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"What is unseen is eternal"
Varied thoughts come to my mind.
1) Does the question assume "signs and wonders" are a reward for some higher level of faith (as opposed to, say, the decision of the Sovereign to distribute, cf. "gift of faith" given to some among believers, 1 Cor. 12:9)? If so, why? And if the "spectacular ... signs and wonders" are such a reward, what would be their purpose(s)? And here I intend to ask how the Bible would delimit such purpose(s).
2) My understanding of, e.g., the Gospel of John and books of Hebrews and Colossians, suggests Jesus is the apex and culmination of God's revelation to man and that Jesus appointed His disciple/apostles, by means of the guidance and reminders of the Holy Spirit, in effect to pen a "Jesus canon" like the old (the OT) so that altogether "the man (or woman) of God may be ... equipped for every good work" (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17) as God works in the believer to will and to act according to His good purpose (Phil 2:13).
Then why are "signs and wonders" needed nowadays? If they come (cf. dreams of Jesus among Iranian Muslims), are they consistent with the apex and culmination of divine revelation or contrary to it?
3) It may be a bit much even to summarize here, but Paul in 2 Cor. 10-12, among other things, counters his boastful opponents by boasting in turn, but turning the categories of boasting on their heads--boasting in his weaknesses--toward the end of which list, Paul boasts of "a man in Christ" (12:2) who had "visions and revelations of the Lord" (12:1) concerning which content it was forbidden to speak (v. 4).
No doubt his opponents boasted rather freely in the content and glory of their visions and revelations (and their own implied stature and holiness to boot); such implied "opponent side" content would explain Paul's counter boasting in "visions and revelations" though "there is nothing to be gained by it" (v. 1), though again such boasting would not be foolish in his case because the facts are true (v. 6). But Paul refrains from such boasting lest anyone "may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me" (v. 6). Paul does not want the church at Corinth to think more highly of himself than warranted by his tangible actions (which would include his words).
Then Paul obliquely admits "to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations ..." (v. 7). What revelations? Cf. v. 1. Whose revelations? His own revelations about which it is forbidden to speak. So God gives Paul surpassingly great revelations of paradise, forbids him to speak of their content, and then gives Paul a "thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan" to keep him "from being too elated" (v. 7) ... so the thorns place Paul back in weakness where he learns the sufficiency of the grace of God, for Christ's power is made perfect in weakness (v. 9).
Granted the above concerns a polemic setting in which Paul is attempting to win (back) the hearts of the Corinthian Christians from false apostles (11:13). Not all "visions and revelations" are freighted with such a context. Yet the example surely also provides a warning to us. It is altogether too easy for me to boast, however subtly, in my credentials or proud associations.
4) That being said (or rather written), I wonder if I (or we) do not make excuses for my/our lack of faith--but faith in what object or to what end? I contend the object of faith must be guided by Jesus and His apostles as they in turn follow and fulfill the revelation of God to man that preceded them (the OT). Particularly, such faith is "in" Jesus and "in" what He accomplished on the cross, but it may have other objects, biblically speaking. Given such content to the "object of faith," do I have the faith to believe as it is written "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours (Mark 11:24)?--That even if I think the object and circumstance of prayer is also assumed to be delimited biblically.
As one whose weaknesses include chronic illness and chronic fatigue, I wonder if the things I accomplish for God (in fact rather than mere appearance) are limited by my deficiencies of faith in what God will accomplish in and through me even if my illness constitutes my application of the thorn in the flesh to keep me from being conceited and to help keep me trusting the power of Christ. Yet I also maintain whatever object of faith the Lord would have me accomplish must be bound by the word of God. Whatever talents I invest rather than bury must be invested in what accrues for the kingdom of God and for God's Christ.
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