Persecution
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2022 · 21 August 2022
Early on in the life of the church in the first decade, there are at least five outbreaks of persecution. It all starts in the Jerusalem church, and you can open your Bible to Acts 4 because that’s where it begins. Here in Acts 4 is the first persecution of the church. The church is just weeks old, full of new believers. We know what happened in those early years in Acts, and we’re going to live it together.
We know what begins in Acts 4 and escalates in Acts 8, through the death of James and Stephen. It’s Jewish persecution in the first part of Acts, but in the latter part, it’s Roman persecution. The first great persecutor was Nero, and that starts in A.D. 67. Christians were sewn in the skins of animals, and then fed to hungry dogs. They were covered in wax and then lit as torches for parties.
Persecution went on after that, and it’s always around because Satan, who is the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of the spiritual powers that reign in the darkness of this fallen culture. He is always after those who confess Christ. But in Acts 4, we come to the first persecution which started the long pattern of satanically-inspired hatred of Christ, and hatred of the church.
There are seasons when it is less and seasons when it is more; seasons when it is deadly and other seasons when it is only social. There are times when persecution is just psychological and times when it’s absolutely lethal. But whatever form it takes, there is always going to be persecution because Satan hates Christ and hates Christians. The kingdom of darkness hates the kingdom of light.
Our Lord said, “The time will come when they imprison you and kill you.” Don’t worry about it. When that time comes, you’ll know how to react and exactly what to say because the Holy Spirit will show you what to say. Not only that, the Holy Spirit will strengthen you in that hour because you have a faith that cannot fail. True believers will survive the physical persecution.
But Christians can crumble under social alienation, which very often produces a compromise that steals their testimony and weakens the church as it tries to accommodate the hostility of the world. This is everywhere going on in our culture. It just makes us compromise. We fail to preach the truth because we don’t want to be rejected. We don’t want the rebellion and the resistance.
But in the early church, it was real physical persecution on top of alienation. There never was a church before the Day of Pentecost. It was born when 3,000 people heard the gospel preached by Peter and believed and continued in the apostle’s doctrine of prayer, the breaking of bread, and fellowship. And then daily more and more believers were being added to the church by Christ.
They were all real believers, and where did they meet? They didn’t have a building. They met in the temple. Peter and John just went to the temple, the massive courtyard in the temple, and we find them there, as we come into Acts 3, with Peter and John and the ex-beggar in the porch of Solomon, which was one of the great colonnades that had a covering over it in the temple area.
They all knew the lame beggar, who all of the sudden leaps up in verse 8, stands upright, begins to walk, and enters the temple, walking, leaping, praising God. They were filled with wonder and amazement. And while he was still clinging to Peter and John, as a living illustration of the power of the living Christ, all the people gathered to them at the porch of Solomon. And Peter preached the second sermon.
He preaches on Jesus Christ, who He is, what He did, that He died, and that He rose again, and Peter indicts the Jews for killing the Messiah. Peter did it on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. He does it again in Acts 3, and he says, “Repent, and believe.” Then he explains what will happen if they do. Their sins will be forgiven. The kingdom will come and the Messiah one day will return in glory.
Judgment will be avoided, and all covenant blessings will be realized. So Peter preaches an evangelistic sermon in Acts 3, and the results are remarkable. Acts 4:4, “Many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000.” And this is just counting men. That is distinct from females. We don’t know how many other women believed. This is explosive.
Now the church is a massive threat to the Jewish system. You can’t have 15,000 people congregating inside the temple courtyard in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom they had just crucified. This is worse than when Jesus came into the temple and threw everybody out. Acts 4:1, “Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them.”
They are condemning the Jewish leaders who executed Jesus; and they’re condemning them in their own temple. This is what launches 2,000 years of hatred, hostility, and persecution. They’re talking about Christ and His death and that He was the Messiah who fulfilled the Old Testament, and about His resurrection. So the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees put them in jail.
There were 24 groups of priests. They were priests from all over Israel, and each priest would serve 2 weeks a year in the temple offering sacrifices in the morning and the evening. And so these were the priests who were officiating at the time. They were the first core of opponents to this gathering in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And then you have the captain of the temple guard.
If there’s one thing Rome demanded as the occupying power, it was order. And so there were temple police, and the Sadducees. They were the minority religious party, who ran the entire temple operation. The priests worked under their leadership. Now, they were a religious sect who believed that only the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses was inspired by God, and the rest was just commentary.
Since there was nothing in the Pentateuch about resurrection, they didn’t believe in resurrection. The Sadducees desperately wanted to keep control of everything because it was to their benefit. Verse 2, “being greatly disturbed that Peter taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” It’s the kind of mental anguish that comes from being agitated by what’s going on.
