Day 41 - Acts 4-5

Chapter 4 begins with Peter and John before the Jewish Council. Apparently, they were not too supportive of the teaching and preaching of the apostles. When asked about the power and authority by which they taught and did miracles, once again Peter deflects the attention away from himself and onto Jesus Christ (vs10). In this deflection, Peter makes a statement that didn't go over very well then and still doesn't to this day. He makes the assertion in vs12 that the only way of salvation is through the Name of Jesus Christ. In other words, Christianity is exclusive. This is a continuation of the teaching of Jesus in John 14:6 when Jesus claimed to be the only way to the Father.

After their release and reunion with the other believers, they had a time of corporate prayer. This was the source of their strength. They acknowledge the sovereign hand of God and ask Him for boldness to continue to proclaim His truth (vs29). This prayer was answered immediately and in dramatic fashion (vs31). The filling of the Holy Spirit was immediately demonstrated in the boldness to preach the Word.

The story of the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira is chilling! They conspired to sell some property for a price and then keep some of it, yet tell the church that they were donating the entirety of the profit. The result was immediate, divine execution! One wonders why this type of immediate, severe judgment does not continue to the present day. Maybe the reason is that the early church needed to understand the seriousness of situations like this, and all it took was one illustration and that was sufficient for the rest of church history. It certainly had an immediate effect on the early church (5:11). May it continue to affect us as we seek to live lives of integrity both in the church and in the world.

The arrest of the apostles in chapter 5 has some very humorous twists. They were imprisoned because their teaching and healing were calling so much attention to themselves that it made the religious leaders of the day jealous (vs17). Then they are miraculously released from their imprisonment (vs19). So, what do they do? They go right back to doing the very thing for which they had been arrested and imprisoned. How shocked must the religious leaders have been when they figured all of this out?! So, they bring the apostles back into custody and put pressure on them to quit their preaching. I love Peter's response here - "We must obey God rather than men" (vs29). This is a wonderful principle by which we must live our lives as well.

The council was debating what should be done, and Gamaliel spoke some very powerful words. He mentioned other uprisings that quickly abated and said that this one will be just like the others that came and went if it is only of man. However, he rightly asserted that if this was a movement of God, then it would impossible to overthrow it (vs39). And here we are, almost 2,000 years later, and this movement is still going strong! Praise the Lord!