What happens when someone who isn’t born-again joins the Church and then lies to the Holy Spirit? As we saw in chapter 4, early Christians were overwhelmed with joy, demonstrated by an outpouring of charity for each others’ needs.
Ananias and Sapphira was trying to emulate Joseph the Levite (Acts 4:36-37) to be praised for their comparative generosity. In doing so, they weren’t just lying to Peter and the church, they were lying to the Holy Spirit (v.3). The property was theirs' to do with as they pleased. They could have given 10% to the church and that would have been okay. Most likely they expected praise as being great, generous people, by lying that they gave the full amount to the church. By proclaiming they gave it all and then holding it back, in reality, they were stealing from God. Their sin was covetousness and religious hypocrisy that the Lord readily purged from the church. The early church had to have a core of true believers, and biblical values; not liars and hypocrites.
I remember visiting a major cathedral where all the pews had plaques with the names of each of the donors. Did they donate to honor God or for personal recognition and honor for their generosity? Each pew must have been expensive. I'm sure that were some of each, but God is always the judge.
The Holy Spirit struck Ananias dead. V.8, three hours later, Sapphira not knowing what happened to Ananias, also lied to Peter. Was her sin so grave to warrant death (v.10)? These verses show how God was preventing lying and deception—Satan’s tools for destruction—from entering the infant church.
Sapphira didn’t realize the consequences for their lie. Was such a severe punishment warranted? Satan was attempting to enter the church through Ananias and Sapphira, with deceit and lies. As stated in v.11, the event created fear throughout the church. We can be certain that the message was clear for those who were not born-again, who had entered the Church to capitalize on the Apostles charity, even professing Christ verbally for personal gain. But the Holy Spirit put a stop to that false Christianity. This was the infant Church and God took measures to protect it from Satan’s influence and deceit, which would have been like a cancer and sure to spread if allowed to to unchecked.
The Jews were a religious people, and the apostles’ signs and wonders attracted their attention, many of whom heard of Jesus or even had witnessed Him preaching and performing miracles. V.13 is especially important. The death of Ananias and Sapphira accomplished exactly what the Holy Spirit intended. Only those born-again would join into fellowship as we are told in v.14.
We can be certain the lame man healed at the temple Gate called Beautiful was still sharing his story joyfully with everyone he knew. Even those demon-possessed were being healed. The word spread far and wide around Jerusalem. V.16 tells us that “all’ of them were healed; not just some. The apostles continued to profess Jesus, with many signs and wonders, the church cont’d to grow, and healing of the sick was even occurring by Peter’s shadow passing over them. It wasn’t Peter’s shadow, but the Holy Spirit that healed them as a sign that what Peter professed was of God.
One can only imagine what the scene would have looked like with sick and even demon-possessed lining the roads and streets to just get a glimpse of Peter so as to allow his shadow to fall on them or their loved ones.
The Sadducees were both angry and filled with jealousy at the attention the apostles were getting, as they praised and taught Jesus. It was seen by the Sadducees as disrespect to their position and authority as the religious leaders of Judea and worse yet, as an accusation that they were responsible for killing the Christ/Messiah. The Sadducees also had hostility to Christ’s resurrection, because it confirmed and established the doctrine of the invisible world and the resurrection of the dead, which was strongly denied by them.
The Sadducees had their own temple police, and had the apostles put in jail. But, not for long. God sent an angel to release them. Empowered by the Holy Spirit the apostles left the Jail and continued preaching Jesus as Savior and Messiah and used the temple courts for doing so—the Sanhedrin’s backyard, so to speak. An average person would have feared the Sanhedrin’s authority, but they were empowered by the Holy Spirit to be bold and courageous.
What the public jail in Acts 5:18 was most likely like.
Peter and John resumed preaching as instructed by the angel. The Sanhedrin, the great Jewish religious council (comprised of 71 men), had broad authority in Palestine under Roman authority, with enough influence to compel Pontius Pilate to bend to their will and crucify Christ. Roman Emperors measured the competence of their assigned regional governors by their ability to maintain order and prevent uprisings to keep the regime peaceful AND collect taxes. One way of doing so in Judea was to not butt heads with the religious leaders who carried a great deal of influence with the people, enough to incite demonstrations and even demand the crucifixion of Christ.
The priests and captain were puzzled and most likely alarmed, that the apostles had escaped since the door was locked and the guards still in place. The Sanhedrin ignored the healing miracles by the apostles. Even their unexplained escape from jail did not sway them to even consider what the apostles were saying about Jesus. Their minds were made up: don’t upset the status quo! We see the same thing in the world of politics today, even in our own Congress. It all gets down to retaining and enhancing one’s power.
Fearing upsetting the people, the guards had brought them quietly to the Sanhedrin by request and not by force. Peter, who has been performing miracle-healings before the people, professes Christ yet again to the Sanhedrin. They accuses Peter and John of making false accusations against them as being guilty of Jesus’ blood—after all, wasn’t it the Romans who crucified Him? We know Pontius Pilot would have released Jesus if the Sadducees had not incited the people to demand Jesus’ death.
As Peter boldly declared, their message was from God, the evidence of which was that Jesus rose from the dead and as such, they performed miracle-healings before the people testifying in His name that Jesus was from God. Many people believed them and accepted Christ as Messiah and Savior. Did any of the Sadducees convert? Jealously and pride hardened their hearts and prevented it. They would have had to step down from the Sanhedrin and give up the authority and power associated with it.
The Sanhedrin were furious because a Resurrected Jesus would make Him equal with God, something the Jewish Council had previously denied, and still denied despite Peter’s miracles. Their anger stirred their desire to kill them just as Jesus was killed, and for similar reasons—loss of prestige and power over the people.
Gamaliel (Ga-meal-li-ul) (v.34) is the same rabbinical teacher Saul of Tarsus studied under. Gamaliel cited several cases to the Sanhedrin of other leaders who also had a following like Jesus, but eventually faded away.
Gamaliel continued to caution them that the Jesus, Peter and John preached, would also go away, unless what they professed was from God, which, if so, you can’t defeat. The Sanhedrin decided that they had to punish them in some way, which was flogging with a warning not to speak of Jesus again.
Even under threat, the apostles continued to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah and Savior. Point of information, Gamaliel is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Like Roman Catholics, they also pray for the saints to intercede on their behalf to God. Yet, our Intercessor before God is Jesus Christ Himself. Even under threat, the apostles continued to proclaim Jesus as Messiah, and Savior.
Amen!
Acts isn’t just about early church history, it’s also a guide for how we should live as Christians, and as a measure to gauge how our society is doing in regard to how God would have us live as a people and as a nation.
Adrian Rogers’ 39-minute sermon: Counterfeit Christianity.
Professing Jesus as Lord and Savior doesn’t require any act, even an altar call, but it is a matter of focusing our mind and heart on Him in true repentance.
https://youtu.be/4OWuSu95i3g
(copy and paste into your web browser)
Praying for America should not be a momentary prayer at the end of a lesson. It should be a state of mind whenever watching the news. Pray also for our Pastor, his family and our church that the Holy Spirit may empower us to share the Word when the opportunities arise.
There will be a different study in Heritage Lounge. Coffee will be available. Hope to see you there. Yes, I will continue our study of Acts on the blog.
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