Missionaries working near Bali were greatly elated when the wife of the Rajah accepted Christ. She heard the gospel away from her native land and got converted. Her ten year old son was born almost blind and the local doctors thought that it was impossible for sight to be gained through operation. The missionaries saw an opportunity to reach the heart of Rajah through a successful operation.
They looked for an eye specialist and found one Makassar who was a Christian. They brought Rajah, his wife and son to Makassar for the operation. The missionaries called upon God to help the doctor in the very delicate and nearly impossible operation. Before the boy who was by now a believer was operated on he asked the doctor to let him pray first. He said “I am now a Christian and I know God will help me”.
The missionaries prayed throughout the time the operation was going on. God answered their prayers, the operation was successful. The boy’s first request was to be given a Bible in his own language to read. When the Rajah saw how God had answered the prayers and given his son sight, he accepted Christ and through him the gospel entered the island of Bali. His family was the first to be converted in the island.
Acts 5:12-16 describes the powerful impact of the apostles' ministry in the community. Earlier the believers had prayed “Lord... grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word, by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your holy servant Jesus ”(Acts 4:29-30). Acts 5:12 records the answer to that prayer; “through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people”
Though the apostles were righteous men, they were just instruments in God’s hands. He was the one performing the signs and wonders. The power they acted by was God’s; they had prayed for it and always acknowledged it. The Holy Spirit used the hands of the apostles to carry out the signs and wonders; they did it "through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:30).
Acts 5:13-14 describes two results of this demonstration of signs and wonders. First, the people esteemed them highly. Verse 13 says, "none of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem." The people of Jerusalem, the outsiders stood in awe of the apostles and the Church. Second, in the midst of all this fear and amazement verse 14 says "believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women."
When Ananias and Sapphira died because of hypocrisy, “great fear came upon all the Church and upon as many as heard these things” (Acts 5:11). The other Christian who may have been on the border of sin did not dare to get into sin. Everybody knew it was a serious thing to be a follower of Jesus. The public was aware that you do not join the Church unless you were for real; the tares stayed away from the wheat.
Luke wants us to see a connection between the signs and wonders done by the apostles in verse 12 and the multitudes being added to the Lord in verse 14. This gives us an idea of why the Church prayed so earnestly for signs and wonders. Signs and wonders helped bring people to the Lord. This is not an isolated instance in the book of Acts. There are at least 17 times where a miracle helps lead to conversions in the book of Acts.
For example, the mysterious wind and sound on the day of Pentecost attracted a crowd and 3,000 were converted. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2, 41-47). The healing of the lame man in Acts 3:6 led to 2,000 converts (Acts 4:4). In Lydda Peter healed Aeneas and "all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him and they turned to the Lord"(Acts 9:34-35). In Joppa Peter raised Tabitha from the dead, "it became known throughout all Joppa and many believed in the Lord" (Acts 9:40-42).
The reason the believers prayed “Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders” (Acts 4:40) it was proof that their message was real and could be trusted. In 1 Corinthians 1:22–23 Paul says, "Jews demand signs, Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified . . . the power of God”. Signs and wonders do not save. What changes the heart is the gospel (2 Cor. 3:18–4:6). Romans 1:16 says, "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation."
However, demonstration of God’s power compels people to pay attention to the gospel. Miracles in the name of Jesus demonstrate that Jesus has the power to save to the uttermost (completely) those who come to God through Him (Heb 7:25). They demonstrate that Jesus is the creator and ruler of all things (Col.1:16, 17). Only the creator can instantly transform a severely damaged body to a perfect one (Acts 3:16). And, he who can restore life to a dead (temporal) body (John 11:21-44), can also protect the saved (eternal) soul from eternal damnation (Matt. 25:46).
