How Did the Apostles Perform Signs and Wonders?

Tom: This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment. We are in the Book of Acts, and, Dave, you know, it’s our continual encouragement to people, the name of the program is Search the Scriptures Daily. We have the privilege and the pleasure of going through the Scriptures with our listeners, but our encouragement to them is to do it on your own.

Dave: Well, this is God’s Word, Tom, I mean, what could be more wonderful than to have God’s Word available to us? Some places you are not allowed to have it.

Tom: If you’ve never read the Bible before, as we have encouraged in the past, to begin with the gospel of John, and then maybe pick up with Acts, which is what we are going through, and read God’s Word. Dave, as you said, I can’t say enough about it. The very idea that we, as human beings, can hear from the throne of God on a daily basis just by opening up the Book and reading it. And we are not left to our own devices. It was given to us by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is given to us, as believers, to understand His Word.

Dave: This is why I had to smuggle Bibles into the Soviet Union in the Iron Curtain days, because they were not allowed. They knew that this is a Book that will bring people to the truth and it will set them free. This is why you wouldn’t dare to carry a Bible openly on the street in Saudi Arabia. You couldn’t have a Bible study like this in Saudi Arabia. You couldn’t have a radio program like this in Saudi Arabia.

You know I was speaking about this a few months ago and here was the imam from the mosque sitting on the front row, and they were upset: “Well, why couldn’t [we] say something, too?” You know, “Well, let us say something!”

I said, “Well, when you let me say something in Saudi Arabia, you let me say something in your mosque, then we could have a discussion together, but you know that that’s not possible.” Well, the only reason I mentioned that, Tom, is because this, as you said, is God’s Word. And “the entrance of thy Word gives light,” the Scripture says. It will set you free, and the tyrant doesn’t want you to be set free by the Bible. Furthermore, it will bring you to God; it will bring you to salvation, it will bring you to Jesus Christ. So, anyway, Tom, I guess you were about to read from Acts:5:12And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.
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Tom: Dave, you know, sometimes you say, “Well, Tom, just let me digress here for a little second, and so on.” I would like to digress from this but by going to the Scriptures. I just heard a talk that you gave—I think it was in Bermuda—and in that talk you addressed a verse that is so appropriate to what we have been addressing here from the beginning of the program, and it’s from Hebrews:4:12For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
See All..., and I would just like you to talk about this for maybe a few moments. I’ll read it: “For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That’s the Word of God.

Dave: Amen, Amen! And it’s from Genesis to Revelation. Why we would want something else, I don’t know, Tom. But the Word of God is not something that I bring my ideas to, and you know, try to improve it, or as we have been talking about earlier, integrate some of the psychological nonsense of man, but it’s something that’s going to correct me. Paul tells us, he writes 2 Timothy:3:16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
See All...: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” It doesn’t leave any room for me to interject my ideas or education to change it a bit, or…Tom, you know, you could almost get me going on these modern translations, like The Message, by Eugene Peterson, where they have dared to change God’s Word. But we’re dealing with God’s Word, and what a privilege it is! This is, you could say, a love letter that God has written to the human race.

Tom: The thing that gets me about this verse, again we’re talking about Hebrews:4:12For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
See All..., “…sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit”—this is saying it can look into my heart so deeply, I mean, I can’t even go there! But there are things in my heart that need to be revealed, that the light of God’s Word needs to address, and I need to repent of.

Dave: Amen. Instead of that, people want to change the Bible to bring it in line with their thoughts. Yeah, well, let’s get on with the Bible here, Tom, Acts:5:12And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.
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Tom: All right. “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. And of the rest dared no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.” Now, wait a minute! Is this saying that there was a demonstration of Christianity here that was so different? It wasn’t just people that were in awe of it, but it intimidated them. Is that what I am to understand here, Dave?

Dave: Well, verse 11 says: “And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.” Now, that was about Ananias and Saphira were knocked dead for lying, and you have, as you said, I mean this is the power of God at work, it’s being manifested in people’s lives and in healings, signs and wonders, and it’s not that people are flocking, you know. This isn’t the seeker-friendly church: we’re going to advertise it and “Come on, guys, you’ll feel comfortable here!”

And this is what they are telling us today. You’ve got to be very careful, you’ve got to have this sort of oriented to the secular audience and try to make secular people seekers. Well, they are not very serious seekers maybe, but they are curious. “We don’t want to offend them, we don’t want to frighten them away—so, make them feel comfortable, change the music, change the whole order of things in order to cater to their desires.”

That’s the opposite of what you get here. This was powerful, real, genuine Christianity being lived out. Christ is living His life through these Christians, and people are not just running up—“I’d like to join your church! I just love how the choir sings,” and so forth.

Tom: Dave, earlier, when we were talking about icons and the emerging church, there’s a mentality among those who are promoting this that says, “We’ve got to get back to reverent Christianity; we’ve got to get back to a sacred atmosphere,” and so. So, they are turning to mystical Christianity as opposed to turning to this. How grievous is that!

Dave: We need to turn to the Lord. We’ve been forbidden to make images—that is very clear in the Scriptures. But this is the power of God, this is the Holy Spirit, this is Christ living His life through these people, and you don’t have to have some icon to make you feel reverent. The fear of God is upon them all, and to stick an icon in there—I mean, the Christians of that day would have just thrown that thing out so fast because it is contrary to the Word of God.

Tom: And, on the one hand, there were some who were intimidated by this, on the other, verse 14 says: “And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” This was the truth, Dave, they were drawn to the truth; they had a heart for truth.

Dave: But they were added as believers. They didn’t come in and then you try to adjust the worship service so they feel comfortable. I don’t believe that’s biblical. The church service is for Christians to gather to be edified, to worship the Lord together, then they go out and win others to Christ. “They went everywhere preaching the Word.” So, it’s a pretty clear picture that we have here of how the church functioned, and it is absolutely the opposite of what the seeker-friendly, or whatever it is, the church-growth movement, is telling us we must do today.