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The
Tremendous Response Of The People To The Miracle
Of The Crippled Beggar And Peter’s Second Great
Sermon; The Hostile Counter-Response Of The Authorities;
The Trial Of Peter And John By The Sanhedrin;
Their Bold Defense; The Decision Of The Council;
Peter And John’s report To The Community
Because
of the Fall, mankind is in a state of rebellion
against the King. Humanity is alienated from our
great and good Creator. We are dead in our trespasses
and sins. The Three-In-One God, being gracious
and merciful, did not leave us in this horrible,
hopeless condition. He sent His eternal Son into
this world as Israel’s Messiah - the ultimate
Prophet, Priest and King. Rabbi Yeshua gave us
the profoundest teachings, and did great miracles
that showed He was very close to His Father, and
empowered by God, and that Yeshua was the One
who would eventually restore a broken creation
and heal sickened and dying humanity.
Sadly,
the majority of the Chosen People rejected the
Son of God, and Yeshua died a cruel and painful,
and yet atoning death. Then the Savior rose from
the dead, overcoming the very real and ruinous
forces of Satan, sin and death. After completing
the education of His disciples, He ascended to
Heaven, to the right hand of God.
Israel’s
Supreme Rabbi left a small, but well-taught and
Holy Spirit-filled community with 12 special leaders
to carry on His great task to seek and save a
lost and dying world - starting with the Jewish
people first. The Risen Rabbi was in Heaven, in
a place of great honor and authority, but His
followers were His body on Earth! They were His
hands and feet and heart and mouth. Their purpose
was to be a loving and worshiping and witnessing
fellowship that would continue the Messiah’s mission.
Starting
with 120 in Jerusalem, after the pouring out of
the Holy Spirit, they grew to 3000 on the Shavuot
following Messiah’s death on Passover. But, that
was just the beginning. Something special happened
that caused them to grow even more, and also enter
into conflict with the leaders of the nation -
like their Lord had before.
One day
while Peter and John were going up to the temple
at the 3:00 p.m. time for prayer, a poor man who
had been crippled from birth, and unable to work,
asked for charity from Peter and John. Peter said
to him: In the name of Messiah Yeshua the Nazarene
(“in the name” means “because of who Yeshua is,
and what He is able to do, and because of the
authority He has given me”) - walk"! And,
a great miracle happened to the lame man. Immediately
his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With
a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and
he entered the temple with Peter and John, walking
and leaping and praising God.
The miracle
was immediate and complete and very public - right
at one of the entrances to the temple, and at
the time when the religious Jewish people were
entering to take part in the closing prayers of
the day! And many of the people knew this crippled
man, and could see that a great miracle of healing
had just taken place through two of Yeshua’s closest
followers.
Wanting
to fulfill his mission and tell these people the
Good News about the final atonement and ultimate
healing made possible by the Crucified-Yet-Risen
Messiah, Simon Peter used this God-given opportunity
to give his second great sermon - the essence
of which is: Yeshua is alive! He is the long awaited
Redeemer! He is the Savior! He is the Giver of
Life! He is the Healer of humanity! One day Yeshua
will completely heal those who know Him and join
themselves to Him by means of their faith and
allegiance. But, the majority of the nation of
Israel had rejected Him, and shared in the guilt
of His death. They could be forgiven from this
great sin, which the people and the leaders had
done in ignorance. They needed to turn from their
wrong ways of acting and thinking, and accept
the Resurrected Rabbi!
To this
great proclamation of the truth, there was a great
response, and following the great response was
the beginning of the first great opposition to
Messiah’s Holy Community of Believers, which Messiah
had warned His followers to expect. Persecution
and opposition has accompanied the true preaching
of the Good News and the growth of the Messianic
Community for the past 2,000 years.
As
they were speaking to the people, the priests
and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees
came up to them, being greatly disturbed because
they were teaching the people and proclaiming
in Yeshua the resurrection from the dead. The
priests were for the most part, Sadducees. They
were in control of the temple. The Sadducees denied
the teaching of the resurrection. So, the priests
and leaders of the Sadducees were not going to
tolerate non-Sadducees openly teaching, right
in the temple, the resurrection, especially that
Yeshua of Nazareth had risen from the dead. And
they laid hands on them and put them in jail until
the next day, for it was already evening.
