This is a new season in history. The church gets started and the apostles have just witnessed an awesome display of judgment that results in the death of Annanias and Sapphira. Acts 5 then states that there were many signs and wonders that were performed. Many sick people were healed and those with unclean spirits were released. The world has never really seen anything like this before and the ones who should be rejoicing - the religious establishment - felt threatened and embarrassed. It states that the high priest rose up and all who were with him (the Sadducees) were “filled with jealousy” and they arrested the apostles and threw them in prison.
I wonder why? Why do you think that anyone would get angry when there’s a revival and when sick people get healed and demons are exorcized? But, that night an angel of the Lord opens the prison doors and brings them out and instructs them to continue preaching. The angel says “go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life” (5: 20). In other words, you are to place yourself at risk and go tell the people, what this new life is all about because the old has passed away and God is doing a fresh work and Jesus Christ is in the center of it all.
2. A Miracle Has Happened
2.1. The Establishment: can’t figure out how the apostles had escaped their imprisonment as the prison is still securely locked and the guards were still standing there. It never occurred to them that a miracle has happened and that God had intervened. They were more concerned with maintaining the status quo and not being embarrassed in front of the crowd and especially not being outplayed by this bunch of simple fishermen from Galilee who had won favor among the people.
2.2. The Apostles’ Courage: the safest thing for them to do was to leave the vicinity altogether as their Sadducees were not happy with them. The apostles were still there in the temple vicinity and were instructed by the angel to speak to the people and teaching them about Jesus. Here, we have a fundamental clash of cultures and worldview. The establishment is determined to uphold the religious status quo whereas the apostles represent a new order from the Lord and this was seen in the life and ministry of Jesus. Remember Jesus speaks of times and seasons. They go further and are unafraid to say: “The God of our fathers raised Jesus who you killed by hanging him on a tree.” There is no way the establishment can avoid this accusation but the apostles are up against a political power. Do you compromise with the political power or do you assert your right to preach? I wonder if there’s a lesson we can learn from the apostles?
2.3. Why do People Bear Witness Even in Pain? I think we must ask what makes Peter and the apostles dare to defy the high priest even with all the power the priest has. Peter says: “God has exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” What this means is there is not only a sense of power that comes upon them but also a sense of the urgency. That God’s presence is among them and He has instilled in them a sense of kingdom- mindedness. That means, whatever you have done before, whatever your mission in life – if they have a mission in life – there is now a new purpose for living? Because they have come into the presence of God and that gives them courage and a powerful sense of urgency. They know that what they say is going to be rejected but they still feel that they have to say it. There is a sense of mission and that is to bear witness to Christ.
2.4. The Apostles do not have Power or Influence: It has been said that the church does best when it is poor, without money or political leverage because it is only then, when they are poor and politically powerless, that its people feel moved to pray and depend on the power of the Spirit. Looking back at the first 300 years of church history, it was their poverty and lack of influence in the state that saw its growth in the empire. At 325 AD, Constantine, the Roman emperor became a believer and he made the Christian faith the religion of the empire and that is when persecution stopped and the church got powerful as it became a part of the establishment. Bishops were told to wear purple, the color of royalty. One may say that their rise in worldly power corresponded with their lowering of spiritual power.
2.5. When a Church Does Not Have Riches: Gamaliel ****was a respected leader and one was his teachers was rabbi Hillel. The advice he gave to the rulers was needed at the moment. He said if this movement is of God you will not be able to overthrow them and you would be found to be opposing God himself. This gave them the reprieve they needed but is it the case that humans do not have the power to oppose and overthrow the work of God? There are numerous instances in history that humans have prevailed against the church. There have also been instances when the church has prevailed. I’d say that a church needs to have a vision and a conviction. It needs to know why it is there.
3. Signs and Wonders
Does God work such miracles today?
3.1. Abnormal Times: Just the other day, I came across a work of revival that recently happened in the grounds of Asbury University in Kentucky, the US:
“On February 8, 2023, what began as a routine Wednesday Chapel service with the student body turned into a multi-week Outpouring that some have described as a revival. Led by students, the impromptu services attracted college students from hundreds of other colleges and universities from around the world. News of the continuous prayer and worship spread around the world and attracted people to Wilmore from as far away as Russia and Japan. Media outlets arrived en masse to cover the spiritual awakening among students with countless reports of healing, salvation, and re-dedications to Christ flooding the news. Asbury staff, faculty, students and volunteers worked tirelessly to welcome the visitors of all ages to campus, with orderly lines to get into Hughes extending a half-mile long. Many small businesses joined in the work the Lord was doing on Asbury’s campus by serving food to the crowds. The Outpouring lasted for 16 days, culminating in a service specifically for students on February 23, 2023.” (from the Asbury University site)
3.2. Miracles in Present Times: It might be said that works of revival that we read of in Asbury are not the norm. They are extraordinary and exceptional. A sovereign work of God and something that can’t be predicted or expected so the Q is why we don’t see more demonstrations of the Spirit’s power in the present times? What I want to say is just because we don’t see much doesn’t mean that God is not doing much behind the scene. God is at work all the time and it is only sometimes that we get to see it. Sometimes, the veil is removed for a short while and we get a peek, but mostly we don’t. But, I want to press the point further. Why don’t we see more stuff like we read about in Acts? Some commentators are so aware of this that they invent the excuse that the times for exercising such gifts was a period in the past. They call it dispensationalism. They say that the age of miracles is over. Should the church follow the dictates of the time and give up its historical right of rescue? Jesus spoke about this and said:
“Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.” (Mk 11:23)
Let’s go further:
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mk 11: 24-25)
I am not saying that we are given the right to exercise these powers for profit or gain or just for the heck of it to show we have the “power.” This is not a trivial thing that we are entrusted with. “Faith” is what Jesus speaks of when that account is recorded in Matthew (Mt 21:20-22). “Prayer” is what is recorded.? Have we been like the person whose friend suddenly shows up at midnight and needs to eat. Are we willing to go on our knees, struggle and pound on the door of heaven?
3.3. Reigning with Christ: The above is part of what it means to reign with Christ. If your read Eph 2: 6, you will see that it is written in the present tense: