UNDER SURVEILLANCE

ACTS 5;13 ff

After the striking down of Ananias and Sapphira, the whole town of Jerusalem and the countryside was talking. The apostles continued to attract crowds by healing and teaching. The people were pulled in two directions. Verse 13 says no one else dared to join them, but the very next verse says more and more were added to the church. The religious authorities did not like these guys continuing effectively representing Jesus, but they too were pulled two ways, fearing both the emergence of competition and reaction from the people if they overstepped too strongly and too quickly.

>Note both the people in general and the Sanhedrin were stretched between two forces. If this were a school course, that situation could produce a term paper assignment and a couple of test questions. Describe and contrast the tension between the authorities wanting to stop the new heresy and fear of a rebellion. Describe and contrast the wariness of the people knowing of this surveillance but fascinated by the miracles they saw happening daily.

The movement was spreading into the countryside, and people of both Jerusalem and the surrounding towns brought their sick to be healed. Peter must have appeared as the ring leader, because some placed the sick where his shadow might fall on them. Do you think this was superstition, or did their faith heal them? Remember the woman who touched the hem of Jesus garment? How did that compare? What about those later who wanted cloths from Paul to heal them? Note that verse 16 says ALL of them were healed. And what does all this say about healing in our churches today?

The Saducees were the ruling party with authority over the temple. They decided to give it another shot, so they arrested the apostles (all12?) and threw them in jail. That didn't work so well, because that night an angel let them out. “Angel” is a Greek word meaning “messenger.” Usually angels in the Bible appear as men. You can legitimately read this as God's sending a heavenly being to free His men, or you can see it as a secret believer on the inside slipping down and opening the way out. What do you think. Most of you have seen the internet stories of people trapped in car accidents or building fires who were rescued by distinctive persons who they cannot find afterward. Were they angels or humans? The most important thing to notice in all this, however, is not HOW God did it, but THAT God did it. He was the ultimate source of their freedom – and ours!

Following the angel's command, the apostles went into the outer courts of the temple and began to preach and teach about Jesus. Meanwhile, the rulers had called together the Sanhedrin, the full group supervising the Jewish faith and worship, and sent to the jail for their supposed prisoners.

Their emissaries came back reporting they were gone! The guards were there, and the doors were properly locked, but they were gone. (What does that say about the angel/man discussion above?) So they brought the men back before the rulers accompanied this time by the full authority of the Sanhedrin. The high priest confronted them. “We told you to quit preaching this Jesus stuff, and quit trying to make us villains for crucifying him. But here you are at it again!” Peter spoke for the group: We must obey God rather than men. Then he proceeded to do exactly what they had been commanded not to. And right in the heart of the opposition. Remember, this was the same Peter who a month before had been scared to admit he even knew Jesus. Ten of the rest were so scared they didn't even get that close, but ran away when Jesus was arrested. On this side of the resurrection, the Twelve were a different bunch.

Peter let them have it! The God both you and I worship raised Jesus from the dead after you killed Him on a cross. Now God has exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior to call Israel to repentance, so He can forgive their sins. Then Peter tacked on, “We know this, because we saw it. We were there.

Now this speech teed these guys off big time, and some of them – most of them? - wanted to execute the disciples on the spot. But a man who may well have been the leading teacher of his day (he taught Paul) called a halt to their rush to judgment. He had the apostles sent outside while he spoke to the Sanhedrin. He reminded them that another guy also styling himself the messiah collected 400 or so people around him. This man, Theudas, failed totally. So did one Judas from Galilee who was also killed, and their movements came to nothing. So Gamaliel said to let God take care of it. If He is really behind it, you don't want to fight God. If He's not, it will fail. Turn these guys loose so you don't get caught fighting against God.

His speech carried the day, and they did turn them loose – after they flogged them and commanded them again to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. The whole thing had the opposite reaction from what the chief priest and his cronies intended. They left excited and happy because they considered it an honor to suffer as Jesus had and in His name!

Not only did they not stop, they witnessed daily in the temple (before their accusers) and house to house. How constant is our witness to Christ?