I remember being a child and wishing that I was alive when God did things on the earth, I wanted to see miracles like Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. To me it seemed like God stopped talking and working in our present age, and that bothered me. Fortunately I was dead wrong, if I had only known that Jesus really is the same yesterday, today, and forever, I might have then realized that He is no different today and is willing and able to work mighty miracles and wonders in the earth.

There are many people though with this same mentality that I had, “oh those good ol’ days,” they say. They can hardly muster up the faith to believe that God can and will do the same with them today. People tend to read the bible like there is bullet proof glass between them and stories of scripture. But quite the opposite is true, the prophets and seers of old longed to look into our day and see what God was going to unveil through His Son in us. (see Matthew 13:17) They were the seed, but we were to become the full blown manifestation of God’s ultimate plan from eternity past.

You see, not one person in the old testament was baptized in the Holy Spirit, some had a measure of the Spirit’s presence in their life, but they were not “one with God,” nor were they “seated in heavenly places,” or even “born again.” We look at saints in the scriptures and elevate them to some elite-untouchable-status, but they didn’t even have access to one teaspoon of the fullness we have in Christ. We have more glory in our pinky finger than Moses, Enoch, David, and Elijah combined! Seems like scandalous doesn’t it? But you have to understand that what Christ did on the cross changed everything.

“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!” (2 Corinthians 3:7-11)

Theres a key phrase here, “For what was glorious, (old covenant) has, “no glory” now in comparison with the, “surpassing glory” (new covenant). The old is, “no glory” in comparison to the new order. What we read in bible times is child’s play compared to the power we have in Christ: Moses split the red sea, turned water into blood, and had God speak out of a burning bush to him, but these are “no glory” miracles in comparison to the “surpassing glory,” of the new covenant.

If you look at the God encounters of the old testament like Isaiah’s when he saw God seated on His throne (see Isaiah 6:1), or Ezekiel having out-of-body experiences (see Ezekiel 8:3) and seeing panoramic visions, we again get the idea that these men had “special access” to God, but the cross changes the whole paradigm, these were “no glory” experiences, in comparison to the “surpassing glory” of the new covenant.

We have been given infinitely more than them because we have been filled and possessed by the abiding glory of God. They were denied access to the Holy of Holies, they were separated from the glory-realm by a thick veil, but the veil for us is torn in Christ. (see Mathew 27:51)

The Holy Spirit in their times worked in more of a visitation mode, coming and going, coming and going, but Christ’s promise to us is that He will come to indwell us by the Holy Spirit and never leave. They had visitation, whereas we have habitation. On this side of the cross we become God’s permanent residence.

“Of men born of women, there has been none greater than John the Baptist, yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Mathew 11:11)

John was greater than them all by Jesus’s standard, yet the least of believers this side of the cross are greater than he. If I take Christ seriously, which I am inclined to do, He was essentially saying that Suzy Lu in Backwater Montana is greater than David, Moses, Elijah, Enoch, and the rest! Why? Because the veil is torn! We have been grafted into the infinite riches of Christ’s glory, we are one spirit with Him, we have become partakers of the divine nature! We are not superior because we are better, we have only been elevated because Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection worked. His finished work on the cross opened up all the riches of glory, power, and heavenly delights that the saints in the old testament merely had a glimpse of. They drank out of a water fountain, but we drink from a fire hydrant. They experienced God here and there but we are permanently possessed by the Holy Spirit. They had a taste, but we have the feast!

We underestimate Christ in us when we applaud the miracles and encounters of the past but don’t engage our faith and expectation to experience them for ourselves The fullness and entirety of God lives inside of us, “Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:23) No other saint before Christ had even a fraction of 1% of what you have been given in Christ. You are His fullness! All the power in the universe lives inside of you, His name is Jesus. If we would only believe we would see the glory of God. (see John 11:40) Faith comes before the manifestation (the unveiling of reality). We need to discard our limiting religious boxes and engage the infinite One.

Greater Works

“I tell you the truth whoever believes in Me, will do the same works I am doing, and yes even greater works because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12)

Jesus modeled what a person fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit can do. Christ didn’t do His miracles as God (even though He is God), rather He humbled Himself and became completely reliant on the Holy Spirit to work the miracles He did. He said Himself,

“The Son of man can do nothing of Himself, except that which He sees His Father doing.” (John 5:19)

Therefore because Christ did His miracles as a man under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we are then compelled to imitate His example and operate under the same anointing of the Spirit’s power that He did! This is where we are invited into the lifestyle of the miraculous, Jesus showed us what we are capable of if we are filled with and led by the Holy Spirit. His promise is that we will do the same works (miracles) He was doing, and yes even greater than He performed because He ascended to the Father. Christ essentially said, “Listen boys, my miracle ministry is just the basics, this is level one christianity, if you will be crazy enough to believe in Me, you will do the same stuff you’ve seen me doing these past 3 years, and yes even greater and more astounding things because I am going to my Father and promise to send the same Spirit that raised Me from the dead!” What a radical statement from our Lord! We must understand that we were to continue what He started, the baton has been passed to us, and we have been commissioned to preach the gospel and bring with it a radical demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power.

So in light of these truths, read the word of God with an expectation to see those supernatural happenings, encounters, and miracles break out in your life. The scriptures are not off limits, we can experience the stories we read of great men of old in our present day and age.