Acts 4:13-17 Ray Nabors

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. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

Two bold uneducated fisherman standing before the Sanhedrin. Peter, who denied Jesus while He was on trial before the same group of men. John, who ran away naked in the garden when Jesus was arrested. Both were hiding with the others until the risen Jesus came to see them. No wonder that Annas and Caiaphas along with the rest of the council were astonished. They recognized these men. Fortunately the evidence was with Peter and John. The council could not contradict or deny that the healing of the lame man really happened because he had walked in with the two. This is the same group just months before ignored the evidence and what was going on and took Jesus into custody and forced the issued that led to the Crucifixion. Now they are afraid to speak out against the evidence and the people of Jerusalem. Such changes with Peter, John, and the council just screams that God is the one who is in control, and His will being accomplished. But the council still want to be in some kind of control, so they send these three men out of the room to talk privately. The big question, “What are we going to do to stop the spread of this thing going on?” They didn’t know what to call it or didn’t want to admit to what was happening because then they would have to give some serious thought to it and challenge their own belief system. So their ‘big’ plan: “We will warn them not to speak about this person any more.” (I like the way the KJV says “strictly threaten.”) The council seems to forget a few things: Peter and John are not the only ones talking about Jesus, the evidence speaks for itself, and two thousand more Jews were added to the Kingdom of God. A crippled man is now walking around because Peter and John believing, issued the command to walk in Jesus’ name.