Acts 5:1-11 - Deceit Exposed

Moving from narrating about Barnabas' generosity, Luke now turns to share about Ananias and Sapphira's deceit and death. It was a chilling account that brought great fear over this young community of faith.

This story of Ananias and Sapphira gives us  a complete and true picture of human weakness and loss. In the way this couple was dealt with, we see the intention of God to keep the church pure. What Ananias did, they didn't lie to men but the Holy Spirit.

Like Barnabas , this couple gave the money they got from the sales of their property to the church. But unlike Barnabas, they kept a part of the proceeds for themselves. What they did wrong was to give the impression that they had given the entire proceed to the church.

It would be perfectly alright for them to keep a part of it for themselves. But the issue was in sending the wrong message. What they did was deceitful and untrue. They had cast a wrong impression. Peter's awareness of what had taken place was the gift of knowledge in demonstration.

"Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" Isn't this almost like what that scheming devil did to Judas? In John 13:2 we see that it was the devil that had "put into the heart (of Judas) to betray Jesus." We can be quite sure that every form of deceit can be traced to the devil. He is the origin of it.

The property was entirely at the couple's disposal. It was theirs. But what was unacceptable was the deceit and the wrong impression they cast. Ananias dropped dead for a simple deceit. Sounded so severe.

Luke was explicit. He said that the lie was committed against the Holy Spirit. Hence what happened after was a judgement of God. Peter was merely the instrument to execute it.
   
As soon as Peter exposed the weight of their sin, Ananias collapsed and fell at the Apostle's feet, totally dead. There was no time even for him to repent. And three hours later, Sapphira unaware of what had transpired, came in.

As Peter  interrogated her, she had the opportunity at this point to tell the truth. The question should have indicated that Peter knew the truth. But she did not seize on the chance given. She chose to lie to the Holy Spirit as well.

When she lied, Peter had a nagging question. So he asked, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?" As soon as Peter said that, she, liked her husband, fell dead. The same group of young men who buried her husband also carried her out for burial.

This account tells us of how zealously the Holy Spirit guarded and is still guarding the church. There must be no trifling with the Holy Spirit. Man may not always see through a deceit, but not the Holy Spirit. Nothing could escape Him.

This is a solemn reminder that the power of the Holy Spirit is here to help us to live an honest, truthful life. It is detrimental for us  to sabotage His work by greed and deceit.

Truthful living helps us to live a liberated and free life. We will never need to guard an untruth. We would not need to be fearful of being found out. So, let's live sincerely and honestly. Let's be truthful in every circumstance!