TRACINGS FROM THE ACTS OF THE
APOSTLES
III. A MIRACLE AND ATTEMPTED
INTIMIDATION.
ACTS iii.iv. 31.
MANY wonders and signs Luke has told us were done by the
Apostles (Acts ii. 43). As yet we have had no detailed account of any. He will,
however, now proceed to tell us of one, and which evidently was regarded as,
and surely was, a most remarkable one. And as we have had depicted the
happiness of the company, and its growth, we are shortly to learn of the first
attempt to intimidate the leaders of the movement by the arrest of Peter and
John.
The Ninth Hour. - Frequenting the Temple daily, the
Apostles were found in its courts at the time of public prayer. To one of these
occasions our attention is now to be directed by the historian, but he fixes
not the date of it. On a certain day Peter and John were going up, as we should
translate, into the Temple at the hour of prayer. Belonging to what we may call
the inner circle of the Apostles, these two are frequently found together. To
them was entrusted by the Lord the service of making ready the upper room for
the last paschal supper (Luke xxii. 8). Together they were on the morning of
the Resurrection, when Mary made known that the tomb was empty ; and together
they ran to the sepulchre, to find that her report was correct (John xx. 2-8).
Together, too, they went at the request of the rest to visit the new converts
in Samaria (Acts viii.). Now, on the afternoon to which Luke refers, they were
going up to the Temple together. For though that word should be left out of the
narrative, it is plain in that they were together that day. It was at the ninth
hour, the hour of prayer, about 3 p.m., when the evening burnt offering was
offered up in the court, and incense was burnt on the golden altar
within.
Hallowed was that hour, and connected with memories of the past.
At that time, though far from God's altar at Jerusalem, Elijah, having repaired
the altar of the Lord on Mount Carmel, arranged the bullock for the sacrifice,
and supplicated the Lord to consume it by fire from heaven. And as the incense,
as we may believe, was perfuming the holy place at Jerusalem, God responded to
His servant at Carmel by sending the fire from on high, the token that He was
the true God (1 Kings xviii. 38). At that same hour, centuries later, when
Daniel, a captive in Babylon, was in prayer, Gabriel touched him, announcing
the welcome news that his prayer was heard, and revealing to him the prophecy
of the seventy weeks, the last part of which has yet to come (Dan. ix. 21). At
that same hour it was that the Lord, of whose coming and death Gabriel had told
the prophet, uttered on the cross that solemn cry, "My God, My God, why hast
Thou forsaken Me?" and then shortly after expired. Now, at that same hour of
the day, Peter and John, entering the Temple, were to witness for the crucified
One, and to manifest before all there assembled the power of His name. A
Miracle. - As they were going up a lame man was being carried, to be laid at
the gate of the Temple called Beautiful,* to solicit alms. He lived, it would
seem, on the charity of the public, extended to him as they entered the sacred
precincts. Forty years old was he now, and daily was he carried and laid down
at that gate. Had he ever seen the Lord passing in or out? Certainly, if he
had, healing power had not been exercised on his behalf. Every cripple, every
sick one, did not receive benefit from Him. Witness the great multitude of sick
folk at the Pool of Bethesda, waiting there on the day that the impotent man
was cured. Now, however, the hour in the counsels of God had arrived for this
one to be made whole. Seeing Peter and John, he asked an alms. It was his
wonted request. It was all he asked, and evidently all he expected (Acts iii.
5). A little temporal relief he craved. He was, however, to get healing. He had
been indebted to the kindness and support of others to get there, and was
actually at the moment being carried, an evidence of his helplessness, when, in
answer to his petition for an alms, Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none ;
but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarean walk"
(iii. 6). We should here omit "rise up." The omission makes it more graphic. He
was to walk.
* It is questioned where this gate was. Of one, especially
beautiful, Josephus writes, calling it the Corinthian gate, because covered
with Corinthian brass. He writes (Wars of the Jews, V. v. 3): "There was one
gate that was without [the inward court of] the holy house, which was of
Corinthian brass, and greatly excelled those that wore only covered over with
silver and gold. . . . The magnitudes of the other gates were equal one to
another; but that over the Corinthian gate, which opened on the east
over-against the gate of the holy house itself, was muclv larger; for its
height was fifty cubits; and its doors were forty cubits ; and it was adorned
after a most costly manner, as having much richer and thicker plates of silver
and gold upon them than the other." From his description one would suppose this
was the gate.
