With or Without

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

WITH AND WITHOUT

Acts 4:13-17

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."

NIV

Even acknowledging that Peter and John had been with Jesus and that they did this miraculous healing of the cripple man, which they could not deny was crippled and now is standing before them, they refused to believe in the name of Jesus. What does it take to make men believe? Of course, those were not just ordinary men, they were the spiritual, or rather we should say, religious leaders of the people. Being religious does not always mean being spiritual or having a personal relationship with God. Those leaders, the chief priests, even the high priest, the teachers of the law, the elders and Pharisees and Sadducees, as it was the whole of the Sanhedrin that conferred together as to what could they do to keep this movement of believers in Jesus Christ of Nazareth from spreading. They couldn’t do any miracles that like. They held their education above others, and that is why they were amazed those two uneducated men could have such courage and speak so well about Jesus and how the prophets foretold of His coming, that He was indeed the Christ. How dare these unschooled men tell us the truth, must have been in their minds. It all came down to Peter and John being filled with the Spirit. It is not that education is worthless, for there is value in learning. Peter and John spend three years being schooled and learning from the greatest teacher of all time. Here, again we cannot frond upon those who spent many years in schools of higher education, for that is a way to gain knowledge. However, unless that knowledge is coupled with the power of the Holy Spirit, it is simple knowledge and has no value for life. The Sanhedrin was filled with men with much knowledge from years of study, learning all the scriptures, but they fail because they lack the power of the Spirit, which Peter and John were filled with. All they could do is try to wheel their supposed religious-based power in an attempt to silence the voices of Peter and John. This was their decision, but we will see how that turns out. Men without the power of God always try to stop the men with the power of God. It will not work.