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An Undeniable Miracle

The title I’ve chosen for this session is "An Undeniable Miracle" . . . which, deliberately, has a double meaning.

The focus of this lesson is a miracle so powerful that no one can deny it—even if they want to. Not the ordinary Jews who witnessed it. Not the opponents of Jesus in the Jewish Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin. And not the apostles, who can’t stop speaking of the power of Jesus, even though the Sanhedrin instructs them to "shut up."

But we should start at the beginning. Last week, in our study of Acts 2, we saw the followers of Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit in dramatic fashion—with tongues of fire and the sound of wind, followed by a temporary power to speak in unfamiliar languages. (This was a one-time-only historical event; when the Holy Spirit came upon other believers later, it did not happen so dramatically.) This event was witnessed by a large number of devout Jews—many just visiting Jerusalem to attend a major Jewish religious festival. When Peter spoke to these Jews and tied together this event, the life of Jesus, and Jewish prophesy of the Messiah—three thousand devout Jews became believers . . . right then and there.

Many of these 3000 converts returned to their homes in faraway places . . . but many stayed in Jerusalem—as did the apostles. Needless to say, the story of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost spread throughout Jerusalem like gossip in a small town. Those who did not actually witness the event knew people who did. Furthermore, the change in the apostles was similarly dramatic. Before Pentecost the apostles stayed to themselves. After Pentecost, empowered by the Holy Spirit, they taught boldly in the temple. They did miracles. All this brought more Jews to believe in Jesus as the Messiah—and even those who still don't believe have a favorable opinion of the apostles. Consistent with the Jewish tradition of prophets and "holy men"—most recently John the Baptist, who was almost universally thought of as "godly" (Matt 21:25-26), even if "socially unacceptable"—the people realize the apostles have a special link to God.

One day Peter and John passed a beggar sitting at the Gate Beautiful, which divides the outer courts of the temple from the part of the temple restricted to Jews. (The photos on the web site show a model of the Gate Beautiful . . . and the actual sign prohibiting non-Jews from entering the Gate Beautiful.)

The beggar is a cripple over 40 years old; presumably he has been begging here most of his life. Peter and John look straight at and the cripple—who returns their stare—and Peter says those "magic words": "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, walk" (Acts 3:6). They take the beggar by the hand . . . and he doesn’t merely walk: he jumps around and praises God—all the while holding on to Peter. This is a very powerful miracle, because the Jews believe it’s impossible to heal someone over 40 years old who has been a cripple all his life; they think this infirmity is due to sin—sin by the man or by his forefathers—and by now his condition is pretty much fixed in concrete. Peter—quite rightly—sees this as one of those special "teaching moments."

Moving away to Solomon’s Colonnade in the open court of the temple, he stands up to address the crowd. His speech is similar to the one he gave at Pentecost . . . in the sense that his audience is largely Jewish, so his main theme is that Jesus is the Messiah—the Christ—predicted by almost 2000 years of Jewish prophesy. But his slant is different. "Look," he says, "at what the name of Jesus did: it performed a healing miracle that you all think is impossible! That miracle took the power of God . . . which means Jesus is the Messiah: the anointed, holy one of God. If you didn’t believe that before, you must surely believe it now: with this jumping, prancing, praising, over-40 former cripple at my side . . . and yourselves as witnesses. You Jews demanded that the Romans crucify this Jesus—even though the Romans found him innocent! You crucified the Messiah . . . but God raised him from the dead."

Then, after Peter fills the Jews with guilt, he brings them hope. "I know most of you didn’t realize what you were doing. There is still time to be saved. Repent of your sins, and turn to God for forgiveness."

Then Peter quotes messianic prophesy from Deuteronomy 18: which foretells that the Messiah will be a prophet like Moses. Why does Peter choose this prophesy for this place and this time? Perhaps because the Jews all look upon Jesus as a prophet—even those who claim He is not the Messiah consider Him a prophet. Hence Peter is taking what they already believe, and adding the God-like miracle they have just witnessed as a powerful argument to bring them to faith. It illustrates one important principle of successful evangelism, which we often see used in Acts: seek common ground with people, and build from there. And, indeed, Peter’s argument is very persuasive, causing 2000 more Jews to become Christians (Acts 4:6).

Up to now, we have talked about this undeniable miracle and its effect on the people. The remainder of the lesson—Acts 4:1-22—addresses its effect on the Jewish religious leaders. Let’s reiterate the "undeniable" facts: this man has been begging at the temple for forty years, and no one can deny that an "impossible" miracle has been performed . . . a miracle that the Jews believe requires the power of God. The Sanhedrin—the Supreme Court consisting of 71 Jewish religious leaders—has the responsibility to guard against false doctrine within Judaism and to review and verify claims of miraculous healings like this; councils of the Roman Catholic Church claim similar authority today.

