The Power of the Resurrection / Acts Bible Study (Part 12) / Chapter 4

David Hathaway

Looking at that first revival in Acts 4 we see some tremendous things. It’s amazing what I read in verse 13: When the religious council in Jerusalem saw the boldness of Peter and John, they took note that they were unlearned and ignorant men, and marvelled at them, because they could see that what marked out Peter and John as different from anyone else – was that they had been with Jesus!

One of the purposes for which Jesus sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was very simply this: He said to His disciples, “Look, I’m going to go, I won’t remain with you, I won’t be here to deal with all the issues that you will have…” Remember how He’d had to rebuke His disciples and say, “How long shall I put up with you, how long will I be with you”?! He said this because He knew that His ministry with them was only for a short time… But He also said, “If I go, I will send the Comforter” – that’s the Holy Spirit, who was to be with them, to replace the very Person of Jesus Christ after He had been carried up into Heaven.

So when the religious leaders saw the healing of the crippled man at the Temple Gate, they saw that Peter and John had a boldness that did not come from any learning or education or from religion – but was a personal relation‐ ship with Jesus, so that they exclaimed, “These men have been with Jesus!”

But it wasn’t just that they had been with Jesus; now the risen Jesus was with them all through the Person of the Holy Spirit! Look at Acts 4:29‐31, where Peter and John lift up their voices to God and say, “Lord, behold their threatenings and grant that, with all boldness, we may speak Your Word, by stretching forth Your Hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done in the Name of Your Holy Child Jesus!” When they had prayed, the whole place where they were gathered together was shaken, and everyone there was filled with the Holy Spirit! And as a result, they began to speak the Word of God with boldness! Just as they had asked! And verse 33 says that with GREAT POWER the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and the grace of God was MIGHTY on them all!

So you can see here, the impact of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, attested by speaking in tongues and by healing. The more I read those early parts of the Acts of the Apostles, two signs of the Presence of the Holy Spirit become evident again and again: one, they spoke in tongues, and two, miracles of healing confirmed the Word they preached everywhere they went. Those two things ONLY came and ONLY come as a result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit!

So you can see that what we need today is a reviving of the Church. We need to see the reviving of the Power and the manifestation of God! And we need to see the same evidences that were present in the early Church: the speaking in tongues, and the miracles of healing that followed the apostles after they had received the Holy Spirit.