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13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, "What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name." ~ Acts 4:13-17
Today, we continue our study of Acts 4 where the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John have been jailed for healing a lame man and preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. During their confinement, Peter and John were interrogated by the frustrated religious leaders of Israel. These "men of the cloth" were not only frustrated with the changed lives of those first century followers of Christ, they were frustrated with God. And, without even knowing it they were frustrated with themselves. If they had only come to the end of themselves they would not have been so self-aware and thus insecure. They were frustrated because they weren't living the lives they were created to live.
In v.13 of today's passage we read, "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus."
The religious leaders were stunned by the "boldness" of Peter and John who were all of a sudden like seasoned professionals. This word translated "boldness" reveals the confidence shown by these two who were cowards when the Lord Jesus was crucified just days before. These men who had heard all of the teaching of the Lord Jesus and they had seen all of His miracles had recoiled from their faith in Him when He was crucified. Then, He was raised from the dead. They were eyewitnesses to the most important event in the history of mankind. It is no wonder they were full of confidence that day at the Temple.
The word translated "perceived" means to understand. Despite their eloquence and confidence of speech, the council had become fully aware that "these uneducated men" had done something that was miraculous. This didn't add up in the minds of the religious leaders which was where their problem was; they rejected in their minds all of the evidence given. Unlike them, Peter and John had not had any formal rabbinic training. And yet, their message was based upon Scripture and was spoken in the proper context. This led the religious leaders to conclude that Peter and John were idiots which is what the word "untrained" literally means. That's what we do when we are losing an argument, we turn to belittling name-calling.
The words, "And they realized they had been with Jesus" tells us everything we need to know about the disciples. It was when the religious leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John that they concluded they had been with the Lord. It was their confidence or their authority with which they spoke that arrested the attention of the people who chose to believe in the Lord Jesus that day. When we come to the end of ourselves and we enter into a personal relationship with God, we begin to see life differently. The key is that we remain in His truth daily. When this is the case, we will reflect Him through our lives. The source of our boldness and confidence will never be found in us, only in Him.
In v.14 of today's passage we read, "And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it."
The phrase "say nothing against" is a compound word including the idea "opposite to" and the idea "to say." This word literally means "to contradict." The apostles made the claim that the man was healed through the Lord Jesus. The once lame man stood in front of all, healed. And, the religious leaders could not contradict their claim. How gracious of God to continue to give the hard-hearted religious leaders another piece of evidence that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah. The religious leaders had all their lives resisted the will of God for themselves otherwise they would have been led to His Son. It is hard at times to rest in the will of God because His ways are so different than ours. It was Watchman Nee who once said, "Good is not always God’s will, but God’s will is always good."
In v.15-17 of today's passage we read, "15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, 'What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.'"
The religious leaders had a private discussion to determine how to stop the apostles from speaking about the Lord Jesus. They demonstrated here that their problem was caused by their self-righteousness which caused them to resist humility before God. When they refused to confer with the Lord, their lives missed the call of their Messiah. There is no mention of prayer in this closed door meeting. To be sure, these religious leaders were fearful because thousands had chosen to follow the Lord Jesus as their Messiah. Their fear triumphed over their faith and they were left insecure with themselves at the helm of their lives.
The Jewish religious leaders knew that if the resurrection of the Lord Jesus had been validated by the healing of the lame man, it would have meant that they were complicit in His crucifixion. This is why they made the decision to "severely threaten them" not to speak of the Lord Jesus anymore. If the religious leaders had concluded the Lord Jesus had done this miracle, then they would have had to accept that He was the Messiah. But this, they could not and would not do. The bottom line was they weren’t about to humble themselves before God and thus believe.
The religious leaders totally ignored the obvious. The resurrection of Christ was the central message, even more than the healing that had taken place right before their eyes. Stubborn unbelief is wicked and dangerous. It is wicked because it always requires more proof. As a result, this disposition keeps us from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it keeps us from repenting from the self-life. Stubborn unbelief is also dangerous because it blinds us from the truth, and it will condemn us before the Judgment of God if we fail to repent of ourselves and believe on the Lord Jesus.
The disciples, as we will see, did not go silent about the Lord Jesus. How could they? They had believing hearts due to the fact that they had seen Him raised from the dead. This is why His resurrection is the central theme in every sermon in the book of Acts. Miracles serve to authenticate the message that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah. But, there must be faith, the willingness to believe, for the miracle to be effective. Faith is vulnerable and it strikes a death blow to our pride and the self-life. This is why God makes such a big deal of our faith in Him.