The signs and wonders that accompanied Jesus ministry of earth served to demonstrate that he was truly who he claimed to be-God (John 10:30). In the Old Testament God had power to still a raging storm to a whisper (Ps 107:25-29),), Jesus demonstrated the same power (Luke 8:22-24). God multiplied food (1 Kings 17:7-16); Jesus did the same (Mark 6:35-44). God made a dry road in the red sea (Exodus 14:15-22), Jesus walked on the lake as if on dry road (Matt 14:22-27).
From its inception on the Day of Pentecost, the Church continued to grow fast (Acts1:15; 2:41; 4:4). And, at some point Luke stopped giving numbers for its size; so in Acts 5:14 he just said that "believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” .The mention of multitudes joining the Church in this verse is Luke’s way of pointing out that the cleansing of the Church connected with Ananias and Sapphira, which had just happened, did not do a lasting damage.
Acts 5:15 says “so they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them”. In the ancient world many people believed that a person's shadow could possess magical healing. There is nothing here to suggest that the apostles encouraged this kind of thing. Nor does it say that the shadow of Peter falling on them did heal them.
In Luke 8:44, a touch of Jesus’ garment healed a woman. There was nothing magical in the garment, but it was a way that her faith was released. In the same way there was no power in Peter’s shadow itself. People esteemed the apostles so much; they were so convinced of the reality and power of what the Christians believed, the mere touch of Peter’s shadow released their healing faith.
There is no doubt that a remarkable work of healing was present. We should not miss the connection between the purity preserved in the first part of the chapter with the death of Ananias and the power displayed here. God blessed the Church with spiritual power because it was pure. The Church that is alive and sensitive to God is effective. Here is the Church in the full bloom of her power: a Spirit-filled Church, a wonder-working Church.
Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed (Acts 5:16). This is the first mention the apostles' ministry spreading beyond Jerusalem. However, while Jesus had said that the disciples would move from Jerusalem to other areas witnessing (Acts 1:8), here we find people from surrounding cities being drawn to Jerusalem by what was going on there.
This sounds like the days of Jesus all over again. In Matthews 4:24 we read that “His fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought Him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and He healed them”. This was the beginning of the fulfilment of what Jesus promised his disciples; “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father”( John 14:12).
God is still healing the sick and delivering people from demons. However, the greatest miracle is not deliverance from forces that afflict the physical body. Every person ever healed by Jesus or by his disciples died. The physical healing was a temporary thing, with no exceptions. The physical healing at best is only a temporary thing. The deepest need of man is spiritual healing. The greatest miracle is the rescuing of the soul that are headed to second death (Prov. 24:11;James 5:20, rev 21:8).
The miracle working power manifested in the early Church is a symbol and a guarantee of the spiritual power available to the Church at all times. The early Church did not water down the gospel or minimize holiness just to make people happy. The Church must operate within the biblical guidelines for its own purity and power. The world needs to know what a serious danger it’s to infiltrate the Church and live like a “tare” among “wheat”. The eternal destiny of every tare is the Lake of Fire (Matt.13:24-30).
The early Church was facing great obstacles. Opposition had risen and had issued serious threats; their leader Jesus had been crucified. They had seen God deal severely with the hypocrites. Yet, multitudes were being added to the Lord. Sometimes the Church is intimidated by the opposition; it fears and fails to fulfill its mandate. Sometimes there is fear that discipline will bring unpopularity and it’s not exercised lest growth ceases. But lack of disciple permits impurity and impurity in the Church is accompanied with weakness.
Obstacles of various kinds, great though they may be, cannot prevent the growth of a Spirit-filled Church. When the Holy Spirit is working within it and giving it power, multitudes will be added and the Church will continue to grow. In the midst of every kind of opposition in the days of the apostles, multitudes of believers were added to the Lord. The Church should maintain purity and remain bold at all time; God will take care of the increase.
God wants to present to the world, a people who are his; people who will display a quality of life that He produces in them and which the world cannot duplicate; People who will demonstrate to the world what life is really like when God is their every- thing. “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Eph.5:25-27).
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