Word of Knowledge: Power and Purity
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 5 days ago
- 8 min read
Acts 5:1-11 “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. (2) And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. (3) But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? (4) While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." (5) Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So, great fear came upon all those who heard these things. (6) And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. (7) Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. (8) And Peter answered her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?" She said, "Yes, for so much." (9) Then Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." (10) Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. (11) So, great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.”
In order for us to get a clearer understanding of the gift of the word of knowledge and how it operates we will examine some examples in scripture. The above quoted passage of scripture is an example of the manifestation of the word of knowledge operating through the Apostle Peter’s ministry. This example is particularly powerful with regards to the result that it produced in the church, which agrees with the principle that the Lord uses this gift to accomplish His purposes in the lives of the saints. This is the first example recorded of this gift being manifested in the early church. Had Peter and the other apostles been operating in this gift at this level before this incident, there is no way that Ananias and Sapphira would have done what they did, because they would never have taken the chance of the Holy Spirit revealing their deceit. I’m very sure that after this incident that no one dared to do something similar to what Ananias and Sapphira had done, for the scripture says that great fear came upon all those who heard these things, including those in the church. The apostle Paul taught us in an earlier passage of scripture that God often uses this gift to convict individuals to bring them to a place of repentance. And so we see that in this incident the Holy Spirit used this gift to bring about a reverential fear for God in the church. I’m fully convinced that if this gift was more prominent in the church today that we would see believers living far more holy lives before the Lord, because people would repent as the secrets of their hearts are revealed, and others would fear. I am talking about a reverential fear for God, for remember that our God is Holy. Are there Ananias’s and Sapphira’s in the church today? I think we can all agree that there most certainly are people in the church today, who say one thing and practice another. The bible refers to them as being hypocrites.
Acts 4:33 “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”
The same Holy Spirit that operated through Peter’s ministry is in the church today, and we know that He hasn’t changed. And so the question is raised as to why we do not see this gift being manifested at this level in the church today? The answer lies in looking at Peter’s ministry. At the time of the incident involving Ananias and Sapphira, the anointing on Peter’s ministry and that of the other apostles was extremely powerful. The above quoted passage of scripture speaks of great power being made available to the apostles and that great grace was upon them all. The reason for this deep anointing, is because they had given themselves completely to prayer and the ministry of the word and living separated holy lives before the Lord (Acts 6:4). And so God could use His ministers at this level because He could entrust them with great power.
Galatians 2:11-13 “Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; (12) for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. (13) And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.”
But when we look at Peter’s ministry a number of years later, we notice a change. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul refers to Peter as being a hypocrite in this incident, along with all the other Jewish believers who were there at the time. And so we see that at the outset of Peter’s ministry the Holy Spirit had used him to expose hypocrisy in the church, but now he himself was to be blamed. Even though Peter was obviously not walking in the same level of hypocrisy as Ananias and Sapphira, he was no longer walking in the purity that he had once walked. God will not use one who is living in hypocrisy, to expose the hypocrisy of another. And so when the church, especially its leadership, once again walks in the level of commitment that the early disciples did, then we will once again see the gifts of the Spirit operating at the level of the incident of Ananias and Sapphira.
Acts 11:27-28 “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. (28) Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.”
In this next example quoted above we see that the prophet Agabus was given a word of knowledge, that there was going to be a great famine throughout the whole world at that time. And so the Lord Jesus let His church know what was going to happen before the time, so that they could prepare for it and thus not incur the same level of suffering that the unbelievers would be subjected to. The word of knowledge given at this level would normally be given through the office of the prophet. The reason for that is because a word of knowledge at this level impacts the whole church, and so God will use ministries that are recognized throughout the church in order to deliver this type of message. Obviously Agabus was a recognised prophet in the early church. If the Lord Jesus was concerned about the welfare of His early church, then He is still concerned about His church today, and wants to warn us of impending national and global occurrences so that we can prepare for them. And so it is clearly evident that the church needs this gift displayed at this level today. Again we see that this word of knowledge was delivered through the spiritual gift of prophecy. As an aside, if you study scripture you will see that the prophet Agabus delivered his prophetic utterances along with some form of demonstration, for this passage declares that he “showed” by the Spirit. Not all are anointed to deliver prophecies in this manner, but some are. I know that I can become very animated when I deliver some of the prophecies that the Lord gives me, specifically when I do so through the gift of different kinds of tongues. It is the same gift but the scripture teaches us that there are diversities of activities (1 Corinthians 12:6).
Acts 20:22-23 “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, (23) except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.”
The next example we will discuss is given to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. Although I included this example in the section dealing with the word of wisdom, this scripture actually refers to the gift of the word of knowledge being displayed in these churches. What I particularly wanted to point out in this passage is that in “every” church that Paul and his team visited this gift was manifested. And so we see that the gift of the word of knowledge was not uncommon in the early churches. This gift should be manifest in every church today just as it was in the early church, for this particular gift is of great blessing to the church. Some have erroneously thought that the church at Corinth was particularly open to the gifts of the Spirit because we have Paul’s letter to them, telling us that they came short in no gift (1 Corinthians 1:7). But the scripture that we have quoted above teaches us differently, for clearly all the churches operated in spiritual gifts at that time. All the churches that Paul planted operated in the gifts of the Spirit, because that’s what they knew right from the outset because that is what he taught them. Years after the churches had started in Galatia for example, the apostle Paul was commenting on the Holy Spirit’s working of miracles among them (Galatians 3:5). Clearly the gifts of the Spirit were operating in all of the churches back then, and they should be operating in all the churches today.
Acts 16:16-18 “Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. (17) This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation." (18) And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour.”
Not all displays of the word of knowledge are from the Holy Spirit. In the above quoted example this slave girl was possessed with a spirit of divination. And so the “word of knowledge” she gave was accurate, because what she said was true even though she personally knew nothing about Paul and his team. This woman was a fortune-teller however, and everyone in town knew that. God gets no glory from demons proclaiming that His ministers are in town, and so the Holy Spirit through Paul dealt with that demon. The point I wanted to make here however, is that there are spirits of divination in this world. And so we must not think that every word given is from God, even if the “message” that they are proclaiming is accurate.
Michael E.B. Maher
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