Hebrews 6:5 says that we “have tasted the good word of God, and the works of power of the coming age.” In Greek “word” here is rhema, the instant word of God. The good word of God in 6:5 refers to the word of the beginning of Christ mentioned in Hebrews 6:1, which is the milk the Hebrew believers tasted (Heb. 5:12-13) when they believed in the Lord. The good word of God as the word of the beginning of the Christ is elementary and includes repentance, faith in God, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection, and eternal judgment, all of which are related to Christ’s earthly ministry. Without His earthly ministry we would have had no way to repent, receive baptism, lay hands on others, receive resurrection, or escape eternal judgment. Any word concerning Christ’s earthly ministry is the word of the beginning of the Christ in the primary stage. This is surely the good word because it is glad tidings, good news.
In particular, the good word of God is the good word of the gospel. The New Testament says that God loves the world, that Christ is our Savior, and that Christ died on the cross for our sins and even for us. These are good words. The New Testament also tells us that God is willing to forgive us and receive us. To be sure, these are good words. In the New Testament there are a great many verses that may be considered the good word of God tasted by us. When we read the Bible, often these verses become our enjoyment. As partakers of the Holy Spirit, we have tasted the good word of God.
According to Hebrews 6:5, we have even tasted “the works of power of the coming age.” We have been enlightened and we have tasted of the heavenly gift, the good word of God, and the works of power of the coming age. Here we have three kinds of tastes-of the heavenly gift, of the good word of God, and of the works of power. The enlightenment, the heavenly gift, and the good word of God belong to the present age, the age of grace. The works of power, which in the New Testament are synonymous with miracles, belong to the coming age, the age of the kingdom. Therefore, the enlightenment, the heavenly gift, and the good word of God are fully destined for us in this age, but the works of power of the coming age are not destined for us in this age of grace.
Miracles, works of power, and wonders and signs are not part of God’s central testimony of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. Neither are they part of God’s full salvation. The Lord borrowed the miraculous things from the coming age to show that what the apostles preached and ministered and how they acted were absolutely of God, not of man (Acts 2:43; Heb. 2:3-4). God will not perform miraculous things all the time in this age of grace.
Between eternity past and eternity future there are basically three ages: the age of the old creation, the age of the new creation, and the age of restoration. From God’s creation of the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1 to the beginning of the age of grace is the time span of the age of the old creation. The age of grace is the age of the new creation. In the age of the old creation God created mankind and the entire universe. When what He created became fallen, He came in to restore it, that is, to recover and maintain it. In the age of grace God is doing neither a work of creation nor a work of restoration. Whereas the old creation is merely the creation without God in it, the new creation is the old creation born of God with God as its new element. Therefore, through the addition of the element of God the old creation becomes the new creation. Now the new creation, the believers born again of God, has the divine nature (John 1:13; 3:15; 2 Pet. 1:4). Therefore, the believers are a new creation (Gal. 6:15), not according to the old nature of the flesh but according to the new nature of the divine life. The work of God in the age of grace is to produce the new creation. In the coming age, the millennium, God will neither create nor will He produce the new creation. Rather, through the works of power, He will do a work of restoring the old fallen creation.
In the age of God’s old creation God did the work of creation and also some work of restoration. The work of restoration involved miracles. It is crucial for us to see that miracles, works of power, do not belong to God’s new creation but to the restoration of God’s old creation. In New Testament times there were cases of healings. In the age of the kingdom all people will be healed miraculously. We must be clear, however, that no miracle belongs to God’s new creation. Therefore, we should not expect the Lord to perform miracles for His chosen people all the time during the age of grace. However, during the age of grace, the age of the new creation, for certain purposes the Lord may borrow the works of power from the coming age.
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