But the issue is not that simple. Peter has proclaimed that Jesus is Messiah and Son of God because His name has brought about a God-like miracle . . . and he proclaims Jesus was resurrected from the dead. The Sadducee party, which controls the temple and the Jewish high priesthood, doesn’t believe either of these. The undeniable truth conflicts with their pre-conceived opinions . . . or, as we would say in the 21^st century, the undeniable truth is politically incorrect. Hence the Jewish religious leaders must find a way to deny the undeniable fact . . . or else deny their own religious tradition, from which they derive their power. This is a no-brainer: the Sadducees have consistently put pursuit of power above following the Jewish religion faithfully. Why should now be any different? But how do they deny the undeniable?

Perhaps these Jewish religious leaders hope to intimidate the apostles. Rather than invite them to a court of the Sanhedrin to investigate the miracle, they have Peter and John arrested . . . presumably on suspicion of preaching false doctrine. But the real reason is to teach the apostles about the power of the Sanhedrin . . . to show them that defiance isn’t smart. So, Peter and John cool their heels in jail overnight, to ponder their upcoming trial.

The next morning they are brought before a court of the Sanhedrin . . . 23 Jewish religious leaders meeting in one of the three sites pictured on the web site—all of which are quite near the place where Peter spoke the day before. The high priest, Caiaphas, is there—along with his father-in-law and predecessor, Annas, and his brothers. The Jewish religious leaders are taking this matter quite seriously—as well they should—because the high priest normally wouldn’t participate in such a minor matter . . . and he has brought his family along to help!

The Sanhedrin hopes Peter and John will be docile and submissive after a night in jail . . . maybe they will even renounce Jesus and beg the court for mercy. But they overlook two things. One is that Peter and John are empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak boldly. The other is that Peter—who denied Jesus before—is not going to do it again . . . and there’s especially no way he can change his story now, a mere 100 yards from where he pronounced Jesus as Messiah and Son of God yesterday—with many of the same people probably in the audience.

The trial begins with prosecution lawyers trying to get the facts on the record. It’s undeniable that a miracle has been performed which is possible only through the power of God, and the apostles have claimed to the crowd that this was done by the name of Jesus of Nazareth. The apostles are asked to confirm this to the court: "By what power or what name did you do this?"

To the chagrin of the Sanhedrin, Peter is just as bold after a night in jail as he was the day before. He taunts the court: "Are you really putting us on trial for healing a cripple?" Then he confirms what they hoped he would deny: "The power which performed this impossible miracle was the name of Jesus of Nazareth—whom you in the Sanhedrin caused to be crucified, but whom God raised from the dead." And Peter twists this rhetorical dagger by quoting messianic prophesy from Psalm 118, that the Messiah would be rejected by the leaders of the Jewish people.

Now the Sanhedrin have a problem. The people saw the man healed in the name of Jesus . . . and they know this man . . . they know it wasn’t faked. The apostles won’t be intimidated, and Sanhedrin can’t deny the undeniable. But it is impossible for them to affirm it . . . and put the "Sanhedrin Seal of Approval" on this miracle.

The Sanhedrin is trapped . . . trapped by ignorant men whose only schooling in the scriptures is from ordinary synagogues in faraway, insignificant Galilee. It’s 4^th and long, and the Sanhedrin is backed up against their own goal line. What do they do? They punt. They make one last effort to intimidate the apostles; they threaten them with dire consequences if they continue to preach in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John reply with that famous line: "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God" (Acts 4:19).

And that brings up the issue I asked you to think about over the week. Christians are instructed to obey lawful authority, even if that authority is corrupt and/or oppressive . . . yet here Peter and John invoke a "higher authority." When is it appropriate to invoke "higher authority"?

We need to be careful about answering . . . I’ve heard "higher authority" invoked in ways I question. But it is clear from this episode that Christians must disobey governmental orders not to preach Jesus . . . and presumably that also means we should defy governmental orders that limit our practice of Christianity, such as preaching and prayer, baptism, communion, celebration of Easter, etc.

How about going to jail to prevent abortions legalized by godless secular courts? I can’t answer that. But one thing seems very clear to me, in retrospect: it was wrong for Christian churches to stand by as bible-reading, prayer, and reference to the 10 commandments were taken out of our schools and public places over the last 40 years. Some churches—I remember—even applauded this, claiming these things should be taught at home and in church. Yet—as I read Acts—this seems to be something Christians should have gone to the mat about . . . and as a result, it seems, we are finding the moral foundation which once undergirded American society is no longer there. That sniper in Maryland obviously has no sense of right and wrong . . . and there are countless other examples demonstrating that—whatever is our modern society is accomplishing, we are not creating or sustaining a high moral tone. But that’s another a topic.

Next week . . . lesson 4 covers Acts 4:23-5:16. Here we will see the response of Peter and the apostles: rather than being intimidated by the Sanhedrin, their resolve is strengthened—just as Jesus had told them to stand up to persecution (Luke 21:12-19). And they receive a sign from heaven that must help make them strong. We’ll also talk about the story of Ananias and Sapphira . . . and for that discussion, I’ll go back and pick up Acts 2:44, which says "the believers . . . had everything in common." When I was a teenager, some Christian leaders (who should have known better) claimed this meant Christians should support communism. Nothing could be further from the truth . . . and we’ll address that next week.