You pick up your Bible and wonder, is there more here than meets the eye?
Is there anything here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right? Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink. Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own, as we ask God to meet us there in its pages.
Welcome to More Than Ink. Hey, you know, I love a great jailbreak story. And there's one in today's passage. Yeah, and I'm interested because you always want to find out how they got out. Well, in this story, there's no evidence of how they got out. That's right.
The soldier guards are there, the gates are still locked, and there's no one inside. They're just gone. We'll find out how that happened today on More Than Ink.
Yeah, absolutely. This is More Than Ink. I'm Jim.
And I'm Dorothy. And here we are reading through the Book of Acts, and not just reading, but experiencing. This is a great drama that's going on. I don't know if you've been following with us, but with every, like I'm used to saying, with every page turn, something remarkable happens next time around, and it just doesn't give up for the whole book.
I'd make a ripping good movie. Yeah, it's great stuff. And so last time, you know, the apostles, boy, they were on the Temple Mount area, and they were healing, and there's wonders and miracles, and people are bringing people to be healed, and it's like right literally on the doorstep of the porch of the religious leaders in town. Under the noses of the religious leaders. Yeah, it's quite provocative, but that's where the great things are going on. And in fact, some of the disciples were a little scared to join them because it was so visible, but sure enough. It's very, very public.
Yeah, it's very public. This is about as public as you can get in Jerusalem, and it says earlier in chapter 5 of Acts, which is what we left last week, you know, many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people and at the hands of the apostles. So this is a very public demonstration and an authentication by God that these guides are sent by God, and it causes a little bit of problem. Well, and they're doing things that no human being has ever done before, just like Jesus. Just like Jesus did, yeah. So of course it gets noticed by the religious leaders, and so they're going to intercede and put us up to this day. So we pick up the story in Acts chapter 5, verse 17.
So let's see what happens when the high mucky mucks get their noses bent out of shape. Okay, verse 17. But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in public prison. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Okay, well let's leave it there. An angel just opened the door and brought them out.
Just opened the door. Yeah, it's pretty astonishing. So this is a predictable response. They throw them in jail, and these are the, well it says in verse 17, it's initiated by the high priest. But these are the people who have the religious authority for control of the temple grounds. Right, and all that were with them, the party of the Sadducees, who were different than the Pharisees. Remember, the Sadducees don't believe in an afterlife, for one thing. So there's some stark differences.
But in 17, it tells us their motivation for why they chucked these guys in jail. They were jealous. They were jealous. Now, what did they have to be jealous of? I mean, yeah, they were healing people. Would you be jealous of that?
Well, you could be because you're not healing people. Well, jealous of the attention of the crowds, I think. Just the extraordinary supernatural things that were happening, which the Sadducees and the high priest had no experience of. They had never been at the forefront of doing that. In fact, they heard about it when Jesus was doing ministry. But I think it's really shocking to them that the followers now are doing it.
What do you do with that? So they throw them in prison. They're going to do something in the morning. Overnight, an angel comes and just, you know, just lets them out. Yeah, and the guards and everybody have no awareness of it. It becomes clear later in the passage.
Yeah, it's just remarkable. But in letting them go, you have to understand, he didn't let them go because the angel said, you know, it's not right that you're locked up. You should have liberty. You should be free.
It has nothing to do personally. He says, I'm letting you out because you need to go back to the temple and speak to the people all the words of life. So get back out there and do that. So the next morning, that's exactly what they do.
At daybreak, they're out there, and they're just doing what they've been doing all along. So all the words of this life, that phrase kind of attracted my attention, and it echoed for me some other things that Jesus had said, so I kind of went on a hunt for that. Oh, okay. And here's what I came to. In John 663, Jesus said, it's the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit in our life. Spirit in life, yeah. So there it is, Jesus Himself saying, the words that I speak to you through the Spirit give life. And then later on, when people withdrew from Him, just a few verses down that page in John 6, He asks them, do you want to go away too? And Simon Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. So that's really what's in view here. Speak the words that give life to the hearers.
