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The
Community’s Prayer in Response To The Threats
Of The Sanhedrin; The Lord’s Response To Their
Prayer; The Important Attributes Of This Greatest
Of Communities
Immanuel
has come! The Messiah, Rabbi Yeshua, the Resurrected
and Victorious Son of God came from Heaven, which
is a very real place, into this world, and after
successfully and fully accomplishing His great
mission of salvation and teaching, had then returned
to Heaven, to the place of greatest honor and
authority. From there the Father and the Son poured
out the Spirit that They share on Yeshua’s disciples.
They were Messiah’s representatives to the lost
and dying world of human beings on planet Earth.
Their purpose was to be a loving and worshiping
and witnessing fellowship that would continue
the Messiah’s great mission to bring the Good
News of salvation to the world.
Messiah’s
Holy Community had been growing, and that was
a great thing! Starting in Jerusalem with 120,
on Shavuot they had grown to 3,000. With the miracle
that took place at the Yaffa gate, the community
had grown to 5,000.
Well,
evil does not like good. Error does not like truth.
The non-Messianic leaders didn’t like what was
happening, and Peter and John had been arrested
and tried before Israel’s Senate, the Sanhedrin.
After hearing from Peter and John, the political
and religious leaders of the Chosen People made
their decision: Yeshua would not be acknowledged
as the Messiah. 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 ostracism to try and intimidate them into
silence or compliance.
The decision
of the Council 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 two great representatives knew it. They
understood 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.
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 courageous and fearless; but they had
seen His miracles. They themselves had done miracles.
They had seen the Rise Lord. Not everyone else
had experienced these great things. Would the
rest of the community be as bold and as resolute?
Or, would they be intimated by the threats and
yield to the pressure and compromise, become silent,
or even begin to deny the Messiah? Or, would they
be willing to disobey the authorities and engage
in civil disobedience in order to fulfill their
Messianic mission to the world - even if it meant
persecution and rejection by the majority of Israel
and its leaders? The existence of Messiah’s Saving
Community, and its mission to bring the message
of salvation to the world, were at stake. The
salvation of the world was at stake!
The Sanhedrin
was powerful, and could cause the sons and daughters
of God great harm. But, their Friend and Ally
was more powerful, and more worthy to fear! They
would need His help in order not to be intimidated
and stay true to their calling and mission. So,
they prayed, one of the great prayers of the Bible.
And when they heard this, they lifted their
voices to God with one accord (this prayer
was a congregational prayer. It was the community
uniting to pray. And there is power in the prayers
of a united and faithful community!) and said,
"O Lord, it is You who made the Heaven and
the Earth and the sea, and all that is in them.
This introductory statement about the great power
and authority of the Creator of all things is
found in Exodus 20 and Nehemiah 9 and Psalm 146:
This community knew the Bible. They studied it
and thought about it. They could quote parts of
it from memory. They knew that God the Father
made the entire universe. He has the power to
control them and everything in the universe. Everything
in the universe is subject to His will and power.
The Father
is not only the Almighty Creator God, but He is
not subject to time. He is eternal. He can see
the future. He knows the end from the beginning.
And He is very wise. And, he has a great plan
that involves His Son - the Messiah. Who by
the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father
David Your servant, said: Even though David
had spoken this Messianic prediction, the real
source of this prophetic truth was the Holy Spirit.
He is the Source of the inspiration of the prophets,
and the Author of all of the Bible.
This prayer
tells us that God the Father knew that when He
sent the Messiah, Yeshua would not be accepted
by the leaders of humanity. God’s anointed Prophet,
Priest and King and Savior would be opposed by
those in power. O Lord, it is You who made
the Heaven and the Earth and the sea, and all
that is in them. Who by the Holy Spirit,
through the mouth of our father David Your servant,
said ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the
peoples devise futile things? The kings of the
Earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against His Messiah'.
