If you have two conflicting orders or commands given to you, which one will you follow? Generally one would follow the orders from the person higher in command. If your job supervisor says one thing, but the owner of the company says another, you’d likely obey the owner of the company. In the military one would obey the more senior officer’s command. This holds true in our spiritual lives, as well. If man tells us one thing, but God says something else, we would be wise to follow what God says! This is a situation that some of the apostles had as we read our Scripture for today.
The events in our Scripture and that of Acts chapter 5, happened within several months to maybe a year or so after the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down upon the believers. It was likely not more time than that. In Acts 4 Peter and John had healed the crippled man in Jesus’ Name, and then both were arrested. They were released and continued their ministry of preaching salvation and healing. All of the apostles were performing many signs and wonders, and multitudes of men and women were being saved. The religious leaders in Jerusalem were not liking this, as they felt that this threatened their authority and power over the population.
As our Scripture passage opens, the apostles had continued with preaching and healing, greatly upsetting the high priest and the Sadducees, so they decided to arrest them again (vs. 17-18). Their motives were both theological and personal, as they were jealous of the apostles' popularity, proud, and feared of losing influence. The Sadducees also did not like what the apostles were preaching, because they denied the resurrection, something that was paramount in the apostles’ messages. This brought about their arrest and being treated like common criminals. Sometimes Satan uses established religious systems to oppose the Gospel. However, as we will see, God overrules human schemes.
God did not allow them to stay in jail for long. That night He sent an angel to open the locked prison doors, and the angel brought them out, telling them to go back to the Temple and continue to preach God’s message, “the words of this life” (vs. 19-20). The apostles were not freed for their own comfort, to go take a mini-vacation to relax and de-stress. They were freed in order to go back to the mission the Lord had given them, that of preaching His Word. They didn’t tell the angel no, as that had gotten them in trouble before, and that they were told by the authorities not to. Their obedience to God’s Word was immediate, unquestioning, and bold (vs. 21).
This immediately attracted the attention of the religious leaders, who sent officers to apprehend them at the Temple (vs. 22-26). The captains feared the people, which shows us that the apostles had more moral authority than the Sanhedrin. The divine demonstration of their release from prison shows that God’s work cannot be contained, and that human authority is limited. The Gospel will advance despite the opposition man seeks to bring against it.
The apostles were brought before the high priest and Sanhedrin again, where they were sternly questioned about why they were continuing to preach in the Name of Jesus (vs. 27-28). They were accused of filling Jerusalem with this new doctrine, and bringing the Blood of Jesus upon them. However, they were guilty of the death of Jesus, along with all of mankind’s sins, and it was true that the Gospel was spreading uncontrollably. When God’s Church is Spirit-filled and obedient to His Word, the world cannot ignore it.
Then Peter and the other believers spoke up, telling the high priest and Sanhedrin that they were going to obey God rather than men (vs. 29). They were not trying to be ornery or rebellious. They were submitting to the highest authority - that of God Himself. Peter proceeded to preach to them a short, concise Gospel message (vs. 30-32). He preached that God raised Jesus from the dead, the same Jesus that they had executed, and that He was now exalted as Prince and Savior. He preached that repentance and forgiveness are offered through Him, with the Holy Spirit bearing witness.
This Scripture passage teaches us that the priority of our obedience must be to God. When human commands contradict what the Bible says, we as believers must obey God. This is not optional. This is a Biblical mandate. We also see that God is sovereign over persecution. Though He doesn’t always deliver His children from suffering at the hands of His enemies, God is in control. Sometimes He will miraculously open prison doors. No earthly authority can ever silence the Gospel.
We can expect opposition when we stand for God’s truth. Faithfulness to the Bible will provoke hostility from both religious and secular systems alike. However, as Christians, we must obey God even when it might cost us something, including our safety. Believers must prioritize Scripture over cultural pressure, legal threats, or personal comfort. We are not called to silence, compromise, or selective preaching. The angel’s command is still our commission - boldly proclaim “all the words of this life.”
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