Lame from his mother's womb, he had never walked. His
feet and ankle bones had never borne the weight of his body. Walk! How could
he? Peter showed him that his words were no vain words. For he took him by the
right hand, and raised him up, and strength, such as he had never known, he
received at once. With the agility of one who had always had the use of his
limbs, he leaped up. The weight of his body these limbs, so powerless for forty
years, now perfectly sustained. He stood. And the activity proper to man was
his in common with others around. He began to walk, as we should translate. No
arm even to lean on did he need. No crutch to support him was in requisition.
With no tottering gait did he move. Carried as he had been to the precincts of
the Temple, he entered the Beautiful gate of it a sound man, walking and
leaping and praising God. In open day this occurred. In the most public place
in the city, in the presence of a multitude about probably to pass through that
Beautiful gate to engage in prayer, the man formerly lame, and well known to be
such, passed in. with the crowd, demonstrating to all beholders his new powers,
for he walked, and manifesting his ]oy, for he was praising God. He held Peter
and John, it is true, but not to support himself. His benefactors he deemed
them, and so naturally clung to them.
Peter's Address. - Wonder
and amazement filled the people when they saw the man walking, and they ran
together unto the Apostles in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly
wondering (ver. 11). This porch, or portico, was a relic, it is said, of
Solomon's work, which had escaped destruction till then.* In this same porch
the Lord was walking when questioned by the Jews as to whether He was the
Christ (John x. 23). In this same place, evidently one of concourse, the
Apostles were found later on (Acts v. 12), before they were beaten by order of
the Sanhedrin. To the assembled crowd Peter now addressed himself. In the
previous chapter his audience of course was a mixed one, composed not only of
native but of many foreign Jews speaking various languages, because collected
from different countries upon earth. On this occasion, the feast of Pentecost
being over, we may conclude that the foreign element, of which there was always
some in Jerusalem (vi. 9), was reduced to its normal proportions. "Ye men of
Israel," he began, "why marvel ye at this" (referring probably to that which is
stated in ver. 9) ; "or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own
power or holiness [rather, godliness] we had made this man to walk?" (iii. 12).
No credit would they take to themselves, nor allow the people for one moment to
think of them as something extraordinary. How different was this from Simon
Magus, who, exercising Satanic power, gave himself out to be some great one
(viii. 9). The natural man loves to exalt himself. The Apostles would give all
the glory to God, arid to His servant Christ Jesus. The miracle was undoubted.
Peter distinctly admits it. But the power by which it had been accomplished was
Divine.
* To this porch Josephus refers. "These," he writes, [eastern]
"cloisters belonged to the outer court, and were situated in a deep valley, and
had walls that reached four hundred cubits [in length], and were built of
square and very white stones, the length of each of which stones was twenty
cubits, and their height six cubits. This was the work of King Solomon, who
first of all built the entire Temple." (Josephus, Ant., XX. ix. 7).
The
God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of their fathers, was working
still in their midst, but now for the glory of His servant Jesus. Bold indeed
is Peter. In the Temple court he affirmed that Jesus, the rejected and
crucified One, was Jehovah's servant. Of One so called Isaiah had written
(xlii. 1). Of that same One Peter here spoke. Delivered by the people to Pilate
(as he reminds them), that Roman governor was desirous to release Him, and was
only prevented by the clamorous importunity of the rulers and people. They
denied before Pilate their true Messiah. The holy One and the righteous One
they denied. They asked for a murderer to be given them. They killed the Prince
(or, Originator) of life.** A heavy indictment indeed! Yet the simple truth.
And with the facts still fresh in the memory of them all, no one did, no one
could, impugn the correctness of the accusation. Man's work had been like
Cain's - to put the righteous One to death. God's power, however, had been
displayed in raising Him from the dead. And now He had glorified Him ; and in
His name, and by faith in His name, that miracle had been wrought, and that man
healed.
* "Servant" he calls him. Pais ; not Son, Hyog.
**
The Greek word archegos is variously translated, " Prince," " Author," "
Originator." It is used in the New Testament here, and elsewhere, only of the
Lord (Acts v. 31; Heb. ii. 10, xii. 2).
A crime, a murder, had taken
place, and the people had consented to it, and had insisted on it. But done as
it was by rulers and people through ignorance, Peter assured them that the door
for repentance was still open. Great, too, as the crime was, it had been
foreseen and predicted. "God before had showed by the mouth of all the prophets
that His Christ [so Peter said] should suffer." That He had fulfilled. "His
Christ," then, it was whom they had crucified. What a crime that was! Was all
lost? No, but deferred. And now it rested on the repentance of the people as to
when the Messianic blessing, which for ages had been expected, should really be
enjoyed. "Repent ye therefore," continued the Apostle to his audience, "and
turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons
of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send the Christ
who hath been appointed for [not, preached unto] you, even Jesus: whom the
heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God
spake by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began."
