IS PSALMS 64 FULFILLED IN ACTS 5?

As we examine Psalms 64 and compare it to Acts chapters 3,4, & 5 concerning the early church and the apostles, there seems to be a direct correlation of prophecy and fulfillment. Let’s look at that time in the early church and compare it with the Psalms 64 prophecy. Not long after Jesus ascended into heaven we find the disciples operating in the miracle power promised by the risen Lord Jesus but they find them self in a dire situation. Here is the promise made by Jesus.

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Those disciples who came out of the upper room believed the words of Jesus and they waited until they were endued with power from on high. They were preaching and many people believed and becoming saved and added to the church. As we see in the book of Acts, they were fellowshipping together, praying together, studying the scriptures together. At that time they only had the OT scriptures.

As they came into unity of the faith, signs and miracles began to happen just as Jesus had promised before He left the earth. Acts 3:1-12 records the actions of two of the disciples.

Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength.

8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:

10 And they knew that it was he, which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

One might think that everyone would be happy to hear about such a great healing of a known cripple man of the community. Well, not everyone was! However, many were excited as peter expounded on the scriptures beginning with Moses and included the OT prophets and about 5,000 were saved that day. This is recorded in Acts 3:12-26.

Acts 3:12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?

13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;

15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith, which is by him, hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

17 And now, brethren, I know that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.

18 But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.

25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant, which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed.

26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Wow! Such a rich sermon delivered by Peter that day and he tied every thing that had happened back to the scriptures and the prophets as recorded in the OT scriptures. Well this where the plot thickens and Psalms 64 begins to kicks into play.

Acts 4:1 And as they spoke unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,

2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.

4 Howbeit many of them, which heard the word, believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

5 And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,

6 And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.

7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?

This list is the whole leadership of the children of Israel including many of the kinfolk. Were they happy about God raising Jesus from the dead and salvation and healings being made available through the resurrection power of Lord Jesus Christ? Not hardly!

Acts 4:7 And when they (the temple leadership) had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,

9 If we this day are being examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;

10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

11 This is the stone, which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

14 And beholding the man, who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, (secret counsel)

16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.

17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.

18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.

When we pay close attention herein acts 3 & 4, we see two categories of people. The first group was those who were in the unity of faith and believed and glorified God. The second group was the political and religious leadership from the temple along with their family members, who were hostile and opposing the followers of Jesus. 

Even though they had the scriptures in the temple, they were opposing all that God had prophesied in those Scriptures. Also they were opposed to those who were fulfilling the scriptures as written in the scriptures and spoken by Jesus to His disciples. Also they threatened those who preached the fulfillment of the scriptures by Jesus. The political and religious leadership from the temple were fulfilling the prophecy of Palms 64.

Ps 64:2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:

3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.

5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?

6 They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.

If we begin to transpose that time in the body of Christ to today, we can see the same old situation happening in our nation. Just look at the illegal laws passed by our “so-called” rulers.

If our wicked rulers in our government called us in and we were further threatening us, would we have some amount of fear try to come upon us? Remember the covid gangsters of 2020? They made mandates that churches could not continue meeting as usual!

Did the church leadership resist those unlawful mandates? Fear of government authority came on the churches and most all churches closed their doors. Notice how David prayed in verse one of Psalms 64.

Ps 64:1 Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

In this Psalm of David, he understood that fear of the enemy was even greater than the enemy.

The scriptures states approximately 365 times “Fear not!” Faith activates God’s power in our life. Fear activates the Devil’s power in our life. We can see this from Job as he said, “The thing I have feared the most has come upon me.”

Let’ examine the sequence of events following Peter and John being released by the wicked leaders. Peter showed no fear and even told the wicked leadership he would not forgo preaching in the name of Jesus.

Acts 4:23 And being let go, they went to their own company (believers in unity), and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?

