Daily Thoughts from Acts: Signs and Wonders (Acts 5:12-16)

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.  (Acts 5:12-16 ESV)

The church had prayed for boldness and for signs and wonders to be done in the name of Jesus and God answered that prayer.  The church gathered in multiple homes, but when they wanted to all be together they gathered in the temple area at Solomon’s covered portico or walkway.  It is natural for believers to want to gather corporately like this for instruction and worship and that is why congregations became property owners and builders of places to come together (the meaning of synogogue is “a coming together place”).  Because of opposition from the religious leaders people were afraid to join the Jesus followers there unless they were true believers.  But they all wanted the healing and demon exorcising that was being performed at the apostles’ hands and perhaps the hands of other believers among them.  And just as with Jesus, everyone who came for healing got healing.

As testimony to how powerfully the Spirit was among them, people were hoping even for Peter’s shadow to fall on them in hopes of a miracle cure, and people who came from the towns all around Jerusalem were all healed.  Did Peter’s shadow heal these people?  No.  But faith in the power of God being demonstrated through Peter and God’s readiness to heal those who came met on these occasions and the result was healing.  Later in Luke’s account we will see something similar when handkerchiefs that had touched Paul’s body were brought to the sick and demon possessed and the people were healed.  Luke will show many parallels between Peter and Paul that demonstrate the equality of their apostleship.

Is this an endorsement of the modern practice healing through handkerchiefs sent from the evangelist?  Perhaps, but too often this practice has had the added feature of a requested or required donation in order to receive the healing item.  That is not what Peter and Paul were doing.  Even then, if a person’s faith in God is abetted by an object like this, they may indeed receive a healing, not from a handkerchief but from God in response to their faith.

God was giving authentication to this new body, the church, in the midst of the very city where everyone should have received the Messiah, but too many didn’t.  There were multitudes who believed, but the nation as a whole was not embracing Jesus.

There is still room for such authentication today and there is ample testimony that God is still giving signs and wonders through His people.  It is a shame that it has become associated with flim-flam artists and money-seeking individuals (Luke’s account anticipates this in chapter 8).  People without the actual enablement from God to do miracles have preyed on desperate people for financial gain.  As Peter told Simon (Acts 8:20), may their silver perish with them.

The ministry of Heidi and Rolland Baker with Iris Global is one example of signs and wonders ministry that has some attestation of authenticity. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Baker.