The Acts of the ApostlesActs 4:5-22

• 5 On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; 6 and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. 7 When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, "By what power, or in what name, have you done this?"

• “Again, background is helpful. Annas was the infamous power behind the ecclesiastical throne in Jerusalem. He had been high priest from A.D. 6–14. Five of his sons, and now Caiaphas, his son-in-law, had followed him in the powerful office. Before the Roman occupation, a high priest had held office for life, but by this time an appointment was made each year by the Roman governor.

• It went to the highest bidder and one who was willing to be a collusive collaborator with Rome. Annas had used his immense wealth to assure the continuance of his nepotistic dynasty. The plot thickens as we discover how he amassed his fortune. The “Bazaars of Annas,” as they were called, in the Court of the Gentiles of the temple, sold sacrificial animals at extortionist prices.

• Only these animals were accepted by the inspectors who were appointed by Annas or the members of his family in office. Tragic exploitation resulted and Annas’s fortune grew. The common people hated the high-priestly family. It would not have taken much to ignite an insurrection. Jesus’ growing popularity had to be checked, of course. His preaching and miracles, culminating in the raising of Lazarus from the dead, had instigated the plot of Annas and Caiaphas against Him.

• But it was the cleansing of the temple of the profitable money-changing and bazaars that sealed His death. Uncalculable time and energy had been expended by the high priest to assure the Crucifixion. Imagine the fiendish delight of the arch manipulators on the Sabbath day after Calvary! Jesus was sealed in His tomb forever. News of the Resurrection had reached them, which they squelched with rumors that someone had stolen the body of Jesus. They were finished with Him forever… or so they thought.” Lloyd Ogilvie

• “Homer Kent, Jr., points out that the Mosaic Law specified that whenever someone performed a miracle and used it as the basis for teaching, he was to be examined, and if the teaching were used to lead men away from the God of their fathers, the nation was responsible to stone him (Deut. 13:1–5). On the other hand, if his message was doctrinally sound, the miracle-worker was to be accepted as coming with a message from God.” John MacArthur

• 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people, 9 if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead--by this name this man stands here before you in good health.

• Luke 12:11-12 "When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

• Luke 12:11-12 "When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

• “We will be “filled with the Holy Spirit” when we dare to do what could never be accomplished on our strength and insight.” Lloyd Ogilvie

• “At that time, the word “name” meant the nature, personality, authority, and power of a person… To speak or act in the name of another was to invoke his presence and power.” Ogilvie

• Mark 12:9-12 "What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. 10 "Have you not even read this Scripture: 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; 11 THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?" 12 And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.

• Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

• 1 Peter 2:5 you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

• 1 Peter 2:5 you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

• John 14:6 Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

• Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

• 13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

• 13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

• Matthew 7:28-29 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

• John 7:15 The Jews then were astonished, saying, "How has this man become learned, having never been educated?"

• 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. 15 But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, 16 saying, "What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

• 17 "But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name." 18 And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

• 17 "But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name." 18 And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

•

• 17 "But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name." 18 And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

• John 3:19 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

•

• “Ironically, the early believers had to be commanded to be quiet, while many modern ones have to be commanded to speak. This was an important crossroads in the history of the church. Had the apostles acquiesced to the Sanhedrin’s demand, all subsequent church history would have been radically different. Everything hinged on their willingness to obey God at all costs—even their lives.” MacArthur

• 19 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; 20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."

• 19 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; 20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."

• 1 Peter 2:13-14 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.

• 1 Corinthians 9:16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.

• “It is particularly striking that neither on this nor on any subsequent occasion (so far as our information goes) did the Sanhedrin take any serious action to disprove the apostles’ central affirmation—the resurrection of Jesus. Had it seemed possible to refute them on this point, how readily would the Sanhedrin have seized the opportunity! Had they succeeded, how quickly and completely the new movement would have collapsed!” FF Bruce.

• 21 When they had threatened them further, they let them go (finding no basis on which to punish them) on account of the people, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened; 22 for the man was more than forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.

• 1 Peter 3:13-17 Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

• 16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. 17 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

• “This,” says a twentieth-century Jewish historian “was the first mistake which the Jewish leaders made with regard to the new sect. And this mistake was fatal. There was probably no need to arrest the Nazarenes, thus calling attention to them and making them ‘martyrs’. But once arrested, they should not have been freed so quickly.

• The arrest and release increased the number of believers; for these events showed on the one hand that the new sect was a power which the authorities feared enough to persecute, and on the other hand they proved that there was no danger in being a disciple of Jesus (he, of course, being the one who had saved them from the hand of their persecutors)!” FF Bruce