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ACTS - In the Triumphal Procession of Christ
Studies in the Acts of the Apostles
PART 1 - The Foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Syria - Under the Patronage of the Apostle Peter, Guided by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1 - 12)
A - The Growth and Development of the Early Church in Jerusalem (Acts 1 - 7)

14. The Death of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11)


ACTS 5:7-11
7 About three hours later, his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in. 5:8 Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” She said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter asked her, “How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 She fell down immediately at his feet, and died. The young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her by her husband. 11 Great fear came on the whole assembly, and on all who heard these things.

The church was shaken by this judgment of God. Everyone saw the residues of his own sinful life in the light of the Lord, and was afraid of being struck through a continuation of God’s anger. Many repented tearfully and contritely before God, and became sanctified in fear and trembling.

The young men got up and wrapped the body of the dead man. With trembling hearts they carried out the body of him who had just been struck down by the word of the Holy Spirit, as if hit by a thunderbolt. Those who carried out the body must have prayed and committed themselves completely to God. They desisted completely from the love of money.

None of the church members had the courage to tell the dead man’s wife that God had punished her husband´s deceit with immediate death. The Holy Spirit prevented them from telling her this, for they all felt that the Spirit of the Lord had just rendered a personal judgment. When Sapphira came to the meeting three hours later, hoping to bask proudly in the church´s gratitude for this big contribution, Peter immediately drew near to her and asked: “Was this all you received for the sale of the field?” The apostle wanted to give the woman a chance to repent and to consider the truth of God. She had done wrong to go against her natural inclination regarding her husband, having neglected to give him advice. She did not urge him on to truth and humility, but shared with him in his deceitful intent. Probably she encouraged him to not give away all the money, but to think also of his family. With her lying, pride, and hypocrisy she entered into accord with her husband.

Peter removed the veil from the face of this hypocrite, as he had done to her husband. He asked her in wonderment about the evil that had arisen through her tricky deceit in the midst of the church: “How could you and your husband decide to put the Lord’s Spirit to the test?” In marriage, God must be obeyed before yielding to the husband. We must obey God rather than man, even in our families. When the husband is drawn to do what is evil, his wife must warn him, reject his words, and pray for him, that he may be delivered from guilt, malice, and selfishness.

Sapphira and her husband had become open to the spirit of the devil. They opposed the working of the Holy Spirit, and began to enter into a spirit of pride, lying, and hypocrisy. This evil spirit they intended to bring into the circle of the righteous and the godly. If unchecked, it would have killed mutual love in the church, and trampled the truth beneath their feet. The apostles had not asked them to bring the full amount of money they had received from the sale of the field. It was for the sake of boasting before the congregation that they both propagated this lie.

God’s curse also came upon this woman of deceit. She was brought to death by the Lord of life at the apostles’ feet, the same place where she had been unwilling to lay down her life as a complete sacrifice. Great was her fall. Each woman in the church began to think again about the meaning of her spiritual responsibility to her husband at home. Woman can either draw their husbands into heaven or throw them into hell. Humble and diligent women who trust God overcome their husbands’ temptations through their prayers. She who wishes to exalt her husband to a place of fame, pomposity, and opulence altogether falls into the claws of the devil, together with her husband and children.

The young men’s hearts beat quickly as they carried out the impostor’s woman to bury her beside him in the Kidron valley. It was a lesson to the congregation. A married couple in one family, a father and a mother, on the same day, in the same church, had died. It was a horrible blow for believers who had been trained in enduring one another in the Holy Spirit. They wondered among themselves: Did we neglect to take notice of this couple, and fail to give them warning?

Are we better than they in the intent of our hearts? Ananias and Sapphira became a warning to all Christians at all times, reminding us that our God is a jealous God and a consuming fire.

PRAYER: O holy God, You are the Omniscient One. You know our past and our present. Deliver us from ourselves, and do not lead us into temptation. Deliver me from money, arrogance, and lying; sanctify me completely by the blood of Your Son. Create upright families in our churches, where couples speak the truth to one another. Amen.

QUESTION:

  1. What is the spiritual duty of married couples toward one another?

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