Acts 4: Persecution because of the Gospel
PERSECUTION BECAUSE OF THE GOSPEL. WHERE THE GOSPEL IS PROCLAIMED, PERSECUTION SHOULD BE EXPECTED.
CHAPTER FOUR PROVIDES THE SIGN OF THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH IS BOLDNESS.
THE FEAR OF THE APOSTLES, EXCEPT JOHN, WHO FLED AT THE TIME OF THE CROSS, HAS BEEN ERASED BY THE RESURRECTION AND THE PROMISE MADE BY THE RISEN JESUS OF POWER TO COME.
THE POWER ARRIVED IN THE FORM OF THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITHIN TONGUES OF FIRE THAT SETTLED ON THE 120 FAITHFUL WHO WERE WAITING IN JERUSALEM AS COMMANDED.
WE SEE THE WORD “BOLDNESS” USED IN BOTH VERSES 13 & 31 TO DESCRIBE THE CHANGE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT BROUGHT. THERE IS NO BETTER WORD TO DESCRIBE WHAT ACTS 4 TEACHES US. HE WE SEE:
THE BOLDNESS OF THE RESURRECTION (1-4)
THE BOLDNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (5-8)
THE BOLDNESS OF THE NAME (9-11)
THE BOLDNESS ONLY FOUND IN JESUS (12)
THE BOLDNESS OF A TRANSFORMED LIFE (13-14)
THE BOLDNESS TO RESPOND TO OPPOSITION (15-22)
THE BOLDNESS OF PRAYER (23-31)
THE MOTIVE OF THE BOLDNESS OF THE APOSTLES WAS THE RESURRECTION, BOTH OF JESUS AND THEN THEIR OWN IN GIFTED SPIRIT AND STRENGTH.
THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN WAS DONE AT THE 9TH HOUR, AROUND 3:00 P.M. HIS LEAPING AND WALKING INTO THE TEMPLE
WITH PETER AND JOHN WAS SEEN BY THE ENTIRE CROWD OF JEWISH
MEN, BOTH OF THE PHARISEES AND THE SADDUCEES.
A GROUP OF BOTH GATHERED AROUND THE APOSTLES TO CONFRONT THEM ABOUT THE WORK THEY HAD DONE.
REMEMBER THAT JESUS HAD CALLED THE PHARISEES HYPOCRITES AND HAD TOLD THE SADDUCEES THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND SCRIPTURE ABOUT MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN.
THE SADDUCEES DID NOT BELIEVE IN ANGELS OR ANY RESURRECTION.
THE PRIESTS AND PHARISEES HAD WITNESSED THE MIRACLE OF THE RAISING OF LAZARUS BY JESUS AND IN JOHN 11 HAD SEEN THE DANGER OF ALLOWING JESUS TO CONTINUE HIS WORK AMONG THE PEOPLE.
PETER WAS SPEAKING OF THE MIRACLE DONE WITH THE LAME MAN BEING IN THE POWER OF THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST WHO WAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, CAUSING THE SADDUCEES TO BECOME ANNOYED AND TROUBLED.
IN VERSE 3 THE TEMPLE MASTERS HAD BOTH PETER AND JOHN ARRESTED AND JAILED OVERNIGHT.
IT WAS ALREADY TOO LATE TO STOP THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL FOR MANY WHO HEARD PETER SPEAK WERE BORN AGAIN, SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH, WITH THE NUMBER GIVEN AS 5,000 MEN.
THE NEXT DAY PETER AND JOHN WERE BROUGHT BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN AND MADE TO STAND IN THEIR MIDST.
ANNAS THE HIGH PRIEST WAS PRESENT AS WELL AS CAIAPHAS, AND OTHERS. WE KNOW AFTER THE ARREST OF JESUS, HE WAS FIRST TAKEN TO THE HOUSE OF ANNAS AND THEN TO THE HOUSE OF CAIAPHAS. (JN 18:13)
THE QUESTIONS ASKED OF THE APOSTLES WERE TWOFOLD:
BY WHAT POWER HAVE YOU DONE THIS WORK OF HEALING?
BY WHAT NAME HAVE YOU HEALED THIS MAN WHO WAS LAME?
VERSE 8 TEACHES US THAT PETER WAS FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST AS HE BEGAN TO ANSWER.
PETER EXPRESSED NO FEAR IN THIS IMPORTANT MOMENT AND FORMED HIS REPLIES POLITELY.
IN VERSE 9 PETER SAID IF THE INQUIRY WAS CONCERNING THE GOOD DEED DONE TO THE LAME MAN, THE ANSWER WAS CLEAR.
