Acts 4:18-20
And when they (the Counsel) had summoned them (Peter and John), they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.'
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We are all instructed to obey governing authorities and if you don’t you have opposed the ordinance of God. {Rom.13:1-2} That is unless of course they require you to do what is evil, against the expressed will of God; Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego who defied Nebuchadnezzar and would not worship his golden idol. {Dan.3:12} Or like Daniel who would choose certain death in the lion’s den for praying and giving thanks before his God when a law had been passed by King Darius to pray only to him or his god. {Dan.6:10} You should remember all of that if you are driving over the speed limit disobeying God!
Those apostles in today’s verse faced the most formidable and powerful religious leaders in Israel and were commanded to no longer proclaim Jesus. They might just as well have commanded the sun not to rise! Jesus had said that the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart {Mat.12:34} and what filled the heart of those men of God was the love of God. {Rom.5:5} And they surely would have known that ’better is an open rebuke than love unspoken’ as Solomon wrote. {Pr.27:5}
And they would love the Lord, the brethren and even their enemies both in word and in deed as Jesus had taught them (and us) in the Sermon on the Mount instructing His disciples to be perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect! {Mat.5:48} The problem for the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, the scribes and all of the religious leaders was that the entire message of that teaching was about God's people learning to live righteously rather than religiously!
We the children of God have been taught to have a new and blessed relationship with all of the brothers and sisters in the family of God, one that is totally dependent on having a personal, loving relationship with the Father. And there is only one who can stand between us and Him—just as Paul wrote, 'For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus' {1Tim.2:5} —only One!
Now, every believer, not just the 'spiritual elite', has a ministry. {1Cor.12:7,11} It is just the nature of ministry that has changed and has been clearly demonstrated as Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, King of Glory, Savior and Master, maker of heaven and earth, Immanuel, the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the Light of the World, the ONLY sinless One, got down on His knees and washed the feet of His apostles!!!
And He said to them, and for us to hear, 'If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should also do as I did to you.' {Jn.13:14-15} And today, you and I, all believers, should be unstoppable in our desire to be called, as was Paul, bond-servants of the Most High God, our true calling. And to be like Peter in today's starting verse, who refused to be silenced. Jesus had told them that what He said to them they should shout from the rooftops! {Mat.10:27}
Our faithful brother and apostle Peter would write later in his life for all of us to hear and to tell others:
'But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.' (1 Peter 2:9)
THE RIGHTEOUS ARE AS BOLD AS A LION |
