The Sanhedrin, unable to refute the incredible miracle done by Peter and John, and afraid of the people’s reactions, commands the apostles to stop speaking in the name of Christ.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to TwoJourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode. This is Episode 10 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. This episode is entitled, The Church Faces Persecution with Prayer, where we’ll discuss Acts 4:13-31. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, it’s just an amazing, amazing passage. We’re going to see the boldness of Peter and John and then the rising persecution. It just starts- I think they’re not ready yet. It’s like the persecutors in Jerusalem are not organized. They’re going to get organized though, next chapter. Oh, they’re ready by the next chapter, but at this point, it’s almost like they’re stunned and don’t know what to do. But there’s a clear threat. And we know over the last 2,000 years how much that threat has been realized by persecuting governments, persecuting religious leaders and factions and even just private citizens. And so, we’re going to gain inspiration from the courage of Peter and John, but then even more, we’re going to see the way that this early church turned to God in prayer, and how God answered their prayers for boldness and for power in preaching the gospel, and courage in the face of persecution. And in the middle of it, we’re going to get some pretty rich theology on God’s sovereign providential orchestration of all events. So, looking forward to this study today.
Wes
Well, I am as well. Let me go ahead and read verses 13-31 in Acts 4 for us as we begin.
Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father, David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’ – for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Andy, as we begin in this section of chapter 4, why was the Sanhedrin astonished at the boldness of Peter and John, and what does it mean that they recognized that they had been with Jesus?
Andy
Well, first of all, I am astonished. This is not that long after Peter denied three times knowing Jesus at the word of a little servant girl. He was terrified for his life that night and that’s normal. And then the Upper Room, the doors were locked for fear of the Jews. And so, we see the effect of the bodily resurrection of Jesus and then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the combination of those two. Neither the one nor the other being sufficient, but working together, the fact of Christ’s resurrection triumphing, clearly triumphing over death. And then the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit enabled Peter and John, but especially Peter to get over their fears. And so, they’re astonished. These men have no fear at all. They’re used to people cowering before them. These are wicked men, and they’re used to people in craven terror because they’re tyrants. And we’re going to see their tyranny even in this passage, but all the more as the Book of Acts unfolds.
And so, they’re astonished. They’re also astonished because the scripture says that these men were ordinary or unschooled men. Unschooled meaning that they had never been trained theologically in their seminary. These are basically blue-collar worker guys. These are country bumpkins from Galilee with an accent and all that kind of thing. They clearly disdain them. And these Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, were in the business of disdaining people. At one point they even say in John’s gospel, this mob that knows nothing of the law, the curse of God is upon them. That’s how arrogant these people were. So along come these individuals, and clearly Peter and John are utterly fearless. And they’re quoting scripture and all that, and they’re taken aback. I actually think they’re somewhat paralyzed. They don’t know what to do. And so, they don’t have their act together yet. So, they give them threats, but they don’t do anything else. So, they’re surprised. That is a great understatement.
Wes
Yeah. It says here in verse 13 that they called them uneducated and common men. So, you get the sense of who is this riffraff that’s coming in here and talking to us this way? Don’t they know who we are? But they’re astonished at what’s come out of these men’s mouths.
Andy
We all need boldness in evangelism. We need boldness and courage to speak the word of God to lost people.
And we want to zero in verse 13 on the word in my translation, courage. Your translation may be boldness. It’s an interesting Greek word parrhesia, I remember that. There’s a plainness of speech, a complete fearlessness. Paul prays, ask the Ephesian Christians to pray for him that he might declare it boldly as he should. We all need boldness in evangelism. We need boldness and courage to speak the word of God to lost people. So, Acts 4:13 is a good word for us that we should pray for this kind of boldness when preaching the gospel.
Wes
How about the last phrase in verse 13, it says that they recognized that they had been with Jesus. What’s the significance here of that phrase?
Andy
Yeah. So, they’re unschooled, meaning they didn’t enroll in Gamaliel school or any of that Sanhedrin seminary, but they had enrolled in Jesus school. And so, they knew that these men had been with Jesus. Now, that was the very thing that was about to get Peter in trouble. You also were with that Nazarene, weren’t you? And he denied it, but this time they know these men have been with Jesus, and that’s where it came from. Jesus was the same, only infinitely more so. Jesus didn’t enroll in their schools. Where did this man get this wisdom never having studied, they said. Oh, he studied. He just didn’t study at your school. And so, they’ve been with Jesus. And again, that’s Jesus’s strategy, the shaping of the 12. When he called them on the mountain in Mark 6, it says that he designated them apostles that they should be with him and that he should send them out to preach. So, they were with him, they spent time with him, and these men noticed that they had been with Jesus.
Wes
Now, what was it that stopped the Sanhedrin from punishing them immediately?
Andy
Well, what the text says is that there’s the lame beggar standing there with them. And what are they going to say? It’s like there’s no doubt that this incredible miracle has happened. So, they’re just nonplussed. I think the weight of the miracle, just like in Jesus’ time, what are you going to do with this? It’s just like the man born blind in John 9. It’s like, how can you not see what’s going on here? Can you really be this dense? And so, they’re also always afraid of the crowd. And so, here’s this famous beggar who’s been healed. They get hauled in, and we’re going to see in Acts 5, the next chapter, they’re pretty cautious about arresting them in front of the people at this point, because there’s some popularity going on now and they’re afraid of their position. And so fundamentally, they can’t do much because this lame beggar standing there healed is right there, and they’re almost paralyzed by it.
Wes
So, what was the problem over which they deliberated in verses 15-17, and why was this such a problem for them?
Andy
Yeah, what are we going to do with these men? They don’t know what to do. They didn’t. And this is very much-
Wes
Now what?
