Acts 5:7-11. In yesterday's post, Ananias came and offered the apostles what he represented to be all of the proceeds of the sale of his land. When Peter pointed out his lie, Ananias died on the spot. Today we read of Ananias' wife, who knew of the plan to withhold some of the proceeds, coming to the apostles three hours later. Peter asks her if they sold the land for the sum that Ananias offered, and she says "Yes, for so much." So Peter asks why the two of them agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? He says the men who buried her husband are just now returning, and they will carry her out, too. She immediately falls down dead at Peter's feet. The young man carry her out and bury her, and great fear came upon the whole church, and all who heard of this.

Did Ananias and his wife die because they withheld some of the proceeds of the sale? No! They died because they lied to God. They died because they denied the Holy Spirit. It may seem like Peter killed them with his power, but that is not the case. Peter was just stating what was going to happen to Ananias' wife, after seeing her husband pass away when confronted with knowledge of his deception. Remember, this is the beginning of the Church, the Holy Spirit is pouring His gifts out on these early Christians - they are being filled to the brim with the Spirit! When Ananias realized, through Peter's words, what he had done - how he had betrayed this new, amazing gift of the Holy Spirit, he droppped dead. Maybe he died from grief, maybe fear, maybe self disgust, maybe regret, maybe some combination of all of those things. What really happened was that he had betrayed God, and Peter pointed it out to him. Ananias saw his sin, and, seeing that in himself, and his betrayal of the Holy Spirit, he simply died. When Peter later understands that Ananias's wife is part of the same deception, he knows that she will die too.

This reminds me of when Jesus said we can be forgiven any sin except sins against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 21:31-32). Even if we speak against Jesus we can be forgiven - Jesus came to earth to convince us of his holiness, and to reveal God's love to us. He knew that some would reject him; He knew there was time for even them to be converted; and He knew that we would stumble and fall as we tried to follow Him. But once we fully commit to Jesus and He sends his Spirit to fill us with His gifts, then when we purposely spurn the Holy Spirit, or try to deceive Him, we are knowingly turning our backs on this gift, and that is unforgivable. That is, in fact, what death is - we choose death when we knowingly turn our backs on God.