Original Entry Date 2/1/2013: At this time, Christ had already risen from the dead and now the church was moving in GREAT power and performing miracles! Multitudes of people were being added to the Lord daily.
This was causing great fear and backlash from the religious powers and authorities of the land.
As you read take note of how it is reminiscent of Christ and the Resurrection.
Acts 5:12-25 NKJV: 12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. 13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that 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. 16 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.
This portion is reminiscent of how Jesus performed great signs and wonders, healing all and multitudes believed and followed Him. I was unsure who or what “none of the rest” meant exactly so here is some commentary from a study Bible-No one else dared join them. Because of the fate of Ananias and his wife, no pretenders or halfhearted followers risked identification with the believers, or perhaps no one tried to associate too closely with the Twelve. Luke cannot mean that no one joined the Christian community, since v. 14 indicates that many were coming to Christ.
Reading that made me think of those who believed in Jesus but were afraid to leave all to follow Him. Nicodemus (John 3) came to mind; he believed in Jesus but being a Pharisee, was fearful of making his belief known. This was apparent by his visit to Jesus in the middle of the night so he wouldn’t be seen. I definitely am not saying that he was condemned; that’s not for me to decide, Thank God! It actually inspires me to examine myself; where am I offering God only half of my heart? Am I willing to change?
17 Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, 18 and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. 19 But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.”
(Here, I am reminded of how Jesus was arrested and crucified by the religious authorities of the day as a way to permanently quiet Him; their attempt to imprison Him by death. Just as the angel of the Lord frees the apostles from the prison Jesus overcame and defeated the sentence of death itself; freely walking right out of the tomb by the power of the Holy Spirit! AMEN!!)
21 And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.
22 But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, 23 saying, “Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!” 24 Now when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. 25 So one came and told them, saying, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!”
(In this final portion they go to the prison only to find it empty; kind of like how Jesus’s tomb was found empty. And there the apostles were in the Temple teaching; doing God’s work just like Jesus went out and finished God’s plan for salvation.)