Andy
Yeah. Now what? No one had this problem as big as Pilate. Pontius Pilate had the biggest, he did not know what to do with Jesus. Honestly, if the guy’s tortured by Jesus, he knows he’s innocent. His wife’s had a dream about him, have nothing to do with that righteous man, but the Jews are putting pressure on him. They’re going to go over his head to Caesar. He is going to lose his job. He does not know what to do with Jesus. And he ends up washing his hands of the whole thing. The same thing’s going to happen here. Here are these ordinary men. They haven’t done anything wrong. They haven’t broken any laws, but they don’t know what to do with them. And they’re going to have the problem in the next chapter when Gamaliel does speak. It’s like, what are we going to do about this? We can’t seem to stop this thing.
Everything we do, it’s like Greek fire, everything they did spread the fire more. And so, it’s a challenging situation. So, they say, look, everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an incredible miracle, an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. We’d love to, but we can’t. So, what are we going to do? So, we’ve got to find some way to stop this gospel from spreading. Everything they’ve tried to do up to this point has not worked.
Wes
And so, verse 17 has their conclusion. They’re like, all right, if we’re going to stop this from spreading, let’s warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So, what command did they then give in verse 18? And what authority did they make this command by?
Andy
Yeah, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. And this is directly contradictory to the Great Commission of which we have five versions for: one in each gospel and then the one in the Book of Acts. And so, there’s no chance that they can obey this, and they’re doing it by their own authority. And so, here’s the thing. Every authority that exists has been established by God, and Jesus actually upheld the authority of the Sanhedrin in Matthew 23, the seven woes. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. Before he gets into that though, he says, the teacher of the law and the chief priests sit in Moses’ seat so you must obey them and do what they tell you.
Now, in this case, they can’t do what they told them. So, they do have authority, but they’re not using their authority properly. So, they’re commanding people, these people not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Wes
So that kind of authority that they did have brings us then I think to a question that some might wonder, was it wise for Peter and John to tell the Sanhedrin that they wouldn’t obey this order? And was there a reply pleasing to God in light of passages like Matthew 23:2-3 and Romans 13?
Andy
Yeah, those two passages say that we should, first of all, that Matthew 23 says that they had authority. They sat in Moses’ seat. And then in Romans 13 it says, we must submit to God-ordained authorities. But there is a limit to that. Whenever the God-ordained authority directly contradicts the word of God, we not only can disobey, but we must disobey, and they’re going to do that. So, this is a paradigm example. And same thing with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, where they’re commanded to bow down and worship an idol and they don’t do it and they’re not going to do it. And so, there’s other examples. Same thing with probably, maybe a better example would be Daniel in the Lion’s Den, where he is not to pray to any god except to Darius. And so similar to the Gospel, they’re being commanded to stop doing a good thing rather than being commanded as in the case of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to do a bad thing.
So, either way, their sins of omission and commission, they’re being forced to commit a sin of omission, of not preaching the gospel. You got to just stop doing something, do nothing more, and you won’t get in trouble. It’s like, well, we’re going to do some things. We’re going to energetically go out. And so, they are directly flouting their God ordained authority. It’s difficult. You think about cases like abortion and all that. Abortion does not mandate that a person get an abortion. It just permits an evil thing. So, it puts us in a difficult position in terms of civil disobedience. There are many, many cases like this. But anyway, this is a case that’s often brought up of God ordained authority overreach. It’s an overreach here.
Wes
Now, Peter goes on in verse 20 to give the reason for their disobedience. Is this a matter of internal or external compulsion that’s going on here?
Andy
Yeah, I think first of all, and we need to see that everything Peter and John say in this whole encounter, they’re saying by the power of the Spirit, I don’t think it’s bad for us to extend that throughout the whole passage. Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said, et cetera, et cetera. So, we get the feeling that he’s saying this same thing also. And what does he say? 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. So that’s an amazing statement. It’s like, you work it out. We’ve already worked it out. We’re going to keep preaching. And furthermore, I like the language, we cannot help speaking about what we’ve seen and heard. What does your text say?
Wes
Yeah, it says, we cannot but speak of what we’ve seen and heard. Basically, there’s no way we can avoid this.
Andy
And Paul’s going to say the same thing. He says, effectively, woe unto me if I do not preach, I have to preach. And then Jeremiah says it, he says, I said, look, I’m done. I’m done. Now, Jeremiah, we said before many times had the hardest ministry in the Old Testament, he’s got to go down in downtown Jerusalem and proclaim the wickedness of the people and that God’s going to destroy them by the Babylonians. And his word, God’s word, brought Jeremiah reproach day and night. And he said, all right, I’m done. I’m done. I’m not doing this anywhere. But he says, Jeremiah wrote, “When I stopped speaking, your word burned like a fire within me” (Jeremiah 20:9). I think they would say the same thing. We cannot help speaking about the crucifixion, resurrection of Jesus, and his ascension to heaven. We’re going to preach this gospel.
Wes
So, the Sanhedrin end the meeting by threatening Peter and John and then letting them go. How do verses 21 and 22 show the dilemma of the Sanhedrin and what are the opposing forces that caused this quandary?
Andy
Yeah, so they make more threats, but that’s why I’ve said at the beginning of this podcast, I said they were paralyzed. They did not know what to do, and this text openly says it. They could not decide how to punish them. The next chapter, they’ve got it worked out. They give them a sound thrashing, a beating, and they’re threatening to kill them. And it’s going to escalate. At this point they just threaten. And so fundamentally, they are torn because they would like to punish them directly. Why don’t they? Why don’t they just kill them? Why don’t they just beat them? Well, because they’re afraid of the people. And we see this again and again, the number of times that it said that in the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, where the leaders are held back from doing what they want to do because they’re afraid of the people. Now, this happens a number of times in Jesus’s ministry. The crowd is awed by Jesus’ teaching ministry. They’re overwhelmed and they’re amazed.
And here are the wicked Jewish leaders, and they’d like to kill Jesus, but they can’t because of the crowd. Or again, when Jesus asked them, they said, “By what authority are you doing these things?” And he said, “I’m going to ask you a question. If you tell me the answer, I’ll tell you by what authority I’m doing it. John’s baptism, was it from heaven or from men?” Well, they go off into this little unholy huddle, and they try to figure out what they’re going to say. They don’t know what to say. If we say from heaven, he will ask them, why didn’t you believe him? But if we say from men, they fear the crowd because everyone held that John really was a prophet. So, they came back with this, “We don’t know.” So, they punted right in the middle. It’s not like they didn’t know. They believed that John was not from God, but they were afraid to say what they really believed. So why did they hold back from punishing these men? Because they’re afraid of the repercussions with the crowd.
