God's Plan and Power for the World

The book of Acts tells us the story of how the gospel message about Jesus began to spread and how, as it spread, it also began to transform the world. It is truly one of the history’s greatest stories. Those of us who believe it would say, of course, that it is the greatest story of all history. Just a moment of reflection of how it is that you and I believe this message in 2025 is evidence of the enduring and transforming power of the announcement that Jesus is Lord.

But still, we need to constantly be reminded about what this message is, what it is all about. As the gospel has spread over the entire world, it has also become a bit tangled up with the world. As a result, we can easily lose our way when it comes to knowing what the gospel has to do with the world after all.

Perhaps this passage before us today can offer some help. It begins with the third of Luke’s summary statements in Acts. The first two, in Acts 2 and Acts 4, had to do with the internal affairs of the Christian community, but this one is about the Christian community’s external affairs, how the church of Jesus relates to the world around it. And what we see here is that the church relates to the world around it in some rather public and powerful ways so that it grabs the attention of the world’s powers, confronting and challenging them and ultimately overcoming them.

What we see here is the power of God himself at work to transform the world. The Creator God has a plan for his world, and he exercises his power in the gospel and community of Jesus, to see his plan fulfilled. Jesus has given his disciples the power to overcome the forces of darkness that oppose God’s good purposes for his creation. In this passage we see this divine, omnipotent power at work healing, confronting, and overcoming the world.

The Power to Heal the World

First, notice the divine power at work to heal the world. In verse 12, we are told that “many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles.” These are not magic tricks but miraculous acts of healing done by the twelve apostles of Jesus.

Healing the Sick

We were first told about this apostolic ability back in Acts 2:43, where the performance of these things brought “awe” upon everyone who witnessed them. The healing of the crippled man by Peter and John in chapter 3 also filled the people “with wonder and amazement.” Verses 15-16 give us a picture of the scene here.

[T]hey 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.”     

It is quite easy for us 21st century people to dismiss this account as the fantasy of an ancient, unenlightened people. We are highly skeptical of stories like this. The reference to Peter’s shadow sounds like ancient superstition that we might be tempted to laugh at. But then again, we should be laughing at ourselves, for the celebrity culture that we have created is much more ridiculous. We idolize our own powerful figures, paying handsomely to attend their concerts or sporting events, wanting to catch a glimpse of so-and-so as they pass by, maybe even snap a selfie with them in the frame. We want their autograph—one of my boys, presented with an opportunity to get an autograph from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander but having nothing else to have him sign had SGA sign his sock. Perhaps we aren’t as enlightened as we think we are.

Of course there are plenty of Christians who read this account and insist that “signs and wonders” ought to be “regularly done” by God’s people to this very day, usually if there is enough faith or if the right healing techniques and procedures are followed.

God can do what God wants to do. History is full of strange reports of miraculous things that defy simple explanations. But I don’t think this passage is meant to tell us that all Christians today should be performing miracles regularly. In fact, in this passage it is only the apostles who are seen as performing these signs and wonders. Verse 13 says that “none of the rest” of the believers at that point “dared join them.” These were apostolicsigns and wonders, powerful but also dangerous, as the early Christians had come to see in the previous account of Ananias and Sapphira.

Signs and Wonders

One thing here that can be overlooked is that the phrase “signs and wonders” is drawn from Old Testament texts that spoke of God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt. In Deuteronomy 7, Moses told the people,

[R]emember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out.

With the Exodus event firmly in their memory, Israel should never doubt the presence and power of God. Luke’s reference here to Peter’s shadow is about the representation of God’s own shadow: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psa 91:1). Another Exodus event has taken place, and Luke is telling us that in this community of Jesus people, to which the apostles were in unison giving testimony to, we can be certain of God’s own power and presence, of God’s own shadow.

So, when God calls us to action, we should remember his signs and wonders and not be afraid: “for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God” (Deut 7:21). It is not that we need to learn to do miraculous things, but that we need to remember the miraculous things that have already been done, and then dare to believe that God can still do amazing things through us. Even miraculous things? Sure, if that’s what God wants to do.