PETER THEN PROCLAIMED THAT THE HEALING WAS DONE IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH, WHOM YOU CRUCIFIED, AND WHOM GOD RAISED FROM THE DEAD.
IT WAS BY HIM THAT THIS MAN STOOD BEFORE YOU WHOLE, GIVEN STRENGTH AND HEALTH. THE MAN WAS RESTORED BOTH IN BODY AND SPIRIT AS HE HAD PRAISED GOD CONTINUALLY IN THE TEMPLE AFTER HIS HEALING
PETER THEN QUOTED PSALM 118:22 TO THE TEMPLE MASTERS, SAYING THIS ONE (JESUS) IS THE STONE SET AT NAUGHT (IGNORED AND DESPISED) OF YOU, BUT NOW HE HAS BECOME THE CORNERSTONE (HEAD OF THE CORNER), MEANING HE SITS NOW IN POWER WITH THE ALMIGHTY.
IN VERSE 12, PETER FURTHER EXPLAINED HIS EXACT MEANING WITH ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL STATEMENTS MADE IN THE ENTIRE NEW TESTAMENT.
HE SAID THAT “NEITHER IS THERE SALVATION IN ANY OTHER FOR THERE IS NONE OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN GIVEN AMONG MEN WHEREBY WE MUST BE SAVED”.
NOW IN VERSE 13 WE SEE THE PRIESTS AND ELDERS MARVELLED AT THE BOLDNESS OF THE WORDS SPOKEN AND REMEMBERED THAT THESE APOSTLES WERE UNLEARNED AND IGNORANT MEN.
THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS STRONGLY ACTIVE IN THIS MOMENT, GIVING THE WORDS TO PETER TO SPEAK WITH AUTHORITY.
THE TEMPLE MASTERS REMEMBERED THESE MEN HAD BEEN WITH JESUS.
THEY BELIEVED THEY HAD RID THEMSELVES OF JESUS WHEN THEY HAD HIM CRICIFIED BUT NOW THE DISCIPLES, TRAINED BY HIM, WERE SPEAKING WITH THE SAME AUTHORITY HE HELD AND WERE HEALING IN THEIR MIDST IN HIS NAME.
IN THE MOMENT THESE ELDERS WERE CONFRONTED WITH SOMETHING THAT COULD NOT BE DENIED, THE MAN HEALED STOOD THERE ON STRONG LEGS AND FEET IN THEIR PRESENCE.
THEY COULD THINK OF NOTHING ELSE TO SAY AND SENT PETER AND JOHN AND THE HEALED MAN OUT OF THE COUNCIL ROOM TO DISCUSS THE MATTER AMONG THEMSELVES.
THEY WERE IN A DIFFICULT POSITION AS THERE COULD BE NO DENIAL THAT THE MAN LAMED WAS NOW WHOLE AND MANY SAW IT TAKE PLACE.
THE APOSTLES WERE HOWEVER, NOW PROCLAIMING A GOSPEL THAT TAUGHT THAT ALL MEN WHO REPENTED WOULD BE RESURRECTED AND JOIN JESUS IN HEAVEN IN A COMPLETE RESURRECTION OF ALL BELIEVERS.
IN MATTHEW 28 THE TEMPLE MASTERS HAD BRIBED THE GUARDS AT THE TOMB OF JESUS TO SAY HIS BODY HAD SIMPLY BEEN STOLEN.
THEIR PROBLEM CONCERNING JESUS WAS MUCH WORSE NOW THAN WHEN JESUS WAS ALIVE.
NOW MANY WERE TEACHING IN HIS NAME, HEALING IN HIS NAME, PREACHING IN HIS NAME, AND CONVERTING THOUSANDS IN HIS NAME.
SOME WONDERED HOW LUKE KNEW WHAT HAD BEEN DISCUSSED IN THIS COUNCIL, WHICH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PRIVATE.
SOME HAVE SUGGESTED THAT SAUL, WHO WAS A PHARISEE, HAD LATER INFORMED LUKE ON THESE DISCUSSIONS AFTER HE HAD BEEN RADICALLY SAVED ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS, AND BECAME PAUL OR PERHAPS NICODEMUS REVEALED IT LATER.
WHEN THEY CALLED THE APOSTLES BACK INTO THE COUNCIL ROOM, THEY COMMANDED THEM NOT TO SPEAK OR TEACH IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
THESE THREATS DID NOT INTIMIDATE THE APOSTLES, AND IN A MOMENT OF PURE ELOQUENCE, PETER ASKED THE TEMPLE MASTERS
TO DECIDE WHETHER THE APOSTLES SHOULD OBEY THESE LEADERS OR GOD.
