The
Apostles Are Jailed by Men, Freed by God
[Acts
chapter 5, verses 17-28]
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Last
week when we left off off at verse 16 of Acts chapter 5, the
apostles and all the others with them had been released from jail and
had promptly gone on a marathon of healing and ministry as far as
their feet would carry them. Moreover, the exponential growth of
Christianity in the first century A.D. had enraged the local
government officials as well as the Sanhedrin, the governing
religious body of that time period. And so this week, as we continue
our ongoing study of the writings of the apostle Luke, we'll be
moving on to part 2 of Acts 5, where we will shortly find that there
was a downright visceral reaction from the authorities I mentioned
when they saw the dizzying success of early Christianity. So let's
take up where we left off last week, beginning at verse 17.
“Then
the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party
of the Sadducee's, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the
apostles and put them in a public jail. But during the night an angel
of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 'Go,
stand in the Temple courts', he said, 'and tell the people the full
message of this new life.' At daybreak they entered the Temple
courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When
the high priests and his associates arrived, they called together the
Sanhedrin – the full assembly of the elders of Israel – and sent
to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the
officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 'We
found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the
doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.' On hearing
this report, the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled,
wondering what would come of this.”
(Acts 5, verses 17-24)
The
apostles healed people just by casting a shadow of themselves upon
them! The sheer power of the Holy Spirit of the Risen Savior was upon
them all, and it showed. This threw the Sadducee's, who were all
accessories to the murder of Christ, into a jealous rage. The
apostles soon found themselves jailed for the second time, having
only recently been released from the captivity we studied in part one
of chapter four (you can find that particular study here),
only to be released by an angel (a secret operative in the Spirit)
during the night. And the angel said to them all, “Go,
stand in the Temple courts'.... and tell the people the full message
of this new life.”
Not 'this new religion', mind you all, nor 'this new church' nor
'this new denomination', nor any other such spiritual sophistry as
any of that. This is the part of the message of Christ that has been
lost in the translation on too many occasions! Christianity is not
just a special type of faith, nor is it merely a creed of beliefs
that mandates adherence to a set of rules. It certainly can't be
defined as an ideology! No – Christianity is an entirely different
way of life, and if you will take the time to study the 4 gospels and
the Book of Acts, you will find this to be true – and in a
life-changing way!
“At
daybreak they entered the Temple courts, as they had been told, and
began to teach the people.”
Is it any wonder the apostles were so filled with zeal that they
arrived at the Temple courts at daybreak? If I had just been released
from jail by an angel from heaven, I'd be excited too! Another factor
in play here is that of discovery – discovery that there was a much
better way of life than that which they were living. In spite of the
centuries that have slipped by since then, nothing much has changed
except for the advent of digital technology. Life is still a
dog-eat-dog existence for the majority of the world's population. In
wealthier countries as well as poor, one must continually work at an
occupation to earn enough money to buy the things we all need. But as
we saw 2 weeks ago, the early Church had a communal living
arrangement that worked perfectly (see Acts 4, verses 32-37). Instead
of every man for himself, there is more than enough for everyone if
we all agreed to share. Christianity, when practiced as it was
originally intended, is the only effective way to accomplish this.
“....they
called together the Sanhedrin – the full assembly of the elders of
Israel – and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at
the jail, the officers did not find them there.”
As the following verses go on to say, there was much consternation
that morning in the full assembly of the Sanhedrin. These people
thought they had put to an end the teachings of Jesus Christ and his
apostles, and the disciples under them, only to find this Movement
mushrooming into something far bigger than it ever had been before.
To borrow a phrase from a best-selling novel of a couple of decades
ago, the Sanhedrin – and to a lesser extent their Roman overlords –
saw Christianity as a “clear and present danger” to their
positions of power and authority, and that was something they simply
could not tolerate. And so once again, the chief priests and the
ruling council moved to cut the head off Christianity, as we move on
to part two of our study, picking up at verse 25.
“Then
someone came and said, 'Look! The men you put in jail are standing in
the temple courts teaching the people.' At that, the captain went
with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force,
because they feared the people would stone them. Having brought the
apostles, they had them brought before the Sanhedrin to be questioned
by the high priest. 'We gave you strict orders not to speak in this
name', he said. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and
are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.'”
(Acts 5, verses 25-28)
So
the apostles, who everyone thought were in jail when the “full
assembly of the elders of Israel” (from verse 21) convened – for
what we would call a 'joint session of Congress' today – were
teaching in the temple in place of the very authorities who had
locked them up! One can only imagine the uproar that this must have
caused! And there was nothing they could do about it. I mean, how
does one person, or a hundred men in the case of this full assembly,
oppose God, or oppose those who legitimately represent God? But these
Sadducee's were determined to do exactly that. “At that, the
captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not
use force, because they feared the people would stone them.” I
don't know how much time elapsed from the time of the convening of
the Council until the time the apostles were brought before the
Sanhedrin, but keep in mind that nearly everyone traveled on foot
back then. So physically walking from the Council chambers to the
temple to arrest the Twelve (including Matthias), and then bringing
them all back again, must have taken 30 minutes to an hour or more.
This was more than enough time for the word to spread among the
believers that the apostles had been arrested again. That's why the
guards and officers did not use force, a wise decision on their part
since they were vastly outnumbered.
“...
they had them brought before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the
high priest. 'We gave you strict orders not to speak in this name',
he said.” Now let's understand the apostles' situation; they
were held in contempt of court because they had been previously, and
recently, jailed for the same offense. But they were also charged
with escape from jail, a very serious offense indeed. To put it
concisely, the apostles were in a whole lot of trouble. But more than
that, the temple where they had been 'caught' preaching and teaching
the Good News of the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus was
sacred territory as far as the all-Jewish Sanhedrin was concerned.
The temple was their place of 'worship', a worshiping in vain as
Jesus had called it. And so for anything other than the empty
teachings of the Jewish ruling body to be taught in the temple was
heresy as far as the Sanhedrin was concerned.
“Yet
you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to
make us guilty of this man's blood.” To the apostles, at that
moment in time, this must have sounded a lot like a complement from
the Lord. But more than that, the Sanhedrin obviously still didn't
understand, or were in a state of denial, as to the actual identity
as the Son of God that Jesus was. Although they were well aware of
Christ's crucifixion since they had engineered it, they thought the
apostles' eyewitness testimony that Jesus had risen from the dead was
the equivalent to a modern-day conspiracy theory. 'How dare you teach
this lunacy in our temple!', was how their line of questioning must
have seemed to the apostles at the time. The high priest's line of
questioning was so accusatory, so inflammatory and so condescending
that Peter spoke up in retort to their accusers. But for now, we'll
have to be back here at this time next week to find out what Peter's
response was. So come on back this time next week for part 3, and
we'll see how all this turns out....
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