We have followed the Revised Version rather than the Authorised Version in
citing this passage, because there are several variations in the text
consequent on better readings, and one very important mistranslation is by the
former corrected, which seems to have originated with the Vulgate. The times of
refreshing depend on, and are a consequence of, the repentance of the people.
This the Authorised Version fails to exhibit. The Christ was now on high, and
would remain thero, till repentance working in the people, God should send Him
back. To that Dent. xxx. 1-10. looks forward as well as other Scriptures.
To the future they must therefore turn. There was, however, a word for them
in the present. He who had been in their midst was really the Prophet like unto
Moses, to whom all were to hearken. Present responsibility then rested on them
whilst awaiting the future. For if that Prophet had come, and Jesus Christ was
that Prophet, it was incumbent on all men to hearken to Him, lest judgment
should overtake the rebellious (Acts iii. 22, 23). Further, they were the sons
of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with their fathers, saying
to Abraham, "And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed."
Hence to them first God, having raised up His servant [Jesus should be here
omitted], sent Him to bless them, in turning away every one of them from their
iniquities. A caution may here be needed as to what that raising up refers. It
is clearly not the Resurrection that is pointed to, but the Lord's first coming
to earth, in accordance with the words just quoted from Deut. xviii. 18: "A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up," etc.
So familiar are we with
this history, that we can scarce take in the full effect on the people of that
which had been seen or heard. In the very porch where the Jews had challenged
the Lord for proofs of His Messiahship, Peter announced that the man had been
healed in the name of Jesus the Nazarean. In the precincts of Jehovah's house,
who never gave His glory to another, a miracle had been wrought avowedly in the
name of Him whom the Sanhedrin had not long before adjudged to be a blasphemer,
and worthy of death. The controversy about His claim to be a Divine Person was
more than settled, but in a way the Jews never expected. God had glorified His
servant the Nazarean, in allowing a miracle to be wrought in His own house in
the latter's name. Jesus Christ, the Nazarean, was the only one of whom Peter
had spoken to the lame man. If, then, His name, without the mention of the God
of Abraham, etc., was powerful in the sacred precincts, the crucified One must
be more than a mere man. And God, by what had taken place, clearly owned Him as
His fellow. A miracle wrought elsewhere would have been a wonderful event; but
wrought only in the name of Jesus Christ, and in the court of Jehovah's house,
was evidence which could not be rebutted of the truth of the Lord's claim, when
on earth, to be equal with God. No marvel, then, is it, that out of the many
wonders and signs done at that early time by the Apostles this one has been
detailed at length, and is the only one of that date which Luke has been
directed to record. No miracle could there be to show in a plainer way the
divinity of Him whom the nation had put to death.
An Arrest. That
it was a miracle the multitude firmly believed ; and those who had the greatest
interest in denying it, the high priest and all with him, found themselves
confronted with a fact to which they were unable to shut their eyes. It was
established in a manner that defied contradiction, and effectually refuted any
suggestion of collusion. The man once lame, and well known to have been such
from His birth, was walking, and had entered the Temple on his own legs. Nor
was that a mere spasmodic effort, for the power acquired he was still using. He
who had entered the Temple would shortly appear before the high priest and the
company sitting with him. No one denied it. No one attempted to deny it. They
were not able, as the historian states, to say anything against it (iv. 14).
Moderns have tried to explain it away. Contemporaries attested, however
unwillingly, the truth of it. But measures, it was felt, must be taken to stop
the movement. Those interested in checking it now interfered. Peter and John
were teaching the people, a duty which belonged specially to the priests. They
boldly proclaimed the Lord's resurrection from the dead. The Sadducees felt
that one of their pet tenets was touched. So "the priests, and the captain of
the Temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught
the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead" (iv. 1,
2). In the Lord's life the Pharisees were His great opponents. The Sadducees
seem for the most part to have let Him alone. But the truth of His resurrection
stirred them up, and in the Acts we find them active against the Apostles (v.
17, xxiii. 6-8). Resurrection of the dead the Pharisees held. The Sadducees,
who denied resurrection, could nevertheless sit in the council with them. But
resurrection from the dead, a fact actually accomplished, brought out their
antagonism to the truth all the stronger. If apostolic preaching was true,
resurrection could no longer be denied. Peter and John then must be arrested.
Their liberty indeed might be curtailed. Power could effect that; and it did.
