Acts 5:17-32. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 9, 2022.
In today’s passage, the leaders of Israel are going to haul the apostles in because they continue to preach salvation and forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus.
It is important to pay attention to the attitude of these men as they disobey earthly authorities in order to obey God. Some people use the idea of obeying God rather than man as a moral cover for selfish reasons. The fruit of their life bears out the message that they are simply using it as a license for immorality.
May God help us to be led by the Holy Spirit, rather than man. But, may we also understand that His plan is always to give a witness to all those who are watching, whether leaders or not. This is a holy matter and we should be careful not to muddy the waters of what God wants to say to others. If we attempt to use this as an excuse, we will one day stand before Him with no excuse.
Let’s get into the passage.
The apostles are imprisoned (vs. 17-21)
The first arrest of any of the apostles was at the beginning of chapter four. Peter and John were arrested, questioned, threatened and then released. Now we have a second arrest.
It is the high priest of Israel and his religious party, the Sadducees, are filled with indignation that these men continue to teach in the name of Jesus. The word translated “indignation” is often translated as “zeal.” It refers to the heat and passion to defend or pursue something. In this case, they are going to defend their actions with Jesus, and pursue the goal of shutting up these disciples of Jesus.
We must always hold our passions in check before the Lord to determine whether they are motivated by righteousness and His Spirit, rather than by our own flesh and the world around us.
The phrase “they laid their hands on the apostles” simply means that they had them arrested, most likely by the temple guards. It is most likely that all of the apostles are arrested this time since Luke made it clear in chapter four that it was only Peter and John. He only says “apostles” in this chapter.
The apostles are held over night in the common prison. However, God has different plans in mind. He sends an angel to release them that night. The angel simply “opens the doors,” with no mention of the guards in these verses. In a bit, we will see in verse 23 that the guards are still outside the jailhouse and don’t know that anything has happened the next morning. Most likely a spiritual sleepiness came over them because there is no mention of them being afraid and running away as in the case of the resurrection of Jesus.
Of course, angels don’t need keys. In Acts 12, an angel will rescue Peter from prison and it basically says that the “chains fell off his hands,” and that a large iron gate opened “of its own accord.” The word is the Greek term automate that has the idea that it opened by itself, without the intervention of something else.
Thus, the disciples found themselves freed late at night without the soldiers and the high priest knowing what had happened.
The angel then gives them a message from the Lord. They are to go to the temple, and “speak to the people all the words of this life.” It is most likely a reference to the eternal life that Jesus promised to his followers and those who believed upon him through their preaching. However, we should not separate this eternal life from the here and now. Christian believers already have the eternal life of Christ welling up in them like a spring. The Christian life is itself an expression of God’s life flowing through us day by day, and will climax at the resurrection when this mortal flesh is overwhelmed by the power of God’s eternal life!
When it comes to angels, the bible is clear that angels are ministering spirits on behalf of those who are being saved (Hebrews 1:14). Their work is generally unseen. However, from time to time and as it suites God’s purposes, they operate in a way that enables people to see them, or recognize after the fact that they have been active. We shouldn’t address them, pray to them, or try to direct them. We pray to God and let Him decide how we should be helped!
The apostles then waited until the temple opened that morning. They then boldly marched up onto the temple mount, no doubt setting up in Solomon’s Colonnade, and began to declare the words of life through faith in Jesus! At this point their lives are totally surrendered to what Jesus has for them. There is no discussion about what is wise and what is foolish. If the Lord gives a command, then we need to obey. May God help us to develop and walk in such courage.
There is a sense of humor that the apostles are preaching in the temple as the Sanhedrin is gathered in order to question them, and determine their fate. God doesn’t always do things the same way. These men are sprung from jail, whereas, Daniel was protected in it. Others went on to be executed, and have their heads cut off. We need to learn to trust Jesus, to exercise our faith in him no matter what may happen.