Yeah, it's important. And so that's why they're being spring out of jail, they continue doing that. And by contrast, the message of the high priest and the Sadducees and the Pharisees was, here's the law, do it good or do it hard or do it better. Right, right, right. And there's a little bit of humor here too, because the Sadducees, not only do they not believe in the afterlife, they don't believe in angels. Right, so we have an angel active. So God says, let's send an angel, what do you say? And they were proclaiming, and we learned in the last chapter, they were proclaiming all these things in the name of Jesus because of the resurrection. Because of the resurrection, central, central. And so that again is right in the face of the Pharisees who say, oh, that doesn't happen.
Yeah, yeah. In fact, this angel coming to spring him so they can continue talking in the morning, it reminded me at the end of the first chapter of Hebrews, it says, aren't angels all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? So they're servants, and here they are definitely serving these guys in jail so they can continue talking.
Because that's what they've been called to do. Jesus says, you'll be my witnesses. And so they're being his witnesses. So did it catch your attention that we're not just told in the night an angel opened the doors?
Because sometimes we read stuff like that. This is an angel of the Lord. And other places in scripture where angel of the Lord appears, it is a specific person who represents God himself. Yeah. Right, it's not just any old angel.
This is somebody special. Well, yeah, what it's trying to signal is the Lord is doing it. He's using an angel. Right.
The Lord's letting them out. Yeah, that's why it's voiced this way. Because there's no such thing as an angel that's not of the Lord. Well, right. Yeah.
But other places in scripture, the angel of the Lord speaks in the first person as the Lord. Yeah. Right. That happens a lot. There may be an echo of that here. Yeah, yeah.
Well, let's push on and see what happens. So they wake up in the morning. At daybreak, as soon as it's daybreak, they hustle back over to the area around the temple and they're preaching again.
Early in the morning, like before anybody's really out and about. At daybreak, they just continued where they left off, yeah. So this is great. So picking up in the second half of verse 21, now when a high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they didn't find them in the prison.
Wait a second. So they returned and reported, we found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside. Yeah, you know what this reminds me of?
The resurrection. Well, no, those murder mysteries, where the guy like Sherlock Holmes comes to the scene of the crime and says, how did you find it? Well, everything was locked and the doors are all bolted from the inside, but this happened inside. There's no forcible entry.
So all the stuff on the edges say we should find inside. But here, they do. The guards are still there. It's not like the guards have been chased away. And they're clueless. They don't even think, well, we're helpless.
This guy got away. And it's all still locked. So when they go in, they're gobsmacked to find that there's the presence of the guards and the locked gates, but they're not inside. I mean, what are you supposed to think?
It's like, I don't know, I don't know. So that's why they are perplexed. They're perplexed.
Greatly perplexed. Now, verse 24. When the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what would come of this. Yeah, where is this going? Uh-oh, last time there was a locked place and nobody was in there.
Look what happened. And verse 25. Someone came and told them, look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. Yeah, so this would actually translate to film nicely because they're all standing around scratching their heads saying, well, we put them in jail, we locked the doors and we left the guards. They're not there.
What are we supposed to do now? And then some guy comes in running from the outside and says, oh, I saw them outside. They're preaching outside. And so they're instructed to go get them.
But I think that's fantastic. We saw them outside there. They're doing this.
Yeah, so it's interesting in 26. Not by force. Not by force. And he explains why they were afraid to use force because they were afraid that people would stone them. Well, that and if they were found guilty of causing a riot, they themselves would be answerable to Rome. That's right. That's right.
So I always, you know, I imagine the dialogue in situations like this and I see the temple guards coming up and they say, please, sir, please, sir, would you just accompany us? And so actually what it says strongly is that Peter and John and whoever else was out there, they did not have to follow these guys. Right. But out of a courtesy to them, they did. That's what's fascinating about this. They said, okay, here we go.
