Monday, September 23, 2019
While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees. These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead. They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning. But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000. The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest. They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:1-12
The confrontation between the
Apostles and the governing body of Israel was what Charles Dickens must have
had in mind when he wrote A Tale of Two Cities, it
was the best of times; it was the worst of times.[2] In Jerusalem just a few months after the
resurrection the church was a newborn emerging kingdom. The case of Peter and John vs. the religious
rulers was a Declaration of War – Declaration of Peace.
The prophet Isaiah pointed to
the coming of the kingdom. And every
time a kingdom is established, of necessity there will be a king.
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
Wherever there is a king
crowned, there are those who would dethrone him. For every declaration of peace in a kingdom,
there is a corresponding declaration of war.
In the case of Jesus, the
threat perceived by the Sadducees and Pharisees was to their earthly
power. Christ had said His kingdom was
not of this earth[3],
but, for those in power, even the perception of a threat is enough to declare
war.
I love Peter’s statement…let
me say it clearly for you and anyone else…. This was the gauntlet of peace. Of course, the powerful rulers who led the
people of Israel to pray for peace daily had eyes only for their own continued power
structure. They didn’t live by, or even believe
their own doctrine and prayers, so naturally they couldn’t imagine God’s peace
showing up in a lowly carpenter from Nazareth.
But the straw that broke this
camel’s back was two words that pierced the religious rulers’ balloon of
power: Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the
man you
crucified
but whom God raised from the
dead. Thinking to defend their position the
rulers had declared war on their own eternal souls! They had put to death the Prince of Peace.
For You Today
Despite how Jesus was treated,
His offer of peace still stands. It’s
that peace that passes all understanding[4],
offered without reservation to anyone who will come into His kingdom. It’s a daily, living, cornerstone of faith
that never fails. Ever!
