Acts 4:5-7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0The next day the rulers,\u00a0the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem.\u00a06\u00a0Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas,\u00a0John, Alexander and others of the high priest\u2019s family.\u00a07\u00a0They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: \u201cBy what power or what name did you do this?\u201d<\/i>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cThe next day the rulers,\u00a0the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Family and Friends, this was a very pressure packed meeting\u2026on the side of the Jews.\u00a0 Yes, Peter and John were the ones in jail, and they well remembered the mock trial of Jesus that led to His crucifixion, but these men, as we will see, were confident, bold and committed in their mission.\u00a0 There was no way they were backing down.\u00a0 They were filled with the Holy Spirit\u00a0V7<\/b>, they were filled with power of God!\u00a0 Peter and John were resolute that God was with them and their only job was to move forward and be the witnesses of who, and what, Jesus was.\u00a0 That felt confidence that the Lord would see them through, and even if that meant being put in prison, suffering beatings, or even losing their lives, they were committed that they would be faithful to the Lord.<\/p>\n
The Jews however, the ones who had the religious and police power, were nervous.\u00a0 They were not moving in the power of the Spirit, but in the power of religious power and in their instance, also their government.\u00a0 Religious organizations that are not being led by God rule by customs, by tradition, by fear, by titles, by intimidation of being ostracized and also by imprisonment and physical punishment.\u00a0 They also trap people to depend on them.\u00a0 They want people to believe that the only way through God is through them.\u00a0 Even today, many religious organizations still falsely do the same.\u00a0 At that point in time the population of Jerusalem was about twenty to thirty thousand people.\u00a0 So with the number of converts to Christianity now swelling to about five thousand people, we see that the percentage of Christians was now about 17% to 25% of the population, and likely the latter.\u00a0 The Jews viewed the disciples of Christ as a very fast growing threat.\u00a0 In fact, by\u00a0Acts 17:6<\/b>\u00a0the Jews had, in public, cried out about the disciples of Jesus that they were turning \u201cthe world upside down.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 These disciples of Christ were growing fast, drawing many Jewish proselytes.\u00a0 Therefore the Jews in power were feeling very threatened.\u00a0 They were concerned for the power and influence they wielded, they were concerned for their positions, and they were concerned that the people would not believe that they were the ones who had the truth but that those who believed in the disciples of Jesus would soon outnumber them.\u00a0 These certain Jews were bureaucrats and politicians and people who thrived, lived and were empowered by the system.\u00a0 They could not allow one to come along and ruin their reign of ruling, so they killed Jesus. \u00a0Now they could not allow these disciples of Christ to continue to grow.\u00a0 They were in a panic. \u00a0With all the converts to Christianity, they needed this movement stopped right away.\u00a0 People in power fight to keep that power and to cede power only to the ones they approve of, the ones who will continue the system.\u00a0 Thus, Jesus was killed and if they thought they could get away with it, they would have also killed the Apostles and disciples right then.\u00a0 This truth of how people in power act is still evident around us, in governments, businesses and in churches.<\/p>\n
\u201c6\u00a0Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas,\u00a0John, Alexander and others of the high priest\u2019s family.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Politicians in power, who have been replaced, often still fight for their system.\u00a0 When Jesus and His followers were presenting a way that would change the old way of doing things, those of the old way were threatened.\u00a0 They came to intimidate, imprison, beat and kill if necessary.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a system with an army.\u00a0 The will draw upon all their resources and allies to protect their livelihood against any who they think oppose it.\u00a0 So the old guard returns.\u00a0\u00a0 Annas, who had been High Priest, came back onto the scene.\u00a0 Caiaphas was the current High Priest and Annas was his father-in-law.\u00a0 Annas had been deposed by Valerius Gratus.\u00a0 Yet Annas wielded, perhaps, the greatest power.\u00a0 He was the head of those who held power and likely influenced who sat in the positions of power.\u00a0 That meant they answered to him.\u00a0 One commentator has given a modern comparison of Annas as being a \u201cgodfather\u201d of the syndicate of power.<\/p>\n
Caiaphas, as stated was the High Priest.\u00a0 It is common thought that he was a puppet to Annas.\u00a0 Normally the High Priest did not attend these types of meeting, but the powerful of the religious system were all called in to increase the power of the court and to crush this upstart \u201creligion\u201d.<\/p>\n
John was most likely the son of Annas who already had been given a position of influence and power.\u00a0 He was being groomed to become a future High Priest.\u00a0 We see how the powerful work to keep within their own tight circle.\u00a0 Annas also had three other sons and grandson being groomed for the position of High Priest.\u00a0 The system of men fighting to keep power, influence and money can easily be seen by those who care to see.<\/p>\n
Alexander was also related to Annas, though not a direct descendant.\u00a0 Not much is known of him.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026others of the High Priest\u2019s family.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 We see that the fight to keep the power was on.\u00a0 It was a worldly system against the will of God.\u00a0 We must remember that this system was not the Jewish faith, but rather, as in all countries, all government or most businesses, people of power gain power and purely for selfish purposes fight for their own good rather that for what is right or best for the people who are covered by the government or business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: \u201cBy what power or what name did you do this?<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 So the players are in place, and these Jews, not all Jews, are determined to stop the disciples of Christ from doing miracles from God, and teaching in Jesus name.\u00a0 There were likely over seventy people sitting in a circular fashion and Peter and John were place in the middle, with no lawyer at their side, to answer the questions from the Jews. The Jews were worried.\u00a0 They were angry and fearful.\u00a0 Peter and John were confident and ready.\u00a0 The Jews wondered what they should do.\u00a0 \u00a0Peter and John were relying on what God to lead them and give them the words they were to speak.\u00a0 They remembered the encouragement they had received from Jesus\u00a0\u201cWhen you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say,\u00a012<\/a>for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0(Luke 12:11-12<\/b>)\u00a0 And, as we shall see, God did just that.\u00a0 God is always faithful.\u00a0 He was to Peter and John and He is to us! \u00a0May we also live a life of confident faith in Jesus! \u00a0Praise our Great and Mighty Father God!\u00a0 Praise Jesus! Praise the Holy Spirit!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 4:5-7\u00a0–\u00a0The next day the rulers,\u00a0the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem.\u00a06\u00a0Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas,\u00a0John, Alexander and others of the high priest\u2019s family.\u00a07\u00a0They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: \u201cBy what power or what name did you do this?\u201d\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,106,94,17],"class_list":["post-1384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-luke","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1385,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions\/1385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}