This morning we’ll be looking at 5:17-21. As we move through the text I will identify and define the key themes. Let’s read our text, pray, and examine it together.

Read Acts 5:17-22

Pray

Examine

Verse

17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy

Commentary

Luke begins this passage with the word, “But”. In the section prior to this, 5:13-16, Luke has been describing the united holiness and purity of the church. And then he wrote “But”. “But” notifies us of a problem or an attack. Luke did the same thing back in 5:1. Prior to 5:1 the church was on mission and then Luke wrote, “But”. He then went on to explain what happened with Ananias and Sapphira. In our text it wasn’t Ananias and Sapphira that caused the “But” because they were out of the picture. Luke wrote that it was the High Priest and the Sadducees. According the book of Acts this is the second Sadducean attack on the apostles who were the leaders of the church. The first happened in 4:1-3 where the Sadducees came and arrested Peter and John for were preaching the gospel in Solomon’s Portico. After a night in jail the two were released.

The Sadducees were the highest ranking religious leaders in Israel. They were led by Caiaphas and Annas the High Priest’s. Verse 17 says that they, “Rose up” against the apostles.

Why did they do this? I’ve said this before but the Sadducees pretty much rejected all things supernatural.

They rejected the existence of angles and the human spirit or soul and resurrection and miracles. They rejected Jesus and condemned Him to death on a cross. 5:12-16 says that the apostles had been performing many miraculous signs and wonders and that people gathered from everywhere to see and to be healed. Even from the surrounding towns. Multitudes of people basically descended upon Jerusalem, bringing their sick and demon possessed, and the apostles healed all of them in the name of Jesus. The Sadducees took great offense to this. The apostles were performing miracles, they didn’t believe in miracles. The apostles preached about resurrection, they didn’t believe in resurrection. The apostles healed in the name of Jesus, they despised Jesus. Back in 4:18 the Sadducees commanded the apostles to never mention or teach in the name of Jesus again. But the apostles stood their ground.

The church then came together and prayed for boldness to keep proclaiming Jesus and afterwards they hit the streets and neighborhoods like a tornado of truth and grace and multitudes of people were swept up by the love and mercy of God and added to Christ’s church. Meanwhile, the Sadducees were watching all of this. They saw how the streets were jammed with people and how the apostles were healing them. They watched as thousands upon thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of Christians gathered in Solomon’s Portico for teaching and fellowship. The temple had basically been overrun by a bunch of Holy Spirit filled, emboldened, crazy-love, Jesus freaks, and the Sadducees became bent out of shape.

Look at the end of verse 17. Luke gives us the primary motive behind the Sadducees rising up against the apostles. They were jealous.

The word for Jealousy here is z�"los in Greek. Z�"los can have multiple meanings. It can mean to be filled with a burning desire to preserve or guard a possession that you believe is being threatened (zeal) and it can mean to be filled with animosity toward a rival that you feel is enjoying an advantage (jealousy). According to the author Luke, the Sadducees were consumed by both emotions at the same time. Taken together the Sadducees were filled with zeal to preserve their religion, honor, and influence out of jealousy over a new religion that was gaining attention, popularity, and more and more followers.

Thousands upon thousands of Jews were leaving the religion of the Sadducees or Judaism to follow Jesus Christ whom they believed was Israel’s true Messiah. You might say that the Sadducees were jealous because their gang members were clicking up with another gang or that they were jealous because their club members were leaving to go to another club. I’ve seen this happen in churches. I’ve seen pastors flip out over people leaving their churches for other churches. I’ve seen pastors become jealous over other pastors. I’ve seen servant leaders become jealous over other servant leaders.

Jealousy can cause people to do and say crazy ridiculous things. Listen to what James said about jealousy in James 3:16.

James 3:16

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

James wrote that jealousy brings disorder and every vile practice!

Listen to these biblical examples that show this:

-Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy (Gen 4:8).

-Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery out of jealousy (Acts 7:9).

-King Saul persecuted and pursued David out of jealousy (1 Sam 8:8-9).

-The Sanhedrin turned Jesus over to the Romans out of jealousy (Matt 27:18).

-In Antioch, religious Jews began to openly contradict the Apostle Paul as he preached the gospel out of jealousy (Acts 13:45).

-In Thessalonica, religious Jews gathered a mob of rift-raff and then attacked the household of a believer named Jason out of jealousy (Acts 17:15).

