The Gospel Cannot be Locked Down
Acts 5:17-25
In last week’s text, we saw the great signs and wonders which were performed by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles in Jesus’ name. Huge numbers of those who were healed or had demons cast out must have been overjoyed just like the crowds who were healed by Jesus. In this, the Apostles were continuing the ministry that Jesus began to do and teach. (Acts 1:1) But not everyone was glad. Just as the Pharisees were indignant over Jesus’ healing, here the sect of the Sadducees which controlled the Temple grounds were indignant that these works were being done on their turf. They were especially annoyed that they had commanded Peter and John not to preach, teach, or do anything in the name of Jesus. And here they were, The apostles were not going to be intimidated out of preaching and performing signs and wonders, even in the Temple. These were the same Apostles who locked themselves down out of fear of the Jews on Easter Sunday morning. Now they would not let the ministry of the Gospel be locked down by men.
So the authorities laid hands on the Apostles and put them in lock down in the prison while they devised their strategy of what to do with them. The Sadducees were mad enough to have them killed, but there would be no illegal night trial to dispose of them. They thought the matter could wait until morning when the Sanhedrin could be assembled. What could go wrong? All the apostles had been safely locked down in the common prison. As long as they were there, the Gospel was effectively silenced.
It makes me wonder that the Sadducees should have been so smug, considering all the mighty signs and wonders which the apostles were publicly performing. They thought that the Temple was safe from these preachers of the Gospel. But God had other plans. God will not allow the message to be quarantined in a jail cell. The angel of the Lord came in the middle of the night and freed them without unlocking the door. We wonder how Jesus bodily entered through locked doors to where the disciples were locked down for fear of the Jews. Now it seems that the Apostles escaped the room by passing out of the cell. The angel commanded the freed men to return to the Temple and preach the Gospel, the words of life. This they did, and in the morning they continued to teach the people.
The Jewish leaders were totally unaware of the release of the Apostles. they were equally unaware that they were already back at Solomon’s Porch at the Temple. This shows how little they cared about the oversight of the place. Many of the priests ran through the motions of performing the morning and evening sacrifices so they could get to the theater or the gym ( a place where they exercised naked as Gymnasium comes from the Greek word for “naked.”). The Sadducees were more interested in Pagan culture than adherence to Judaism. But they had to do something about the Apostles, so they convened a council and ordered the prisoners to be brought. What a shock must have ensued when they opened the locked door which was the only way in and out of the cell. The Apostles were gone. the servants rushed back to tell the High Priest and the council. When it was made known that they had escaped even though the guards were posted and the doors locked, they were greatly perplexed about the implications. Luke uses the Greek optative case translated “what this might be.” It is an intensive case which shows that they profoundly were disturbed over this. Yet they could not admit that this was the work of Yahweh. the natural thing to conclude is that the guards colluded with the prisoners to release them. However, the punishment of neglecting one’s guard-ship subjected the guards to the punishment that would have been meted out to the Apostles would fall on them instead, They could even be executed. The soldiers who guarded the tomb of Jesus where His dead body was assumed to be safely locked down had to be saved by money from the priests before Pilate and told to say that the disciples stole the body at night (Matthew 28:11-15). The body of Jesus could not be locked down in the grave! And the Jewish leaders were just as blind to reality here. Unbelief brings derangement syndrome. Paul refers to this idea of being handed over to a deranged mind three times in the first chapter of Romans. One can also see that in Acts 12:19 that Herod had the guards executed who had watched over Peter had escaped. The Philippian jailor who saw that open prison doors after the earthquake knew the implications and took a sword to kill himself, He was saved by Paul telling him that no one had escaped (Acts 16-27-28).
