Lecture 13: The Church's Appeal to God

From: Pentecostal Times: Being Course of Expository Lectures on Acts By: William Reid

Acts 4:23 • 44 min. read • grade level: 12

THE APOSTLES' RETURN TO THEIR OWN COMPANY; AND THEIR REPORT. — On being released, the apostles Peter and John return to their own company. The narrative runs as follows:—

"And having been let go, they carne to their own [company], and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them" (verse 23). Had matters been as they ought to have been with the heads of the nation, they would have had a very different report to give from that which, we learn from the previous context, they must have given.

We need to be thrown ourselves into the circumstances of the apostles and their converts (as we certainly will be into their difficulties, if faithful) to appreciate the awful impression this opposition of the Sanhedrim to their glorified Master, and the Messiah of their nation, must have made upon them. They had had every assurance that Jesus was the Christ; they had been His disciples in life, and were His personally-commissioned witnesses in resurrection; they had been endued with power from on high, the Pentecostal baptism of the Spirit having come; and they were preaching the Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, God accompanying their testimony with divine and supernatural success; the mighty work of repentance and salvation had been accompanied also with "wonders and signs;" in connection with the healing of the cripple the nation had been summoned to repent; and when they were in the act of proclaiming the remission of sins, the return of Jesus, and the introduction of times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and the restoring of all things of which God had spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets, if only the nation would repent and be converted, they were arrested and cast into prison; brought before the high council of Israel, to whom they had boldly testified concerning their Messiah, and that "salvation is in none other;" and now, instead of faith, repentance, and the reception of their testimony on the part of Israel, the very heads of their nation, "the chief priests and elders," had not only definitively refused their Messiah, but forbidden them to preach or teach in His name; and ad dismissed them with reiterated and multiplied threatenings to desist from fulfilling the divine commission entrusted to them by their risen Lord, or the discharge of which they had received the Holy Ghost, and were filled with His presence and power.

Are not the heavens to rule? Has not God raised up His servant Jesus, and set Him on His own right hand in the heavens, and made Him “both Lord and Christ"? Is God's purpose to bless the world, by sending back Jesus to judge the habitable earth in righteousness, as God's King, set on His holy hill of Zion, to be frustrated, or definitely postponed? Such might have been the questionings of these witnesses; and as they "reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them," we need not wonder that they and "their own" were so solemnly impressed by the tidings that they felt their only resource was in prayer to God, as the godly had found it in Israel, in former periods, in times of national crisis. (Exodus 32., 33.; 2 Chron. 20; Isa. 37)

"And having been let go, they come to their own" friends, who were, no doubt, assembled in prayer in the well-known "upper room," where the Spirit had descended (ch. 1:14, 2:1) at Pentecost, and where they were so soon to receive further sensible tokens of His continued presence with them, There was now a recognized community of believers in Christ within the holy city; and the two disciples naturally repair "to their own company." This divine Ecclesia, with the more than Shekinah-glory, the person of the Holy Ghost, tabernacling among them, was God's center; and the disciples left the presence of the established order that had risen up against them, and found their association in the outside place, with the rejected Christ, and with all the faithful saints in Jerusalem who valued being with God and the Holy Ghost's new testimony to the glorified Christ above the favor of men, or the temporal advantages that might have accrued to them from continuing to go on with the God-forsaken order of things. The power of God's grace had gathered them to this new center, and the Holy Ghost's presence and blessing now sustained them in it. Living souls, full of the Holy Ghost and faith, draw to living souls; and Christ, known in their midst, makes that spot where they assemble to be holy ground, the happiest place on earth; the place to which all Christ-loving and loyal hearts gravitate, that they may praise and worship their common Lord. There is something even in the very words which tells us this: "Having been let go, they carne their own company." When we feel in the freest circumstances—all restraint removed—where do we naturally go, if spiritual, but to the assembly God's saints? for our Lord has said, "Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)). The Holy Spirit draws me "to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight" (Psa. 16:3³But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. (Psalm 16:3)).