The Lord and His Kingdom

But let’s take a half-step back here and see the larger picture. The larger picture is the picture of God and the world he has made. The goodness of his creation which moves him to act in ways that will heal his creation. This is the work of the kingdom of God, the work that Jesus himself was occupied with, remember?

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal (Lk 9:1-2).

And that’s what they did. “And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere” (Lk 9:6).

We might here only be interested in so-called “miraculous” healings, but we might do well to remember these words of wisdom which pre-date Jesus himself and which are read to this day in many churches on the feast day commemorating Luke, the beloved physician:[1]

The Lord created medicines from the earth, and a sensible man will not despise them.

And give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; let him not leave you, for there is need of him.

There is a time when success lies in the hands of physicians, for they too will pray to the Lord that he should grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.

The Power to Confront the World

Now, make no mistake. This power of God that heals the world is at the same time the power of God that confronts the world. And of course it confronts the world because the world that is sick and in need of healing is also a world in which there are dark forces at work that have to be confronted if true and lasting healing is going to happen.

The Words of This Life

The confrontation begins here in verse 17. “But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.” We see the power of God in verse 19 when “an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out.” The angel told the apostles to return to the temple “and speak to the people all the words of this Life” (v. 20). And that’s what they did (v. 21). In verse 25 the temple police, dispatched to find the escaped prisoners found them there, “standing in the temple and teaching the people.”

What were they teaching? The answer is summed up in that phrase in verse 20: “all the words of this Life.” Peter knew exactly what that meant, because he used the same phrase in his response to Jesus in John 6. When many of Jesus’s presumed followers gave up on him, Jesus asked Peter and the rest of the disciples. “Do you want to go away as well?” And Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).

The “words of this (eternal) life” are all about God’s plan for the world, for his human image bearers, like you and me. Jesus, who is himself “the Life” (Jn 14:6), offers to all who would follow him a completely new way of life, a new way of being human.[2]

Let’s try to put this together, because it is a message that is not heard clearly enough in our day. The Creator God has a plan for his world. He loves his world, so he gave his one and only Son to heal his world (Jn 3:16). In Jesus, God has performed, as in the Exodus, “a great act of healing and rescue,” and his intention is not to “rescue humans from creation” but to “rescue humans in order that humans might be his rescuing stewards over creation. That is the inner dynamic of the kingdom of God.”[3]

It’s the story we are seeing played out here in Acts 5.

Public and Perplexed

Here we see the apostolic church of Jesus literally going out into the streets (v. 15). What might have otherwise remained an inward-focused cult could not help but go public, bringing healing to so many while also being terrifying to all the rest. The gospel of Jesus can never remain the possession of one’s private religion. Many Christians have thought of it that way and the unbelieving world would rather you keep it that way.

But the gospel of Jesus has power, power that confronts the world. It confronts the people who are sick and oppressed, bringing them healing but also a complete life transformation, a new way to be human. And it confronts the people who are strong and in power, the elite and powerful of every society, demanding that they stand for truth and justice, holding them to account.

When the Sanhedrin heard that the escaped prisoners had not fled for their lives but went right back to the public square and were teaching the people, “they were greatly perplexed about them” and wondered “what this would come to” (v. 24). They could see that there was a strange power at work in these apostles who simply could not be silenced in spite of their threats.

Leader and Savior

So they brought them in and “set them before the council” (v. 27). They had previously warned them not to teach in the name of Jesus, so now they must be convicted. Peter spoke up on behalf of the rest of the apostles.

We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:29-31)

Talk about boldness! Oh, may the church of Jesus Christ today remain confident in the power of God that confronts the world. You can’t read this passage and conclude that the church ought to relinquish its power by making an alliance with any power of man. God has promised his power and presence to his church and to none other. It takes courage in our day to remain steadfast because there are all kinds of voices and forces at work who want to erode our confidence in Jesus, crucified, risen, and ascended, as our only Leader and Savior. The power comes to us who actually believe all this stuff.