26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, was gathered together,

28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Those believers, who were in unity of faith, first acknowledged God as the creator of all things and that God had before the foundations of the world had a plan of redemption for mankind but that also the scriptures prophesied there would be the wicked seed of the serpent that would oppose the counsel of God. They went on to pray the scriptures of Psalms 2.

Ps 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen (or nations) for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shall break them with a rod of iron; thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11 Serve the LORD with fear (reverential awe), and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

be instructed is #3256 yacar (yaw-sar'); a primitive root; to chastise, literally (with blows) or figuratively (with words); hence, to instruct:

The KJV translates this word as; bind, chasten, chastise, correct, instruct, punish, reform, reprove, sore, teach.

Let’s look at another prophecy by David in Psalms 110, which aligns with the Psalms 2 prophecy.

Ps 110:1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand (the Lord Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God now), until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

Heb 10:12 But this man (Jesus), after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;

13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

Ps 110:2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion (happened on the day of Pentecost): rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. (How is Jesus going to rule?)

3 Thy people (the church, His body) shall be willing in the day of thy power (endued with power from high), in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou (Jesus and His body) art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

5 The Lord at thy right hand (confirming His Word) shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath (Herod in Acts 12).

6 He shall judge among the heathen (through His body), he shall fill the places with the dead bodies (Acts 5); he shall wound the heads over many countries.

7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

Okay, back to the disciples being in one heart and one soul and praying Psalms 2 concerning their situation.

Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatening: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

32 And the multitude of them that believed was of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things, which he possessed, was his own; but they had all things common.

33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

Now let’s look back and compare the situation surrounding David and the prophecy in Psalms 64 with the disciples in Acts 4 and the activities expressed in psalms 64 that took place in Acts 5.

Ps 64:7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.

8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.

9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.

10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

suddenly is #6597 pith'owm (pith-ome'); or pith'om (pith-ome'); from 6621; instantly:

wounded is #4347 makkah (mak-kaw'); from 5221; by implication, a wound; figuratively, carnage, also pestilence:

In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira fulfilled the scripture of Psalms 64.

Acts 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,

2  And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

3  But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

4  Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

5  And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

7  And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

8  And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.

9  Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

10  Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

Even though Peter gave both Ananias and Sapphira a chance to repent and tell the truth, they stuck with the plan of Satan, which they had conceived in their heart. They both allowed their own tongue to fall upon themselves and instantly they became carnage and were buried as per Psalms 64:7-8.

Now let’s compare Psalms 64 with Acts 5

Ps 64 8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves all that see them shall flee away.

9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.

10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

Acts 5:13 And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.

14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.

It seems that there is a similar contradiction in both Psalms 64 and Acts 5. Psalms 64b states all that see them shall flee away but then states all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God. Wait a minute; can we have it both ways? Can all men flee away and all men declare the work of God?

Acts 5:11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

13 And of the rest durst no man join himself to them (the believers) but the people magnified them.

14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.

Wait a minute; can we have no man join with the believers but have multitudes added to the Lord?

Throughout the scriptures there are two classes of people denoted, the believers and the unbelievers. Ananias and Sapphira were not the only two that Satan had sent there that day with the plan to destroy the unity of faith in the early church. When all those other evil men of the Devil saw what happened to Ananias and Sapphira, they all fled away. 

There were many people there that day that had not heard the gospel as of yet. When they saw and heard Peter, multitudes joined with the early church believers fulfilling the prophecy of Psalms 64.

Ps 64:9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.

10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

Acts 5:11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

12  And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

13 And of the rest (of Satan’s group) durst no man join himself to them (believers): but the people magnified them.

14  And (new) believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)

There seems to be some very close wording in Psalms 64 and in Acts 5 that could be considered prophecy and fulfillment. Each individual should study these scriptures and come to their own conclusion.

Grace and Peace multiplied in the name of Jesus. 

Compiled by Jerry Thomas 06/04/2025

All scripture references are (KJV) unless otherwise denoted.

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