Acts 5:12-16

The Kingly Rule of God Is Revealed As Present In Great Signs and Wonders (5:12-16).

What followed from Satan's failure to cut at the root of the revival through Ananias and Sapphira, was an expansion of the revival. Satan had been rooted out and the Holy Spirit had full rein. It was a demonstration of their folly. Signs and wonders continued to multiply as evidence that what God offered was more valuable than the price of a piece of land. And through greed and desire for approbation they had lost out on it all.

Such signs and wonders were important as evidence to all that the Kingly Rule of God was here, and that the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord had come (see Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 61:1).

The order of events up to this stage is revealing. The examination before the council and asserting of their dependence on the Name of Jesus had been followed by a renewal of the Holy Spirit's empowering, and a revelation of the establishment of the Kingly Rule of God in the daily living of the church. This had then been followed by God's dealing with false pretence, accompanied by an awful warning, and was now followed by abundance of blessing. The Kingly Rule of God was being openly revealed in signs and wonders. To put it verbally they were ‘threatened' and given an official warning by the authorities, they were filled with boldness by the Holy Spirit, great grace was upon them all from God, those who sought to undermine the whole were executed, and now great power was revealed among them. All preparatory to the original threats being carried out. (Note how the threatenings are closely linked with the signs and wonders in the prayers of His people Acts 4:29).