But, the
good results of the miracle and Peter’s great
sermon had already reached many that day. The
community had been 3,000. Now it had grown even
more. But many of those who had heard the message
believed; and the number of the men came to be
about five thousand.
Even though
only Peter and John and the priests and Sadducees
were involved in this first interaction, what
was going involved the entire Messianic Community,
and the entire nation of Israel. So, on the
next day, their rulers and elders and scribes
(experts in the Torah) were gathered together
in Jerusalem; and Annas the high priest was there,
and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who
were of high-priestly descent. This was a
meeting of Israel’s highest political and religious
leaders and their advisors. The High Council of
the Jewish people, the Sanhedrin, was getting
involved in deciding what to do with Yeshua’s
followers - who were growing.
These
two leaders of God’s Israel suddenly found themselves
in a great trial that would affect not only them,
but their entire community and its relationship
to the rest of the nation of Israel. The Sanhedrin
wanted to know exactly how Peter and John were
able to do this miracle. When they had placed
them in the center, they began to inquire, "By
what power, or in what name, have you done this?"
The leaders of the Chosen People wanted to
know where Peter and John got the ability to heal
the crippled man.
In a difficult
and potentially very dangerous situation, the
one who just a few years before had been a fisherman;
Simon Peter, who just months before had three-times
denied knowing Yeshua, was now a bold and Holy-Spirit
filled spokesman! Responding to this very important
and challenging situation, he gave a courageous
and wise defense to the top political and religious
authorities of the nation. Of course, it didn’t
hurt that Peter had great a great Ally - the Spirit
of God, who was filling him and giving him wisdom
and boldness.
Then
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them,
"Rulers and elders of the people, if we are
on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man
(that’s a little irony, and it showed their hypocrisy.
Why should they be on trial for a miracle that
greatly benefitted the life of a cripple? What
could possibly be wrong with that? No, dark agendas
were motivating this trial),
as
to how this man has been made well, let it be
known to all of you and to all the people of Israel
(that statement was bold and daring!),
that by the name of Messiah Yeshua (those
words were true and courageous!) the Nazarene
(a place not known for producing great scholars,
let alone the Messiah! Yet, amazingly, ironically,
the truth was that Israel’s long awaited Prophet,
Priest and King had come and He was a Nazarene!
Great and important things can come from obscure
and unexpected people and places - much like Peter
and John and the small Messianic Community),
whom
you crucified (that declaration was bold,
powerful, provocative, dangerous - but true. These
leaders were responsible for the death of the
Messiah, and shared in the guilt of that crime.
They were the ones who should be on trial - not
Peter and John), whom God raised from the dead
(that proclamation of the resurrection was confident
and daring) - by this name this man stands
here before you in good health. Peter directly
and honestly answered their questions - along
with giving proof that something miraculous had
happened that was connected to Rabbi Yeshua. The
formerly crippled man, who had been miraculously
healed, was right there. Peter’s bold statements
and the presence of the healed man were a very
powerful response.
You have
probably heard that the best defense is a good
offense. There is truth to that. Fearless Peter
now went further on the offense. To reinforce
his statements, this special representative of
the Son of God, a man who understood the Word
of God so well, quoted a prophesy from Psalm 118
that predicted the very sin of rejection of the
Messiah by Israel’s leaders that they had just
committed. He is the Stone which was rejected
by you, the builders, but which became the Chief
Corner Stone. Previously, Peter had heard
the Master apply this Messianic truth to Himself.
He understood that the builders were the leaders
of the nation of Israel. The builders were supposed
to be using good materials to help build a great
spiritual dwelling place where the Creator could
live with redeemed human beings.
The leaders
of the Special Nation were supposed to know the
God of Israel best of all, and build up Israel
and the nations by having real faith in God themselves,
and be responsive to His will and His Word. They
were supposed to provide good teaching and wisdom
and counsel that would help people come to know
God, and be able to live with the Creator forever.
But tragically, the very best building material,
the strongest, and the most precious, and the
most valuable stone, the very foundation stone
and cornerstone of the great and eternal home
that God was wanting them to help build - the
Messiah, had been rejected by the builders of
Israel!