Wes
After Peter and John were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. How does the church respond to the persecution and what does this teach us about healthy church life?
Andy
Oh, this is so beautiful, and I love this. You know how we’re regularly doing prayer ministries like evangelistic prayer, concerts of prayer, other things. And I always go to Acts 4:23 and following 23-31, especially verse 31, I was like, oh Lord, if you would do that. Make the room shake with the power of the Holy Spirit, it’d be awesome. So that’s what would be the best prayer meeting we could ever have. So, what they do is, Peter and John go back and say, this is what we experienced. The people weren’t there, they didn’t know. But now they’ve got these eyewitnesses that say, this is what’s happened. And they were representing the whole church, which was huge. There are thousands of believers. So, they go back and they report, and the people pull into a time of prayer.
they’re praying for boldness and courage to preach the gospel. They’re not praying for an abatement of the persecution.
And the prayer is so powerful and so beautiful. First of all, it’s saturated with scripture and current events. They weave together what they’ve learned from scripture and what’s actually happened, and they turn it back up to God in prayer. And the fundamental issue here is they’re praying for boldness and courage to preach the gospel. They’re not praying for an abatement of the persecution. They’re just asking that they would do their duty and be faithful. So, I know we’re going to walk through it, but that’s what’s going on here.
Wes
Yeah, what’s the doctrinal basis of their prayer to God and where do they begin? What aspects of God’s nature and actions do they focus on first?
Andy
Yeah, Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. So, they focus on God’s sovereign rulership. He is Lord of heaven and earth. That’s what Jesus says in Matthew 11:25, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and reveal them to little children.” That’s such a great title, isn’t it? I thank you Father, Lord, Lord of heaven and earth. So, whenever I think of that language, I think of Isaiah 40, which is so powerful where he sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
The more you look at the people like grasshoppers, the more confident you get. It’s like, what can man do to me? God, Almighty God is sending us out. And so, it’s so powerful, the sovereign Lord, you made everything. You rule over everything, and then they start working through Psalm 2:1, “You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father, David.” So that’s a great statement on the doctrine of inspiration. All right, Peter will say the same thing, that men spoke from God “as they’re carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus said it about David when he talked in Psalm 1:10, “How is it that David speaking by the Holy Spirit declared, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'” So, the inspiration of the Old Testament scripture by the Holy Spirit is overtly taught here. You spoke, you spoke by David, our Father, your servant, through the Holy Spirit. So, God is the one that spoke, and he did it by the Spirit. So, these are perfect words. And then he kicks into Psalm 2. And Psalm 2, I have to believe though it doesn’t say it, I do believe that they probably work through the entire Psalm. It’s 12 verses long, I think. And the whole thing is appropriate to the situation. So, I guess the idea here is you need to know they went through a good teaching time that night on Psalm 2. And what is Psalm 2 about?
Psalm 2 is fundamentally about how God has established the Son of David, who is the Son of God, not David himself, but David’s greater son, Jesus. How he has established him as king, how he has anointed him and established him. The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed one. And what do they say? Let us break off their chains and throw off their fetters. Let’s not submit to Jesus’s kingly authority. We’re going to fight him. And then Psalm 2 says, “The one enthroned in heaven laughs and then he terrifies them in his anger and shakes them in his wrath saying, I’ve established my king on Zion my Holy Hill.” That’s Psalm 2. So, they must have gotten confidence and strength from that because fundamentally the real threat is with Jesus’ enemies because Psalm 2 ends up giving them a warning.
Let me give you some piece of advice. Let me give you some advice. “Kiss the son lest he be angry with you and his wrath flare up in a moment for the Lord can destroy you in an instant, blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 2:12). So fundamentally, the real issue here is those people are the ones in danger, not us. So, they walk through Psalm 2. And so, what is it they celebrate, the sovereignty of God. And also, the way that he established Jesus as the anointed king.
Wes
You mentioned the way that they pray, tying together this psalm that they walked through and prayed through with current events. That’s an amazing example for us as we think about how to pray the word of God back to him in light of what’s happening around us. How does the church here in this prayer meeting connect the psalm to directly to their situation in verses 27 to 29?
Andy
All right, why do the nations rage in the people’s plot or conspire in vain? All right, so they zero in on the plotting, the rage resulted in plots. And that’s happened in Jesus’s life that people were enraged, and they went off, and they plotted to kill him. And so that plotting is what David predicted would happen in Psalm 2. And they say indeed, that’s exactly what happened. Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in the city to plot, to conspire against your holy servant Jesus. It’s direct fulfillment of Psalm 2. And the plotting is futile. All right? Why do they rage and plot? Because they’re fighting against God and against his Anointed one. And so that’s how they’re weaving together. And so that’s what happened with Jesus. They did meet in this very city to plot against Jesus who they call your holy servant. Isn’t that beautiful? Your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed? And then this incredible doctrinal statement, verse 28, “They did what your power and will had determined beforehand should happen.” What’s your translation say?
Wes
So, it says they had gathered to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Andy
Okay. So, this is so exciting. And when you read that, I was like, yeah, my translation is a little different, but I just love it. And it brought back to mind one of the great, great verses on the absolute sovereignty of God, the providential rulership of God over heaven and earth. And it’s in Isaiah 14 and he’s talking about the destruction of Assyria. And he said, I’m going to destroy Assyria in my land. They’re going to invade, and I’m going to crush them. Well, you know how that happened? 185,000 Assyrian troops died in one night because the angel of Lord went out and struck them down. It’s God who orchestrated this whole thing. And so, Isaiah 14 talks about this, but then there’s this great statement, Isaiah 14:26 and 27. This is the plan determined for the whole world. This is the hand stretched out over all nations for the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? So, I zeroed in years ago on this little couplet. This is the plan; this is the hand.
