Lesson 6: Why Do The Nations Rage? (Acts 4; 5.17-42)

One thousand years before Jesus’ life on earth, David penned these words: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed…” (Psalm 2.1-2). As we will see in this lesson, those words would form part of the apostles’ prayer following Peter and John’s trial before the Jewish rulers (Acts 4.25-26). They understood that the world’s rebellion against God and His Anointed did not cease when Jesus was crucified. The Lord had even told them that “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:18–19)

So far in our study of Acts we have seen the tremendous success of the Kingdom. 3000 obeyed the gospel at Pentecost (Acts 2.41) and that number would quickly rise to 5000 (Acts 4.4). However, opposition wasn’t far behind and Acts 4 marks the point in the narrative when Satan began exerting his power against God’s people. Note, that in this lesson we are going to focus on two cases where the Jewish leaders sought to quiet the apostles. We are skipping over Acts 5.1-16 in this lesson, but will consider it in our next lesson as we consider another type of opposition.

Notes From The Text

4.1-4, Two Responses

• Opposition from rulers (vss. 1-3)
  • “captain of the temple” likely referring to Levite sentinels who stood guard in the temple (cf. 2Chron. 16.1-19).
  • “Sadducees” possessed greater political power than the Pharisees as they more readily accepted the rule of Rome and the Herodian dynasty. They held that only the 5 books of Moses, the Torah, were canonical. They denied the existence of angels, of spirits and of the resurrection.
  • “arrested them”, note this apparently included the man who had been healed (see vs. 14).
  • “for it was already evening”, Jewish law forbade trials at night, which was ignored in the multiple trials of Jesus.
• Acceptance by many (vs. 4)

4.5-22, Peter & John On Trial

• Vs. 6, “Annas the high priest and Caiaphas” Caiaphas was the ruling high priest (Matthew 26.3,57), but Annas had served as high priest from AD 6-15 and remained very influential.
• Vs. 7, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” See Acts 3.6,16.
• Vs. 8, “then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit…”
  • Contrast Peter and John in this passage with the picture we find of the apostles in John 20.19. What could explain the transformation of men who had hidden in fear, but who would now boldly proclaim Jesus before the men they once feared? Only the resurrection of Jesus!
  • Note the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise in Matthew 10.17-20.
• Vs. 10, in essence the same message Peter and John had proclaimed in Acts 3.12-16.
• Vs. 11, see Psalm 118.22; Matthew 21.42. That “builders” can’t recognize the “cornerstone” reveals just how spiritually blind they had become.
• Vs. 12, “by which we must be saved”. “In the Greek, the ‘we’ is emphatic, since it is the last word in the sentence. It means we – whether we are priests, elders, scribes, fishermen, or ex-beggars – all of us must be saved by faith and obedience to Christ if we are going to be saved at all!” (Garreth Reese)
• Vss. 16-17, compare with John 11.47-53.
• Vss. 19-20, Peter and John provide the model for how we should respond in such situations: while they subjected themselves to man, their allegiance was to God and they could only do and teach what God had willed. Peter concluded by appealing to these judges to “judge”. What a dilemma the Sanhedrin were in.

4.23-37, Prayer & The Lord’s Response

• Vs. 24, “they lifted their voices together to God and said…”
  • The answer to opposition is not to curse or rail, but to pray!
  • “Sovereign” = “despot”
  • Note that they address God as the Creator of all. The doctrine of creation is fundamental to our faith, for God’s role as Creator is what makes Him sovereign over all.
• Vss. 25-26, see Psalm 2.1-2.
• Vss. 27-28, Jesus’ death was foreordained by God (see Acts 2.23; 3.18). But Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles and the Israelites all acted in opposition to God; they were the fulfillment of Psalm 2.1-2. Only Sovereign God could thus use the willful opposition of man to bring about His plan!
• Vss. 29-30, note that they did not pray for deliverance, but for boldness! It was enough that God take note of the threats; they trusted that He would ultimately take care of that. What they needed was the boldness to continue His work in the face of opposition.
• Vs. 31, this was God’s immediate response. The fuller response is found in vss. 32-37; God granted their request, and the Kingdom continued to flourish!
• Vss. 34-37, we will consider these verses more in our next lesson as they furnish the context for the sin of Ananias and Sapphira.

5.17-26, The Apostles Arrested… Twice

• Vs. 17, impossible to know how much time had elapsed. Perhaps a few months since Pentecost, but perhaps significantly longer. Note that the attitude of the high priest and other rulers was quite different from the view of the people (vs. 13).
• Vs. 18, “public prison” refers to the area of confinement where robbers and murderers would have been held.
• Vs. 20, “all the words of this Life” i.e. eternal life (see Acts 11.18; 13.46).

5.27-40, Gamaliel’s Advice

• Vs. 28, “you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us” Had they forgotten their own words? See Matthew 27.25.
• Vs. 34, Gamaliel was Saul’s teacher (see Acts 22.3).
• Vs. 36, according to Josephus, Theudas was a self-proclaimed prophet, Theudas promised to separate the waters of the Jordan river in order to afford his followers easy passage upon dry ground. The claims of Theudas quickly drew the attention of the Roman army, which managed to destroy the rebellion, to disrupt and capture many of the participants, and to behead Theudas himself.
• Vs. 37, Judas led a rebellion in AD 6. It was also brutally put down by the Romans.
• Vs. 40, he beating would have been 39 stripes as allowed by the Law (see Deuteronomy 25.3).

5.41-42, The Gospel Marches On

• Vs. 41, note Matthew 5.10-12. Suffering is not pleasant, but we are blessed because man’s opposition means we have a reward in heaven.
• Vs. 42, the apostles remained firm in their conviction that they “must obey God rather than men” (vs. 29).

Blessed Are Those Who Take Refuge In Him

The nations are still raging against the Lord and His Anointed; the nations continue to persecute the citizens of the Kingdom. However, the opposition of Satan and his minions will not and cannot change the reality of the situation: God has established His Son as King, and those who take refuge in Him are blessed!