The Miracles of Paul

Mark recorded this statement of the Savior during His mortal ministry: “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:17-18).  Though we are not to seek after signs to view them performed by others, if we truly believe in the Savior then signs will follow after us as we simply live the gospel.  One of the themes that I see in the book of Acts is that signs truly did follow Paul as a servant of the Lord.  Luke clearly wanted us to see the faith of that great missionary and to understand the power of God that was worked through him. 

                As he preached the gospel during his missions numerous signs and miracles followed after Paul.  To Elymas the sorcerer during his first mission he said, “And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.” And this was done: “And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand” (Acts 13:11).  Later at Lystra he found a man “impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked.”  Luke recorded that Paul, “perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked” (Acts 14:8-10).  When Paul was in prison in Philippi during his second mission, “there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed” (Acts 16:26).  The Lord was clearly with him.  By his third mission the reputation of Paul as a worker of miracles had grown so much that Luke recorded, “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them” (Acts 19:11).  Clearly he had the power to heal given him from the Savior.  On his way to Jerusalem when Eutychus fell out of the window and died, Paul miraculously raised him from the dead (Acts 20:9-12).  Paul indeed “cast out devils” and “lay hands on the sick” such that they “recover” as the Savior predicted for those who truly believe.     

                On his way to Rome in the final chapters of Acts we see again that signs continued to follow Paul.  As a prophet he correctly predicted their difficulties beforehand, “I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage,” though he wasn’t believed. When they were in dire straights he correctly foretold their miraculous survival, saying, “now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Cæsar (Acts 27:10, 22-24).  When they were shipwrecked on the island of Melita, he was preparing a fire and “there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand,” and all the people assumed he would die from it.  But miraculously “he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm,” fulfilling specifically the prediction that the followers of Christ would “take up serpents” without being injured.  Paul made it miraculously to Rome despite so many dangerous situations, truly protected by the Lord in miraculous ways.  All along his journeys signs followed Paul, giving evidence that Paul truly believed in the Savior.