So, the plan happens before the hand. The plan is the mind of God determining what’s best, and his hand is his sovereign power to make it happen. And that’s the same thing that’s happening over here. God made the plan before the foundation of the world. Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The plan was orchestrated, and then God made it happen. What’s so interesting, if you look in Mark 14, as the people, Jesus’s enemies, just begin to plot against Jesus in that final phase, they plotted that they would arrest Jesus and put him to death. They say, but not during the feast or the people may riot. So that’s 14:1, somewhere in there, not during the feast or the people may riot. Well, when did they actually then arrest Jesus during the feast? Why? Because that was God’s plan.
And so, what was the triggering event? Well, the triggering event actually was a woman pouring out a year’s worth of wages on Jesus and perfume and Judas Iscariot, knowing the jig is up. If I’m going to get anything out of this financially, I got to turn him in now. He comes in and that starts the whole wheels going and say, all right, well now we have somebody we can work with. Maybe now’s the time. And so, the very thing they determined should not happen that Jesus would be arrested during the feast because they were afraid, as I’ve said many times, of the people rioting, it actually went exactly according to plan. So, you go back to Acts 4 and it says they did what your power and will had determined beforehand should happen.
Wes
Yeah, it’s amazing, especially in light of what we just talked about, the foundation for their whole prayer is God’s sovereign purpose. And then to see that worked out like they just expressed in their prayers it’s powerful.
Andy
Yeah. I don’t think we can meditate on this, Acts 4:28 enough. Read your version again. I like your version better than mine.
Wes
It says to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Andy
Okay. Yeah. That’s it. The predestination. So, God had determined ahead of time, and yet Jesus did say about Judas Iscariot, the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man. It would’ve been better for him if he had never been born. So, he is responsible for his actions. Annas and Caiaphas were responsible for their actions. Pontius Pilate was responsible for his. So just the fact that this is the plan determined before the foundation of the world doesn’t alleviate them from their guilt of condemning an innocent man.
Wes
Now the prayer in verse 29 continues, they pray. “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.” Andy, how relevant is this prayer that they pray to the evangelistic life of the church today?
Andy
Yeah. So, we’re going again to that word boldness that we saw back in verse 13. Acts 4:13 speaks of the boldness of Peter, the plain speaking. They’re just going… parrhasia means all the words. They said everything God wanted them to say they didn’t hold back. And so, they’re asking for continued boldness. So, here’s the thing, our boldness waxes and wanes. Sometimes we’re bold, sometimes we’re cowards. And so, they knew that they needed God to continue to work boldness in them by the power of the Holy Spirit. And they say, “Consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (Acts 4:29). So, in light of the current event, now this idea of God considers this or consider that, we know God’s omniscient. Basically, we are the ones that are casting our burdens on him. It’s like these are our circumstances. You’re the timeless, eternal God sitting enthroned above the circle of the earth. You’re above all time. But this is the moment in time we are in now, and this is relevant to our situation.
Be mindful of this threat. Be mindful of the laws made against the gospel. So, we’ve got brothers and sisters in different settings around the world. So, it could be an Islamic setting in which it’s illegal to convert a Muslim, or it’s illegal for a person born a Muslim to be a Christian. Consider that law that’s relevant to our setting. Consider that and enable us to live with great boldness. Or it could be in China where the communist government is different than a Muslim government, but same thing. And there could be reprisals, there could be disadvantages or even prison. Consider our circumstance. So, for us, we live in a free country, but Satan does work here that makes preaching the gospel difficult and increasingly is hated. Increasingly, people see us very poorly. Consider our circumstances, Lord, consider our particular challenges and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. That’s a good thing to pray.
Wes
Andy, what do we learn about the purpose and the use of miracles based on verse 30?
Andy
Yeah, so he says, stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant. Jesus. The whole thing was triggered by the healing. And so, this was a strategic part of the beginning of the church. I do not think it continues. I do believe that God miraculously heals in answer to the prayers of his people. I’m not saying that, but this supernatural work of healing like this, healers, the apostolic healing ministry was fire starter for the church. And so, they’re asking that God would do that. Let us do these kinds of miracles. Let us be able to attract crowds by doing signs and wonders. So, enable us to heal by the name of your holy servant Jesus. And by the way, I just love that phrase, your holy servant, Jesus. We need to meditate on that.
Wes
So good. Andy, verse 31. You mentioned a moment ago, basically the theme of this prayer meeting. What should we learn from this verse? And what final thoughts do you have on this reaction of the church to persecution with prayer?
Andy
All right, I think Acts 4:31 is the most important verse in the book of Acts, and maybe in the Bible, I would say it is, to support Martin Lloyd-Jones’ thesis that Pentecost was not a solitary event, but was meant to happen in some smaller ways, in significant ways, again and again and again and again. And so, the idea is that we as a church would turn back again to God, weak, powerless, futile maybe, lacking courage, and that we would seek a fresh outpouring of the Spirit. I would not agree with Lloyd-Jones’ language of baptism at that point. We could quibble over that. But that effusions of the Spirit result in great power in evangelism, that’s proven by church history. Now in that case, the room was literally physically shaken. That’s very similar to the sound of the rushing wind in Acts 2.
So, this is a mini-Pentecost again. And so, if it happened twice, why couldn’t it happen three times or 20 times or a thousand? And so, the idea here is that God acted and let the people know that he had answered their prayer, and they were all, it says, filled with the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t say baptized but filled. And I like the language of baptized once, filled many times. So, they’re filled with the Holy Spirit, and they get what they asked for. They spoke the word of God boldly. So, we’re having evangelistic prayer meetings going on in our church now. And this is the very thing I want to see happen in our church, that in some way we would be shaken a sense of the holy presence of Almighty God, the Lord of heaven and earth, and that we would be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak the word of God boldly in our city.
