Early Church Persecuted for their Faith
December 28, 2019
Commentary
This chapter records the first persecutions of the early church. In the Gospels we find great opposition coming from the Pharisees. However, As Peter and John were speaking to the people they were confronted by a group of Sadducees and arrested (vv. 1-4). In Acts it is the Sadducees who oppose the Christians. This is because they disbelieved the doctrine of the resurrection which the apostles were preaching so powerfully. Despite this a lot of people who had heard the message believed it. So, by now there were about five thousand followers of the Lord (v. 4).
The Sanhedrin’s seventy-two members met and asked, “By what power or by what name, have you done this?” (Referring to the healing of the lame man) (vv. 5-7). Unwittingly they had handed Peter his text for a great sermon. With great boldness he turned the tables on the Sanhedrin and put them on trial (v.8). Filled with the Spirit of God, Peter called attention to the fact that the miracle was a good deed, not a crime (v. 9). Then he stated how this was done in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the one whom they had crucified and God had raised from the dead (v. 10). Jesus is the only one in all the world that can save anyone (vv. 11-12).
Not often will we be sent to jail for sharing the gospel on the street as Peter and John were. However, we do run risks in trying to win others to Christ. We might be willing to spend a night in jail if it would bring 5000 people to Christ, but shouldn’t we be willing to suffer for the sake of even one. What is it God would have us do to share the Gospel with someone today?
Application
What do I risk in witnessing? Possibly rejection or persecution from someone. Whatever the risk may be, I must realize that nothing done for Christ is ever wasted.
Acts 4:1– 12 (NET)
1 While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests and the commander of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, 2 angry because they were teaching the people and announcing in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 So they seized them and put them in jail until the next day (for it was already evening). 4 But many of those who had listened to the message believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000.
5 On the next day, their rulers, elders, and experts in the law came together in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others who were members of the high priest’s family. 7 After making Peter and John stand in their midst, they began to inquire, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, replied, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man—by what means this man was healed — 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”
Illustration: Strength in Persecution
During China’s Boxer Rebellion of 1900, insurgents captured a mission station, blocked all the gates but one, and in front of that one gate placed a cross flat on the ground. Then the word was passed to those inside that any who trampled the cross underfoot would be permitted their freedom and life, but that any refusing would be shot. Terribly frightened, the first seven students trampled the cross under their feet and were allowed to go free. But the eighth student, a young girl, refused to commit the sacrilegious act. Kneeling beside the cross in prayer for strength, she arose and moved carefully around the cross, and went out to face the firing squad. Strengthened by her example, every one of the remaining ninety-two students followed her to the firing squad. (Today in the Word, Feb. 89).