Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Passage: Acts 4:1-31
Focus: “But to stop this from spreading any further among the people…” Acts 4:17.
Having gone to such great effort to eliminate Him, these haters of Jesus were frustrated and furious that He crops up again to give them trouble and compete for the attention and power that they so coveted for themselves. They made sure He had died and was buried and wanted the conflict to end right there. But it didn’t. In fact it had the appearance of growing and getting worse. So when these non-qualified and non-educated jerks (Peter and John) who were known followers of Jesus, not only performed an incredible and undeniable miracle in the Name of Jesus, and then have the boldness and audacity to stand before the religious elite and fearlessly accuse them of murdering Jesus, well…it was just too much! They were pushed to the brink of insanity! “Brink?” No. In fact they were pushed deeper into their insanity. Think about it. Even their private little conference they called to try to determine what in the world to do with Peter and John was full of insanity. “But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.” Ha! That’s like trying to legislate a stop to the sun coming up, or the earth to stop turning (one and the same you know), or the tide to stop changing. It is indeed a form of insanity.
Be reminded that the same conflict is still very much with us today. On the one side are those who want to have Jesus Christ dead and silenced—no more said—end of discussion. Finished! On the other side are those who know Jesus is alive and that He is Lord—those who “cannot help but speak about what they have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). Biblical prophecy predicts that the conflict is going to get worse before it’s all over—before God speaks the word to crush the competition. Until then, I highly recommend that you just make sure (by constant careful attention) on which side of the conflict you have taken your stand.