And in our text, religious Jews, the Sadducees, became filled with jealousy and then did what? Look at verse 18:

Verse

18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

Commentary

‘Apostles’ is meant to denote the entire group of 12 not just Peter and John or any other smaller combination. The Sadducees swooped in on the whole group and put them all in public prison. Public prison was a different place from where Peter and John were put back in Acts 4:3. At that time they were held in custody at the Temple by the captain of the temple guard. This time, all 12, were placed in Jerusalem’s ‘big house’ or ‘San Quentin’. This prison held all sorts of criminals like murderers, thieves, robbers, dissenters, zealots, adulterers, and common criminals.

The apostles were basically placed amongst the nation’s worst for disobeying the Sanhedrin’s first warning. The Sadducees may have believed that putting the apostles in the ‘big house’ would cause them to relent. The silly question becomes: After witnessing all the power and miracles of the apostles, what would cause the Sadducees to think that prison cells with little metal bars would be able to contain them?

The rationale for this kind of thinking is the belief that Christianity is merely human or man-made which makes it powerless and futile. All throughout history people have viewed our beliefs this way and have sought to bring the church to an end through threats, persecution, murder, and genocide. Millions upon millions of Christians have been subjected to this type of thinking and the atrocities that come with it. According to current research 105,000 Christians are killed each year in our world. That’s 1 every 5 minutes. The truth is if Christianity were merely human, it would’ve been brought to an end long ago. It is doubt that it would’ve made it past Emperor Nero who directed all the power of Rome against it during the latter part of 1st century. But the fact of the matter is the church endures. Why, because it is a divinely appointed institution which is led by the incorruptible and invincible Divine Head, Jesus Christ.

Jesus, once said to the Apostle Peter (Mike read this text earlier),

“I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

This was declaration against every enemy of the Lord and His church. Nothing will stop Christ from advancing and perfecting His church, nothing.

-Satan and his minions cannot stop Christ from advancing and perfecting His church.

-Communists and fascist cannot stop Christ from advancing and perfecting His church.

-Dictators and emperors cannot stop Christ from advancing and perfecting His church.

-Kings and queens cannot stop Christ from advancing and perfecting His church.

-Presidents, politicians and legislators cannot stop Christ from advancing and perfecting His church.

-Other religions, no matter how fanatical they may be, cannot stop Christ from advancing and perfecting His church.

-Islamic Jihad cannot stop Christ from advancing and perfecting His church.

-The Antichrist cannot stop Christ from advancing and perfecting His church.

-Deceptive, self-glorifying Christians, like Ananias and Sapphira, cannot stop Christ from advancing and perfecting His church.

2000 years of church history testifies to this truth. The church has endured every attack and it continues to grow exponentially. There may be 105,000 Christians martyred every year, but estimates show that another 30 million are added to the church. That’s 57 per minute or 82,000 a day. The stats are broken down as follows:

6,000 a day in North America and Europe.32,000 a day in Africa.25,000 a day in Asia.17,000 a day in Latin America.33,000 a day in third world countries.

Estimates show that there may be as many as 230 million Christians in China now. That’s 70 million short of the total population of the US. Tim Gardam, a BBC reporter, wrote that there are more people going to church on Sunday in China then in all of Europe. Again, what did Christ say? “I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” The Bible itself testifies to the enduring truth of Jesus’ words. While the apostles were behind bars at the ‘Big House’, look at what happened next. Look at verse 19:

Verse

19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said,

Commentary

The text says an angel of the Lord came and let them out. Angel’s appear in the Scriptures fairly often, especially in the OT. Angles possess special abilities and are more powerful than human beings. In most cases angels are used by God to deliver messages and encouragement. Think of Hagar when she was driven from the household of Abraham to the wilderness of Beersheba by Sarah in Genesis 21. When she ran out of water she thought her son, Ishmael, was going to die. Filled with worry and despair, verses 17-18 say, “The angel of God called out and encouraged her.”

Sometimes God sends angels to protect people and to make war against His enemies. There is a special angle that appears in the OT here and there. He is called ‘The Angle of the Lord’. Many scholars believe ‘The Angel of the Lord’ is actually Jesus Christ prior to His incarnation.

They call the appearances of ‘The Angel of the Lord’ Christophanys which are pre-incarnate appearances of Christ. Interestingly ‘The Angel of the Lord’ appears in the OT dozens and dozens of times and never once in the NT.

The angel of our text is a standard type of angel and may have been assigned to the apostles as a personal protector. In the middle of the night he came and opened the cell doors. Apparently he didn’t need a key. God’s use of an angel to free them was especially ironic, since the Sadducees denied the existence of angels. God has a sense of humor my friends!

