The physician Luke wrote how Peter and John were arrested for speaking to the people in the temple about the resurrection of the dead. They answered the “religious leaders” and were released after being threatened not to speak or teach in Jesus' name. Afterward, they began to pray by referring to words spoken by King David of Israel and saying, “Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto your servants, that with all boldness they may speak your word, by stretching forth your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common”, and in chapter four and verse thirty-three of the book of Acts Luke wrote, “with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” where we read:
And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus:
and great grace was upon them all.
The verse begins, “And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus:” Luke began with the words, “and with great power” which means “and with massive, weighty, abundant, large and spacious ability, strength, might, excellence of soul and influence” “gave the apostles witness” which means “produced, rendered, requited and recompensed the delegates, messengers and ones sent forth with orders testimony and evidence” “of the resurrection” or “pertaining to the raising up and recovery from the dead” “of the Lord Jesus” which means “belonging to the One to whom a person or thing belongs about which he has power of deciding; master, and the title given to God the Messiah, Jesus whose name means Jehovah is Salvation and is the Son of God, the Savior of mankind and God incarnate”. Luke shared how God the Heavenly Father provided His “sent out ones” the ability and strength to “testify” about the “Lord Jesus'” being risen from the dead.
The verse goes on to say, “and great grace was upon them all.” Luke continued with the words, “and great grace” which means “and massive, large, spacious and abundant unmerited favor which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness and charm” “was upon them all” or “was on each, every, the whole and everyone of the multitude of believers in Jesus”. Luke shared how the Heavenly Father God's “abundant and unmerited favor” was upon “each and everyone” of the believers in this multitude.
When we meditate upon Luke's words in this verse, we learn how God gave His “sent out” believers the “ability and strength” to share the “resurrection of Jesus” with others, and we discover that God poured out His “abundant unmerited favor” upon each person who belonged to this multitude of believers. They had prayed for “boldness” to speak, and they were given the supernatural ability to proclaim the gospel, and because they were imperfect people serving a perfect God, they needed His “unmerited favor” to be upon “each” of them. God desires to have a personal relationship with every person through His Son Jesus, and when they yield their lives to Him, He will forgive their sins, grant them everlasting life and provide them with His Holy Spirit and grace to be His “witnesses” in this world. Everyone needs to be “saved” from the penalty of sin which is death and causes a person to be separated from a relationship with God, and those who are reading these words should first accept Jesus as their personal “Savior and Lord”, and then spend their lives “empowered” to testify to others about His death and resurrection.
Next time Luke shares,“neither was there any among them that lacked”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
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