Acts of the Apostles (12)
Introduction
The Founder of the Christian faith, the Lord Jesus, was murdered by the authorities. This is a fact that cannot be emphasized too much. After His resurrection, He ascended into Heaven, and the second generation of Christian leaders all found themselves in jail within a matter of just a few weeks. This should tell you something about the nature of the world’s system, and the nature of the faith we profess.
The Text
“Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life . . .” (Acts 5:17–26).
Summary of the Text
The Sadducees were the dominant party in the Temple establishment. They were theological liberals, but conservative enough when it came to protecting their own power. They rose up together, full of indignation (v. 17), arrested the apostles and threw them into jail (v. 18). This set the stage for the first angelic jail break in the book of Acts. An angel opened the doors, brought them out, and gave them a command (v. 19). The command was for them to go back into the Temple and by speaking the words of life to the people to disobey the authorities (v. 20). The apostles obeyed this command, doing this first thing in the morning (v. 21). Meanwhile, the authorities convened their council and sent to have the apostles fetched from the prison (v. 21). The officers went to the prison, but soon enough came back without them (v. 22). They reported that the prison was locked up, and the guards were there, but nobody was inside (v. 23). When the authorities heard this, they began to worry about what could be next (v. 24). So then a messenger came in and said that the escapees were out in the Temple, teaching the people (v. 25). And so then the captain and the officers went to bring them in, but quite gingerly, because they were afraid of being stoned by the crowd (v. 26).
Dealing With Jesus Mobs
We do have something in common with first century Palestine. We, like they, are living in a time of violent emotions and high tension. And in such a moment, in a time like that, Jesus came into the powder keg of Jerusalem, and did not call for dialog. He came as a supremely effective provocateur. He went up to the Temple and began flipping over tables, attacking the money-making engine of these very powerful authorities.
Were there people in the Israel of that day who were on the side of John the Baptist, and Jesus, but who did not fully grasp the import of the Sermon on the Mount? Why were the religious authorities so careful about their plotting against Jesus? They thought “people will stone us” (Luke 20:5-6). The chief priests and scribes “feared the people” (Luke 20:19). They wanted to kill Jesus, but they “feared the people” (Luke 22:2). This is also said a few times in the second gospel (Mark 11:18, 32; 12:12). And when Peter cut off the ear of Malchus, he also had not grasped the true nature of the plan that Jesus was living out (John 18:10).
Jesus did not entrust Himself to men (John 2:23-25), but it is also very, very clear that He did not worry about their misunderstandings. Their confusions did not even slow Him down. In fact, His provocation was counting on their confusion and misunderstanding.
The Word of God Is Never Bound
One of the things that Luke does for us in the Book of Acts is illustrate in a figure how the gospel cannot be thwarted or imprisoned by the wit of man. The gospel cannot be imprisoned, and Luke shows us this multiple times and in multiple ways.
“Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.” (2 Timothy 2:9). At least five of Paul’s epistles were written from prison, bringing life and liberty everywhere those letters have gone.
Luke shows us this by having two angelic jail breaks (here, and in Acts 12). Then he has an earthquake bust the prison at Philippi wide open, thus liberating the jailer (Acts 16). And then Paul is arrested in Acts 21:33, from which position he evangelizes two Roman governors (Acts 24:25; Acts 26:24), King Agrippa (Acts 26:28), a leading citizen of Malta named Publius (Acts 28:7), and the rabbis of Rome (Acts 28:23-24). The Word of God is never bound.
The gospel runs free when the evangelists do, and the gospel also runs free when the evangelists are chained to the wall.
The Unchained Word of Life
We see in this passage the total legitimacy of activities like Bible smuggling. Is it against the law? That actually doesn’t matter. We don’t care. The civil authorities do not have the authority to prohibit the gospel from functioning in their realm. What does the Great Commission rest on (Matt. 28:18-19)? “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me . . .” No civil authority has the right to say no to the gospel of free grace.
On top of that, neither do religious authorities have the right to get a bit and bridle on those who preach the word in truth. John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress, spent years in prison, and in a Christian country, and for what? Not for preaching, but for preaching without a license. When free grace starts running around freely, it is just a matter of time before some ecclesiastical fussers feel a need to get their foot on the brake. They will come to a man, preaching hot gospel, and they will ask him, as they asked Jesus, “By what authority do you do these things?” Look to your Bibles. Whose question is this (Matt. 21:23; Mark 11:28; Luke 20:2)?
By way of contrast . . . “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8).