"Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, 'We ought to obey God rather than men.'"
Acts 5:29
Part 4
What led up to Peter’s statement: “We ought to obey God rather than men?”
Yesterday:
Peter and John stood trial before the Council in the Temple.
They were threatened, and the Sanhedrin “commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18). What will the Church do?
Today:
The Church prayed! As they faced this impossible problem, they gathered to pray. God heard their prayer.
In answer to their prayer, they are filled with an “earthquake of power” (Acts 4:31-37). Their “filling” resulted in their proclaiming the Word with boldness! There were now 5,000 members of that early Church with “one heart and of one soul” (Acts 4:32). God did wondrous things through them as have never been seen since then.
The story we are following picks up again in Acts 5, at verse 17. Because of the Lord’s testimony and the great works of the Holy Spirit in the Church, the Sadducees became incensed!
“Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison” (Acts 5:17-18).
Their locked prison doors are no problem for God! He sent His angel to deliver them (Acts 5:19). But we need to understand that God freed them for a reason. His men are told,
“Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:20).
Primarily, they are commanded to go back to the place where they were arrested and preach the Gospel again! These men didn’t run away and hide, but they obeyed and went back to teach in the Temple again (Acts 5:21). What obedience, and what boldness! They went as soon as possible, the very next morning, early. And they went to the most public place there was, the Temple. Can you see some humor here? The rulers are satisfied that these men are safe and sound in their jail. They don’t know that the apostles are actually preaching Christ in the Temple! Please note, we can see no “fear of man” in the disciples.
When the Sanhedrin gathered to begin the trial, the guards could find no prisoners (Acts 5:21-23). Finally, someone figured out that they were in the Temple, “teaching the people (Acts 5:25). The captain and the officers arrested them again carefully because they feared what the people might do to them (Acts 5:26). They were charged by the Council with “disobeying their former commands.”
“Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us” (Acts 5:28)
Yes, of course, the Council did command them! But the Church has been busy obeying their highest authority, God. Come back tomorrow and see Peter give their answer, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
Quote: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief: for this were unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17).