So they're brought into the big mucky mucks in town and threw them in jail to start with. Okay, verse 27. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest questioned them saying, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name and here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us, just like Jesus, right? Well, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we strictly charged you and if you want to go look for that, that's back in Acts 4. It's in the previous chapter. Right, right.
You know, in fact, I've got it here. I'll read it for you. He says, in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them, charged them not to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus.
That was the strict order. So Peter's answer in that case back in chapter four is the same as it is here. Verse 29, Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men.
Yeah, yeah. The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins and we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.
Yeah, this is a very similar message. Yeah, boy, there are some very pointed things here, though, to the religious leaders, right? Just that last thought, the Holy Spirit, God has given to those who obey him. You guys are not obeying him and you do not have his Holy Spirit. That's exactly right and when he starts off by just saying we have to obey God rather than men, he's saying that these guys who are God's representatives are not speaking for God.
That's a smack in the face. We have to obey God rather than you because you're not representing God. But it's interesting in 30, he specifies which God they're talking about. This is very personal, the God of our fathers.
Who's that? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's the same thing he had said in his sermon back in chapter three, right?
Peter's message here is unchanged from what he has been saying all the way through the book. He says this is a Jewish thing. This is our God doing what he promised to do and it's all about repentance and forgiveness of sin. Right, exactly.
And it's fascinating that they get a little defensive. You intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Well, yeah, because actually not from a condemning perspective but from a possible redemptive perspective, the first thing they have to do is cross this line called confession and agree and say, yeah, we killed him. Because remember that was the conviction that came upon people at Pentecost. So you could look at this as seeing that Peter's just explaining but actually he's giving them an opportunity because, yes, I am pinning this on you because your only hope is repentance and then forgiveness. So, yes, you killed him by hanging him on a tree.
You've got to embrace that. Back at the trial of Jesus, in the public trial before Pilate, there was a point at which they cried out, his blood be on us and on our children. That's right, yeah, that's right. And then he uses, instead of saying on a cross, he says hanging him on a tree, which is an uncloaked reference to Deuteronomy 21. And so if a man is committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree and then it goes on and talks to us. So the tree isn't just literally a tree.
It's anything made of wood. So he's hearkening back and saying, you're actually fulfilling in a way Deuteronomy 23 and you're being condemned. You're being condemned by Deuteronomy 21. So, yeah, you're the ones that did this to him.
But he doesn't stop there. Yes, Jesus was crucified on a piece of wood, but then he says the same thing. God exalted him to the right hand as leader and savior. I mean, this guy who you killed is now in active sovereignty over the universe. Yes, you esteemed him as nothing. As Isaiah 53 says, we esteemed him as nothing but God. So what struck me about this little paragraph in Peter's speech here is three times he says God has done something. God has raised this Jesus. God has exalted him to his right hand.
And God has given the Holy Spirit to those who bring him. So he's clearly saying everything is about what God is doing. You guys have no concept of what God is doing here. Yeah, not only are you not speaking for God, but you're not doing what... You don't even see it. Yeah, you don't even see the fact that you are at active war against God himself. Yeah, it's quite indicting. In fact, it's bold like we said before.
Bold in Greek meaning you don't leave anything out. You just say the whole thing and he says the whole thing here. And then he underscores the validity of all these things by saying we're witnesses to these. We've seen them with our own eyes.
But so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. So it's interesting when you stand back here, Peter's response to them isn't a response of defense. He's not defending themselves. He's just explaining what the facts are. I mean the big picture of what's going on.
That's what's going on. We're not defying you because we're insolent. We're defying you because we're agreeing with what God's telling us to do. We've seen God do something. He's commanded us to speak about it.
It's just the facts and it's just the facts explained. So that's what's going on. And again, I'm struck by the fact that his message hasn't changed. He's been saying this from the first sermon after the Spirit came.
This very message. This is God doing it. Jesus, you killed him but God raised him up and he brings repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins to those who believe him. This Jesus you killed is not only at the right hand of God but he's also your savior. That is, he's aiming for everyone's repentance and forgiveness.
