DIVINE RELEASE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”

On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to. Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.”

Acts 5:17-25

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Business was booming for Jesus’ twelve apostles as they used the mighty power of the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel, heal, and drive out demons. Each day the number of new Christians grew in Jerusalem.

Well, this was good news for the apostles and the cause of Christ but not so for the Jewish religious leaders who were getting the feeling that this was a serious case of déjà vu or as we saw in yesterday’s message, Jesus Redux.

As move on in our study of Acts 5, we find the Jewish religious authorities, the high priest and associates who were members of the Sadducees, were “filled with jealousy”. They couldn’t take the fact that Christianity was trending up while Judaism was in decline. Many of the Jewish people in Jerusalem were embracing Jesus and His offer of salvation and this left the Jewish religious authorities deeply distressed.

So what did they try to do?                      

They sought to stifle the apostles’ ministry efforts by getting them off the streets and incarcerating them in a public jail. But as we see so often, the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be stifled or stopped by mere man.

And so what do we see happen?

Divine release, that’s what.

For we read that “during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.” There was no earthquake like at the tomb when the angel descended from heaven and rolled the stone away. No, this was a simple holy door opening with accompanying instructions from the angel:

“Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

And so the disciples did as the angel commanded and “entered the temple courts” at first light. Once there, it was business as usual as they began to once again teach the people.

Well, imagine the shock of the Sanhedrin, the “full assembly of the elders of Israel” as they convened to hold a trial only to find there was one important element missing, the accused. We know this because when the officers were sent to the jail to bring the apostles before the court, they didn’t find them and returned to the Sanhedrin with their report. This left the captain of the temple guards and chief priests completely baffled until someone came into the court proceeding to report that the once imprisoned apostles were out in the “temple courts teaching the people.”

Through this divine release, the Lord made sure that the Sanhedrin knew loud and clear that no efforts to stop the work that Jesus started would prosper. It was true in New Testament days and it’s still true today as many nations work hard to try and muzzle the Gospel-spreading efforts of Christian missionaries.

So the next time you find yourself discouraged by roadblocks put in place to hinder your work for Jesus, keep in mind that He is always making the way for the good news of salvation to be shared because He is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), now and forever more.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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