Even though God the Father is the eternal and
powerful Creator of all things, and sent the Messiah,
and everything that exists should obey God the
Father, just that kind of rebellion against God
the Father and God the Son predicted in Psalm
2 what was happening!
For
truly in this city there were gathered together
against Your holy servant Yeshua, whom You anointed:
Yeshua is holy, sinless, perfect, set apart
to accomplish God’s special plans and purposes.
He always faithfully serves God, and always does
what His Father wants done. Yeshua was anointed
by God, and empowered by the Spirit of God to
be the ultimate Prophet, Priest and King of Israel
and of the rest of humanity. But, even though
Yeshua was God’s holy and anointed servant, the
leaders of Israel and the mighty Roman empire
had been opposing the Messiah - just as King David
had predicted. For truly in this city there
were gathered together against Your holy servant
Yeshua, whom You anointed both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the
peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and
Your purpose predestined to occur. Both Jews
and Gentiles were guilty of rejecting the Messiah
and putting the Prince of Life to death. And,
both Jewish and Gentile leaders were still opposing
the Messiah by opposing His Community, which is
His Body on Earth, His servants and representatives
to a God-alienated, fallen and dying and needy
world.
But, this
opposition didn’t take the All-Knowing and Infinitely
Wise God by surprise! The opposition of these
human leaders had been known to Him when David
wrote the Second Psalm, and before! In fact, the
opposition of the Jewish and Gentile leaders,
first directed against Yeshua, and now against
His Special Community, was part of the plan and
activity of wise God! That means that God knows
about and uses human opposition. Human opposition
is part of God’s plan. It is to be expected. We
must accept that, and endure the opposition, and
not be intimidated by it. Like the Son of God,
we are not to be deterred by opposition, or yield
to it, or compromise because of it.
What Messiah’s
Holy Community needed was not “no opposition”
- asking the Lord to remove all opposition - what
they needed was boldness to speak the truth in
spite of the opposition! They needed boldness
to speak true and faithful words that were backed
up by more of the Lord’s miraculous power, which
would demonstrate that the God of Israel was on
their side, and that Rabbi Yeshua was indeed alive
and the Messiah! And they is what they prayed
for. And now, Lord, take note of their threats,
and grant that Your servants may speak Your word
with all confidence, while You extend Your hand
to heal, and signs and wonders take place through
the name of Your holy servant Yeshua".
The community
had united and prayed and had withstood this test.
The Almighty was pleased with this great and wise
and courageous prayer, and He let them know it
in an immediate and dramatic way! And when
they had prayed, the place where they had gathered
together was shaken (they had asked for supernatural
power and they were already getting it!).
And
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (being
filled with the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean that
they were speaking in tongues. It means that they
were really close to God, and God was really close
to them. This filling of the Spirit - and there
can be many fillings in a person’s life, since
it is very easy to become unfilled, and we need
to get filled again, and again and again - resulted
in courage and a passion to be engaged in bold
evangelism. And began to speak the word of
God with boldness.
And,
when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will
be holy, and close to God, and He will be close
to us, and we will have a passion to be engaged
in bold evangelism, speaking about Yeshua and
Messianic salvation to a lost and dying world.
That is so much to be what we are to be about
as individual Christians and Messianic Jews, and
together as a community. If we don’t have a passion
for evangelism, we cannot be filled with the Spirit.
So I ask you, honestly examine yourself. Do you
have a desire, a passion, to tell others the Good
News that alone can reconcile them to God? Are
you filled with the Spirit? If not, why not?
