Preparing For Persecution VI

 It is an understatement to say that it didn’t go the way the Sanhedrin, Pharisees, Sadducees, Annas, Caiaphas, and all the rest hoped it would. They were fully assured that Peter and John would be cowed by their presence, that they would obfuscate and beg off the great insult they’d committed by healing the lame man, but instead, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, came out swinging.

Even the mild-mannered among God’s people can be like lions when filled with the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t take an outward appearance of toughness or an intimidating posture. All it takes is the Holy Spirit residing in the heart of a man to make him a fearsome and fearless defender of the faith.

Acts 4:8-12, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 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 stand before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

At this point, the man who came up with the idea of arresting Peter and John and bringing them before the rulers of the people and elders of Israel shrank in on himself just a bit, and all the smugness fled from him like rats fleeing a sinking ship. It would have been a sight to see. All those dreams of being counted among the wisest of elders, the hope of getting noticed by Annas, and perhaps even being called to a greater position of authority all dashed the moment Peter opened his mouth, and his words were neither apologetic nor conciliatory.

The early church had committed the cardinal sin of outshining the ruling religious order. Peter and John had overstepped every norm by doing something not even the High Priest himself could hope to replicate, and rather than try to say it was an accident, a fluke, or that it had been done by mistake, here was Peter declaring that it was by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom they had crucified that the lame man was leaping about as though he were a young doe in the summer grasses.

The news had already spread, and they couldn’t deny the reality of what had happened. They couldn’t pretend as though this lame man was not walking about or that countless hundreds had seen him do so. The next best thing they could hope to do was put a lid on it, limit the damage and blowback, get Peter and John to cower and shy away, apologize, and promise they’d behave.

Within the span of a few words, they realized that wasn’t going to happen either.

When all the other side has is the threat of violence or death, but you no longer fear either because you were buried with Christ in God, you’re a force to be reckoned with. You’ve taken away the enemy’s power to make you retreat, cower, or otherwise shrink back from his not-so-veiled threats.

They’d already sold everything they had and divided it among the brethren. They couldn’t be threatened with the confiscation of their earthly possessions any longer, so all they had were the husks of flesh. Given that they’d received the power from on High, they had already concluded that for them to die was gain.

It’s nearly impossible to threaten someone who doesn’t fear death. The more things we have in our lives that we fear the loss of, the more buttons the enemy has to push, hoping that one will succeed in making us back down, retreat, and surrender.

If you fear losing your influence, the enemy will threaten to deplatform you. If you’re afraid of being publicly ridiculed, the enemy will threaten to shame you by orchestrating coordinated attacks against you. If you’re afraid of losing your possessions, the enemy will threaten to take them away, lawfully, mind you, because the people who make the laws ultimately determine what is lawful.

Philippians 3:7-8, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

Once we’ve adopted this mindset as children of God, there is nothing the enemy can do to sway us from our purpose. When opposition arises, and it begins with threats, we will not blink or waver in our stride. It’s all forfeit anyway. It’s all rubbish, or at least we should count it as such that we might know the fullness of Christ Jesus and all His glory.

The question we must tackle, and it requires honest introspection, is whether we love anything in this world more than we love God. Do we love our possessions more than Him? Do we love our positions more than Him? Do we love the comfort and commodities of this life we live here in the West more than God, and are we willing to give all of them up for His name’s sake?

That’s the question that must be answered before we can know if we will be able to endure persecution and do so until the end.

If anything holds sway over you more than the will of God, if you prize and value anything more than the presence of Christ, be sure the enemy will ferret it out and use it as a weapon against you.

Be sure the elders, Pharisees, Sadducees, and the rest had thoroughly researched Peter and John. They knew everything there was to know about them and had concluded that the best they could hope for was that they feared their baseless threats. It was not to be.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Posted on 10 April 2024 | 8:52 am