2. THE SOLEMN PRAYER AND THE IMMEDIATE ANSWER.—" And they, having heard it, lifted up their voice with, one accord to God, and said, LORD, Thou art the God1 who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them; who hast said by the mouth of Thy servant David, Why have [the] nations raged haughtily and [the] peoples meditated vain things? The kings of the For in truth against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou hadst anointed, both Herod and Pontius `together against the Lord and against His Christ earth were there, and the rulers were gathered `together against the Lord and against His Christ For in truth against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou hadst anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with [the] nations and peoples of Israel, have been gathered together in this city, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel had determined before should come to pass. And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and give to Thy bondsmen with all boldness to speak Thy word, in that Thou stretchest out Thy hand to heal, and that signs and wonders take place through the name of Thy holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place wherein they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness" (ver. 24-31).

The effect on the gathered saints of the report of the opposition, and the threatenings of the leaders of the Jews, was to draw forth their dependence on God, and the expression of it in prayer. There were but few assembled, but the report of the doings of the Council would go forth in a short time throughout the entire Christian community. The apostles, and those who were with them, feeling deeply the solemn character of the crisis, and the gravity of the situation, lift up their voice with one accord to God, and addressing Him as Jehovah, they pray, both in view of His power and His counsel, as witnessed in creation and expressed in revelation. The apostles gave their report: one of the company led in prayer, all the others praying with him in the Holy Ghost.

There was no such thing as the singing of the second psalm, and the application of it made by Peter in prayer, as has been alleged; neither was this a form of common prayer in use in the Jerusalem Church, for “in this way you would improperly transfer to the primitive Church the usage of a later time." They needed no formula of prayer then, for they had the Spirit in power, and He was all-sufficient, both to sustain them and to give them the proper sentiments and form of words to use in their prayers. Nature in distress needs no form in which to express itself, — neither does grace; and here it must have been the Spirit-given prayer of the moment they uttered, for they refer in it to " their threatenings," as if spread out by them at that time as they prayed in the Holy Ghost.

It has been well said, “the most effective weapons which the Church can employ in distress and persecution are prayers and tears." If the prayer of a righteous man availeth much, the prayer of many right men, when offered with one accord, availeth still more.

3. GOD, THE CREATOR, IS ACKNOWLEDGED— There is a mighty power in the souls of the saints, when in their extremities they feel they can "commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator" (1 Peter 4:19¹⁹Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. (1 Peter 4:19)). Here they do so, —"Thou art the God who made the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and all that is in them." With the Omnipotent Creator for us, who can be against us?

Met, as they now were, in their divine mission to proclaim the Lordship of Christ and demand of the nation repentance and submission to His name, by the hostile opposition of the lords who were then ruling in Israel, they appeal to God in His character of universal Lord,2 the God who made the universe, and rules over all creatures; and if those who exercise authority in Israel were assuming a minatory aspect towards His servants, they now appeal from their tribunal to the throne of Him by whom kings rule and princes decree justice, and whence they derive their authority, and leave Him to judge between them. They were sure that the Judge of all the earth must do right, and judge righteous judgment; and moreover, if He were Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, He could give effect to His will by the power of His hand, and they might calmly confide in Him.

It was in this manner they prayed in "the times of old," when, as in Jet 32:17, they said, "Ah, Lord God behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee." And again, in Neh. 9:6⁶Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. (Nehemiah 9:6), "Thou, even Thou, art LORD alone: Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth Thee." These were trying times for their fathers, and now they, the godly remnant so recently called out to witness for God and His Christ in the face of national defection and opposition, call on God in the same solemn way, laying hold on 'lira as the Creator and universal Lord. As when Hezekiah laid the threatenings of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, before "the God of Israel," saying, "Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth" (Isa. 35:16, 17); even so do the poor remnant in Israel, who have separated themselves to the name of Jesus from the apostate nation of the Jews, now pray in their time of deep trial, with the strength and confidence of faith.

