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And when we return we’ll finish the story of Ananais and Sapphira.
Okay, we talked about most of the principles related to Ananais and his wife and what they attempted to pull.
And we also covered what happened to Ananais – he gave up the ghost (as the King James puts it) and the young men came in, took his body, wrapped it up, and buried the man.
Verse 7
Acts 5.7-16
Milk
February 7th 2016
7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
8 And Peter answered unto her, “Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?” And she said, “Yea, for so much.”
9 Then Peter said unto her, “How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.”
10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.
13 And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.
14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women).
15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
16 There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.
Alright. Back to verse 7
7 And it was about the space of three hours after (Ananais passed on), when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
As Sapphira had been no less guilty than her husband, so it was ordered, in the Providence of God, that the same judgment should come upon both.
8 And Peter answered unto her, “Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?”
When Luke has Peter say, “for so much?” and Sapphira replies, “Yea, for so much,” there was probably an actual figure presented by Peter to Sapphira – which she agreed to. And it was in all likelihood the figure her husband provided earlier.
I think this is intriguing because we are NOT provided with an actual number. Why? Luke probably was unaware of what it was. This is important because there are people who believe that these stories are all metaphorical and if so then I think Luke would have used a representative number to make the point – like some nice round even figure.
Instead he has Peter ask:
“Tell me, did you sell the land for so much? And she replies, yeah, for so much.”
Anyway, Sapphira was in on the con with her hubby.
Which is another interesting insight – Peter held her feet to the fire for her own honesty before God.
This act is consistent with Paul’s words in Galatians 3:28 where he says:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Therefore we are all individually responsible to receive and believe what God has to offer, to have our individual hearts circumcised, to respond to the Holy Spirit.
Again, under the Law, a woman’s rights as a wife were often limited. Here we see that in Christ we are all responsible – and will individually reap both the blessings and the fall out for our individual choices.
After giving her response we read (verse 9)
9 Then Peter said unto her, “How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.”
I don’t have much to add to this – its pretty straightforward. The only thing I might mention is we are all responsible before God individually and cannot justify ourselves under the auspices of loyalty to a spouse.
In other words, married people have allegiance to God first and foremost and not to each other.
10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men (here they come again) came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
This was a day these young men will never forget, wasn’t it?
Can you hear them? “We just buried a guy on the outskirts of town three hours ago and now we gotta do it again!”
And verse 11 gives us what had to be the intended purpose of this happening in the first place:
11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
Always best to start things off in “raising a family” (which is what God was doing here) with a healthy dose of fear for the patriarch and ease up as time goes on and the children mature. Because starting off lax it’s really hard to reel the little rascals back in, right?
Verse 12 Luke brings us back to the progress of the Apostles work among the people. The way to read it is the first line of verse twelve followed by verse 15 because Luke inserts a parenthetical reference. So Luke says:
12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (verse 15)
15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
16 There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.
We’ll cover these passages in a minute but first let’s cover the inserted reference first. So at verse 12 Luke says:
12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.
13 And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.
14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women).
Long story short, all Luke is telling us is this part of the Body were all united and hanging out together in what was known as Solomon’s porch.
This was a colonnade or possibly a cloister located on the eastern side of the temple made by Herod. So like a covered area or hall supported by columns.
There is no mention of a solomon’s porch in the temple Solomon built but Josephus mentions one in Herod’s.
I also find this little insight intriguing because this is what groups do, right? They pick out a spot and make it their own and this is exactly what Luke describes.
So they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch AND (verse 13) . . . the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.
This is a really cumbersome phrase in the King James and quite frankly the other translations don’t make it much clearer.
The Literal Greek is:
“and of the rest no one was daring to join himself to them, but the people were magnifying them,”
Who are the rest? And which of the people were magnifying them and why?
There are debates as to what this verse means but most commentators agree that “the rest” seem to have had some connection to Ananais and many commentators think there was a group of rich Jews seeking to join the new believers but when they saw what happened to Ananais they refused to join with the other believers who gathered at Solomon’s porch.
It’s as good as anything else.
And then when Luke adds:
“But the people magnified them,” he seems to be referring to the regular folk who looked upon these believers that gathered at Solomon’s porch. The mass of the people; the body of the nation, had respect for them.
And the final part of the reference:
14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women
Which is a similar line used at the end of Act’s chapter 2 emphasizing the fact that as men and women believed they were also, “added to the Lord.”
The phrase added to the Lord could also be read as “were added to their number” because they both mean the same thing – “to be added to their number” WAS “to be added to the Lord” and “to be added to the Lord” was “to be added to their number.”
Alright, let’s review the first line of verse 12 followed by 15 and 16.
12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (verse 15)
15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
16 There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.
Again we firstly note that it was the Apostles who were doing the healings here.
