We imagined what it would have looked and sounded like to walk into the temple to see between 5 and 6 thousand people in genuine and authentic community as the early leaders of the church shared the message and teachings of Jesus with them. Today, we will jump back into this story and into this scene to see what happens next, beginning in verse 17:
But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail.As the early leaders of the church continued to share the message and teachings of Jesus, and as the crowds continued to gather and grow, this caught the attention of the religious leaders of the day. Now as you might imagine, the Jewish religious leaders were not too pleased to hear that the Apostles were still speaking about Jesus just outside the temple, as these religious leaders were the very people who had killed Jesus. These religious leaders had already arrested and warned Peter and John to quit talking about Jesus. Seeing that they had not heeded their warning, the religious leaders responded by walking through the crowds of thousands as they were teaching and laid hands on them, which is a nice way to say that they grabbed them very aggressively and arrested them.
Luke reveals that the reason for such public and aggressive action was that the religious leaders were filled with jealousy. The Apostles were rock stars; the Apostles were popular; the Apostles were thought of spoken of more highly than they were. And the Jewish religious leaders viewed this reality as a threat to their position, their power, and their prominence. So, these religious leaders made a public statement to show that they still had the power and that they were still large and in charge by publicly and aggressively arresting and putting the Apostles in jail. What these religious leaders were not prepared for, however, was what happened next:
“But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, "Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life."Jesus sends an angelic messenger to free the Apostles from prison and then gives them a simple command: “Go back to doing what you have been doing. Go back to the very place where you were arrested and continue to share the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel as the means by which all can have the opportunity to experience forgiveness and life with Me forever. Don’t water down the message. Share the entire message”. Now this morning, imagine yourself as one of the Apostles. You have been beat down and arrested; you have been put in jail because you continue to talk about Jesus. Jesus then sends an angel to free you and tells you to go back to doing the very thing that got you arrested in the first place. You are now free. Would you go back? How would you respond? Luke records how the Apostles responded:
Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and began to teach.The Apostles responded by waking up the next morning and going back to the very place that they had been arrested and began to share the message and teachings of Jesus. At the same time, the Jewish leaders were preparing to deal with Apostles. Luke then records their plan to deal with the Apostles and what happens next in the verses that follow:
Now when the high priest and his associates came, they called the Council together, even all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison house for them to be brought. But the officers who came did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported back, saying, "We found the prison house locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors; but when we had opened up, we found no one inside." Now when the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this. But someone came and reported to them, "The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!"The Jewish leaders plan was to convene the council. As we talked about a few weeks ago, the council was the Sanhedrin, which was the senate and Supreme Court of the Jewish nation. These were the most powerful people in the nation gathered together in one room. In our culture today, this would be the equivalent of having the members of the house, senate and the justices of the Supreme Court together. In addition, there were the religious leaders of the Jewish people. These religious leaders had called for the Apostles to be brought to the Sanhedrin to stand trial.
Imagine the surprise, then, when the religious leaders learned that the Apostles were not in the prison. Where did they go? Who was responsible for their release? And how are we going to explain this to the most powerful people of the nation, who we have gathered together in order to try people that are not even in our custody anymore? The religious leaders were perplexed; they were at a loss to explain what had happened or what they were going to say to explain what had happened. They had some explaining to do and they had no answers. That is until they received a report that the very people that they had arrested the day before were back at it again sharing the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel to thousands of people in the temple. Luke then tells us what happens next:
“Then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned).”How would you have liked to be the captain of the temple guard? Can you imagine what that conversation would have sounded like? “Hey guys, I know I was a little harsh yesterday. Would you come back with me to see the Sanhedrin? Please?” The temple guard feared the people because the temple guard knew that all the Apostles would have to do is resist or call for resistance and they would have been hopelessly outnumbered. Instead of resisting the government authorities in an unlawful manner, the Apostles comply with their request and accompany them to the Sanhedrin, where they would be, once again, face to face with the most powerful people in the nation. Luke then provides us access to the courtroom scene in verse 27:
When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, saying, "We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us."
The high priest, acting as prosecuting attorney, confronts the Apostles with the charges against them. The charges, if stated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “You were here once before, and, at that time, we commanded you to quit talking about Jesus. However, instead of obeying our command, you have chosen to continue to talk about and to teach others about Jesus. And we believe that you are doing this because you have a plan and are conspiring together in order to try and get the people to believe that we are responsible for His death”. After hearing the charges, we see the Apostles response in verse 29:
But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. "He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. "And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him."In other words, Peter explains “We told you last time that you needed to judge amongst yourselves and decide whether it is right to obey you rather than God. You need to do what you think you need to do, but we need to do what we need to do. And what we need to do is to continue obey God and share all that we have seen Jesus do and all that we heard Jesus say. And besides, you did kill Him, but God raised Him from the dead. And the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead by God reveals the reality that Jesus is the Messiah whom God had promised would come and provide all humanity the opportunity to turn a life that is moving away from God back to God”. We are simply affirming and testifying to all that we have seen and heard. And the Holy Spirit and His miraculous activity in and through us is also testifying to the fact that what we are saying is true”.
Now, as you might imagine, this was not what the members of the Sanhedrin expected to hear. And this provoked a strong response from these leaders, which Luke records for us in the very next verse:
“But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them.”The phrase cut to the quick, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to be infuriated. And in their anger, in their rage, the immediate course of action that came to mind was to kill them. “How dare they! Let’s just kill them and be done with them!” And in this scene of rage and anger, Luke introduces us to a man who offers another perspective.
Tomorrow, we will meet this man and his perspective...
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