How willing are you to fight those who oppose you for something you believe in? If the opposition is strong and threatening, and the penalties severe, one might not be too willing to stand up for some personal beliefs. They instead may stay quiet, or give in to the demands of their opposition, doing as they are told. Others, though, when their beliefs are challenged become more bold. That is what we see in our Scripture today from the Book of Acts.
The Book of Acts gives the account of the very early Church, focusing first on Peter and the eleven apostles, and then on Paul and the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles and into Europe. Prior to our Scripture, the apostles Peter and John had been arrested for preaching in the Name of Jesus, and for the healing of a crippled man in His Name. They were sternly threatened and then released (Acts 4:1-22). Now, a short while later, the fame of the apostles was spreading. People were coming to hear the message that they preached, and many more people were saved (vs. 14). The crowds remembered the recent healing of the crippled man by the hands of Peter and John, and they brought sick folk to them, as they believed in the divine power to heal that the apostles had. Such was this divine power that the apostles didn’t need to physically touch the sick, but sometimes just their shadow falling upon the sick was enough to bring healing (vs. 15).
After two of the prominent apostles having just recently been arrested and threatened, one might have thought they would have laid low for a while, and just kept quiet. However, they so strongly believed in their message, that none of the apostles stopped preaching or healing in the Name of Jesus. These miracles demonstrated God’s power and His affirmation of their mission. The healings and miracles were evidence of God’s active presence in the Church.
The miracles performed might give anyone an inflated ego, but not Peter. He could not forget what he had done a few short months earlier in denying Jesus, along with His forgiveness which he received when Jesus personally came to him (Luke 24:34). Peter knew where the real honor and glory belonged - with Jesus. When we do something for the Lord in whatever ministry we might be involved in, and the results are good, do we start to think that maybe we are something special, or do we give the praise and glory to where it belongs, to the Lord Jesus?
The high priest and religious leaders in and around Jerusalem and Judea quickly heard about the further miracles that were being done, along with the preaching in the Name of Jesus. They heard that many were joining this new religious movement, and they were angry (vs. 17-18). These religious leaders were filled with jealousy when they saw crowds turning to the apostles, just as they had been with Jesus, and they had the apostles arrested and thrown in prison. This showed the ongoing spiritual battle between truth and opposition.
However, God had other plans for the apostles, and He sent an angel to open the prison doors, telling them to return to the Temple area and continue to preach the Gospel (vs. 19-20). When the high priest and the religious council heard this, they quietly re-arrested the apostles and brought them before the council again, further threatening them, telling them they had been strictly ordered to never speak publicly in the Name of Jesus. To this Peter answered that they were to obey God and not man (vs. 27-29).
Peter’s response to the religious leaders is a rather well-known verse in Scripture, that we are to obey God rather than men (vs 29). God’s commands are supreme over any human institution, especially when they conflict with Biblical truth. As Christians, we are to treat our government with respect and obey its laws unless they run contrary to the Word of God. We are to bring our influence to bear on our society as it strays further and further from God’s Word.
As time progresses, we see that society, and even in some places governments, are persecuting the Church more and more. Peter and the other apostles show us how to respond to suffering and persecution with faith and joy. Sometimes God may intervene and deliver His children, as He did in our Scripture today. At other times He doesn’t, as we see later in the Book of Acts and throughout Church history. History records that each of the Apostles, with the exception of John, died a martyr's death, along with Christians down the ages up to today.