Because they were teaching the people, they were usurping the authority of those who were teachers. You’re not invited. This isn’t your place. Especially because in verse 13, “They observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained.” They weren’t versed in Jewish theology and they did not know the theology of the Sadducees.
They were just ignorant Galileans, who have stepped into the world of the educated, the wise and usurped the role of teacher right in the temple and teaching doctrine that they had condemned about a man they had killed. They were proclaiming Jesus. This is an open public repudiation of the authority of the Sanhedrin because they had condemned Jesus to death as an imposter.
So what they taught was more disturbing. And they were not only proclaiming Jesus, but that He had risen from the dead. Peter said, “You put to death the Prince of Life. God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses.” And thousands of people are congregating to listen to this. Thousands are believing, and the leaders are terrified that they’re about to lose their power.
Verse 3, “And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.” That means they arrested them and put Peter and John in jail until the next day. For three hours, Peter and John had been in the temple. Verse 4, “However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.” If you count the women, maybe 10,000 or more.
Thousands of people were genuinely converted. This is more than a false religion can tolerate, and so the persecution begins. This is good because it purifies. The threat of death, the cross and martyrdom keeps false believers away. Now, the rest of the chapter we see how they handled that persecution in a practical way. If we live godly in this world, we will suffer persecution.
Verse 5-7, “And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, 6 as well as Annas the high priest Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. 7 And when these Jews had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?” No fighting back. They don’t call for arms.
How would two Galilean guys, Peter and John, ever hope to be speaking to the most important body in Israel? And they were given an opportunity. They asked, “By what power or in what name have you done this?” “By what power? By whose authority?” All authority rested in them in their minds. And by what authority have you usurped this temple, this sacred place with your heresies?
We see God opening up a door. God is going to glorify Himself in this situation. There’s a second response to persecution, your strength is in the Holy Spirit. Verse 8, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel.” How did Peter become filled with the Holy Spirit? It’s yielding up to the control of the Holy Spirit. “Empower me. Give me words to say.”
Verse 9-11, “If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.”
Verse 12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Peter boldly preached the gospel in the face of persecution. The indictment comes. “If we are on trial today for a good deed, done to a sick man,” this is an unjust court, right? If that’s the reason we’re here, this is an unjust arrest. This is boldness.
Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you all crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name, this man stands here before you in good health.” We did it by the name, the authority and the power of Jesus Christ. What does Christ mean? Jesus the Nazarene is your own Messiah.
It is by His power, which they know very well. Why? Because He spent His whole life doing miracles. And He raised Lazarus from the dead, and they all knew about that because it was that resurrection of Lazarus after he had been dead four days that precipitated their executing Him. So Peter accuses the Sanhedrin of the killing of their own Messiah, and indicts them for being far from God.
That is a constant message. We heard it in Acts 2, in Acts 3, and again in Acts 4. And we’re going to hear it again in Acts 5:30, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.” In the face of persecution, there’s no reduction of the message. Why? Because sinners have to be indicted for their crimes. They must repent if they are to be saved.
Peter quotes Psalm 118:22, “You have rejected the stone, which has become the chief cornerstone of the kingdom.” It is always hard to say that in a religious environment. Could you walk into a house of false religion and say, “You, have rejected the only Savior. There is salvation only in Jesus Christ?” Could you announce that to a synagogue congregation or in a mosque?
You asked us by what authority and in what name we did this? It is in the name of the one you killed, but God raised, who is now alive, and it is by Him and His power that this man was healed. There is salvation in no one else. That’s the exclusivity of the gospel. It’s so disturbing to hear professing Christian people who want to somehow soften that exclusivity and not even tell people of their sin.
Peter knew his life was on the line. So did John, but they said, “There is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” We can be saved, but in only one name. Apart from Christ and the gospel, no salvation. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” He said. “No man comes to the Father but by Me.”
So how do we respond in persecution? First, with submission knowing that God has a plan and that God is going to open a door which maybe take me to a tribunal that I would otherwise have no access to. Secondly, depend with all your strength and all your weakness on the power of the Holy Spirit and the promise of the Holy Spirit to fill you, and give you the things to say.
Peter said more in 1 Peter 2:21, that we should expect it. “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” If you live the kind of life that God intends you to live in Christ, you will be persecuted by the world system. If you are not suffering, they just haven’t discovered who you really are.
Acts 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” The worst that can happen to us is that they kill us, and that would be our ultimate triumph, right? If you live a godly life in the world, you will be persecuted. Submit to the Spirit and boldly preach the gospel and leave the results up to God. Let us pray.