By Rony Kozman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
A Mission soaked in prayer
Acts 4:23–31
Recognize the majesty and power of God. (23–26)
After Peter and John responded to the Sanhedrin and said that they would have to obey God rather than men and continue to speak about the resurrected Jesus, they were released and they went back to their fellow believers and relayed what they were commanded by the chief priests and the elders (4:24).
In light of the opposition they received and the charge from the Sanhedrin to be silent about Jesus, they prayed together.
Acknowledge that God is at work even in the face of opposition. (27–28)
As they pray, they address God as the Creator of all things and as the One who spoke by the Spirit through David. They pray along with David’s prayer in Psalm 2, joining David’s voice.
David and the apostles see —
in the nations raging and plotting, in the kings and rulers joining against the Lord and against His Anointed One — this as testimony of the treatment of Jesus, the Lord’s Messiah, by Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles and Israel.
Israel, the Gentiles and their rulers all arrayed themselves against Jesus, God’s anointed king.
When the nations and their rulers opposed and killed Jesus, they were unknowingly unfolding God’s plan. This means that if we see opposition to Jesus, and if we experience opposition to the message of the gospel that “Jesus is Lord,” this is not necessarily an impediment to God’s plan.
The opposition itself may be the precise way by which God is accomplishing His plan.
As Acts puts it, opposition to God and to the Anointed One may paradoxically be people unknowingly doing “what [God’s] power and will had decided beforehand should happen.”
Ask for boldness in sharing the gospel. (29–31)
Since opposition to Jesus and the message of His reign may be how God accomplishes his plan, Peter and John ask God to enable them to continue to speak the gospel with courage.
Peter and John read and pray Psalm 2, considering not only Jesus’ suffering at the hands of Herod, Pilate, Israel and the Gentiles, but also finding themselves included in His suffering, as they too are opposed by the leaders of Israel. In other words, the apostles share in the suffering of Christ.
While Psalm 2 is first and foremost about Jesus, who Peter and John call “your Holy servant” (4:27), the apostles then describe themselves as “Your servants” (4:29). In other words, Jesus is the anointed and suffering servant of Psalm 2, and the disciples are also servants against whom the leaders of their own kinsmen oppose, just as they opposed Jesus.
We too are servants of the Lord who should not expect to receive different treatment than Jesus, our master. After all, as Jesus said, “a servant is no greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:18). In response to their request for courage, God fills them with the Holy Spirit as they requested, and they spoke the gospel of Jesus with boldness.
This reminds the reader of the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the apostles before Pentecost where we read of the “sound like the blowing of a violent wind coming from heaven and filled the whole house. … All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1–4).
Share with others: