I recently answered a question on behalf of my Catholic friends so now I will do so on behalf of my Pentecostal friends. I was hoping someone else would answer this question, because I hate to see just one viewpoint represented. As Paul said, “I have been a fool! You forced me to it...”
Pentecostal/Charismatics as a general rule believe that modern day apostles can rise out of their ranks. I believe they have a biblical basis for that though I do not personally know any of their apostles to verify if their signs and wonders are legitimate. I will briefly present the biblical basis for signs and wonders in the ministry of apostles.
1. To confirm the truth of the message and the veracity of the messenger.
One night, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews named Nicodemus, came to visit Jesus and said,
Jn 3 2 ...“Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher;
for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
He addressed Jesus with respect, acknowledging him as a rabbi and teacher. If Jesus was astounding religious leaders at age 12, imagine the attention he could command at age 30. Nobody doubted his formidable understanding of the scriptures. Jesus also accompanied this knowledgee with signs and wonders which Nicodemus rightly recognized as an indication that God was affirming his ministry
A similar point is made in the book of Acts.
14 3 ‘So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly
for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them
to perform signs and wonders.’
2. To increase people’s faith which leads to salvation
A royal official heard that Jesus had returned to Galilee and he came to implore him to heal his son who was near death.
Jn 4 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you
simply will not believe.”
Jesus told the man that his son would live and he believed and left for home. He discovered from his servants later that his son began to improve at the same hour Jesus had declared healing and he and his whole household believed. The man did have faith in Jesus’ word and apparently that sign was instrumental in bringing the whole family to faith.
Jn 21 30Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the
presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but
these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
3. To represent what the kingdom of heaven is like
Nebuchadnezzar through his own miraculous journey came to understand the connection between the works of God and the kingdom.
4 1-3 "Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all peoples, nations, and languages that
dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I thought it good
to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for
me. How great are His signs, and how mighty His wonders! His kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to
generation".
At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus described his mission.
Luke 4 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to
the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19to proclaim
the year of the Lord’s favor.”
He later described what those actions signified.
Lk 10 9 Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’
Lk 11 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the
kingdom of God has come upon you.
I would just issue one word of caution. Signs and wonders are not necessarily proof that a ministry is approved by God. We must examine the fruit of those who would call themselves apostles as did Paul. Jesus warns:
Mt 7 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in
heaven will enter. 22“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord,
did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons,
and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23“And then I will declare to
them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE
LAWLESSNESS.’
There are strong biblical reasons for God validating apostolic ministries in NT times and those reasons are no less valid today. Many books have been written about signs and wonders performed by modern day apostles. Again, I have not verified them, so all I can say is that according to the Bible, miracles are possible especially as they point the way to Christ. As C.S. Lewis puts it in his book Miracles:
In all these miracles alike the incarnate God does suddenly and
locally something that God has done or will do in general. Each
miracle writes for us in small letters something that God has already
written, or will write in letters almost too large to be noticed,
across the whole canvas of Nature. They focus at a particular point
either God’s actual, or His future, operations on the universe.