Wes
Well, this has been Episode 10 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast, and we want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 11 entitled Powerful Church Life: Discipline for Sin, where we’ll discuss Acts 4:32-5:11. Thank you for listening to the two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
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Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to TwoJourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode. This is Episode 10 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. This episode is entitled, The Church Faces Persecution with Prayer, where we’ll discuss Acts 4:13-31. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, it’s just an amazing, amazing passage. We’re going to see the boldness of Peter and John and then the rising persecution. It just starts- I think they’re not ready yet. It’s like the persecutors in Jerusalem are not organized. They’re going to get organized though, next chapter. Oh, they’re ready by the next chapter, but at this point, it’s almost like they’re stunned and don’t know what to do. But there’s a clear threat. And we know over the last 2,000 years how much that threat has been realized by persecuting governments, persecuting religious leaders and factions and even just private citizens. And so, we’re going to gain inspiration from the courage of Peter and John, but then even more, we’re going to see the way that this early church turned to God in prayer, and how God answered their prayers for boldness and for power in preaching the gospel, and courage in the face of persecution. And in the middle of it, we’re going to get some pretty rich theology on God’s sovereign providential orchestration of all events. So, looking forward to this study today.
Wes
Well, I am as well. Let me go ahead and read verses 13-31 in Acts 4 for us as we begin.
Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father, David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’ – for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Andy, as we begin in this section of chapter 4, why was the Sanhedrin astonished at the boldness of Peter and John, and what does it mean that they recognized that they had been with Jesus?
Andy
Well, first of all, I am astonished. This is not that long after Peter denied three times knowing Jesus at the word of a little servant girl. He was terrified for his life that night and that’s normal. And then the Upper Room, the doors were locked for fear of the Jews. And so, we see the effect of the bodily resurrection of Jesus and then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the combination of those two. Neither the one nor the other being sufficient, but working together, the fact of Christ’s resurrection triumphing, clearly triumphing over death. And then the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit enabled Peter and John, but especially Peter to get over their fears. And so, they’re astonished. These men have no fear at all. They’re used to people cowering before them. These are wicked men, and they’re used to people in craven terror because they’re tyrants. And we’re going to see their tyranny even in this passage, but all the more as the Book of Acts unfolds.
And so, they’re astonished. They’re also astonished because the scripture says that these men were ordinary or unschooled men. Unschooled meaning that they had never been trained theologically in their seminary. These are basically blue-collar worker guys. These are country bumpkins from Galilee with an accent and all that kind of thing. They clearly disdain them. And these Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, were in the business of disdaining people. At one point they even say in John’s gospel, this mob that knows nothing of the law, the curse of God is upon them. That’s how arrogant these people were. So along come these individuals, and clearly Peter and John are utterly fearless. And they’re quoting scripture and all that, and they’re taken aback. I actually think they’re somewhat paralyzed. They don’t know what to do. And so, they don’t have their act together yet. So, they give them threats, but they don’t do anything else. So, they’re surprised. That is a great understatement.
Wes
Yeah. It says here in verse 13 that they called them uneducated and common men. So, you get the sense of who is this riffraff that’s coming in here and talking to us this way? Don’t they know who we are? But they’re astonished at what’s come out of these men’s mouths.
Andy
We all need boldness in evangelism. We need boldness and courage to speak the word of God to lost people.
And we want to zero in verse 13 on the word in my translation, courage. Your translation may be boldness. It’s an interesting Greek word parrhesia, I remember that. There’s a plainness of speech, a complete fearlessness. Paul prays, ask the Ephesian Christians to pray for him that he might declare it boldly as he should. We all need boldness in evangelism. We need boldness and courage to speak the word of God to lost people. So, Acts 4:13 is a good word for us that we should pray for this kind of boldness when preaching the gospel.
Wes
How about the last phrase in verse 13, it says that they recognized that they had been with Jesus. What’s the significance here of that phrase?
Andy
Yeah. So, they’re unschooled, meaning they didn’t enroll in Gamaliel school or any of that Sanhedrin seminary, but they had enrolled in Jesus school. And so, they knew that these men had been with Jesus. Now, that was the very thing that was about to get Peter in trouble. You also were with that Nazarene, weren’t you? And he denied it, but this time they know these men have been with Jesus, and that’s where it came from. Jesus was the same, only infinitely more so. Jesus didn’t enroll in their schools. Where did this man get this wisdom never having studied, they said. Oh, he studied. He just didn’t study at your school. And so, they’ve been with Jesus. And again, that’s Jesus’s strategy, the shaping of the 12. When he called them on the mountain in Mark 6, it says that he designated them apostles that they should be with him and that he should send them out to preach. So, they were with him, they spent time with him, and these men noticed that they had been with Jesus.
Wes
Now, what was it that stopped the Sanhedrin from punishing them immediately?
Andy
Well, what the text says is that there’s the lame beggar standing there with them. And what are they going to say? It’s like there’s no doubt that this incredible miracle has happened. So, they’re just nonplussed. I think the weight of the miracle, just like in Jesus’ time, what are you going to do with this? It’s just like the man born blind in John 9. It’s like, how can you not see what’s going on here? Can you really be this dense? And so, they’re also always afraid of the crowd. And so, here’s this famous beggar who’s been healed. They get hauled in, and we’re going to see in Acts 5, the next chapter, they’re pretty cautious about arresting them in front of the people at this point, because there’s some popularity going on now and they’re afraid of their position. And so fundamentally, they can’t do much because this lame beggar standing there healed is right there, and they’re almost paralyzed by it.
Wes
So, what was the problem over which they deliberated in verses 15-17, and why was this such a problem for them?
Andy
Yeah, what are we going to do with these men? They don’t know what to do. They didn’t. And this is very much-
Wes
Now what?
Andy
Yeah. Now what? No one had this problem as big as Pilate. Pontius Pilate had the biggest, he did not know what to do with Jesus. Honestly, if the guy’s tortured by Jesus, he knows he’s innocent. His wife’s had a dream about him, have nothing to do with that righteous man, but the Jews are putting pressure on him. They’re going to go over his head to Caesar. He is going to lose his job. He does not know what to do with Jesus. And he ends up washing his hands of the whole thing. The same thing’s going to happen here. Here are these ordinary men. They haven’t done anything wrong. They haven’t broken any laws, but they don’t know what to do with them. And they’re going to have the problem in the next chapter when Gamaliel does speak. It’s like, what are we going to do about this? We can’t seem to stop this thing.
