Acts 4:18-22 (NIV)
Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
The Sanhedrin really wanted to figure out a way to shut these men up for good. Not only were they a distraction, they were convincingly contradicting the official story about Jesus’ identity, death and resurrection, and doing miracles that backed up their veracity, miracles that the religious leaders were powerless to do. In other words, they were making the leaders look bad, undermining their authority, and accusing them of sins that they believed that they had hidden too well to be ever brought up again. They were a threat!
But the leaders were stymied, because the miracle that these men had just done was clearly genuine, and had been done publicly, so thousands already knew about it, and were already spreading the news of it even further. The whole thing was a public relations nightmare!
Their plan was to threaten and intimidate these men out of the public eye. They relied mostly on their authority to make their point, commanding them as the religious and governmental heads of the whole nation of Israel to stop speaking and teaching about Jesus. And no more miracles in His name, either!
But those leaders had no idea what they were fighting. Their perceived victory over Jesus had blinded them to the real power and authority He had, and that He had clearly demonstrated when He rose from the dead. Their self-defensiveness had blinded them to His clear teachings that could have enabled them to be participants in His kingdom instead of fighting against it. And now they were making the same mistakes in dealing with His disciples who were demonstrating power and authority, and an understanding of the kingdom of God that outstripped their own by many magnitudes.
Peter and John heard the threats loud and clear. But the threats didn’t intimidate them in the least. Instead, they presented a logical dilemma to the religious leaders: if they had to choose, should a person obey God, or people? Obviously, the answer (which the leaders refused to speak aloud) was that a person should always obey God, regardless of what people said or threatened. So, Peter and John boldly proclaimed that they would follow God’s commands and keep on speaking, teaching, and even doing miracles in Jesus’ name.
Father, we need the same Spirit-fed boldness in our lives today. We are so easily intimidated by public opinion, and so we sit down, we shut up, and we hang out with other believers and talk about how hard it is to live as a Christian! Lord, give us stronger backbones, more passion, and greater power in Your name, so that we can face down those who would oppose you, and so that we can do Your kingdom work today and every day. Amen.
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