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From God's perspective, all that happened in the wake of the lame beggar miracle was all positive. But of course, this doesn't mean that Satan and his children didn't try their level best to kill this Jesus movement in its tracks. But even though there was eventually a death, we'll see that even this backfired on the Jewish religious establishment big time.

But meanwhile, we learn that the apostles in Jerusalem were performing many signs and wonders among the people, and the growth in numbers was explosive.

Acts 5:12-16
12 And at the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico. 13 But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. 14 And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number; 15 to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets, and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. 16 And also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits; and they were all being healed.
NASB

The the growth of this Jesus sect and popularity of the apostles with the people drove the religious establishment bunkers. They couldn't handle it anymore.

Acts 5:17-18
17 But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy; 18 and they laid hands on the apostles, and put them in a public jail.
NASB

So...they tossed the apostles in jail, and God laughed at that attempt to thwart his plans by sending an angel to free them that same night.

The next day, the apostles, very much to the chagrin of the Sanhedrin, are again found in the temple area. The embarrassed Council had to send the temple officers and their captain to, again, arrest the apostles. After the apostles smote the Sanhedrin mightily with the gospel and confronted them with their crime against Jesus, their words enraged the Council even more -- so much so, they wanted to murder the apostles! And they probably would have if it hadn't been for one lone voice of reason by member of the Sanhedrin whose name was Gamaliel.

After Gamaliel ordered the apostle to be taken out from the council chambers, this is what he told his fellow council members. Pay attention closely to the irony of this Pharisee's prophetic words..

Acts 5:35-40
35 And he said to them, "Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. 36 "For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody; and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. And he was slain; and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 "After this man Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away some people after him, he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. 38 "And so in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action should be of men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God."
NASB

Now we know why Christianity spread so rapidly throughout the Roman Empire and how this happened. We know that the spread of the gospel was indeed the will of God -- "it is of God" (according to Gamaliel's words). And how it grew was based on the hard facts concerning the existence of Christ, his life, his ministry and his Passion (death, burial and bodily resurrection). Nothing else can possibly account for a rag-tag bunch of uneducated, untrained, unschooled "blue collar" workers setting the world on fire for their risen Lord and Savior. This is the most succinct, cogent, rational, reasonable and straightforward explanation and is consistent with the principle of Occam's Razor.

Gamaliel wisely knew that if these apostles were truly men of God, there would be no stopping their movement and message.

We find later in this same chapter that the apostles were flogged and instructed, again, to cease preaching the gospel. But of course, they obeyed God rather than the Sanhedrin. They were not only in the temple courtyards every day, but they were actually doing house-to-house evangelism. They were more aggressive and bold than ever. And their numbers continued to grow in Jerusalem (5:41-6:1).

In my next and final installment, we're going to see how the religious establishment upped the ante -- by murder. They could no longer contain their rage against the Jesus sect, in spite of Gamaliel's wise council.