The leaders
of Israel should have recognized the Messiah when
He came, and understood how important He was for
God and man to live together, and they should
have welcomed Him and submitted to His authority.
But incredibly, they rejected the Messiah!
But, that
was not the final word. God the Father over-ruled
this terrible decision of these foolish leaders,
and vindicated Yeshua, and raised Him from the
dead, and honored Him in Heaven, and then poured
out His Spirit on the Nazarene’s followers, and
empowered Yeshua’s community.
It was
now clear, beyond dispute, that Yeshua was the
God-sent, God-ordained Messiah, and the Corner
Stone for God’s great dwelling place, and faith
and trust and confidence and belief and in Yeshua
and adherence and loyalty to Yeshua were essential
for the salvation of the Jewish people and the
rest of humanity! And there is salvation in
no one else; for there is no other name under
Heaven that has been given among men by which
we must be saved".
Humanity
is sinful, lost, fallen, dying, dead, alienated,
under the anger and the judgment and the just
condemnation of a holy God, headed to the First
Death - physical death, followed by the Second
Death - eternal death in the Lake of Fire. We
are in the most desperate need of the salvation
that God alone can provide. And the Creator has
provided that help, that deliverance, that salvation,
that rescue, that redemption, but in only one
way and through only one Man - Yeshua! And not
through any other man, nor any other religious
leader or philosopher. The kind of rescuing we
so desperately need can not come though Buddha,
Krishna, Confucius, Mohammed, Freud, Marx; the
deliverance from Satan, sin, death and Hell cannot
come through any other system, faith, religion
or philosophy; not through advances in science
or technology, or economics or politics or education.
Nothing and no one in this world, nothing and
no one on this world, nothing and no one under
this world, nothing and no one under Heaven can
give us the help that we need - except for the
Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the
world - Yeshua of Nazareth. We can only experience
salvation on God’s terms - and His terms are faith
in and obedience to Yeshua!
If
the Sanhedrin, the political and religious leaders
of the Chosen People, who knew the Bible and prayed
and sacrificed at the temple; if they needed to
believe in Yeshua to be saved, you can be sure
that everyone else on the planet does too! That
means that anyone who teaches another way of salvation;
anyone who denies the need for human beings to
personally believe the Good News about Yeshua
for salvation is teaching a lie.
* Universalism
- the false teaching that everyone will be saved,
that is a lie.
* Two-Covenant
- the false teaching that the Jewish people have
a covenant with God that will save us - apart
from the Messianic New Covenant - that is a lie.
* The
Wider Hope - the false teachings that Jewish people
don’t need to believe in Yeshua, because their
observance of non-Messianic Judaism is good enough
to save them - that is a lie.
* The
Unconscious Christian - the false teaching that
people don’t need to believe in Yeshua, or they
can deny Him and still saved. They are good and
decent and Christians - they just don’t know it!
That is a lie.
* The
Unrecognized Mediation of Messiah - the false
teaching that Messiah is functioning within the
house of Israel as our unrecognized High Priest,
drawing non-Messianic Jews closer to God. That
is a lie.
These
are all false teachings, lies, contradicting the
plain teaching of Scripture.
The way
Peter and John had courageously and wisely conducted
themselves made a powerful impression on Israel’s
leadership! These two fishermen reminded the Sanhedrin
of Someone Else. Now as they observed the confidence
of Peter and John and understood that they were
uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed,
and began to recognize them as having been with
Yeshua. And seeing the man who had been healed
standing with them, they had nothing to say in
reply. Boldness and confidence about God makes
an impression on people. Do you have that kind
of holy boldness? Do you have that true knowledge
of the Scriptures that comes from personal study
makes an impression on people. Do you have a good
understanding of the Word of God from your own
personal study of it? Can people who are part
of the world recognize that you have been with
Yeshua? That you have been with Him, because you
have been reading about Him, studying Him and
His teachings, thinking about Him, and absorbing
His teachings and His goals and mission? Has He
been rubbing off on you? He has been affecting
your mind, your confidence, your knowledge of
the Word of God, your goals, the things you are
doing?