“Many signs and wonders wrought among the people.”
Ananais and Sapphira were a sign and a wonder – and also an extension of the Old Covenant operations of God among people. And therefore, just as the promised Messiah came performing miracles and wonders and signs for the House of Israel SO did His chosen apostles.
What did these signs and wonders look like? They were so prolific in the distribution of them that Luke writes:
15 Insomuch that they (the people) brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
This was radical healings folks. Luke uses two Greek words to convey the type of bedding that was carried forward –
Kleey-nays and krabbatos
Beds and couches.
What makes this interesting is that kleenays often describe a nice mattress that rich people would own and a krabbatos is more of a regular person’s bed.
What this tells us is that the sick and infirmed from all classes (rich and poor) were being brought forward to be healed by the Apostles. And remember there were twelve of them so we are talking about a radical spiritual revolution that was taking place in the name of Jesus Christ.
Now we come to an interesting report. Luke tells us that the infirmed were brought out into the streets . . .
“that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.”
Do we read that the people were commanded by the apostles to do this? We do not.
Do we read that people were actually healed by the Shadow of Peter? We do not.
Could the shadow of Peter have healed them? Never. The shadow of Peter had no power.
But what does have power is God. And Jesus Christ. And so in faith those who were brought out into the streets (and or the faith of those who actually carried them them out) there was the hope that somehow God would heal those who had some sort of contact with his chosen apostle.
The idea of contact and healing is present in scripture. We know the woman with an issue of blood said within herself:
“If I can but touch the hem of His garment I will be healed.”
There seems to be some type of connection to physical ailments, faith, physical contact points and actual healing by the invisible God that work and interrelate with each other.
We will read in Acts 19:11-12
“And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.“
Again, I would suggest that both the shadow of Peter and handkerchiefs of Paul were NOT what caused the healing but that they simply served as contact points people connected to their apostleship of the Lord and their seeking to be made whole by God.
I would also maintain (but admit that my opinion is limited to the scope of my knowledge and experience) but I would also maintain that these New Testament accounts were tied specifically to those apostles called and trained By Christ Himself and are not part of the Christian experience today – at least not in the same way.
Can people be healed by God today – even by appealing to other contact points? I suppose they could. But the New Testament accounts are very unique and purposeful and in my estimation very limited in scope.
In addition to those in Jerusalem who were being brought out into the streets we then read:
16 There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.
So the popularity of the Apostles work spread and before long we now see that sick people were being brought in from outside of the City limits – specifically, sick folks, those vexed with unclean spirits and Luke adds that every one of them were healed.
Again, this report supports Jesus words to the Apostles when He said:
John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
So, why don’t we see these types of signs and wonders and miracles today going on all around as an aide to belief and faith in God through Christ?
Remember, it was the miracles of that day that helped people in that day and age to receive and believe in the Apostles message.
So again, if God established this to happen in the early Church why not all through history? Does God not love us as much today?
This is one of the claims of the LDS that God loves us as much as He loved the people of the Old Testament and therefore He has given the world living prophets and apostles today to continue to perform signs and wonders for Him as a means to convince all “who have eyes to see and ears to hear.”
But even in the face of these claims there remains a void of signs and miracles and wonders – even among those who say they are his modern prophets and apostles.
I would reiterate the following as a response to this apparent void in the church today:
First, there was a reason for the miracles in that day and age – to testify that both Jesus and His apostles were who they said they were. With Jesus having ascended and the use of apostles over there is no need for such miracles.
Second, the miracles helped fertilize the Gospel Seeds at a time and place that needed signs and wonders to protect the early church and faith.
Third, we have the written word and accounts of the signs, miracles and wonders and are asked to read and study them which in some ways requires more faith than to believe such miracles can happen today in the first place.
Fourth, I believe that as God has equipped the world (He so loved) with knowledge and wisdom in the medical arts the need for medical miracles have diminished.
Fifth, to me it seems that the greatest miracle continues to be when a heart hardened by sin, this world, and darkness chooses to hear and be healed – and then changes. So it’s not like we don’t have miracles it’s just that they are spiritual and have moved from the material.
Finally, outward miracles and signs by no means carry as much weight as inner spiritual convictions. So where believers today might pine, prefer and even claim such physical miracles are going on all around us the strongest miracles are those that are seen, and felt and understood from the heart.
I can prove this by hearkening back to the days of the twelve apostles BEFORE Jesus ascended and sent the Holy Spirit.
Peter and Judas were both witnesses of some incomprehensible miracles of Jesus. They saw Him walk on water, feed five thousand with nothing but a loaf and fish, turn water to wine, heal the demon possessed, and even saw a man raised from the dead and Peter wound up denying Christ three times and Judas wound up betraying Him.