That's the hope. Which is why I said at the beginning, he has to indict them for their sin of killing Jesus. So they confess that, embrace that, turn from that. That's what repentance is and find. So this is actually as much, I don't know, kind of a judgment statement as it is an offer for salvation to them.
If they embrace this, if they embrace this. Well, isn't that what conviction is? Yeah, it is.
It is putting one's finger on the truth and the validity of the truth, in essence, the truthfulness of the truth is exposed and you are kind of forced into a position where you have to agree. That is true. That's exactly right. But they are resisting it. Yeah, and if you don't agree or if you willfully say, I'm not going to admit to that.
Right. But then there is no hope for repentance. No, there's willful unbelief. You're not going to turn.
You're going to continue to embrace it. Well, so how do you think this very in-your-face message was received? Oh, you know, this is interesting.
I thought about this a little bit this morning. When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. So, you know, the ESV here says enraged but a couple of other versions I looked at said they were cut in their hearts. They were cut to the quick. So this boy, this got under their skin. Yeah, I looked at that word too.
Yeah. It literally means to be sawn asunder. So if you're going to saw a log in half, it means to saw. Well, so they're totally exposed.
So if you saw a log and get all the way through to the other side, that's the other half of this word. And so, yeah, they've been sawn half. But it's their heart. Their heart has been sawn into all the way through to the other side. It's a great visual picture of just how enraged they were.
Just enraged. And they wanted to kill them. Well, that's the same response Jesus got. We know how that worked. But they didn't.
So let's move on to 34. And this is fascinating. A Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held an honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. Okay, let's stop here for a minute because Gamaliel actually is a very famous guy. And we find out much later in Acts that the young Paul, who was going by Saul at that point, had studied under him.
Yes. So it's possible that Saul was even listening in this conversation. It's possible. He was aware of it.
Yeah, actually there's evidence in the next passage to underscore it a little bit more. Okay, so Gamaliel. But as we're talking about Gamaliel, he's the grandson of probably the most famous religious scholar in Jewish history, Hillel. He's the grandson of Hillel.
And there's stuff even today in Jewish schools that are named after Hillel. So this guy is a player. Gamaliel is a player. So when he speaks, people listen.
Exactly. And that's why Luke name drops him right here. So you'll kind of shudder and go, you mean the Gamaliel?
Yeah, the Gamaliel. What strikes me is his perspective, right? His wise perspective. He says, a teacher of the law, held an honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.
So again, when he speaks, people listen. And he said to them, men of Israel, take care what you're about to do with these men. For before these days, Thuddus rose up claiming to be somebody and a number of men, about 400 joined him. He was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. And 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. 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. 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, except they didn't really take his advice very well. But it's interesting this huge speech that he gives, right? And they all apparently are listening. Yeah, and they go by what he's saying. At least they stopped him from killing him.
Don't you love this? He says you might even be found to be opposing God. Let him be.
Don't get involved in this. Yeah, basically these other two movements he quotes, which by the way, both of them are chronicled in Josephus the historian's books, these guys by name. But he's saying, you know, these things, if they're not of God, they just kind of fizzle out.
They fade away. So just let them be, just let them be. But what if what they're doing is coming from God? You'll be opposing God. That's actually something of a prophetic statement right there, is what it is. Right, right. So even though in verse 39 it says they took his advice, then in verse 40, not so much, right? 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.
Yeah, yeah. So, you know, if they were recognizing that these men were even possibly from God, they have no business even beating them. Oh, no, that's exactly right. But they had beaten Jesus. Exactly.
So this is no different. But they obeyed Gamaliel, the great Gamaliel. They didn't kill him. They let him go, yeah. And they let him go. Well, they didn't have authority to kill him. They were mad enough to kill him, but the Romans would not allow that.
Yeah, so they gave him 39 stripes and said, which, by the way, can be life-threatening. So it's a big deal. So here's the lovely part. Then they, the apostles, left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that Christ is Jesus. Yep, yep. So did it deter them? Did it intimidate them? Not at least.
