Introduction
One of the things Luke is telling us in these opening chapters of the book of Acts is how the church in those days grew. In the beginning, there were around 120 believers. Then, on the day of Pentecost, after Peter preached to the crowds about the Risen and Ascended Lord Jesus, about three thousand were added to their number. And in verse 4 of chapter 4, we read that many who heard Peter and John’s message about the Lord Jesus believed and the number of men grew to about five thousand. And so, the church was growing on those days. It had begun with 120 people. And now there are thousands of people who have been convinced and converted to faith in Christ.
So, one of the things Luke is telling us in these opening chapters of the book of Acts is how the church was growing in those days. But he’s also making clear to us that the church in those days faced trouble. There was trouble from within and there was trouble from without. The story of Ananias and Sapphira, which we studied last week, is an example of trouble from within, because Ananias and Sapphira were part of the church and yet they tried to deceive the apostles about the gift they brought to the church. And in the next chapter, we’ll read that there was more trouble from within the church, because some needy widows who belonged to the church were being neglected when it came to the daily distribution of food. There was a problem that needed to be sorted out before it caused trouble in the church.
And in today’s passage we have an example of trouble from without, because in today’s passage we read how the Jewish authorities imprisoned the apostles and had them flogged. And the authorities ordered them not to preach about Christ again.
And it’s as if Luke is telling his readers that this is what the church can expect in these, the last days in which we’re living, while we wait for Christ to come again. While we go on living on the earth, the members of the church can expect to face trouble. There will be trouble within the church and there will be trouble from outside the church. We’ll face problems within the church, because, of course, the church is made up of sinners. And even though the Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts of believers to renew us in God’s image, we’ll remain sinners throughout this life and we’ll fall short in many ways. And so, we’ll sin against God and we’ll sin against one another.
And we’ll also face problems from outside the church from those who don’t believe.
And before we get into today’s passage, it’s worth taking a look once again at what Peter said to Ananias in verse 3 of chapter 5. Peter asked Ananias: ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit….’ The reason Ananias lied to the apostles and to the Holy Spirit was because satan had filled his heart.
Satan is continually stirring up trouble for God’s people around the world. It began in the Garden of Eden when he tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. And he has continued to cause mischievous and harm in the world and in the church. He comes at us with his wicked schemes and he prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. He sets a trap for God’s people to take us captive to do his will. And he stirs up an unbelieving world to oppose the church of Jesus Christ.
But the good news is that Christ our Saviour has been exalted to the Father’s side in heaven, far above every power in this age and the next and he rules over all things for the sake of his church on earth. And he has promised not to let satan prevail over his church. And so, we should continually look to Christ our Saviour–King for the help and strength we need to stand firm in the faith and to do God’s will here on earth.
Verses 12 to 16
In verses 12 to 16 of today’s passage, Luke tells us that the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. That tells us that the Lord Jesus answered the prayer they offered to him in verse 30 of chapter 5. Remember? Peter and John were arrested for preaching about Christ and the Jewish authorities threatened them and warned them not to preach in his name again. On their release they met their fellow believers and asked the Lord to help them preach his word with boldness. And they asked the Lord to confirm what they said by enabling them to heal the sick and to perform signs and wonders. And the Lord, who heard their prayer, answered it when he enabled them to perform signs and wonders in his name.
And Luke tells us that the believers met together in the temple. And no-one dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. So, the people were impressed by them and by the way they loved and cared for one another. But they did not dare join them, presumably because they’d heard about what happened to Ananias and Sapphira and they were afraid that what happened to Ananias and Sapphira would happen to them as well. Nevertheless — and it’s a miraculous contradiction, isn’t it? — more and more men and women believed and were added to their number. So, those who didn’t believe did not dare join them, but those who believed were added to their number. And lots of people were healed and evil spirits were cast out. People from outside Jerusalem brought their sick to be healed. And Luke includes the little note about the sick being laid in the streets in the hope that they would be healed if Peter’s shadow fell on them. And the point of these verses is to show us once again that the church was growing and that exciting things were happening in those days.
Verses 17 to 21a
But according to verse 17 the Jewish high priest and all his associates, who were Sadducees, were filled, not with excitement, and not with joy and thanksgiving because of the great things the Lord was doing. No, they were filled with jealousy. They were jealous, presumably because the apostles were able to perform these miraculous signs and wonders. Do you remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians when he was writing about preaching the message of the cross? He said that Greeks look for wisdom, but Jews demand miraculous signs. So, that’s what they were interested in; and the high priest and the Sadducees were jealous because the apostles were able to perform miraculous signs while they were unable to do so. And so, they arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail, with the intention of bringing them to court the next day.
But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought the apostles out. The Sadducees didn’t believe in angels. But here’s an angel from the Lord who had been sent by the Lord to set his apostles free. And after they were freed, the angel told them to go back to the temple courts and to tell the people the full message of this new life. The Lord Jesus Christ had appointed them as his official eye-witnesses and to testify to everyone about the Lord’s resurrection from the dead. And they were to proclaim salvation in his name. And now that they had been released from jail, they were to get back to doing what the Lord had appointed them to do. So, go and preach.
