In 1969 five brothers who meet with us went to a Pentecostal, charismatic meeting where there was much “speaking in tongues.” When these five brothers went into their meeting, the pastor and his helpers were attempting to cast out a demon. The demon possessed man laughed at them and the demon within him said, “You cannot cast me out.” Then he said, “In this room there are only five genuine Christians.” This shows that if we are truly one with the Lord, even the demons will know it (Acts 19:13-17). Within we are intrinsically, essentially one with the Lord, and without we are economically one with Him in His governmental administration. Even though the people around us do not realize this, the demons know. This is related to God’s governmental administration.
God has an exalted Head, and this Head has a Body which is the church. The genuine church, the church that is one with this ascended Head, is one with Him in the inner life and one with Him in the outer economy. If we are people of the Spirit, filled with Him inwardly as our inner life and clothed with Him outwardly for His administration, all the demons will know us. The evil spirits know that we have the authority because the heavenly uniform is upon us.
The proper understanding of the casting out of demons and of the speaking of new tongues is to realize that they are related to God’s governmental administration. All of the items listed in Mark 16:17-18 are the display of the governmental authority of Christ’s administration.
We must realize that not all the things mentioned in Mark 16 happened at the same time or happened to everyone. Even the things mentioned in Acts 2 do not all necessarily happen to one person. Since the Lord poured Himself out as the Spirit of economy upon His believers, a new age began. History tells us that in this new age, from the ascension of Christ up until today, here and there, now and then, new tongues were spoken, illnesses were healed, demons were cast out, and dead people were raised up. This does not mean that all these things happened at the same time on one person or at the same time on one group.
Furthermore, at the time of Pentecost and in Peter’s ministry there were miracles of healing and even of resurrection (Acts 3:6-8; 9:32-42). In the earlier stage of the Apostle Paul’s ministry there were also healing miracles. But in the later stage of Paul’s ministry he charged his intimate co-worker, Timothy, to use a little wine for the sake of his stomach and frequent weaknesses (1 Tim. 5:23). Why did not Paul execute his healing gift to cure Timothy of his stomach sickness, rather than instruct him to take the natural way for healing?
Acts 19:12 tells us that God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs from him could heal people. Some people in today’s Pentecostalism like to imitate the age of the apostles in the matter of healing. They would even try to imitate Paul by putting their hands on a handkerchief while praying for their sick friend. They believe that if they would mail this handkerchief to their sick friend, he could receive divine healing. Why did not Paul do this with Timothy? Paul rather told Timothy to take the natural way to be healed. He told him to drink a little wine for his stomach’s sake.
We must thank the Lord for such a record in the Bible. Paul and his co-workers were under the exercise of the inner life in this time of suffering rather than under the power of the outward gift. The former is of grace in life; the latter of gift in power—miraculous power. In the decline of the church and in suffering for the church, the gift of power is not as much needed as the grace in life. I hope this kind of word rescues us from our natural concepts. Actually, the Lord did not have any trust in miracle seeking people. John 2:23-24 says, “When He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus Himself did not entrust Himself to them.” Too much miraculous healing distracts people from the inner life.