Acts 5:23
Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within. Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.
The officers found the prison securely shut and locked with all safety, with the keepers standing outside before the doors, yet when opened there was no one within. By night God had sent His angel to open the doors and lead Peter and John out directly through the guarding soldiers. Their report filled the assembled priests and rulers with amazement and astonishment as they had gathered to try the apostles and take strong measures against them. The empty guarded prison is a token of God's care, protection and presence, showing He has a government above human law and lives to deliver His servants that truth shall triumph. He freed them so they could resume their interrupted work and stand in the temple speaking the words of this life, for it is right to hearken to God more than to men, yet the deliverance did not save them from examination and suffering for Jesus.
The Empty Guarded Prison
The prison was found truly shut with all safety, locked and bolted, with the keepers standing outside before the doors, yet when opened there was no man within. The doors remained securely shut and the guards stayed at their posts, but the cell was empty because those shut inside had already been taken out and sent back to teaching in the temple. The appearance of complete security only made the absence plainer, for the shut doors and the stationed guard testified that no human break had occurred.
The arrest belongs to the closing part of Acts 5, after the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira and the signs and healings done by the apostles. The high priests and elders, alarmed because by the power of Jesus every afflicted and sick person brought to the disciples was healed, shut the apostles in prison. Hundreds were daily enlisting under the banner of a crucified, risen and ascended Saviour, and the leaders acted to stop that growth. The case stands with the judgment on deceptive dealing in the Lord's work, showing that God brings punishment on wrongdoers who act oppressively, unjustly, exactingly, conniving at fraud, hindering truth and diverting His means into a wrong channel.
By night God sent His angel to open the prison doors and lead Peter and John out directly through the band of soldiers guarding the prison. The release was contrary to the command of the high priest and elders, who had ordered their confinement. The angel bade them resume their interrupted work and commanded them to stand and speak in the temple all the words of this life, the life offered in Christ. They obeyed, entered the temple early in the morning, and were found standing there teaching the people. They were then brought without violence before the council that had sent for its prisoners.
The council had assembled to try the apostles and take strong measures against them. It had decided to fix on them the charge of insurrection, to accuse them of murdering Ananias and Sapphira, and to accuse them of conspiring to deprive the priests of their authority and put them to death. The rulers hoped the mob would then be excited to deal with the apostles as they had dealt with Jesus. They feared this because many who had not accepted Christ were weary of arbitrary rule and anxious for decided change, and if such persons embraced the apostles' belief and acknowledged Jesus as Messiah, the anger of the entire people over the murder of Christ would turn against the priests, who would have to answer for it.
When the officers came with the report that the prison was still shut with all safety with the keepers standing outside the doors yet no man was within, the priests and rulers were filled with amazement and astonishment. Their unexplained absence showed that ordinary confinement had not stopped them, for the men put in prison were standing in the temple teaching the people. The locked, guarded but empty prison thus confronted the assembled council at the very moment it sought to bring the prisoners before it for punishment.
Divine Protection and Witness
The locked yet empty prison was a token of God's care and an assurance of His presence with His servants. God has a government above human law and lives to deliver His servants from oppression. His angel watched over the apostles to guard them from violence and to magnify His name. When the priests forbade preaching in the name of Jesus, He sent His angel to release them to make known His words.
God freed them so they could continue the work He had given them. Their absence from the shut and guarded prison while preaching in the temple demonstrates that human authorities could not prevent God's message from being proclaimed. He has a work in the earth in order that truth shall triumph.
The angel bade them resume the interrupted work and commanded them to stand and speak in the temple all the words of this life. That command meant continuing to teach the people about the life offered in Christ. When preaching in Jesus' name is forbidden, it is right to hearken to God more than to men.
The miraculous deliverance did not save the apostles from examination and punishment. It was now their part to suffer for Jesus whom they preached. The rulers' restraint from violence in bringing them without violence before the council was no evidence that they welcomed the message.
The chapter stands as a warning that when dealings in the Lord's work are deceptive and not straightforward, but oppressive, unjust, taking advantage of circumstances, exacting, conniving at fraud, hindering truth, and diverting His means into a wrong channel, God will surely bring punishment and judgment on the wrongdoers as He did in the fifth chapter of Acts.