March 2
“Being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: ‘Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: “Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.” For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done,’” Acts 4:23-28.
The apostles Peter and John had been arrested by the religious leaders and the temple police, and they were taken into custody for the night. The next morning, the Jewish high court, the Sanhedrin, convened to give them a trial. There were several things that the Jewish leaders found upsetting. Peter and John had healed a lame man at the temple gate. When questioned about how they healed the man, Peter said, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong,” Acts 3:13-16.
Being accused of killing Jesus, the Prince of Life, made all the religious leaders very uncomfortable. What made them even more uncomfortable was the preaching of the apostles about the resurrection of the body. The Sadducees in particular denied the resurrection of Jesus and the Christian teaching of the resurrection of the body. Of course, none of the religious leaders could contradict what the apostles were teaching, so to silence them they threatened them and let them go.
Somewhere in Jerusalem, their fellow Christians were gathered together. The place was known to the apostles, and they went and reported everything that the religious leaders had said. After their report, they all lifted up their voices in prayer to the one true, almighty Creator of heaven and earth. In their prayer, they quoted the opening verses of Psalm 2, and they stated how Herod and Pilate and the Jews and the Gentiles had assembled themselves against Jesus. By rejecting Jesus, His enemies fulfilled the plan of God to redeem all people through the suffering and death of Jesus, the Son of God whom the Father sent to be our Savior. They played a role in fulfilling what the angel said to the shepherds on Bethlehem’s field the night Jesus was born: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,” Luke 2:10-11.
Those early Christians teach us to turn to the almighty God in prayer, and to pour out our hearts in faith and trust in His promises recorded in Holy Scripture. We put our trust in Jesus, God’s Son and our Savior, who has redeemed us sinners from sin, death, and the devil.
Efforts to silence the voice of Christians are also prominent in our day. Let us turn to the almighty God in prayer and trust that, for Jesus’ sake, He will bless our witnessing to a dying world!
Oh let Thy Word have speedy course, Thro’ ev’ry land be glorified,
Till all the heathen know its force, And fill Thy churches far and wide.
Oh, spread the conquest of Thy Word, And let Thy kingdom come, dear Lord! Amen.