This particular passage reminds me of what Jesus said to the church at Philadelphia in Revelation 3:6.

Rev 3:6

I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.

The church at Philadelphia was suffering persecution at the hands of religious Jews. Sounds similar to what happened to the apostles in our text doesn’t it? In Rev 3, Jesus exhorted the Philadelphians to hold fast to the truth, to stay on gospel mission, and not to fear their persecutors because He Himself, the resurrected Son of God, had made a way for them to succeed no matter what. Jesus opened the door to their ministry and no one would be able to shut it. After freeing the apostles from their prison cell, the angel commanded them to do something very important. Look at verse 20:

Verse

20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”

Commentary

The angel commanded that they go back to Solomon’s Portico to present to the people “all the words of this Life”. All the words of this Life are a reference to the words that Jesus spoke which would include all Scripture because Jesus is the Living Word (John 1:14). Notice how the word “Life” is capitalized. It is capitalized because it is a specific reference to Jesus who is the Author of Life (Acts 3:15). Jesus came as a preacher preaching the word of life, the gospel, which is the message of salvation or spiritual new birth through faith in His atoning work, resurrection, and Person.

The words of this Life are also called “the word of God” in Acts 13:46. The word of God is a reference to all Scripture, OT and NT. Both point to Jesus who is the Author of Life and Savior of the world. The angles big point was for the apostles to go back to Solomon’s Portico to speak the very words that bring spiritual life and salvation, the gospel, to people. Bottom line: the angel freed them so they could return to doing what they were doing before they were arrested and imprisoned. The great question then becomes, how did the apostles respond? How would you respond? Look at verse 21:

Verse

21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.

Commentary

The apostles were freed in the middle of the night and then went at daybreak to Solomon’s Portico to teach. Daybreak was a couple hours before Morning Prayer which was at 9am. Shortly before 9, multitudes of people would begin to gather in the temple courts. The apostles were already there preaching to the early birds, grounds keepers, and merchants. By 9am they would’ve been ready to proclaim the gospel to the masses. Entering at daybreak shows us a couple of cool things about the apostles.

Their quickness to obey the command of God.

The apostles didn’t wait a couple days, weeks, or years to return to the temple to teach. They went at the next available moment when there would be people present to hear them. They even went a little early to get prayed up and warmed up. I’m pretty sure the apostles would’ve gone to the temple right after being freed if it would’ve made sense. I can see them at the Beautiful Gate saying ‘open, open, open’ like the ladies from those old Mervyns commercials. Remember those? These guys displayed great quickness to obey the command of God. Why, because they loved God. How quick are we in obeying God?

The second cool thing entering at daybreak shows us is:

2. The apostles had done as their Lord and Master, Jesus, had done.

John 8:2 says that Jesus went to the temple at sunrise or daybreak to teach the people and many gathered to Him. When Jesus was in Jerusalem, which was fairly often, His custom was to go to the temple very early in the morning to teach. When the Lord did this He brought His disciples with Him and they listened and learned alongside the common folks. Being at the temple at daybreak shows that the apostles desired to do as Jesus had done. They wanted to be like Jesus. They wanted to do as He had done, to be disciplined like Him, and they wanted to be His spokespersons at the same place that He had taught at, even at the same time, which was daybreak.

I have some ending questions and thoughts for us.

Application

Where are we at with jealousy?

Are any of us consumed with it? Has jealousy led you like a pied-piper to folly and trouble? Has jealousy brought turmoil and disorder to any of your relationships? The Sadducees were jealous over the attention Jesus and the apostles were getting. They were jealous because people were leaving their old legalistic religion for Christ. Jealous ultimately comes from being dissatisfied with Jesus and with what he’s given you.

The gospel is the remedy. Believing in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is the remedy. Having life in Christ; security in Christ; and an identity in Christ is the remedy. Only Christ can satisfy you the way you need to be satisfied. And when you become satisfied in Christ, you can be satisfied in who He’s made you to be, and in what He’s given you.

______________________________________________________________________________

The Sadducees didn’t believe that God could or would free the apostles from prison.

Do you believe that God can free you from your physical, emotional, or spiritual prison cell?

Physical: Illnesses, afflictions, depression, anxiety, addictions, flesh struggles.

Emotional: Traumatic experiences, betrayal, hurt by others past and present, jealousy.

Spiritual: Doubts, satisfaction in Christ, unworthiness, lacking spiritual discipline.