Everything we do, it’s like Greek fire, everything they did spread the fire more. And so, it’s a challenging situation. So, they say, look, everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an incredible miracle, an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. We’d love to, but we can’t. So, what are we going to do? So, we’ve got to find some way to stop this gospel from spreading. Everything they’ve tried to do up to this point has not worked.
Wes
And so, verse 17 has their conclusion. They’re like, all right, if we’re going to stop this from spreading, let’s warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So, what command did they then give in verse 18? And what authority did they make this command by?
Andy
Yeah, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. And this is directly contradictory to the Great Commission of which we have five versions for: one in each gospel and then the one in the Book of Acts. And so, there’s no chance that they can obey this, and they’re doing it by their own authority. And so, here’s the thing. Every authority that exists has been established by God, and Jesus actually upheld the authority of the Sanhedrin in Matthew 23, the seven woes. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. Before he gets into that though, he says, the teacher of the law and the chief priests sit in Moses’ seat so you must obey them and do what they tell you.
Now, in this case, they can’t do what they told them. So, they do have authority, but they’re not using their authority properly. So, they’re commanding people, these people not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Wes
So that kind of authority that they did have brings us then I think to a question that some might wonder, was it wise for Peter and John to tell the Sanhedrin that they wouldn’t obey this order? And was there a reply pleasing to God in light of passages like Matthew 23:2-3 and Romans 13?
Andy
Yeah, those two passages say that we should, first of all, that Matthew 23 says that they had authority. They sat in Moses’ seat. And then in Romans 13 it says, we must submit to God-ordained authorities. But there is a limit to that. Whenever the God-ordained authority directly contradicts the word of God, we not only can disobey, but we must disobey, and they’re going to do that. So, this is a paradigm example. And same thing with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, where they’re commanded to bow down and worship an idol and they don’t do it and they’re not going to do it. And so, there’s other examples. Same thing with probably, maybe a better example would be Daniel in the Lion’s Den, where he is not to pray to any god except to Darius. And so similar to the Gospel, they’re being commanded to stop doing a good thing rather than being commanded as in the case of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to do a bad thing.
So, either way, their sins of omission and commission, they’re being forced to commit a sin of omission, of not preaching the gospel. You got to just stop doing something, do nothing more, and you won’t get in trouble. It’s like, well, we’re going to do some things. We’re going to energetically go out. And so, they are directly flouting their God ordained authority. It’s difficult. You think about cases like abortion and all that. Abortion does not mandate that a person get an abortion. It just permits an evil thing. So, it puts us in a difficult position in terms of civil disobedience. There are many, many cases like this. But anyway, this is a case that’s often brought up of God ordained authority overreach. It’s an overreach here.
Wes
Now, Peter goes on in verse 20 to give the reason for their disobedience. Is this a matter of internal or external compulsion that’s going on here?
Andy
Yeah, I think first of all, and we need to see that everything Peter and John say in this whole encounter, they’re saying by the power of the Spirit, I don’t think it’s bad for us to extend that throughout the whole passage. Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said, et cetera, et cetera. So, we get the feeling that he’s saying this same thing also. And what does he say? 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. So that’s an amazing statement. It’s like, you work it out. We’ve already worked it out. We’re going to keep preaching. And furthermore, I like the language, we cannot help speaking about what we’ve seen and heard. What does your text say?
Wes
Yeah, it says, we cannot but speak of what we’ve seen and heard. Basically, there’s no way we can avoid this.
Andy
And Paul’s going to say the same thing. He says, effectively, woe unto me if I do not preach, I have to preach. And then Jeremiah says it, he says, I said, look, I’m done. I’m done. Now, Jeremiah, we said before many times had the hardest ministry in the Old Testament, he’s got to go down in downtown Jerusalem and proclaim the wickedness of the people and that God’s going to destroy them by the Babylonians. And his word, God’s word, brought Jeremiah reproach day and night. And he said, all right, I’m done. I’m done. I’m not doing this anywhere. But he says, Jeremiah wrote, “When I stopped speaking, your word burned like a fire within me” (Jeremiah 20:9). I think they would say the same thing. We cannot help speaking about the crucifixion, resurrection of Jesus, and his ascension to heaven. We’re going to preach this gospel.
Wes
So, the Sanhedrin end the meeting by threatening Peter and John and then letting them go. How do verses 21 and 22 show the dilemma of the Sanhedrin and what are the opposing forces that caused this quandary?
Andy
Yeah, so they make more threats, but that’s why I’ve said at the beginning of this podcast, I said they were paralyzed. They did not know what to do, and this text openly says it. They could not decide how to punish them. The next chapter, they’ve got it worked out. They give them a sound thrashing, a beating, and they’re threatening to kill them. And it’s going to escalate. At this point they just threaten. And so fundamentally, they are torn because they would like to punish them directly. Why don’t they? Why don’t they just kill them? Why don’t they just beat them? Well, because they’re afraid of the people. And we see this again and again, the number of times that it said that in the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, where the leaders are held back from doing what they want to do because they’re afraid of the people. Now, this happens a number of times in Jesus’s ministry. The crowd is awed by Jesus’ teaching ministry. They’re overwhelmed and they’re amazed.
And here are the wicked Jewish leaders, and they’d like to kill Jesus, but they can’t because of the crowd. Or again, when Jesus asked them, they said, “By what authority are you doing these things?” And he said, “I’m going to ask you a question. If you tell me the answer, I’ll tell you by what authority I’m doing it. John’s baptism, was it from heaven or from men?” Well, they go off into this little unholy huddle, and they try to figure out what they’re going to say. They don’t know what to say. If we say from heaven, he will ask them, why didn’t you believe him? But if we say from men, they fear the crowd because everyone held that John really was a prophet. So, they came back with this, “We don’t know.” So, they punted right in the middle. It’s not like they didn’t know. They believed that John was not from God, but they were afraid to say what they really believed. So why did they hold back from punishing these men? Because they’re afraid of the repercussions with the crowd.