Heaven, earth, and sea, with all that they contain, carne forth into being obedient to the will and word of the omnipotent Creator; and if they obeyed His voice and did His will, He is able to do all things; and the will of man, let him be ever so high in place or authority, ought not to be set against the will of God; and they were strong in faith, giving glory to God because assured that they were doing His will who created the heavens and the earth. Oh, what strength we gather in the time of trouble as we stand beneath the mighty dome of Night, and gaze aloft into the glorious heavens laden with the rich fruitage of the calm, sparkling stars; or walk forth on the summer eve and listen to the roll of the great ocean waves as they break on the rocky shore; or let the mind take in the thought that these waters girdle the great globe with all its teeming objects, animate and inanimate; and that He who called them into being by His word is still upholding them in being by His power, and that these are but part of His works, for worlds on worlds, still veiled from human eyes by their unmeasurable distances, people the (to us) illimitable depths of space; and He is "God over all, blessed forever;" and the God of creation being the God of our salvation, we have nothing short of omnipotence on our side: and Scripture in its first and last books, Genesis and the Apocalypse, gives special prominence to this great doctrine that on opening our Bibles as well as on closing them we may be reminded that we are "sons and daughters of the LORD Almighty.”

4.—GOD THE REVEALER IS ACKNOWLEDGED.—"Who hast said by the mouth of thy servant David, Why have the nations raged haughtily, and the peoples meditated vain things?" 3 "Who hast made,” and "who hast said," bring before us the God of creation and the Author of revelation. The living, personal God, the Maker of heaven and earth—not the God of the pantheist—is the God who inspired holy men of old to communicate His truth, and embody in the prophetic Word His counsel regarding the Person, kingdom, and government of the Messiah; and David,4 we are here told, was the Lord's instrument to foretell the hostile confederacy of nations, peoples, kings, and rulers that should combine against His Christ. There had been and still is a hostile gathering of men against the Lord and against His Christ; but now a friendly gathering of His followers confronts them and boldly stands up for Mm. This is the work of God's Holy Spirit.

“The kings of the earth were there, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord, and against His Christ," etc. (verses 26-28).5—The horse, in its intractable condition—spirited, and refusing to be managed by the rider—is the source of the figure "raging," which is here applied to "the nations," and which refers to the Romans; and "the peoples" ("the plural, in allusion to the twelve tribes") designate the Jews. Indeed, we have in the prayer itself an explanation of the matter, given us in there words: "For in truth, against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou hadst anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the nations and peoples of Israel, have been gathered together6 in this city, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before should come to pass." This must refer to their opposition to Christ, which led to his crucifixion, and which he will punish when “He comes in His kingdom. And this universal hostility must have appeared to the community the more to be dreaded the more they looked upon a world thus opposed, not as an unorganized mass of individuals, but saw in the front of the hostile array those who were set to be heads of nations and lands—the princes and potentates of the earth:"" Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the nations, and peoples of Israel, have been gathered together.”

It is remarkable how entirely they forget themselves in this prayer, and are absorbed with Christ and His great interests. "The apostles were so thoroughly engrossed with the Person of Christ and His affairs their own individual concerns were thrown into the background, and it was so exclusively Christ's cause which appeared to them intrinsically important, that they saw even in their own sufferings nothing but persecutions directed against Christ. Their prayer, therefore, concerned itself only about him; and their desires looked exclusively to this, that they might be enabled to glorify Him." This shows the work of the Spirit of God, for it is His office to glorify Christ:" He shall glorify Me, for he shall take of Mine and show it unto you." And the spiritual sense—the spirit of wisdom that was in them by the Holy Ghost— showed itself in the appropriate way in which they fixed upon the text with which the Second Psalm opens to form the basis of their appeal in prayer to God with regard to the rulers of their nation, for no quotation could have been found that could have described so vividly the awful situation, and the utter impotency of the world to overthrow God's purpose concerning His Son. It surely teaches us that true spirituality will show itself in the Divine skill with which we can weave Holy Scripture into the body of our prayers; and also that Christ be uppermost, and self nowhere.

Then the folly of the opposition of men to Christ and His cause is seen in this, that in all that transpired they were but carrying out the Divine counsel. "The hostility of the world is so little able to overthrow God's plan, that it is compelled to become the means of accomplishing it.”

