The Word This Week
Acts 4:5…
Imagine being arrested for performing a miracle. For doing good…
Then having to spend the night in prison, awaiting your fate before the same Sanhedrin that sentenced Jesus to death – and then followed through with the Roman governor to make sure Jesus was crucified.
There is plenty of reason to be nervous about what will take place as a result of bringing attention to yourselves and raising the ire of the governing body of the Jews. There is plenty of reason to suspect if they killed Jesus for performing the miracles He performed, they will also be more than willing to make sure you are killed as well.
The only thing that prevented Peter and John from being hauled before the Sanhedrin immediately on the previous day was because it was too late in the day for them to create a judgment panel to assess Peter and John, and what they had done.
It wasn’t so much that they had performed a miracle – that may actually work in their favor. It would be because the miracle they performed in the name of Jesus Christ drew a crowd – and then Peter boldly proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to that crowd.
And the crowd listened. But more importantly, the crowd responded.
This was a threat to the authority of the Sanhedrin over the lives of the people – just as Jesus had been perceived to be a threat.
Imagine the impact of their public arrest, in the midst of the crowd that had just witnessed this amazing first miracle performed by Peter and John – and then listened as Peter declared that the name of Jesus, in fact, was the power which permitted this lame man since birth to stand and walk and leap for joy praising God – and entering the Temple for the first time in his life! (Those who were not ‘whole’ were not permitted to enter the Temple courts.)
So this is what Peter and John faced on the next day. Would they remain faithful in the face of a possible death sentence? What had changed in Peter’s life since the night he denied knowing Jesus at all?
Pastor Bill
Imagine being arrested for performing a miracle. For doing good…
Then having to spend the night in prison, awaiting your fate before the same Sanhedrin that sentenced Jesus to death – and then followed through with the Roman governor to make sure Jesus was crucified.
There is plenty of reason to be nervous about what will take place as a result of bringing attention to yourselves and raising the ire of the governing body of the Jews. There is plenty of reason to suspect if they killed Jesus for performing the miracles He performed, they will also be more than willing to make sure you are killed as well.
The only thing that prevented Peter and John from being hauled before the Sanhedrin immediately on the previous day was because it was too late in the day for them to create a judgment panel to assess Peter and John, and what they had done.
It wasn’t so much that they had performed a miracle – that may actually work in their favor. It would be because the miracle they performed in the name of Jesus Christ drew a crowd – and then Peter boldly proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to that crowd.
And the crowd listened. But more importantly, the crowd responded.
This was a threat to the authority of the Sanhedrin over the lives of the people – just as Jesus had been perceived to be a threat.
Imagine the impact of their public arrest, in the midst of the crowd that had just witnessed this amazing first miracle performed by Peter and John – and then listened as Peter declared that the name of Jesus, in fact, was the power which permitted this lame man since birth to stand and walk and leap for joy praising God – and entering the Temple for the first time in his life! (Those who were not ‘whole’ were not permitted to enter the Temple courts.)
So this is what Peter and John faced on the next day. Would they remain faithful in the face of a possible death sentence? What had changed in Peter’s life since the night he denied knowing Jesus at all?
Pastor Bill