Theme: BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATION
Text: “And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.” – Acts 5:38-40.
Comment: The promises of protection and of ultimate victory over the forces of the enemy which God gave to His people fulfilled on the early apostles. But the more they were persecuted, the more the work progressed by God’s grace. In one instance, the angel of the Lord released two of the apostles from prison and ordered them to go and preach in the temple. When the Council and Senate met to try them, they were shocked to hear the report of the military officers who said: “The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors but when we had opened, we found no man within.” (Acts 5:12-23). As the religious leaders looked into the matter, word came that “Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.” – verse 25.
Because they wanted to stop them St. Peter boldly told the Jewish leaders: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29) This enraged the judges but God saved the apostles through the intervention of Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, who after recounting the instances of failed religious movements admonished them with the words in the text for today.
The fact is that nobody can do anything against a worshipper of God unless God allows it and no matter the persecution, the work of God will continue. – Isaiah 27:4,5.