Yet was the work to be stopped? Many who had heard them believed; and the men -
for of the males only is the number stated - now reached to five thousand. What
the whole assembly numbered, when the women were reckoned in, is left unstated.
Before the Council. The two Apostles, kept in ward for the night,
for it was evening when they were arrested, were to be brought before the
council on the morrow. These two Galilean fishermen were for the first time
placed in the position of defendants before the leading people of their nation.
Annas, the high priest,* and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as
were of the kindred of the high priest, with the rulers, elders, and scribes,
were gathered together in Jerusalem. The sight of that assembly might naturally
have overawed the prisoners. And perhaps it was intended by such an array to
intimidate them. But did it ? Their position, though to them a new one, had
been foreseen by the Lord, who had warned them that they would be brought
before kings and rulers for His sake. He, too, had encouraged them by the
promise of the Holy Ghost to teach them what they should then say. His words
were verified as to their standing before rulers. Would His promise also be
fulfilled ? We shall see. Before Annas, and before Caiaphas, the Lord had
stood, and was formally adjudged by the latter to have been a blasphemer. What
must have been the feelings of these men as they looked on the two disciples,
and were aware of the miracle wrought in the name of Jesus Christ 1 Had they
stamped out the movement? It had taken new life since its Founder's death. And
these two humble men, questioned as to the power and the name in which they had
healed the man, Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, now answered without
hesitation. The Lord's promise to His disciples was indeed fulfilled.
* The
high-priestly dignity was conferred on different persons by the Roman
government. Annas had been deposed, and Caiaphas, his son-in-law, appointed in
his place. That Annas had authority morally, though not actually, the Lord's
examination before him (John xviii.) indicates. He may therefore still have
been called high priest (see Luke iii. 2), as having once filled the pontifical
office. Sure we are that Luke is writing of that which he had searched out. So
if we cannot explain the reference here to Annas as high priest, it is because
there is something with which we are unacquainted. Considering, too, how many
things have heen cleared up in our day previously unexplainable, it is wiser
for us to confess our ignorance,
and to wait for fuller light, than to
charge the historian with ignorance, till we are quite sure that we are better
informed than he was. Of John and Alexander nothing definite seems known.
Lightfoot identifies the former with Rabbi Johanan Ben Zacoai. Grotius says he
was known to rabbinical writers as "John the priest." Alexander has been
identified by some as the brother of Philo Judaeus. The names of the two
defendants are household words, and their service is imperishably preserved in
the inspired writings. The history of John and Alexander, well known at the
time, has sunk into almost oblivion. Great ones of earth are often well-nigh
forgotten, when servants of God of their day are remembered and had in honour.
We give the Apostle's reply in the words of the Revised Version: "Ye
rulers of the people, and elders, If we this day are examined concerning a good
deed done to an impotent man, by what means this man is made whole; be it known
unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth [or, the Nazarean], whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the
dead, even in Him doth this man stand here before you whole. He is the stone
which was set at nought of you the builders, which was made the head of the
corner. And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other
name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved " (iv.
8-12).
Such a bold reply was probably anything but expected. It would
seem to have taken them very much by surprise. Unlearned and ignorant men they
thought these two. Not understanding that they were, as we might say, graduates
in a school to which these doctors were strangers, they marvelled at them, and
took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. And the man which was
healed being present with them, they could say nothing against it. Sadducees as
they were, the miraculous cure they could not gainsay, though done in the name
of One whom, according to their tenets, they could only regard as a dead and
non-existent man. Twice already have we had addresses by Peter. In both, as in
this one, the resurrection of the Lord is a prominent feature. In each, too,
some Old Testament scripture prophetic of Christ is adduced. So by degrees
truth about Him is unfolded ; and we learn in these early chapters of the Acts
of different lights in which He was presented. On the day of Pentecost Peter
called attention to the predictions by David of his death, resurrection, and
ascension, and the consequences deducible - that God has made Him both Lord and
Christ. In Solomon's porch Peter told his hearers that He was the Prophet like
unto Moses, of whom that lawgiver had written. And now before the council he
declared that the Lord was the stone referred to in Psalm cxviii. One marked
difference, however, has to be noticed in these addresses. To the people the
Apostle offers forgiveness and full blessing if they repented. To the rulers he
does not here mention repentance, contenting himself with telling them that in
none other name was there salvation, than in the name of Jesus Christ whom they
had crucified. And though on another occasion (Acts v. 31) he tells the rulers
that God has exalted Jesus to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to
Israel, and forgiveness of sins, thus leaving them without excuse for
continuing in their opposition to the truth, there is no pressing on them, as
there was on the people, to avail themselves of present grace and salvation. It
was indeed for them as for others, if they would; but not in their capacity of
rulers. They must come into it simply as penitents.