So so much for signs and wonders and miracles. In my estimation they relate more to the flesh of Man and believers than the Spirit, and this is the final reason they are not seen as radically as they were in the days of the New Testament Apostles.
Alright. Back to Acts 5. A tremendous outpouring was going on by the hand of God for these people through the Apostles.
And what do we see coming around the corner? Let’s read beginning at verse 17:
17 Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,
18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.
19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,
20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.
21 And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.
22 But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told,
23 Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.
24 Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.
25 Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.
Okay back to verse 17.
17 Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,
Because those who were with the High Priest (who was probably Caiaphas) were of “the sect of the Sadducees” it is believed that Caiaphas was also a Sadducees and due to the claim that Jesus rose from the dead (or that He resurrected) it is thought that this certain high priest and those who were with Him had a particular hatred for the Apostles.
The term sect used here is derived from the Greek root word for heresy but its not a negative terms like we would use today.
It just means they were of that specific party or group and not that they were a heretical sect.
Quite frankly (and interestingly enough) the Greek term heretic in the New Testament never has the evil connotation that it has in our world today. It always refers to those who belong to a sect or group and therefore embrace that groups thinking or beliefs on things.
What was the attitude of the High Priest and those who were with them?
“They were filled with indignation.”
The Greek word translated to indignation means anything from zeal, fervor or warmth, and may be applied to any warm or violent affection of the mind, whether it be envy, wrath, zeal, or love.
Here it probably means envy and wrath.
Why?
They were influencing people under their direct control by the miracles wonders and spirit.
And they were accomplishing it by preaching Jesus and all He represented – which they hated.
In addition to the popularity the Apostles were garnering they were also indirectly gathering support for the sect of the Pharisees who did believe in resurrection.
So this was not a good thing to the Sadducees. So what did they do? Verse 16
18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.
The Greek is epiballo and it means they cast their hands upon the apostles and put them into a public or common prison, one used from regular old criminals.
19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,
When it reads “the angel of the Lord” it appears this was a regular old angel and not any specific heavenly being like Michael.
I say this because the article “the” is not in the original.
Now, this of course was another miracle. But I want to reiterate it was very specific to that time, that purpose, that place, those men, and the establishment of the Lord’s church.
I can justify this position by the fact that an angel does NOT show up and save these twelve men in the very near future.
Instead God allows them to all (but one) suffer death and even torture at the hands of others.
I am certain that angels are quite active in the affairs of men today – to the point that we are all being protected from all manner of dangers and are all being given escapes without our even knowing that they are involved.
But I suggest caution in demanding a direct replication of this event in your life when you are incarcerated or whatever.
Again, not that we are not set free or protected on a constant basis, but just that we do NOT apply this situation to our own – and expect the same outcome.
Trust the Lord, what will be will be – however He determines it to play out.
I think one of the things God was doing here was to prove to the Jewish rulers that there was a new Sheriff in town – one who was looking out for the twelve apostles and to encourage the Apostles in their labors that God had their back.
So the angel lets them out and then says:
“Now, go home and stay out of trouble.”
No. Verse 20 the angel says:
20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.
Go to a very public place – the most in all the land – the temple – and speak to the people.
Speak what?
The King James has the angel instruct the Apostles to speak to them, “all the words of this life.”
“All the words of what life?”
The new life the Apostles had through Christ. This regenerated life. Tell them what it means, what its like to possess and live. What value it has to you!
In John 6:68 Peter says to Jesus when Jesus asked the twelve if they would abandon Him, “Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
These were the Words the angel commanded them to share.
21 And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.
And so they did as the angel commanded.
And the High Priest shows up and all that were with him and the members of the Sanhedrim, and all the elders (Senate in the Greek) who were probably men of experience who worked with the Nation – the whole lot – gathered together.
And they adjusted their ties, spoke cordially to each other, and then sent word to the prison –
(BOLDLY GUTTERALLY)
“Bring those promoters of Jesus out of prison and have them stand before us.”
22 But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told, ( verse 23) saying, “The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.
In other words, there is no sign of foul play.
The guards are all standing there and the doors are firmly shut but the men are not inside!
24 Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.
They were perplexed among themselves (first) and then they wondered what would the result of this be among the people.
I mean their authority was sort of totally ignored, the condition of the jail seemed to mock their ability to hold them, in fact it seems God himself released them, and, and, and the doctrines of the apostles were gaining ground.
And while they mused among each other (Verse 25)
25 Then came one and told them, saying, “Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.”
Don’t you love it? Can you imagine the fun Jesus was having in all of this? The men who actually put Him to death, who thought they could manipulate and control the people forever were being literally overrun.
Even their prisons and guards couldn’t stop “the truth of life” from reaching the ears of the people. And the glorious message of the Good News He authored would never, ever be squelched again.
And we’ll continue on next week at verse 26
Q and A
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