The questions
for the emissaries were over, and now it was time
for the leaders to make their decision. But
when they had ordered them to leave the Council,
they began to confer with one another, saying,
"What shall we do with these men? For the
fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place
through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem,
and we cannot deny it. But so that it will
not spread any further among the people, let us
warn them to speak no longer to any man in this
name".
Notice
that the leaders acknowledged a miracle that had
taken place through Peter. They knew a miracle
had taken place, but, just like they did with
Yeshua, they acknowledged His miracles, but they
refused to come to the obvious and right conclusion.
They were so far from God, so far from the truth
of Torah, and so set in their wrong and wilful
ways, that they refused to change their minds,
and turn to God and Messiah and the truth that
alone could save them.
Now the
sin of the leaders was worse. More truth had been
given, and that additional truth had been rejected.
Their decision was made. Their course was set.
Yeshua would not be acknowledged as the Messiah
by the majority of the leaders of Israel or the
majority of the people who would follow their
leaders. Yeshua’s resurrection would not be acknowledged.
Messiah’s followers would be rejected by the leaders
and the majority of the people who trusted the
leaders.
The followers
of Yeshua would be threatened with punishments
and intimated to try and force them into silence
or compliance. And, if they wouldn’t comply or
be silent, they would be rejected by the majority
of the Jewish community. This trial and its decision
to continue to reject Yeshua and intimidate and
reject His followers set the tone for the relationship
between the faithful remnant of Israel and the
rest of the non-believing majority for the next
2,000 years.
The Sanhedrin
had made their decision, and they announced it
to the leaders of the Messianic community. And
when they had summoned them, they commanded them
not to speak or teach at all in the name of Yeshua.
The official ruling of the leadership of the
nation of Israel: Messianic Jews were not to talk
about Yeshua being the Messiah, or that He had
been raised from the dead, or that He was in any
way connected to salvation.
That was
an unjust ruling. It was against the will of God.
It contradicted His plan for the salvation of
the world. The decision of the Sanhedrin was wrong
and couldn’t be obeyed, and Yeshua’s representatives
knew it. But Peter and John answered and said
to them, "Whether it is right in the sight
of God to give heed to you rather than to God,
you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking
about what we have seen and heard". That
was a very courageous declaration!
It makes
clear some very important principles: that the
laws of God are higher than the laws of man. The
laws of God are higher than the laws of the State.
It is the duty of those who know the Lord to honor
the laws of God above the laws of man or the State.
Civil disobedience was called for. And, our society
is heading in this same anti-God, anti-Yeshua,
anti-Gospel, anti-truth direction. Don’t be surprised
if one day we are commanded by godless authorities
not to speak or teach the truth. Will we, like
the emissaries, be courageous enough and faithful
enough to put the laws of God above the laws of
the State - even if it means that we have to suffer
for it?
When
they had threatened them further, they let them
go - even though they didn’t want to let them
go, but they were forced to, for two reasons:
(finding no basis on which to punish them),
on account of the people, because they were
all glorifying God for what had happened; for
the man was more than forty years old on whom
this miracle of healing had been performed. First,
Peter and John hadn’t committed a crime. Second,
if the Sanhedrin had kept Peter and John in prison,
it would have looked bad to many of the people,
and leaders are sensitive to the desires of the
majority. Many of the people of Jerusalem were
impressed by this miracle, and would have objected
to punishing Peter and John for being part of
it.
When
they had been released, they went to their own
companions and reported all that the chief priests
and the elders had said to them. Peter and
John were strong. Would the rest of the community
be as strong? Or, would they be intimated by the
threats and yield to the pressure and compromise,
deny the Messiah, or become silent? Or, would
they be willing to disobey the authorities and
engage in civil obedience in order to fulfill
their Messianic mission to the world, even if
it meant rejection of the majority of Israel and
its leaders, and persecution? The existence of
Messiah’s Saving Community, and its mission to
bring the message of salvation to the world were
at stake.
The Sanhedrin
was powerful, and could cause them great harm.
But, their Friend and Ally was more powerful,
and more worthy to fear! They would need His help
to not be intimidated and to stay true to their
calling and mission. So, they prayed, one of the
great prayers of the Bible. For that, Lord willing,
we will need to come back next week!
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