The confederacy which is here described was formed, as we have already san., when Jesus was crucified; and He will punish it when He returns in His kingdom (see Luke 19) It is still, in principle, existent—being the course of this world, already judged, but spared through Divine longsuffering. It will be fully developed in all its forms of evil in "the last days" —those days which the Psalms so generally belong to. It acts on the old desire and lie of the serpent (Gen. 3:5⁵For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)). It would dethrone God. For the present, however, He that sits in the heavens laughs at it all; as was expressed by the angel rolling away the stone, and sitting on it, while he put the sentence of death into the hearts of its keepers (Matt. 28) What was all that but the Lord telling the confederacy which had crucified Jesus that He had them all in derision? In like spirit the Lord Jesus, from the heavens, challenged Saul, the persecuting zealot, in Acts 9:3³And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: (Acts 9:3).

But there is much more than this present laughter; for the decree of God, touching the Christ, is the great counter-scheme, and will of course prevail. And while, for the present, the judgment of Rev. 19:15, 12:5, is not fulfilled, nor the establishment of Christ's earthly triumph and royalty in Zion, when the heathen shall be given Him for an inheritance, the government of God turns suffering to spiritual blessing, and restrains the wrath of enemies, and under our Father's hand we learn patience.

The psalm tells of triumph over all opposition by unsparing judgment, and kings are called to submit before the coming judgment of the earth. Those who object that Psa. 2 cannot be Messianic, because it is not applicable to the Christian conceptions of the Messiah, do not take into account that although the kingdom of Messiah is spoken of in this and other Psalms, it is in abeyance because of the rejection of Christ, and that we have Him now as Saviour and Head of His body the Church, who, after this period of the world's hostility and rejection is ended, will come as Executor of wrath and vengeance, and judge the world in righteousness. He is Saviour and Judge. He is, God's King; but being rejected, the kingdom is postponed, and heavenly glory opens, which is now the home we look for after we have passed the time of our sojourning here in fear, and not the earthly center of Zion with God's King reigning there.

That will come when the Church is gone, but it is now in abeyance, and our place is to be in the midst of this hostile world looking for our Lord to come and take us out of it to Himself; but while He tarries in the heavens we are to be outside this hostile confederacy, suffering persecution for His name, and committing the keeping of our souls to God in well-doing as to a faithful Creator, casting all our care upon Him. This is what the Christian community now do.

The Christian community now see by means of this prophetic lamp the hand of God and the accomplishment of His counsel in all the sad history of the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus; and from this they take courage in the present emergency when menaced by "the chief priests and elders of the people," and forbidden to preach and teach at all in the name of Jesus. Creation, Revelation, and Providence, all confirm their faith in God and His Christ, and give them a spiritual conviction that, with God on their side, they need not fear what all the powers of the world can do against them. They have only to have perfect faith in Him, and He will take the whole matter so entirely into his own hands, that, like Jehoshaphat's army of old, they will have nothing left them to do but to gather the spoils of a God-given victory (2 Chron. 20:26²⁶And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the Lord: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day. (2 Chronicles 20:26)). Then comes the briet petition-part of their prayer:—

5. WHAT THEY PRAY FOR. — And7 now, Lord. look upon, their threatenings, and give to Thy bondsmen8 with, all boldness to speak Thy word in that Thou stretchest out Thy hand to heal, and that signs and wonders take place through, the name of Thy holy servant Jesus (verses 29, 30).

There are here three things requested, (1) boldness to speak, and (2) the hand of God with them to heal, and that signs and wonders might take place at the same time that they beseech Mm (3) to look upon their threatenings.

One cannot but observe the meekness and gentleness of Christ in this Christian community, in that they do not ask for any punishment on their enemies, only that God would look upon their threatenings, "according to His watchful providence, His restraining power, and His protecting care." Look upon their threatenings, for they had not been few (v. 17, 21). Although the threatenings of the Sanhedrim were like a sword suspended over the heads of the apostles, they do not pray for wrath or vengeance upon their adversaries, for they had heard how their Saviour had prayed: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;" and they had just been seeing the fruit of that prayer of His on the cross in the forgiveness and salvation of thousands of Jerusalem sinners and knowing their commission (Luke 24:47⁴⁷And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)), and that through His name even these hostile rulers might be saved, they were in spiritual sympathy with the Saviour-God and His exalted Son, and could not have prayed for vengeance like the souls under the altar, who will be all right in praying thus in a day of judgment (Rev. 6:0).