And the angel told them to preach the full message of this new life. It’s a message of life, because the Saviour who died was raised to resurrection life and everyone who believes in him for salvation receives the free gift of everlasting life so that though we die, yet we shall live with God for ever. And it’s a message of life as well because whoever believes in Christ gives up their old life of disobedience and begins a new life of obedience to God. Instead of living according to the sinful flesh, they begin to live according to the Spirit.
And according to Luke in verse 21, as soon as it was daybreak, the apostles entered the temple courts and began to teach the people. So, as soon as the gates were open, they were ready to begin. And we can perhaps imagine them, waiting for the gates to open, waiting to get on with the work which the Lord their Saviour–King had appointed them to do.
Verses 21b to 26
The high priest and his associates were unaware of this. They gathered together in the morning and sent to the jail for the apostles, believing they were still locked up behind bars. But the officers who were sent to the jail to fetch them discovered that they were not there. And they reported back that the jail was locked securely and the guards were standing at the door, but there was no one inside. And as Luke says, when they heard this they were all puzzled. And it’s a conundrum isn’t it? How can twelve men escape from a locked and guarded room?
And while they were puzzling over this conundrum, someone came and announced to them that the missing men are standing in the temple courts and they’re teaching the people. The captain immediately went with his men to arrest them all over again and to bring them before the Jewish authorities.
Verses 27–40
And Luke tells us that they were brought before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. The Sanhedrin was the Jewish high court and it was the same body of people who only a few weeks earlier had questioned the Lord Jesus and sentenced him to death. And now the Lord’s apostles have been brought before the same body of people to be questioned and perhaps sentenced.
And you’d think that they might want to know how the apostles managed to escape. If you were there, wouldn’t that be the first thing you’d want to know? How it it that you managed to escape from a locked and guarded room? But that’s not what is on their mind. What’s on their mind is the fact that these men have disobeyed their strict orders not to teach in ‘his’ name. In whose name? He means in the Lord Jesus’s name.
And the high priest says that they have disobeyed their strict orders and they have now filled Jerusalem with their teaching. That shows us how effective the apostles have been: everyone has now heard the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection for sinners.
And the high priest goes to say that the apostles are determined to make the members of the Sanhedrin guilty of this man’s blood. Now, what he says here is a little puzzling, because they were indeed responsible for the Lord’s death. They were the ones who persuaded Pilate to pass the death sentence on the Lord. There was no doubt about it. But perhaps what the high priest is suggesting is that, by preaching about these things, the apostles are trying to stir up trouble for the Sanhedrin by turning the people against them.
So, here’s the charge against the apostles: they have disobeyed the strict orders of the Sanhedrin and they’re stirring up trouble for them. And Peter responds in verse 29 by saying that they must obey God rather than men. Now normally God expects us to obey the ruling authorities. Christianity doesn’t encourage people to start a revolution and to overthrow the governing authorities. Christianity doesn’t encourage people to practise civil disobedience. On the contrary, Christianity teaches people to be good citizens. It teaches children to obey their parents and it teaches everyone to submit to the governing authorities, because every governing authority has been established by God. Rulers have been placed over us by God. And so, normally we should obey. But if ever the governing authorities forbid God’s people from doing something which God has commanded, then God’s people must obey God rather than the governing authority. And that’s what was happening here, because the apostles have been commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ to be his witnesses and to proclaim salvation in his name to all.
And Peter takes every opportunity that comes his way to bear witness to the Lord Jesus. And so, he proclaims to the members of the Sanhedrin that they killed the Lord Jesus by hanging him on a tree. And by referring to a tree and not to the cross, it’s likely he’s alluding to Deuteronomy 21:23 where it says that anyone who is hanged on a tree is cursed by God. And so, he’s saying that they hung him on a tree as if he were someone who was under God’s curse. But the God of our fathers raised him from the dead. In other words, God the Father vindicated him. They thought the Lord Jesus was under God’s curse, but God vindicated him by raising him from the dead, thereby demonstrating to everyone that God was pleased with him. And afterwards God exalted him to his own right hand side as Prince and Saviour. He is the Prince, because God the Father has given him all authority in heaven and earth and he rules over all things as Lord. And he is the Saviour, because everyone who believes in his name receives forgiveness and peace with God and the free gift of eternal life. He saves his people from the punishment we deserve for a lifetime of sin, because he suffered the punishment we deserve in our place and he satisfied the justice of God which was against us. And so, he is Prince and Saviour, the one who rules over all things and the one who saves his people from all their sins. And he gives repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel: and not just to Israel, but to his people throughout the world in every nation. He gives us repentance, because he’s the one who sends his Spirit into our lives to enable us to repent and to turn us from our unbelief and disobedience and to turn to him for forgiveness.
