Luke the physician wrote how Peter and John were arrested for the healing of the lame man and speaking to the people in the temple about the resurrection, and when they were questioned by the religious authorities, “Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole. Be it known unto 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, even by him does this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle has been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus”, and in chapter four and verse nineteen of the book of Acts Luke shared how, “Peter and John answered” the religious leaders where we read:
But Peter and John answered and said unto them,
Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge you.
The verse begins, “But Peter and John answered and said unto them, ...” Luke began with the words, “But Peter and John” which means “however, nonetheless and notwithstanding Peter whose name means a little rock or stone and John whose name means Jehovah is a gracious giver” “answered and said unto them” which means “responded and began to utter, declare and proclaim to the religious leaders” the following words. Luke shared how “Peter and John” began to respond to the religious leaders by declaring the following.
The verse goes on to say, “... Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge you.” Luke continued with the words, “whether it be right” or “if and in case it is observing divine laws, upright, virtuous and keeping of the commands of God” “in the sight of God” which means “in the presence of the Heavenly Father God” “to hearken unto you” or “to listen to, attend to, consider and obey you, religious leaders” “more than unto God” which means “to a greater degree, more willingly and readily than to the Heavenly Father God”, “judge you” or “you, religious leaders, approve, esteem, prefer, be of the opinion, think and decree”. Luke shared how Peter and John told the religious leaders they could “judge” whether it was “right” to listen to and obey God rather than them.
When we think through Luke's words in this verse, we learn how “Peter and John” told the religious leaders they could “judge” whether it was correct for them to “listen to” God or them when it came to speaking and teaching about Jesus, and they shall say more in our next verse. The idea was, they were going to be obedient to God regardless of what these religious leaders said about it. God loves people, and His desire is to have a personal relationship with each of them through His Son Jesus. Those who yield their lives to Jesus will receive forgiveness of their sins, be granted everlasting life with God and be bold to speak and teach about Him without worry and concern over what others have to say about it.
Next time Luke shares how Peter and John say, “we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard”, 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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