Acts 5:29-32
Being a follower of Jesus Christ, and living the Christian life, is often not very popular. It can also get one in a lot hot water if the government opposes the work one does for Jesus, especially spreading the Gospel. In our passage today from the Book of Acts we read of how the apostles ran up against the ruling authority of Jewish religious leaders and found themselves in serious trouble. As we read their response to the leaders, we can ask ourselves if we would have responded similarly.
Earlier in our chapter in Acts, Peter and some of the other apostles had been preaching the Gospel message of Jesus. They were also healing sick folk and casting out demons from those afflicted (Acts 5:14-16). This angered the high priest and other religious leaders. They thought that once Jesus had been arrested and executed that they were done with Him. They were greatly mistaken, as now they kept hearing that Jesus had risen from the dead, and His followers kept preaching and spreading His message. The high priest and the Jewish leaders had the men arrested. However, an angel opened the doors of the jail, setting them free to go and preach the Gospel in the Temple (Acts 5:17-28). When they arrested the apostles again, the authorities told them that they had been told to stop preaching in the Name of Jesus. They didn’t want to be held responsible for Jesus’ death, which of course they were. Our passage for today contains the response that the apostles gave the high priest and other religious leaders.
Peter responded to them by saying that they had to obey God rather than man (vs. 29). The Jewish leaders had told them to stop preaching and teaching in the Name of Jesus. If they continue to do so they will be arrested and beaten. God told them to spread the Gospel around Jerusalem, Judea, and to the ends of the world (Acts 1:8). They had already been arrested once before (Acts 4:1-23). Who do they obey? For the apostles, this required no great thought. They knew that they had to obey God first.
Christians should, in most circumstances, obey their government authorities (Romans 13:1-7; I Peter 2:13-17). However, when the government gives decrees and laws that are contrary to God’s Word, God and His Word must be obeyed over and above the law of the land. Generally there is little disagreement between the two, but occasionally in some countries or under some regimes there arises a conflict. We see this a few times in the Scriptures. When the Israelites were living in Egypt, Pharaoh gave a command that all male Hebrew babies born were to be killed. However the Hebrew midwives disobeyed that law and allowed them to live (Exodus 1:15-17). Pharaoh’s rule - kill the baby boys. God’s law - do not kill. They obeyed God rather than man.
In the Book of Daniel we read where a decree was made that no one was to pray to any God except to the emperor for a period of time. Daniel was not going to follow that law and continued to pray to Yahweh as he always had (Daniel 6:4-10). Emperor’s rule - don’t pray to God. God’s law - worship only Him. Daniel obeyed God rather than man. He ended up being cast into the lion’s den, but Yahweh protected him.
There have been at various times and various places around the world where worshipping the Lord Jesus has been dangerous or even illegal, where owning and reading a Bible could get someone arrested and imprisoned, possibly even killed. Disobeying Pharaoh could have gotten the midwives in severe trouble. The Lord protected them. Disobeying the Persian emperor was dangerous, even for a high-ranking official like Daniel. He was thrown to the lions, but God protected him. Peter and the apostles knew the danger they were in if they disobeyed man’s law and continued to preach the Gospel message of the Lord Jesus. They were frequently arrested and beaten. Eventually all of the apostles (except John) were executed for being followers of Jesus and preaching His message. They knew that they must obey God rather than man. If a similar challenge ever comes to us, do we have the courage and conviction to do the same?
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