For the present "mercy rejoiceth against judgment," and we have such privileges in Christ that now, and to faith, we have our portion already without needing to wait and pray for the destruction of our enemies. "Grace reigns," and instead of cherishing revengeful feelings, we lift up holy hands to God without wrath or doubting (1 Tim. 2.); and the very Peter of this crisis teaches us by the example of Christ —"who when suffering threatened not" —how to act in perfect grace towards those who may oppose us for our testimony or our Christian walk (1 Pet. 2:11-28). Even Michael the Archangel reads us a lesson not to "despise dominions," or "speak evil of dignities." For when he contended with the devil, and disputed about the body of Moses— I suppose as to the justice of his having it raised for the transfiguration before Christ had died and abolished death, and got it out of His domain—he merely says, "The Lord rebuke thee," and brings against him no railing accusation.9

"With all boldness to speak Thy word." Not only that they might not be intimidated by the declared opposition of their rulers, seeing that no combination of power can prevail against the Lord and His Anointed; but with a spiritual energy which gives power and edge to the word spoken by men full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, even when there is no declared opposition to them or it. The preaching of some men is as different from that of others as night is from day, even when both may be nearly equal in the amount of truth spoken: for the one is speaking from intellect and memory, the other "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Spiritual boldness in declaring God's testimony may sometimes be found in those who are utterly destitute of all natural courage, and whose nature makes them so shy that they would have blushed and felt put out, in unconverted days, if a child had looked them straight in the face; and this is the God-given boldness for Christ which can alone be bestowed by being filled with the Holy Ghost.

It has been well remarked, "They do not ask that they may be allowed to give over speaking, much less that others may be sent in their stead; for they were sure of their call to the office." (Thy Word, ch. 10: 36; Heb. 4:12¹²For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).)

They were certainly not intimidated by the threatenings of the rulers, who to save their places and their own importance had forbidden them to preach or teach in the name of Jesus: for they pray for all boldness —boldness of the most absolute degree and of every sort—to speak the word of God about His Son, the very thing forbidden. The apostle Paul, though so great a preacher of the Word, frequently desires the brethren to pray for him—that, as he writes, Eph. 6:19¹⁹And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, (Ephesians 6:19), "utterance may be given unto me that I may opera my mouth boldly (or with boldness) to make known the mystery of the Gospel.... that I may be bold in it as I ought to speak." This is deeply expressive of his sense of dependence on the Holy Ghost to continue this spiritual power and energy in his soul despite continual opposition. And in preaching, this divine boldness is hall the victory: for it makes us confident in the Lord, like Jehoshaphat's host who went against their enemies with a choir of singers unto the Lord, "and that they should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth forever" (2 Chron. 20) There must be that holy, Spirit-given courage in preaching Christ that makes us feel within us a tone of triumph as we speak a "Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ"—if we are so in the enjoyment of God's power in preaching His Word that a savor of Christ shall be felt, and the truth be laid with convicting energy on the souls of men. "Clothed with power from on high" is what their Lord had promised them: and for this they now prayed.

And that signs and wonders may be done (verse 30). This formed a third petition of their prayer: they seek the continuance of miraculous powers as the external signs of their divine commission. In Mark's Gospel we have this commission given, and these signs connected with it thus:— "And He said to them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the glad tidings to all the creation. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he that disbelieves shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow those that have believed: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they should drink any deadly thing it shall not injure them; they shall lay hands upon the infirm, and they shall be well. The Lord, therefore, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God. And they going forth preached everywhere, the Lord working with [them], and confirming the word by the signs following upon it" (Mark 15:15-20¹⁵And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. ¹⁶And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. ¹⁷And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, ¹⁸And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! ¹⁹And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. ²⁰And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. (Mark 15:15‑20)).