NOW THE APOSTLES DECLARED THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO STOP TELLING WHAT THEY HAD SEEN AND HEARD.
AFTER GIVING FURTHER THREATS THE TEMPLE MASTERS RELEASED THE APOSTLES. DOING SO MADE THE PEOPLE KNOW THAT THE TEMPLE MASTERS WERE UNABLE TO STOP THE GOSPLE OR IT’S PREACHING.
AS SOON AS THEY WERE FREE, PETER AND JOHN WENT BACK TO THEIR OWN PEOPLE, WHICH WAS THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD, A FAMILY OF GOD EXPLAINED BY PAUL IN EPHESIANS 2:19.
IT SEEMS CERTAIN THAT THEIR SPIRITUAL FAMILY HAD BEEN MUCH IN PRAYER FOR THESE TWO MESSENGERS OF THE LORD, AND SURELY THEY REJOICED IN THEIR RELEASE, AND THE APOSTLES TOLD THE ENTIRE STORY TO THE OTHER FOLLOWERS.
VERSE 24 TEACHES US THAT THE WARNINGS AND THREATS OF THE JEWISH LEADERS DID NOT FRIGHTEN THE BELIEVERS. NEITHER DID THEY IGNORE THEM. THEY TOOK THEM TO GOD.
HERE WE SEE THEY SPOKE TO GOD AS IN ONE VOICE, JOINING TOGETHER IN PRAYER IN UNISON, IN ONE ACCORD.
MUCH CAN BE LEARNED FROM THIS PRAYER.
FIRST THEY RECOGNIZED WHO GOD IS. THEY ADDRESSED HIM AS LORD (WITH THIS WORD MEANING MASTER OR SOVEREIGN).
THEN THEY RECOGNIZED THAT HE ALONE IS GOD, THE GOD OF ALL POWER AS HE IS THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE AND ALL THAT EXISTS IN EVERY PART OF IT, AND HE RULES IT.
HE IS SOVEREIGN, TRUE KING OVER ALL THINGS BY HIS RIGHT AS CREATOR.
SECOND, THEY BASED THEIR PETITION ON HIS HOLY WORD, SPOKEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH THE LIPS OF DAVID.
PSALM 2:1-2 SPEAKS OF OPPOSITION LIKE THAT THEY WERE FACING FROM THE JEWISH LEADERS.
DAVID HAD IDENTIFIED THIS RAGE EXISTING IN HIS DAY AS KINGS OF THE EARTH TRIED TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER AGAINST THE LORD, AND AGAINST HIS ANOINTED ONE.
THE PRAYER RECOGNIZED THAT THE JEWISH LEADERS WERE JUST LIKE THOSE GENTILES IN DAVID’S DAY.
THESE BELIEVERS NOW LUMPED TOGETHER HEROD, PONTIUS PILATE, GENTILES AND THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL HERSELF ALL OF WHOM GATHER TOGETHER TO OVERCOME THE LORD’S GOSPEL.
NOW IN VERSE 28 THOSE IN PRAYER CLEARLY STATE THAT ALL THOSE IN OPPOSITION COULD ONLY DO WHAT GOD BY HIS OWN HAND AND COUNSEL ALLOWED THEM TO DO.
(THEY FULLY UNDERSTOOOD THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD)
EVEN SO, THOSE OPPOSED TO THE GOSPEL HAD THEIR ACTS DETERMINED BY THE LORD BUT WERE STILL RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN DEEDS.
GOD HAD BEEN IN FULL CONTROL WHEN THEY CRUCIFICED CHRIST AND GOD PERMITTED IT. JESUS WAS GOD’S SERVANT WHO ACCOMPLISHED GOD’S WILL ON THEIR BEHALF.
HERE THEY ARE IN FULL UNDERSTANDING OF THE DARK PROVIDENCE OF GOD, WHO ALLOWS MATTERS TO OCCUR TO FURTHER HIS KINGDOM EVEN WHEN THEY SEEM DARK.
THEY ASK GOD TO CONTINUE TO ALLOW HIS SERVANTS WHICH THEY WERE TO CONTINUE HIS WORK IN SPITE OF THE THREATENINGS OF THE JEWISH TEMPLE MASTERS.
WHAT THEY WERE ASKING WAS THAT LIKE THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN IN THE TEMPLE, MORE OPPORTUNITIES BE GIVEN THEM TO DISPLAY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BOLDLY, IN THE NAME OF THY HOLY CHILD JESUS.
THEY WISHED TO BRING UNMISTAKABLE AND UNDENIABLE SIGNS AND WONDERS TO GLORIFY THE GOSPEL THEY HAD BEEN GIVEN.
