SCRIPTURE: Acts 4:1-12
OBSERVATION:
How do we account for the boldness of Peter and the others, considering that not long before they were cowering in fear? We certainly would not expect them to risk their lives if the whole resurrection thing was a hoax, a cover-up. The answer lies in the filling of the Spirit (v.8). It is a very bold claim to suggest that Jesus is the only name by which all people all over the world, of all faiths and cultures, can be saved. Again, this is an amazing claim for someone who was recently crucified as an enemy of the state. Only the filling of the Spirit and the truth of the resurrection can adequately explain this remarkable confidence.
APPLICATION:
I need to get my head and heart around this claim, that all people all over the world need Jesus to be saved. What makes it hard is the vast numbers throughout history that never even knew He existed. Is there enough information in general revelation to lead them to Jesus (think of the wise men finding Jesus through the star). I do believe that Jesus is the only way to be saved, but I do wonder whether people who have never heard of Him can still be saved through Him, by responding appropriately to what revelation they did have (see Romans 2:14-16). Is Jesus at work in them, even though they do not know it is Him?
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, I do struggle with the many people who do not know You, who have died before they could hear of You. I do trust that somehow You will do what is right, that You love them too and that they will not perish unfairly. Help me to do what I can to point others towards You. Amen.
Once again the religious leaders of the day do not have the eyes that see and the ears that hear the Word of the Lord. The preaching of the Word was a popularity contest for them? Yet the people who heard believed. Were the religious leaders just blinded to the truth? The Word must be proclaimed and it is not dependent upon person, position, prestege, etc. It is dependent upon the Spirit.
Peter was filled by the Spirit once again and proclaimed the Good News in a nutshell. How is this same Spirit at work today in the world, in me? How bold is my claim in proclaiming that same gospel to the people I meet? How am I convicted as a Christian? By my words? By my actions? Lord help me to be a living witness in my living for Jesus read by all those around me – a living letter. An epistle.
Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His Name?