Wes
After Peter and John were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. How does the church respond to the persecution and what does this teach us about healthy church life?
Andy
Oh, this is so beautiful, and I love this. You know how we’re regularly doing prayer ministries like evangelistic prayer, concerts of prayer, other things. And I always go to Acts 4:23 and following 23-31, especially verse 31, I was like, oh Lord, if you would do that. Make the room shake with the power of the Holy Spirit, it’d be awesome. So that’s what would be the best prayer meeting we could ever have. So, what they do is, Peter and John go back and say, this is what we experienced. The people weren’t there, they didn’t know. But now they’ve got these eyewitnesses that say, this is what’s happened. And they were representing the whole church, which was huge. There are thousands of believers. So, they go back and they report, and the people pull into a time of prayer.
they’re praying for boldness and courage to preach the gospel. They’re not praying for an abatement of the persecution.
And the prayer is so powerful and so beautiful. First of all, it’s saturated with scripture and current events. They weave together what they’ve learned from scripture and what’s actually happened, and they turn it back up to God in prayer. And the fundamental issue here is they’re praying for boldness and courage to preach the gospel. They’re not praying for an abatement of the persecution. They’re just asking that they would do their duty and be faithful. So, I know we’re going to walk through it, but that’s what’s going on here.
Wes
Yeah, what’s the doctrinal basis of their prayer to God and where do they begin? What aspects of God’s nature and actions do they focus on first?
Andy
Yeah, Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. So, they focus on God’s sovereign rulership. He is Lord of heaven and earth. That’s what Jesus says in Matthew 11:25, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and reveal them to little children.” That’s such a great title, isn’t it? I thank you Father, Lord, Lord of heaven and earth. So, whenever I think of that language, I think of Isaiah 40, which is so powerful where he sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
The more you look at the people like grasshoppers, the more confident you get. It’s like, what can man do to me? God, Almighty God is sending us out. And so, it’s so powerful, the sovereign Lord, you made everything. You rule over everything, and then they start working through Psalm 2:1, “You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father, David.” So that’s a great statement on the doctrine of inspiration. All right, Peter will say the same thing, that men spoke from God “as they’re carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus said it about David when he talked in Psalm 1:10, “How is it that David speaking by the Holy Spirit declared, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'” So, the inspiration of the Old Testament scripture by the Holy Spirit is overtly taught here. You spoke, you spoke by David, our Father, your servant, through the Holy Spirit. So, God is the one that spoke, and he did it by the Spirit. So, these are perfect words. And then he kicks into Psalm 2. And Psalm 2, I have to believe though it doesn’t say it, I do believe that they probably work through the entire Psalm. It’s 12 verses long, I think. And the whole thing is appropriate to the situation. So, I guess the idea here is you need to know they went through a good teaching time that night on Psalm 2. And what is Psalm 2 about?
Psalm 2 is fundamentally about how God has established the Son of David, who is the Son of God, not David himself, but David’s greater son, Jesus. How he has established him as king, how he has anointed him and established him. The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed one. And what do they say? Let us break off their chains and throw off their fetters. Let’s not submit to Jesus’s kingly authority. We’re going to fight him. And then Psalm 2 says, “The one enthroned in heaven laughs and then he terrifies them in his anger and shakes them in his wrath saying, I’ve established my king on Zion my Holy Hill.” That’s Psalm 2. So, they must have gotten confidence and strength from that because fundamentally the real threat is with Jesus’ enemies because Psalm 2 ends up giving them a warning.
Let me give you some piece of advice. Let me give you some advice. “Kiss the son lest he be angry with you and his wrath flare up in a moment for the Lord can destroy you in an instant, blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 2:12). So fundamentally, the real issue here is those people are the ones in danger, not us. So, they walk through Psalm 2. And so, what is it they celebrate, the sovereignty of God. And also, the way that he established Jesus as the anointed king.
Wes
You mentioned the way that they pray, tying together this psalm that they walked through and prayed through with current events. That’s an amazing example for us as we think about how to pray the word of God back to him in light of what’s happening around us. How does the church here in this prayer meeting connect the psalm to directly to their situation in verses 27 to 29?
Andy
All right, why do the nations rage in the people’s plot or conspire in vain? All right, so they zero in on the plotting, the rage resulted in plots. And that’s happened in Jesus’s life that people were enraged, and they went off, and they plotted to kill him. And so that plotting is what David predicted would happen in Psalm 2. And they say indeed, that’s exactly what happened. Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in the city to plot, to conspire against your holy servant Jesus. It’s direct fulfillment of Psalm 2. And the plotting is futile. All right? Why do they rage and plot? Because they’re fighting against God and against his Anointed one. And so that’s how they’re weaving together. And so that’s what happened with Jesus. They did meet in this very city to plot against Jesus who they call your holy servant. Isn’t that beautiful? Your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed? And then this incredible doctrinal statement, verse 28, “They did what your power and will had determined beforehand should happen.” What’s your translation say?
Wes
So, it says they had gathered to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Andy
Okay. So, this is so exciting. And when you read that, I was like, yeah, my translation is a little different, but I just love it. And it brought back to mind one of the great, great verses on the absolute sovereignty of God, the providential rulership of God over heaven and earth. And it’s in Isaiah 14 and he’s talking about the destruction of Assyria. And he said, I’m going to destroy Assyria in my land. They’re going to invade, and I’m going to crush them. Well, you know how that happened? 185,000 Assyrian troops died in one night because the angel of Lord went out and struck them down. It’s God who orchestrated this whole thing. And so, Isaiah 14 talks about this, but then there’s this great statement, Isaiah 14:26 and 27. This is the plan determined for the whole world. This is the hand stretched out over all nations for the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? So, I zeroed in years ago on this little couplet. This is the plan; this is the hand.