The apostles are on trial again (vs. 22-32)
As we see, they are going to be arrested again and brought before the council of Israel, but first, there is the question of where they are. When the council sends for the apostles to be brought before them out of the prison, the officers cannot find them. They go back to the council and report that everything looks like it should, officers are still guarding it, the doors are locked, and yet there are no apostles. Wasn’t that nice of the angel to lock up after they left?
This leaves the council wondering what was going on.
At this point, someone comes from the temple and reports that the apostles are preaching on the temple grounds! Of course, this can’t be allowed to stand, so they are arrested again “without violence”, mainly because they were afraid that the people might stone them.
This is a common problem among those who stand in the place of the law. The power to arrest is supposed to be done in service of righteousness, and doesn’t always require violence. However, some men do require strong force to bring them into custody. Yet, at the same time, power can go to people’s heads, even law enforcement officers. Those giving arrest orders, and those carrying out the arrests, can completely overstep their proper authority when their ego gets over-involved. Thus, you can lawlessly execute a lawful order, or even lawlessly execute a lawless order.
The apostles are set before the council and the high priest addresses them. He reminds them that previously they had been commanded not to teach “in this name.” Apparently, he doesn’t even want to say the name of Jesus. Yet, they have gone out and filled Jerusalem with their teaching, and appear to be intent on making “us guilty of this man’s blood.”
Think about it this way. A lawful execution of a wicked man is not murder. This is what the leaders want to be the official narrative. However, the apostles are saying that the execution was not valid and that God had overturned it through resurrection. This means that the leaders are guilty of the blood of Jesus. His blood is on their heads in the way of guilt.
Peter serves as the spokesman for the group and gives their answer. You can compare this answer with the one that he gave last time in Acts 4:19-20.
In Acts 4, he used the verb “listen,” but here, it is “obey.” Also, in chapter 4 it is put forward as a question for the council to decide upon, but now Peter makes a statement. Here are both forms. Chapter 4: “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!” Chapter 5: “We must obey God rather than human beings!” The question should never be, “What do men want me to do?” Rather, it should always be about what God wants!
Peter then details what God has done and what He is doing just as he did in chapter 4. God raised up Jesus whom they murdered by hanging. Of course, the Romans did the killing, but it would not have happened without the rulers pushing it. To add insult to injury, they chose hanging to be the form of death knowing that the Law of Moses claims that a man who hangs on a tree is cursed of God.
God then exalted Jesus to His right hand in order to make him two things. First, it is in order to make him to be Prince. The word prince is used here in the sense of the principal leader of a something and is synonymous with king. This is connected to Daniel 9:25 where Messiah the Prince is prophesied to be executed.
Second, Jesus is raised to the right hand of the Father in order to make him to be Savior. Remember that this term involves more than just dealing with sins. It may better be translated as Deliverer- like the Judges of old. Just as Israel needed a savior all those years ago, we too need a Savior today. Praise God that He has already given us Jesus!
Jesus was also giving to Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. That is a powerful statement. How long had they gone as a society without repenting for their past and present sins? It had been a long time. Through Jesus God was granting them repentance. I would that God would grant to the United States of America repentance and forgiveness of sins for it seems that we are bent on doubling down on our sins.
Peter declares again that the apostles are witnesses of all of these things. They don’t just have two or three witnesses, but twelve! On top of that, there are two classes of witnesses. The apostles are the human witnesses, but the Holy Spirit bears witness as well by healing powerfully through the disciples.
Peter ends with the statement that God is giving the Holy Spirit to those who obey. In a sense, this is put before them laden with potential. If they simply dropped the ego and admitted they were wrong, then they too could participate in the blessed promise of the Holy Spirit. Alas, it was not to be so.
May God help us to make the choice today. We will either be a part of the remnant that is receiving the Spirit of God and moving forward into blessing or we will be part of the larger group that is receiving the judgment of God and moving forward into His wrath. Choose this day whom you will serve!