That first
community of Messianic Jews in Jerusalem, of all
New Covenant communities since that time, was
closest to the Three-In-One God. Those Messianic
Jews were closest to the truth. They had the greatest
spiritual understanding. They had the most spiritual
power. They were a loving and supportive, worshiping
and witnessing community. From that greatest of
communities, the message of salvation, the Good
News about the Messiah, would go to the rest of
Israel and the other nations of the world! That
community is our role model. We want to be like
them. Luke, like he did in Acts 2, gives us a
description of what that model New Covenant community
was like. And the congregation of those who
believed were of one heart and soul; They
were deeply and powerfully united by believing
the same truths, the same core doctrines of the
Faith; they were united by the same initiation
ceremony of baptism; they were unified by the
Father and the Son; they were joined together
by the same Holy Spirit filling them. They were
united by their common hope of eternal life and
receiving a great and shared inheritance.
It was
a generous, caring, loving and supportive community.
They genuinely cared for each other and showed
it where it counts - with their finances. And
not one of them claimed that anything belonging
to him was his own, but all things were common
property to them... And abundant grace was upon
them all. For there was not a needy person among
them, for all who were owners of land or houses
would sell them and bring the proceeds of the
sales and lay them at the emissaries' feet, and
they would be distributed to each as any had need.
Their attitude toward one another was: Your
house is my house. My resources are your resources.
They functioned more like one big extended family,
rather than an organization or institution.
It was
a community that was blessed with great leaders
- Yeshua’s hand-picked, well-taught, courageous,
Spirit-filled powerful representatives. And
with great power the emissaries were giving
testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Yeshua.
We need great leaders! We need to be praying for
our leaders to be great leaders! We need to be
praying for the Lord to raise up great leaders.
We want to encourage and support those who have
the potential to be great leaders.
It was
a witnessing community. And with great power
the emissaries were giving testimony to the
resurrection of the Lord Yeshua. The apostles
were testifying, functioning as reliable eyewitnesses
and truth-tellers to the realities that they knew
were true - that Rabbi Yeshua had died, but He
had been raised from the dead! He was alive! That
means that He is Immanuel, and the King Messiah
and Lord and Savior! That means that eternal life
is possible, and we can overcome our greatest
enemies - Satan, sin and death - if we believe
and follow the Resurrected Rabbi!
It was
a powerful community. And with great power
the emissaries were giving testimony to the resurrection
of the Lord Yeshua. Again, miracles were not
an everyday occurrence in biblical days. They
were rare. There were only several times that
they happened with frequency, and there were only
a few men that God used to do the supernatural.
The miracles that the emissaries were doing showed
to anyone with a mind that was open to the truth
that they were close to God, and God was close
to them, and approved of them and their message
about Yeshua - and that Yeshua was exactly who
the apostles were saying He was - Israel’s true
Messiah who had overcome sin and death!
They were
a spiritually and materially blessed community.
All of their needs - spiritual and material, were
being taken care of by God and by them caring
for each other. And abundant grace was upon
them all. For there was not a needy person among
them, for all who were owners of land or houses
would sell them and bring the proceeds of the
sales and lay them at the emissaries' feet, and
they would be distributed to each as any had need.
Barnabas
was like that - generous, caring, loving, supportive
of those in need. Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian
birth, who was also called Barnabas by the emissaries
(which translated means Son of Encouragement),
and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought
the money and laid it at the emissaries' feet.
And almost of the rest of them were genuine
and caring too - but not everyone. There were
some MJINOs - Messianic Jews In Name Only - tares
among the wheat. That’s dangerous to a community
based on faith and righteousness and integrity.
A few posers among the faithful can do a lot of
damage. Their hypocrisy can discourage the faith
and endurance of others. The tares would needed
to be weeded out to maintain the holiness and
power and integrity of this most special fellowship.
The community would not only have to undergo persecution
from without, but it would have to be judged from
within. And, that was about to happen.
This was
a community that practiced congregational discipline.
A lot of churches and Messianic Synagogues today
are reluctant to deal with issues connected to
the discipline of those who are part of the community.
But this was a congregation that had high moral
and religious and ethical standards, and to protect
this precious congregation, the Lord Himself imposed
very serious penalties for violating those standards.
But for that, you can read Acts 5 and come back
in a couple of weeks!
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