So, the plan happens before the hand. The plan is the mind of God determining what’s best, and his hand is his sovereign power to make it happen. And that’s the same thing that’s happening over here. God made the plan before the foundation of the world. Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The plan was orchestrated, and then God made it happen. What’s so interesting, if you look in Mark 14, as the people, Jesus’s enemies, just begin to plot against Jesus in that final phase, they plotted that they would arrest Jesus and put him to death. They say, but not during the feast or the people may riot. So that’s 14:1, somewhere in there, not during the feast or the people may riot. Well, when did they actually then arrest Jesus during the feast? Why? Because that was God’s plan.
And so, what was the triggering event? Well, the triggering event actually was a woman pouring out a year’s worth of wages on Jesus and perfume and Judas Iscariot, knowing the jig is up. If I’m going to get anything out of this financially, I got to turn him in now. He comes in and that starts the whole wheels going and say, all right, well now we have somebody we can work with. Maybe now’s the time. And so, the very thing they determined should not happen that Jesus would be arrested during the feast because they were afraid, as I’ve said many times, of the people rioting, it actually went exactly according to plan. So, you go back to Acts 4 and it says they did what your power and will had determined beforehand should happen.
Wes
Yeah, it’s amazing, especially in light of what we just talked about, the foundation for their whole prayer is God’s sovereign purpose. And then to see that worked out like they just expressed in their prayers it’s powerful.
Andy
Yeah. I don’t think we can meditate on this, Acts 4:28 enough. Read your version again. I like your version better than mine.
Wes
It says to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Andy
Okay. Yeah. That’s it. The predestination. So, God had determined ahead of time, and yet Jesus did say about Judas Iscariot, the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man. It would’ve been better for him if he had never been born. So, he is responsible for his actions. Annas and Caiaphas were responsible for their actions. Pontius Pilate was responsible for his. So just the fact that this is the plan determined before the foundation of the world doesn’t alleviate them from their guilt of condemning an innocent man.
Wes
Now the prayer in verse 29 continues, they pray. “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.” Andy, how relevant is this prayer that they pray to the evangelistic life of the church today?
Andy
Yeah. So, we’re going again to that word boldness that we saw back in verse 13. Acts 4:13 speaks of the boldness of Peter, the plain speaking. They’re just going… parrhasia means all the words. They said everything God wanted them to say they didn’t hold back. And so, they’re asking for continued boldness. So, here’s the thing, our boldness waxes and wanes. Sometimes we’re bold, sometimes we’re cowards. And so, they knew that they needed God to continue to work boldness in them by the power of the Holy Spirit. And they say, “Consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (Acts 4:29). So, in light of the current event, now this idea of God considers this or consider that, we know God’s omniscient. Basically, we are the ones that are casting our burdens on him. It’s like these are our circumstances. You’re the timeless, eternal God sitting enthroned above the circle of the earth. You’re above all time. But this is the moment in time we are in now, and this is relevant to our situation.
Be mindful of this threat. Be mindful of the laws made against the gospel. So, we’ve got brothers and sisters in different settings around the world. So, it could be an Islamic setting in which it’s illegal to convert a Muslim, or it’s illegal for a person born a Muslim to be a Christian. Consider that law that’s relevant to our setting. Consider that and enable us to live with great boldness. Or it could be in China where the communist government is different than a Muslim government, but same thing. And there could be reprisals, there could be disadvantages or even prison. Consider our circumstance. So, for us, we live in a free country, but Satan does work here that makes preaching the gospel difficult and increasingly is hated. Increasingly, people see us very poorly. Consider our circumstances, Lord, consider our particular challenges and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. That’s a good thing to pray.
Wes
Andy, what do we learn about the purpose and the use of miracles based on verse 30?
Andy
Yeah, so he says, stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant. Jesus. The whole thing was triggered by the healing. And so, this was a strategic part of the beginning of the church. I do not think it continues. I do believe that God miraculously heals in answer to the prayers of his people. I’m not saying that, but this supernatural work of healing like this, healers, the apostolic healing ministry was fire starter for the church. And so, they’re asking that God would do that. Let us do these kinds of miracles. Let us be able to attract crowds by doing signs and wonders. So, enable us to heal by the name of your holy servant Jesus. And by the way, I just love that phrase, your holy servant, Jesus. We need to meditate on that.
Wes
So good. Andy, verse 31. You mentioned a moment ago, basically the theme of this prayer meeting. What should we learn from this verse? And what final thoughts do you have on this reaction of the church to persecution with prayer?
Andy
All right, I think Acts 4:31 is the most important verse in the book of Acts, and maybe in the Bible, I would say it is, to support Martin Lloyd-Jones’ thesis that Pentecost was not a solitary event, but was meant to happen in some smaller ways, in significant ways, again and again and again and again. And so, the idea is that we as a church would turn back again to God, weak, powerless, futile maybe, lacking courage, and that we would seek a fresh outpouring of the Spirit. I would not agree with Lloyd-Jones’ language of baptism at that point. We could quibble over that. But that effusions of the Spirit result in great power in evangelism, that’s proven by church history. Now in that case, the room was literally physically shaken. That’s very similar to the sound of the rushing wind in Acts 2.
So, this is a mini-Pentecost again. And so, if it happened twice, why couldn’t it happen three times or 20 times or a thousand? And so, the idea here is that God acted and let the people know that he had answered their prayer, and they were all, it says, filled with the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t say baptized but filled. And I like the language of baptized once, filled many times. So, they’re filled with the Holy Spirit, and they get what they asked for. They spoke the word of God boldly. So, we’re having evangelistic prayer meetings going on in our church now. And this is the very thing I want to see happen in our church, that in some way we would be shaken a sense of the holy presence of Almighty God, the Lord of heaven and earth, and that we would be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak the word of God boldly in our city.
Wes
Well, this has been Episode 10 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast, and we want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 11 entitled Powerful Church Life: Discipline for Sin, where we’ll discuss Acts 4:32-5:11. Thank you for listening to the two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
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