The Ministry of Signs and Wonders is not a sensational idea, invented by some religious mystic. It was originated by the resurrected Lord Jesus when He gave the believer the following mandate:
“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. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.” (Mark 16:17-20)
Sadly, some newer translations of the Bible omit this verse and even the whole portion of verse nine through twenty. Some translations may contain it, but cast a shadow of doubt upon its validity by the insertion of a footnote that says something to this effect: "Some of the oldest manuscripts do not contain verses nine through twenty," or some other similar wording. Such footnotes, and sometimes the exclusion of these verses from some translations, only create confusion and a question in a reader’s mind. Was this passage really in the original manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark or not?
I want to prove beyond doubt that these verses are indeed valid and that they were contained in the original manuscripts of the Bible. Finnis Jennings Dake gives ten proofs that these verses unquestionably were contained in the original text of the Bible. After studying his arguments, I would like to briefly submit the most compelling evidence and obvious proofs that these words indeed existed in the original manuscripts. These original manuscripts recorded some of the actual words of Jesus.
Firstly, of the 618 Greek manuscripts that contain the gospels, only two omit these verses. In other words, the ratio is 309:1! This alone should be clear proof that these verses are part and parcel of the original text of the Bible. In court of law, 309 witnesses to one, or 618 to two would certainly count in your favor.
Secondly, the first translations into which the New Testament had been translated (into the Syrian language in 150 A.D.) contain these verses.
Thirdly, and probably the most obvious evidence that these verses were present in the original text of the Bible, is that the so-called early Church Fathers (who lived immediately after the death of the last apostle John) refer to these verses as being written by Mark as part of his gospel. The oldest Greek manuscripts we have available are copies of copies of copies of the original Bible. The early Church Fathers lived before these oldest Greek manuscripts, and the fact that they reference these verses in their writings prove that they were in the original text.
There are no less than one hundred writers older than the oldest Greek, Sinaitic and Vatican manuscripts and they all affirm these verses.
Even in the place where the Vatican manuscript omits these verses, a blank page exists, indicating that the chapter is incomplete. Dake comments:
“If we are to leave these verses out just because they are not in a few manuscripts, then to be consistent we must leave out great portions of the Bible. For example, the Codex Vaticanus that leaves out Mk 16:9-20, also leaves out Gen 1-46; Ps 105-137; Heb 9:14-13:25 and all of 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Revelation. Why not leave out all of these portions also if we are going to leave out Mk 16:9-20? There is not one early manuscript but what leaves out some portion, so if we are going to leave out all these parts, we shall have a smaller Bible than some of our modern short ones. Suppose we found a Bible today having parts missing and we would conclude that the missing parts were not in the original copy. Would this be sensible? Neither is it sensible to take this attitude toward the parts that are not in the old manuscripts...” (Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, Page 55 of New Testament, Column 3.)
Every word that Jesus spoke is of utmost importance, as well as every portion of the Scriptures, including Mark 16:9-20. What makes this portion somewhat unique is that it contains some of the very words He spoke just before He ascended to heaven. Oftentimes we pay special attention to a person’s final words.
Not only does it contain our Lord’s promise and mandate to operate in the supernatural, but it also beautifully and wonderfully reveals how Jesus continued His ministry through the disciples as He confirmed and ratified the Word they preached with attesting signs and miraculous wonders!
"Miracles for the Multitudes" is a combination of two focal points of Joel Hitchcock's Ministry, namely:
(a) Miracles, Signs and Wonders and (b) Massive Miracle Campaigns
This Blog is based on Dr. Joel Hitchcock's book "Miracles for the Multitudes".
To order Joel's eBook, go to http://www.joelhitchcock.com/p/product-store_4.html
www.joelhitchcock.com // www.joelhitchcock.blogspot.com // www.manifestingchristinyou.blogspot.com // www.joelhitchcock.wordpress.com // www.joelhitchcockonline.blogspot.com // www.healingevangelist.blogspot.com // www.endtimerevivalandgreatawakening.blogspot.com
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Permission to duplicate is hereby granted as long as the complete quote does not exceed more than 1,000 words and that due credit is given to the source.
For the website of the church led by Pastor Joel and Heidi Hitchcock in
Georgetown DE, which is an exciting Pentecostal, Charismatic, Word of
Faith, Cross-of-Christ preaching church in Sussex County, Delaware, go
to www.rivercity.co.
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