And Peter went on to say that the apostles are witnesses of these things. They are witnesses of these things because the apostles are those who saw the Risen Lord with their own eyes and who were with him throughout his earthly ministry so they can bear witness to all he said and did. They are witnesses; and so, is the Holy Spirit, whom God gives to all those who obey him. That is to say, those who obey him are able to obey him because they’ve received the Holy Spirit, who gives us a new heart to love the Lord and a willing spirit to obey him. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us that the things the apostles have said about the Lord are true.
Peter takes every opportunity he can to bear witness to the gospel in the hope that some of those who hear may repent and believe. But on this occasion, instead of being filled with faith, the members of the Sanhedrin were filled with fury. They were furious and wanted to put the apostles to death. The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians about the way the god of this age — and he means satan — blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. That what was happening here, because Peter is proclaiming to them the most wonderful news they will ever hear: how Christ died and was raised and he will save everyone who comes to him for forgiveness. It’s the most wonderful news they will ever hear. It’s the most wonderful news we will hear this week. And instead of believing it and rejoicing in it, they responded to it with fury.
And if you’re a believer today, you would be just like them if it were not for God’s kindness to you in Christ Jesus and if he did not send his Spirit into your life to enable you to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ and to give you repentance and forgiveness. You would be just like them, refusing to believe the good news, because that’s the way we all are by nature. By nature, we’re sinfully inclined to suppress the truth. But God, who is rich in mercy, sends his Spirit to open our eyes to see and to open our hearts to believe.
But the members of the Sanhedrin did not believe. And they wanted to kill the apostles. And that’s when this Pharisee stood up and ordered the apostles to be put outside for a while while he suggested to the others that they should do nothing but wait and see. He reminded them of two other occasions when men appeared, claiming to be somebody. And these men who claimed to be somebody managed to gather together a number of followers. But on both occasions what happened fizzled out and died. And Gamaliel suggested that the same might happen on this occasion too: that all this excitement about the Lord Jesus will fizzle out and die. If it’s of human origin, it will fail. If it’s from God, then nothing will stop them, because God is on their side.
Now I don’t think that Gamaliel was a believer or that he thought this was from God. But how wonderful that God placed this man in the right place at the right time to convince the rest of the Sanhedrin not to kill the apostles. God did this before in the days of Esther and Mordecai when he made sure they were in the right place at the right time to save the Jews from the wicked plans of Haman who wanted to annihilate the Jews. And before that, the Lord ensured that Joseph was in the right place at the right time to save God’s people from the famine which had come on the land. God is able to place someone in the right place at the right time to deliver his people and to protect them. And so, we never need to be afraid no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, because the God who controls all of his creatures and all of their actions is our faithful Father who loves us. And he’s able to arrange all things for our good.
And the Sanhedrin listened to Gamaliel and so, instead of killing the apostles, they had them flogged and released, with strict orders not to speak about Christ again.
Verses 41 and 42
And look how the passage ends. They went away, rejoicing. They rejoiced because they were counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the sake of Christ. In other words, they rejoiced because they were allowed to suffer for their Saviour who had suffered and died for them.
And day after day they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King who was sent into the world to save us from our sin and misery and to give us everlasting life in the presence of God.
Conclusion
The church faced trouble from within and trouble from outside. On this occasion it was trouble from outside. And this episode reminds us that one of the ways that satan causes trouble for the church is through intimidation. People who are meant to rule over us for our good use their God-given power and authority to intimidate us. On this occasion they intimidated the apostles by flogging them. When Peter and John were arrested previously, they intimidated them by threatening and warning them. And so, the devil employs people — even leaders within the church sometimes — to intimidate the Lord’s people and to frighten them and to scare them in order to get their own way. Someone may raise a hand or someone may raise their voice against the Lord’s people. Or someone may mock us and try to make us feel foolish for believing in the Lord and for wanting to keep ourselves from evil. It happens all the time and it will continue to happen until the Lord comes again to judge the living and the dead and to rescue his people from all that troubles us in this life.
But think again about the reaction of the apostles. When they were intimidated, they rejoiced. This is not the normal reaction to intimidation. And since it wasn’t the normal reaction, then that tells you that their ability to rejoice in response to intimidation was from the Lord. God not only gives us his Spirit to enable us to obey him more and more, but he gives us his Spirit to enable us to rejoice in the midst of trouble and fear. When Daniel’s three friends were warned that they would be thrown into the fiery furnace if they did not bow down to the king’s idol, where did they get their courage? When Daniel was warned that he would be thrown to the lions if he did not stop praying to the Lord, where did he get his courage? They got their courage from the Lord who upholds his people by his Spirit and he gives us the strength we need to stand firm and to rejoice in the Lord when we’re persecuted for Christ’s sake. And so, we should look to the Lord for the help we need to stand firm in the faith and for the strength we need not to crumble when people try to intimidate us.
We’re the Lord’s little lambs and we should always display the lamb-like gentleness of the Saviour. We should never try to intimidate other people. And instead we should commit ourselves to the Good Shepherd who has promised never to leave us or to forsake and who is able to guard us. And despite all the wicked schemes of the devil, and despite all the ways he intimidates us, the Lord will continue to build his church on the earth.
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