Day 169: If This is God

Acts 5:33-42

When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, 40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

Prior to this, Peter and the apostles had been arrested for preaching the gospel. The Sadducees were jealous so they decided to throw them in jail. Then God broke them out and told them to go to the temple to speak there to the people. After this the high priest and all of his people found them at the temple and not in prison, where they had last saw them. Then the captain and the officers went and seized them, not by force though because they were afraid the people would stone them if they did so. Then they gave them a strict warning not to preach in the name of Jesus or spread the message of Christ. Peter and the apostles said, they couldn’t do that. They were like “we have to obey God’s word over yours, so no, that’s not going to happen.’ And that’s how we ended up where we are.

The council wanted to kill the apostles for not bowing out and listening to what they told them. Jealousy was a motive in all of this, and it shows just how dangerous jealousy is or can be. But there was this man named Gamaliel, oh Gamaliel, interrupted those plans and told them if they did anything to these men they might end up opposing God. Now it is important to note, these men were not fans of Jesus but they loved God and lived for the Torah. They were very religious men.  In his speech, Gamaliel brought people two people to their attention, Theudas and Judas the Galilean. Both of these men were rebels and led revolts, and once their revolts ended or were interrupted or when the men died nothing was ever heard of them or their followers. However, this was not the case with Jesus and His followers. They actually multiplied when Jesus ascended into heaven. Jesus died but He was only dead for three days, He was resurrected and ascended into  heaven forty days after that. He prepared the disciples for what was to come. Jesus left behind the Holy Spirit so that they could continue to walk and talk like Him, and go on healing and doing wonders and preaching the Gospel to His people. Gamaliel pointed out the obvious, that if these men are really of God they cannot be stopped. If this is God, there’s nothing you can do that will succeed against them. No matter what the men tried to do they would fail. There was nothing they could do to stop the word of God from being spread throughout all the nations. In fact whenever they tried, all the men of God did was scatter, and therefore the message of Christ scattered over all the land, even to the foreign places.

The first chapters of Acts are some of my favorite in the entire book. It was the beginning of the church and we see firsthand how God used even the opposers and oppressors to spread the word of God. Even when they tried to stop it, all it did was multiply. The beauty of this passage is that it’s great to know that their are some things that can’t be tainted or corrupted. There are some things that can’t be moved no matter how hard they try. That thing is the word of God, no matter what comes up against it, no matter how hard people fight it, the word of God has always been proven to be true. There is something and someone that we can trust in that is untouchable. That is a beautiful thing. We live in a very corruptible world, where everything including humanity can be tainted. It’s wonderful to trust in or have faith in something that can’t be corrupted even in a world full of corruption. Something that never changes, and had stayed the same and stayed faithful for centuries and will remain the same. In a world that is constantly changing it’s nice to know that one thing is constant, and that is God and His word.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to see the wonder of God’s faithful word. Thank God for giving us faith in something that no matter what happens cannot be debauched. Just spend time with Him and thank Him for His magnificent love and glorious word.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone, follow the blog and come back tomorrow for Day 170!