But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.” [Acts 5:29 (NLT)]
Following Jesus’ resurrection, the Apostles met regularly at the Temple where they boldly preached and healed the sick. Alarmed at this turn of events, the high priest and his officials had the men put in jail. That night, an angel freed them and told the men to return to the Temple and speak to the people there.
Early the next day, the Apostles were teaching in the Temple courts once again. The seventy members of the high council met that morning for their trial but, when they sent for the Apostles, the guards found their locked cells empty. Upon learning the men were back preaching in the Temple, the Sanhedrin were furious. They ordered the men arrested again and brought before the council. Confronting these Christ followers, the council ordered them to end their evangelism once and for all. When Peter explained that they took their orders from God, not man, the Sanhedrin were furious at such defiance and decided to kill the Apostles. It was the cool head of Gamaliel who suggested the trouble-makers be put outside while the council discussed the matter further.
One of the most respected Pharisaic leaders of his time, Gamaliel reminded the Sanhedrin of two previous failed attempts at revolt against the Romans. The first was led by Theudas who claimed to be the promised messiah. Although he had about 400 followers, after his death, the movement died out. Later, around 6/7 AD, Judas of Galilee led a failed revolt against the Romans in protest of the taxation census. After he was killed, his followers, like those of Theudas, dispersed. Gamaliel argued that, if the Apostles were doing their preaching on their own power, their movement would soon fade away as did those of Theudas and Judas of Galilee. Without a leader, the strange sect would run out of steam and, in time, fail of its own accord.
On the other hand, if the Apostles were acting with God’s blessing, Gamaliel told the council there was nothing they could do to stop them. He cautioned them that, by killing the Christ followers, they could bring the wrath of God down upon themselves. The learned rabbi’s words persuaded the angry council to tolerate the new movement. Rather than kill the Apostles, they had them flogged and ordered the men never again to speak in the name of Jesus (an order they ignored). By urging their tolerance of this new (and what he believed to be a short-lived) sect, Gamaliel found a politically acceptable solution to the Council’s problem.
Although this well-respected and wise Jewish rabbi gets only two mentions in Scripture, Gamaliel played a prominent role in the development of the early church. While it’s unlikely he supported their teachings, he saved the Apostles’ lives by urging the Sanhedrin to tolerate their teaching. His attempt to find a political compromise that would avoid arousing Roman intervention also allowed the early church some 30 years to establish itself before wide-spread severe repression and persecution began in 64 AD. Gamaliel also was the rabbi who taught the Apostle Paul. It was the vast knowledge Paul learned at the rabbi’s feet that enabled him to explain the Hebrew scriptures and show how Jesus fulfilled the Law and Prophets. Moreover, as a student of the esteemed rabbi, Paul had the credentials to preach in synagogues wherever he went.
If Gamaliel was thinking the Christian movement would run its course and quietly fade away, he was mistaken. Despite being arrested, imprisoned, beaten, and lashed with leather whips, the Apostles were not to be silenced; they continued to preach the gospel message. Gamaliel was correct, however, in thinking that nothing was going to stop the will of God.
In 1 Kings 21, we learn of Naboth, the owner of a vineyard adjacent to King Ahab’s palace in Jezreel. A choice piece of real estate, Ahab wanted it for himself and offered to purchase or exchange it for other land. Property, however, wasn’t to be treated as a real estate investment—it was to remain in the family to which it had been allotted. Because Jewish law prohibited Naboth from selling his ancestral land, he rejected the king’s offer. Angry at his neighbor’s refusal’s, Ahab acted like a spoiled child, took to his bed, and refused to eat. Upon learning the reason for her husband’s sulking, Jezebel hatched a devious plan. She arranged for false accusations to be made against Naboth that would result in his immediate death. Jezebel’s evil plot went as planned and, upon news of their neighbor’s death, she told Ahab the land was his and he took it for himself!
With few exceptions, when we find mention of pride in Scripture, it has a negative connotation. It refers to arrogance, conceit, disrespect, haughtiness, and effrontery. Often called stubborn, insolent, willful, and selfish, prideful people don’t fare well in Scripture. Consider Pharaoh whose pride made him stubbornly defy the power of God; as a result, his entire nation suffered plague after plague, he lost his eldest son, and his entire army was decimated. Lucifer’s insolence and pride got him evicted from heaven. Nebuchadnezzar’s conceitful boasting resulted in the king living as a field animal and eating grass for seven years! When arrogant King Uzziah overstepped boundaries and burned incense in Temple (something only priests could do), the proud king became an outcast leper. Indeed, “pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” [Proverbs 16:18]
In a book about evangelism, the author wrote of bringing a new believer into his office and the two of them saying the “Sinner’s Prayer.” After the new believer repeated the Pastor’s words, he was pronounced saved. While there is no official version of this “sinner’s” prayer, it probably goes something like this: “God, I know that I am a sinner and that I deserve to go to hell. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. I do now receive Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you, Lord, for saving me and forgiving me! Amen.” Many evangelical Christians speak of saying some sort of prayer like this at the moment of conversion. Is a special “Sinner’s Prayer” a requirement for salvation?
In the ruins of Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, a scrap of parchment known as P.Oxy. 1786 was discovered in 1918. Only 11-inches long and 2-inches wide, it consists of four lines of text along with musical notations on the back of a grain contract. Found in an ancient garbage dump, it was just one of 500,000 parchments dating from the 1st century BC to the 7th AD. Along with grocery lists, official records, and business contracts, the rubbish heap yielded a play by Sophocles, poetry by Sappho, portions of the Old Testament, fragments of both Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels, and an arrest warrant for a Christian.
Heather Kaufman’s novel Up From Dust is historical fiction. Based on what Scripture tells us about Martha of Bethany, her sister Mary, and their brother Lazarus, it gives the reader a fictionalized version of their backstories. Kaufman’s extensive research for the novel allowed her to paint a vivid and accurate picture of 1st century life in Judea. Even though the story is a figment of her imagination, it reminded me that the people who spent time with the Lord while He walked on earth were real (and flawed) people like us—each with their own personal history. Ordinary people with parents, friends and, for some, spouses and children, they had jobs, responsibilities, secrets, regrets, and weaknesses. Like us, they were people who worried, disagreed, cried, laughed, loved, rejoiced, and mourned. The only thing that made them different from their neighbors was their love for a man called Jesus!
Devotions of the Heart 