You and I have gathered here today to sing to Jesus, to pray to Jesus, and to no other. You and I have gathered here today and every Lord’s Day to confess our allegiance to our Triune God and his kingdom in the words of the Apostles’ Creed. Let us not now walk out of here and effectively recant by living by someone else’s confession and creed.

Where else can we go? Jesus has the words of life! He alone can show us how we ought to live, what real humanity ought to look like. We must obey God rather than men.

The Power to Overcome the World

So what is this all going to come to? Where does this all lead? How will the world respond? How will the Christians respond? By the time we get to the end of this chapter we are left with the confidence that this gospel message about Jesus is the power that overcomes the world.

The Witness of the Spirit

First, notice what Peter says in verse 32. In confronting the world’s powers with the gospel of Jesus, he says not only that he and the other apostles are witnesses of Jesus and his kingdom, but so also “is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” The power that overcomes the world is not, and never can be, mere human power and might. If there is a power that can overcome the world and all its dark and evil forces, then it can only be the power of God himself.

It is tempting, of course, to try otherwise. We need to recognize the temptation and allure of human power and might. The loudest voice. The richest and most successful persons. The dazzle of the most famous celebrity, their songs, and their glory. We do not need their power. We need God’s power. We need the Holy Spirit. And here’s how we know we have the Spirit. “Every manifestation of the Spirit bears witness to the Gospel.”[4]The Holy Spirit always points us to the announcement that it is Jesus—and no one else—who rules and reigns, who has our respect, our allegiance, and our obedience.

A Passing Fad?

When the powers of the world see that they cannot own us, cannot control us, we can’t be surprised when they become enraged at us and want to eliminate us (v. 33). That’s what happened here, but a certain, respected Pharisee named Gamaliel intervened.

I think Luke would have us see that Gamaliel’s advice in verses 35-39 is exactly how wise rulers to this very day ought to treat the church, as well as others who lay claim to divine authority. “Let’s leave them alone. If this is another one of the world’s human plans, it won’t last forever. But if it is from God, you won’t be able to overthrow them.”

Gamaliel reminded the others in the Sanhedrin about two other instances in which a certain person “rose up” and claimed divine authority to usher in or to advance the kingdom of God. Once that person died and was out of way, the movement ultimately faded away, another one of the world’s passing fads.

But here we are, some 2000 years later, and the Christian gospel is still doing its work, still bringing healing and lasting transformation to the world. And it’s not because Christians have successfully transferred the power of Jesus to his apostolic successor; it’s because Christians believe that Jesus, unlike Theudas, unlike Judas the Galilean, is not dead but is alive and well.

Rejoicing in Suffering

We are told at the end of verse 39 that the Sanhedrin took Gamaliel’s advice, although before letting the apostles go, “they beat them and charged them (again) not to speak in the name of Jesus.” One last show of human strength, one last stern warning from the powers that be.

But notice the strange power at work here, in verse 41. “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” This is the Jesus-shaped power, isn’t it? The power of a cross, the power of suffering and loss, of apparent humiliation and defeat. This is the power that heals, confronts, and, yes, overcomes the world.

See it there at the end of the chapter. In spite of the threats, the persecutions, the outrage, the apostles did not waver. “And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” That this the power that will never fade away, because it is indeed the power of Jesus, the power of God himself. Jesus told his disciples, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33).

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[1] The following references are taken from Ben Sira, see Bruce M. Metzger, An Introduction to the Apocrypha (New York: Oxford University Press, 1957), 83.

[2] C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary, ed. J. A. Emerton, C. E. B. Cranfield, and G. N. Stanton (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2004), 1:284.

[3] Tom Wright, Surprised by Hope(London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2007), 214-215.

[4]Barrett, Commentary on the Acts, 1:291.