Blessings and Persecution

The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.”
–Acts 5:27–28

In Acts 5, the church was growing. The Bible says, “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico. . . . And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number” (vv. 12, 14). God was using these “signs and wonders” to bring more and more people to hear the gospel.

But wherever God is working, Satan is also working. He will do everything he can to stop our influence for Christ. While the early church enjoyed God’s blessings, they also endured persecution. Verses 17–18 say, “The high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail.”

Remember, the Sadducees didn’t believe in heaven, angels, or life after death. If you don’t think God has a sense of humor, look at what happened next: “During the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, ‘Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.’ Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and began to teach” (vv. 19–21). An angel, which the Sadducees didn’t believe in, freed the people they had put in jail. When the Sadducees sent officers to the jail, it was still locked and guarded, but there was nobody inside. Somebody came to them and said, in essence, “You know those apostles you put in jail? They’re at the temple preaching!” Can’t you just see the Sadducees slapping their hands to their foreheads?

When the apostles were brought before them, the high priest said, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching” (v. 28). Isn’t that a great compliment? It’s my prayer that the same thing can be said about our churches today. There’s no greater compliment for a church than that they have filled the community with the teaching of God’s Word. Though the faithfulness of the early Christians brought about persecution, they continued to carry out their mission to share “the whole message of this Life.”

Today’s devotion is adapted from “The Church in the Kettle,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2021.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.