AFTER THIS PRAYER OF UNITY AND SUPPLICATION THE PLACE WHERE THEY HAD GATHERED WAS SHAKEN, NOT BY AN EARTHQUAKE, BUT BY THE MIGHTY POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST AND AS THE SHAKING CONTINUED, EACH ONE WAS FILLED WITH A FURTHER GIFT OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
IN THAT MOMENT THEY SPOKE BOLDLY THE WORD OF GOD.
THE MULTITUDE OF THEM THAT WERE IN PRAYER AND BELIEVED WERE OF ONE HEART AND OF ONE SOUL.
THE COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS WERE SECURED IN UNITY BY GOD,
UNITY OF MIND AND PURPOSE AND DESIRE ONLY TO GLORIFY THE LORD.
IN VERSE 33 WE SEE THAT THE APOSTLES WERE ABLE TO KEEP GIVING WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD JESUS WITH GREAT POWER, MEANING WITH SUPERNATURAL DEEDS GRANTED TO THEM BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
GREAT GRACE WAS SUPPLIED TO ALL, NOT JUST TO THE APOSTLES.
GOD’S FAVOR RESTED GREATLY ON THEM ALL, A WONDERFUL SPIRIT GIFT OF GENEROSITY.
NONE OF THEM LACKED FOR ANYTHING NEEDED AND HOUSES AND OTHER ASSETS WERE SOLD TO ASSURE ALL WHO HAD NEEDS FOUND THEM FILLED.
THE FUNDS RECEIVED FOR THESE SALES WERE LAID AT THE FEET OF THE APOSTLES, WHERE DISTRIBUTION WAS MADE TO ANY IN NEED.
LUKE GIVES US A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE TO US IN VERSES 36-37.
JOSES, ALSO NAMED BARNABAS, WHICH MEANS “SON OF ENCOURAGEMNT” SAW THIS CARE FOR ALL IN THE GROUP AND HIS HEART WAS MOVED.
HE SOLD A FIELD AND BROUGHT THE MONEY GAINED TO THE APOSTLES AND WAS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE SPIRIT OF THE GROUP.
THIS ACT BY BARNABAS SET THE STAGE FOR CHAPTER 5 WHICH WILL ALLOW US THE CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE WHO SEEMED TO BE WILLING TO DO THE SAME BUT TRIED TO WITHHOLD A PORTION OF THE FUNDS RECEIVED.
THE MATTER COVERED IN CHAPTER 5 IS NOT THAT THERE WAS A SALE AND THEN A DONATION TO THE NEED OF OTHER FOLLOWERS.
IT WAS THAT BOTH OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED LIED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT ABOUT WHETHER THEY DONATED WHAT THEY HAD RECEIVED AS THEY CLAIMED OR WITHHELD SOME OF THE MONEY RECEIVED AND SAID THAT THEY HAD NOT DONE SO.
WHAT CAN WE CONCLUDE AS OUR LESSONS FROM THIS STUDY STOP IN CHAPTER FOUR?
AS THE HOLY SPIRIT WORKED THROUGH THE APOSTLES, HE PROVIDED POWER BEYOND SPIRITUAL HEALING OF THE BROKEN HEART.
HE PROVIDED POWER TO ENABLE PHYSICAL HEALING OF THE BROKEN BODIES AS WELL.
THESE POWERS CREATED A SWEET SPIRIT OF TRUE FELLOWSHIP AMONG THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST WHICH WAS MANIFESTED IN THEIR MONUMENTAL GIVING TO ASSURE THE NEEDS OF ALL FOLLOWERS WERE MET.
THEIR GENEROSITY BECAME OVERFLOWING WITHIN THE NEW CHURCH.
BARNABUS, A LEVITE FROM CYPRUS, WAS AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE AS HE SOLD HIS OWN ASSETS AND LAID THE FUNDS RECEIVED AT THE FEET OF THE APOSTLES.
IN ADDITION, WE ARE TAUGHT IN CHAPTER FOUR THAT PRAYER HAD A PROMINENT PLACE IN THE MINISTRY OF THE EARLY CHURCH AND ITS MEMBERS.
THEY PRAYED IN THE FACE OF PERSECUTION AND THEY CONTINUED TO PRAY WHEN THE THREAT OF DANGER HAD PASSED.
THEIR PRAYERFULNESS MADE THEM RECEPTIVE TO THE FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AS WELL AS RECEPTIVE TO HIS CONTROL.
THROUGH THE POWER OF PRAYER AND FAITHFUL COMMITMENT, THE APOSTLES RECEIVED THE BOLDNESS THEY NEEDED TO BOLDLY PROCLAIM THE WORD OF THE LORD IN WAYS NEVER BEFORE KNOWN.
