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THE APOSTLES’ CONFIDENCE IN GOD

LESSON VI., AUGUST 7, ACTS 4:19-31

Golden Text—”They spake the word of God with boldness.”—Acts 4:31

VERSES 19,20. Here Peter and John called upon the rulers and elders and scribes in council to judge for themselves whether it would be right in the sight of God to obey earthly rulers rather than God, and boldly declared their own convictions and purpose to continue to declare the things which they had seen and heard, notwithstanding their command to the contrary; for, said they, we cannot do otherwise: we are so full of the spirit of this glorious truth that we must give utterance to it. The basis of their confidence was not superstition, but a knowledge of the truth—of the sacrificial death of the Lord and the clearly demonstrated fact of his resurrection, which was to them a pledge of the promised resurrection of all the redeemed race of men. “Ye shall know the truth,” said our Lord, “and the truth shall make you free”—free from ignorance and superstition, and bold to declare the whole counsel of God.

These opposers of the truth, be it noted, were not professed infidels, nor worldly people: they were the greatest religious teachers of their day; and one was the great high priest. According to God’s own arrangement for the Jewish nation during the Jewish age, these were the appointed guides of the people; but now a new dispensation was dawning, and these professed teachers, who had been unfaithful to their trust, and who had grown proud and self-righteous and out of all harmony with the spirit of

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God, were entirely unprepared for it, so that when the glorious gospel of the new dispensation reached their ears they could not receive it. Their learning and their leisure to devote to the study of the divine Word were of no avail to them in finding the truth, for their hearts were not in the proper attitude of humility before God. Consequently the lowly and untitled—the humble fishermen, yea, and the publicans and reformed harlots—went into the kingdom before them.

And so it has been ever since those days: the most determined opposition to the truth has always come from the recognized religious leaders in whom pride and ambition were fostered and cultivated. And these were nearly always followed by the multitude, while the few who dared to be true to God and his Word have always endured persecution from them in some form. This is none the less true of our day than of the past. It is the clergy to-day that offers the most strenuous opposition to the truth; and it is only here and there that a few faithful souls are found brave enough to believe and teach the truth as the Lord is now unfolding it to us in the dawning light of the Millennial day.

It is indeed the right and proper course to believe God rather than men, to declare his truth with humble boldness, and to be ready always to give an answer to every man for the hope that is in us, with meekness and reverence. This we can do if we keep filled with the spirit—filled with the truth, and with love of the truth, and with the joy and peace and comfort that the truth alone can give, and with the zeal for God and for the blessing of our fellow men which the truth alone inspires.

VERSES 21,22. So strong was the evidence of the truth that the masses of the people disregarded the opposition of the clergy; and the latter, unable to deny the testimony, were obliged to let the apostles go.

VERSE 23 shows the beautiful bond of sympathy that existed among the various members of the early Church. They shared each others joys and sorrows and comforted and encouraged one another to be firm and true to God in the midst of the severest trials.

VERSES 24-30 record their prayer of thankful acknowledgment of the favor of God in the deliverance of these two faithful witnesses, thus showing that they did not attribute their success in convincing the people to their own eloquence or power, but to the favor and blessing of God. As the beloved Apostle Paul wrote (1 Cor. 3:5,6), “Who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed. I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” All praise is due to God; but we may truly rejoice in being honored as servants of his truth.

The reference in verses 25,26 to David’s prophecy (Psa. 2) had a proper application, not only upon that occasion when Peter and John were brought before the rulers, but also upon many subsequent occasions all through this gospel age. The prophecy, however, has special application to the time indicated in verse 6, when Jehovah is about to set his king upon his holy hill of Zion—when he is about to establish his kingdom and set up his Anointed as king over all the earth—when, as other scriptures show, there will be “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.” We are even now upon the eve of this great time of trouble, which will ere long culminate in the complete and final overthrow of all the kingdoms of the world and the full and permanent establishment of Christ’s kingdom.

While the kings and rulers, civil and religious, set themselves in determined opposition and take counsel together against the principles of truth and righteousness that are now being brought to the front and urged upon the attention of all mankind in the heated disputes between capital and labor, between rulers and subjects and between the clergy and the laity of all Christendom, they little realize that they are arraying themselves against the mighty power of the Lord of hosts, who will surely lay justice to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and effectually sweep away every refuge of lies.—Isa. 28:17.

VERSES 29,30 are a petition for special grace and courage, in view of the threatenings of persecution, that they might not grow faint-hearted, but, being filled with the spirit, might speak the truth with great boldness, regardless of the consequences to themselves; and for such miraculous endorsement of their teachings as he would be pleased in his wisdom to grant.

What a sweet, Christlike spirit was manifested in this prayer. Mark the love and harmony and sympathy among the brethren; the love and zeal for the truth which was evidently paramount to every other consideration, their gratitude and humble recognition of the divine favor, and the realization of their own weakness and desire for more and more of the power from on high and for special aid to enable them to endure hardness as good soldiers of the cross. Such is the proper attitude of the Church at all times; and such a spirit and such a prayer are sure to bring to the Church now as well as then the same answer of peace and joy. It is written that they were all filled with the holy spirit, and they went forth from that place of prayer and spoke the Word of God with

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boldness. The place also where they were was shaken while the blessing of the spirit came upon them. This, like the gifts that were then given, was evidently to supply what was then needed—an aid to their faith—in an hour of trial just at the beginning of their great work.

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— July 15, 1892 —