One with a sane mind could only conclude that this release was by the hand of God. Perhaps this influenced Gamaliel to urge caution against executing these men. They might even find themselves fighting against God! (Acts 5:38-39) Who could win a battle against the Sovereign God! This is suicide! But the leaders were deranged against the truth. So when they were shocked even further when the report came in that the Apostles had resumed teaching at the Temple, instead of repenting, ordered that they be summoned to the council. This time they did not lay hands of them in violence, because it says that they feared the people. What irony! The Apostles who had locked themselves down in their house for fear of the Jews were boldly proclaiming Jesus in the Temple, and now it was the leaders of the Jewish nation who feared. They should have feared someone far greater than the people. They should have feared the Lord Jesus! When we stop putting the Gospel light under a bushel basket and timidly proclaim Him in the safety of our church sanctuaries, even here being careful not to “offend anyone,” and start boldly and publicly proclaiming the Good New, then it will no longer be us who are afraid. The message of the cross and the implications of the resurrection and coming judgment should make those tremble. The Holy Spirit wants hearts pricked by sound biblical preaching. The people need to react as they did on Pentecost. they understood the implications of what they had done to Jesus. They cried out in desperation: “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Thankfully God offered them pardon if they would only repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sin. (Acts 2:37-38)
We should realize that God does not always open the prison doors for us. Whereas Peter was freed by the Lord in Acts 12, the doors were not unlocked for the Apostle James, who was beheaded (Acts 12:1-3). The Lord chose a better way to free James from prison. James is with Jesus forever! We might also note that during the Reformation, Martin Luther was essentially given a death sentence at the Diet of Worms. As soon as he returned to Wittenberg his safe conduct was expired and anyone could kill him with impunity and be blessed by both church and state for the act. The church thought this could censor the Gospel. Even if Martin had died, the restored Gospel would have continued to have spread. But God had other plans for Luther who would die a natural death years later. He through the Elector, Frederick, had arranged that he be kidnapped and held in the seclusion of Wartburg Castle. The gospel had to be translated into the tongue of the people. It is always pentecostal to make the Gospel known clearly. And this meant translating the Gospel into the vernacular. There were other things than Martin had to do. So God permitted him to live.
But, on the other hand, there were many who suffered martyrdom at the hands of religious leaders who thought they were doing God a favor by burning them at the stake, drowning them, or other atrocities. These religious leaders were as blind to the implications of the Gospel as the Sanhedrin had been. So, there is no guarantee of individual safety to boldly proclaim Jesus. Numerous martyrs testify to this. Even Jesus tells us so. What I am saying, though, is that the harder the world tried to censor the Gospel and keep it locked down in a crypt, the faster the word of the Gospel spreads.
There have perhaps been more Christian martyrs in the last one hundred years than for the rest of the history of the church. Preaching the Gospel is not safe. But we should be comforted by the words of Paul: Romans 14:8
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Romans 14:8 NKJV
For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
The world today is just as unbelieving and hostile to the Lordship of Jesus as it has always been. In many countries, they try to violently suppress it. In places like America where there is still a little fear of the Christians left, they try to suppress the Gospel without violence. They employ censorship in their attempt to silence the Gospel. If a Christian or church is true to the Gospel message, they can expect to be shadow-banned or even de-platformed on social media. The Bible and its message is banned from public places such as the schools. And whatever one makes of the Coronavirus “epidemic,” it has been used to shut down churches as part of the general lockdown. the fact that liquor stores remained open as “essential” is ironic and shows the political nature of the lockdowns. Of course, it is not only the churches who are suffering from these tactics. they are used to suppress political and social ideas as well. But I am not here to advocate for these directly. I am called to proclaim the Gospel, and what I say pertains to the proclamation of the Gospel. I am not saying there is not a real virus called COVID-19, and that it can be deadly. I know of several people who caught Covid at the dedication of a new church santctuary and that some of these died. But the crisis has seemed a convenient to lock down the Gospel. There are many who have stopped going to church as a result. There is reason for concern, but not for fear.
Regardless of these things, the Gospel will continue to be proclaimed because the devices of men cannot stop the Sovereign God. Don’t let it stop you either.
