic, Jesus-confirming witness type things happening today. We pray for people to be healed from various illnesses, and they are healed. We see amazing, wonderful conversions, and we see people using their gifts in the church. However, they are different from the kinds of signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit that accompanied the apostles because the purpose of those was to confirm and testify to the ones who had heard Christ. They are Apostolic in nature.
I also want to say that I think we have more to learn from our Pentecostal and charismatic brothers and sisters than to differ from them. We do differ from them on these issues, and it is related to the doctrine of scripture, yes, that is true. However, we’ve got a lot to learn from them in terms of what it means to worship the Lord with devotion, to love one another better as churches, to express ourselves in worship, and to have the Bible as part of our everyday lives.