Deliberation,
The council had heard the defence. Deliberation next followed, the Apostles
having been first commanded to go outside, till the decision should be
communicated. But we, privileged, as it were, to be present at their
deliberation, know what passed within the council chamber. The arrest had been
evidently a great mistake, for they found that they could do nothing to the
Apostles. The judicial power can never afford rashly to take up a case, and
then to find it must drop it. Such a course necessarily tends to bring itself
into disrepute and discredit before men. Yet what had they done? They had kept
two men in ward for a whole night for a good deed done to an impotent man! That
was the light in which Peter put it, and against which they could urge nothing.
A semblance of authority must, however, be maintained; so they decided to
threaten them. But why threaten people who admittedly had only done a good
deed? Foolish indeed did these doctors and rulers appear.
The
Decision. In solemn form, doubtless, the Apostles were called in to hear
the sentence of the court. They charged them not to speak at all, nor teach in
the name of Jesus (iv. 18). Vain attempt on the part of Annas, and Caiaphas,
and John, and Alexander, and all the kindred of the high priest! Submission to
that order on the part of the Apostles, which perhaps they had expected, they
learned at once was refused. And now Peter and John together speak (the former
only had addressed the council before), and distinctly refuse compliance with
their demand, but base refusal on grounds which none could challenge: "Whether
it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge
ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (19, 20).
Again and still more did the rulers threaten them, but "let them go, finding
nothing how they might punish them, because of the people; for all men
glorified God for that which was done" .
Thus ended the first conflict
with the ecclesiastical power. From it the council did not come off victorious.
The Apostles were not intimidated by the high priests' presence, nor did they
fear their threats. The rulers, however, feared the populace. What had been
gained? The miracle had been the more extensively advertised, and the highest
ecclesiastical authority in the land had set its seal to its reality. The enemy
was this time completely foiled. The Galilean fishermen, ignorant and unlearned
men, as they regarded them, had braved the anger of the council, which
confessed itself powerless to punish them.
Their own Company.
Permitted, as it were, as we have been to be present at the deliberation of the
council, we are now permitted to be present in the same way with the apostolic
company in the place where they were assembled. The two rejoining the rest,
repeated all that the chief priests and the elders had said unto them. Did any
heart in the company quail? Did any question the propriety of the boldness of
the two ? All, we learn, were of one accord, and with one voice they lifted up
their hearts unitedly in prayer to God as the Lord, the Adon or Adonai of the
Old Testament - Luke probably translating into Greek what they uttered in
Aramaic, and so using the term for Lord, Despotes, found in the
Septuagint at times * as the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew Adon or Adonai. To
Him, the Lord and the Creator, they turned, and quoted the opening clauses of
the second Psalm, which they, divinely taught, understood had begun now to
receive its fulfilment. The conflict of which it speaks had commenced with the
Lord's condemnation and crucifixion. The Psalm is distinctly prophetic. To no
king of old could it refer in any measure of fulness. Of the Lord Jesus, and of
God's counsels about Him, and the advice to people with reference to Him (12)
the Psalm treats. For the conflict then begun will only end in the final
victory and supremacy of that Son, Jehovah's Anointed. Those gathered together
in prayer recognised then the character of the times, and asked for that which
they required. What was that? Shelter from persecution? Power to crush their
enemies? No. But that with all boldness they might speak the Word, God
stretching forth His hand, not to shield them, but to heal others, and that
signs and wonders might be done in the name of His holy servant Jesus, What a
picture is presented! The whole company in prayer before God, asking for
boldness to speak, and looking up for Him to work in the name of His holy
Servant! Were they ignorant of what that might involve? Assuredly not. Bold had
been Peter and John before the council. Was it bravado assumed for the
occasion? We see here that it was not. And we must be impressed with the
intense earnestness of them all, who, whilst realising the gravity of their
position, were undismayed by the threats uttered, and by the power that might
be called out against them.
* Once only, Prov. xxix. 25, is Despotes used
in the Septuagint to express Jehovah.
The Answer. They had
prayed. They were heard, and speedily answered. The place was shaken "where
they were assembled, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they
spake the Word of God with boldness" (Acts iv. 3.1). "They were filled with the
Spirit" - a term used for the most part of some special act on the part of God,
making the vessel full for the time being of the Spirit, and which should be
distinguished from the phrase "full of the Spirit." To fresh attempts to mar
and to stop the work are we next introduced.
Go To
Chapter Four