No, not at all. They just turned around and went right back out. But they were not rejoicing that they had been counted faithful to receive this kind of abuse for the name of Jesus. Yeah, isn't that amazing?
Boy, we just don't see that attitude very often. Yeah. But Peter, when he was writing his letters later, he talks to the whole church that he's writing his letters to about, well, it might not be about this incident, but it is about this attitude when he says in 1 Peter 4, 13, but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of his glory, you may rejoice with exaltation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you're blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. That's amazing. Yeah, it's amazing to them.
I've been speaking from his own experience. And they recognize that they're being treated exactly as Jesus is being treated. And if it weren't for the fact that they were mentioning Jesus' name so publicly, all this wouldn't be happening. So clearly, this is an ongoing persecution of Jesus, but in their experience. Yeah, you know, it's possible if they had just been doing signs and wonders and not claiming the name of Jesus was doing them, that it might not have been a big deal.
Well, that's what the officials keep saying. Don't speak the name of Jesus. Just leave Jesus out of this. We want him done and gone.
Right, right. We thought we had him gone when we crucified him, and now you're saying he's still around and he's the one doing all this kind of stuff? No, just don't mention Jesus. So they realize this is animosity that's aimed at Jesus, not at them personally.
And they go, that's a great honor on our part. There's something about us that actually looks like Jesus and is worth persecuting. So they keep on keeping on. They didn't cease teaching and preaching about Christ as Jesus, Jesus as God's Messiah, right? And the signs and wonders we're serving to validate that. Yeah, preaching that the Messiah, which in Greek is Christ, preaching the Messiah is Jesus. So the entire thing is all about who Jesus is, and the signs and wonders are all to authenticate the fact that they're speaking on behalf of God himself. So, you know, they are preaching with focus toward bringing out the issue of who is Jesus. And it is interesting because in 31 he says, this Jesus is just sitting at the right hand of God. He's a leader and he's a savior. So it's time to pay heed to this because repentance and forgiveness is your only way out. You've got to realize this.
But they didn't respond to that. So, you know, we often find teaching and preaching together, right? But they're different words and they're kind of aimed at different targets. They're all about who Jesus is.
But teaching is aimed at influencing the thinking. Preaching is aimed at convicting the heart, proclaiming the good news, and then explaining how it is the good news, how it fits, right? So I'm sure that they were, because they were talking to a Jewish audience, opening the Old Testament Scriptures, saying, look, this Jesus is Messiah. Here's the Scripture. They prove it.
And we can prove it. I like, too, the fact that not only did they go right back to the temple area, right smack dab under the noses of these guys who said, we're charging you. Don't speak the name of Jesus. Right under their noses. But then they also go house to house. I mean, if there's times in which they can't be in the temple, which there were times that you couldn't be out there, they would just say, well, we need to keep talking.
So we'll find a house with somebody and gather some friends and we'll keep talking. Well, I think the people were gathering. They were hungry to hear this truth.
Yeah. And so these guys are working 24-7 talking about Jesus. Not only publicly in the temple area, under the ire of all the religious leaders, but also in a tender way from house to house. People had questions and they would explore who this Jesus is and they're hungry to hear. What do you know about Jesus?
You walk to them. Who is he? And he can say, well, believe it or not, he's sitting at the right hand of God right now. He's alive. He didn't die on the cross. He resurrected and we have salvation in his name.
Wow. So next time, we're going to get a look into the new community of believers in fellowship and find a fascinating thing going on in Acts 6 as we come back. So I'm Jim.
And I'm Dorothy. And join us there. You can read ahead. We're going to start in chapter 6. This is More Than Ink. There are many more episodes of this broadcast to be found at our website, morethanink.org. And while you are there, take a moment to drop us a note.
Remember, the Bible is God's love letter to you. Pick it up and read it for yourself, and you will discover that the words printed there are indeed more than ink. We're recording. Yeah, it looks like it. I'm there. It looks like it. That's good. This has been a production of Main Street Church of Brigham City.
