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. 

The Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke, physician and historian.  Acts tells us of the acts of great men in the early church and also the letter records material found nowhere else in the New Testament – the history of the first three decades of the church.  We are told of the explosion of energy and the powerful workings of the Spirit in that ancient world.

Our verses today follow the story of Ananias and Sapphira, husband and wife, who sold property and pretended to give the entire proceeds to the poor. Both were questioned by Peter, and both were struck dead on exposure of this lie. We are told this was a judgment of God or qualified as “death at the hands of heaven” which was a recognized penalty in the Old Testament and in Jewish Law.  This event happened at a critical time for the early church and Gods judgment was quick and terrible and inspired great and holy fear among converted and non converted Jews.

Our verses today tell us that the Apostles and some of the early disciples were performing mighty acts of miraculous healing. They had great power of the Holy Spirit and we are told they were held in high esteem by those who were afraid to confess Christ as messiah.  None of the rest dared to even associate with the apostles in those immediate days at Jerusalem but still the church grew:  what was going on??  Peter was preaching to those who had just murdered Jesus and Luke shows him as bold, articulated and clearly inspired by the Spirit.

There was powerful witnessing resulting in powerful conversions – the purpose of the miracles was to confirm the Gospel message and to authenticate the Apostles as God’s messengers.  It was a serious thing to be a Christian.  People were so convinced of the reality and power of what Christians believed that they brought their sick to be healed. Even to the point of placing the sick in Peter’s shadow – we don’t know if they were healed but clearly the people thought they could be healed. People of Jerusalem believed what Peter was saying was blessed by God.