By the Holy Spirit they were now better instructed and guided into the truth of their Lord being exalted a Prince and a Saviour than to ask Him for fire from heaven on those who were opposed to Him (Luke 9:54⁵⁴And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? (Luke 9:54)); for, now that He had been exalted, they had been taught that He was not in Elijah-testimony but in Elisha-power to work deeds of mercy and not send tokens of judgment. They would have their boldness increased by seeing the Lord's hand with them, healing, as He had promised; and for this they prayed— "And that signs and wonders take place through the name of thy holy servant Jesus." That indicates the power by which they expected them to be accomplished. We have read "in the name of Jesus," chap. 3:6, and again, 4:10, 18; but this is through His name. In that Thou stretchest forth Thy hand for healing—a continuance of similar healing power is one of the items in their prayer.

6. THE ANSWER TO THEIR PRAYER. —And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and spake the word of God with boldness.

Their prayer was answered: (1) the place shook: this physical effect was a wonder of itself (see Ex. 19:18¹⁸And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. (Exodus 19:18); Psa. 68:8⁸The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. (Psalm 68:8)); for the omnipotent God was there in the person of the Holy Ghost—showing His presence with them besides being in them (for the Holy Spirit is now on earth with the Church, as well as in the bodies of the individual saints): (2) "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost," and the result was immediately seen in this particular: (3) "they spoke the word of God with boldness." This was the permanent moral effect. The same sign was not given, "for that first baptism by the Holy Ghost was not to be repeated;" but the shaking of the place was given—the sign of His continued presence, and in token of His ability to control all visible objects and persons, and impart to them power to continue their work and testimony to the name of Jesus. "They were assembled" when this happened: it was the Assembly of God their being all filled with the Holy Ghost was a fresh thing. But some would say if they had the Holy Ghost they could not be more filled than they were: but the language implies a fresh and renewed filling, although the Holy Ghost did not come afresh from heaven to do it. If one might reverently refer to a steam-engine, by way of giving a memorable illustration of this: there is steam in it, but it is standing still; but when the steam is up it is so filial that it works with power: there was nothing fresh put in; but that which was in it was applied with a fresh power. So of the Holy Ghost: He is there with all power and all ability to empower them to heal and to speak; but, on the prayer, that power was applied. The form of the words shows it was personal; the Holy Spirit Himself—not an influence of the Spirit, nor yet "new illapses of the Spirit" (see chap. 1:8; 2:33, 38; 9:31; 10:45). Filled with the Holy Spirit "they did speak the word of God with boldness." The case having been appealed to God, He now hereby sensibly declared His approval of their conduct.

7. GREAT POWER AND GREAT GRACE. And the heart and soul of the multitude of those that believed were one; and not one said that anything of what he possessed was his own, but all things were common to them; and with great power did the apostles give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. For neither was there any one in want among them.; for as many as were owners of land or houses, selling them, brought the price of what was sold, and laid it at the feet of the apostles; and distribution was made to each according as any one might have need.

And Joseph, who had been surnamed Barnabas by the apostles (which is, being interpreted, Son of Consolation), a Levite,—Cyprian by birth, being possessed of land, having sold [it], brought the money and laid it at the feet of the apostles (verses 32-37).

The multitude of them who believed (notwithstanding that they were more than seven thousand in number) were of one heart and one soul: there was the most complete consciousness of unity and concord by the indwelling and powerful in-working of the "one Spirit." This was "the unity of the Spirit;" and though it was so large they had no difficulty in keeping it, when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, who so absorbed them that nature and flesh were quiescent. We read of no moment like this in the after-history of the Church; for this was the day of the Spirit's full power in producing unity in belief and action, self-abnegation and powerful testimony against the world to a risen and victorious Christ, very much akin to the moment when the host of Jehovah encompassed Jericho of old, and the power of God, in original and unhindered strength, was openly manifested in connection with their apparently feeble testimony. The Church never enjoyed the same open manifestation of divine power after the sin of Ananias and Sapphira; just as Israel never had the same open manifestation of power with them that made the walls of Jericho fall down fiat after the sin of Achan and the defeat of Ai.

The power of God had been displayed on behalf of His assembly in making the opposition of the Sanhedrim come to naught, and in enabling the whole Spirit-filled Church to move onwards as one man in world-conquering power with their witness bearing to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and now the Spirit gives us a glimpse of the state of the Church after its deliverance from the time of the averting of the first external danger that threatened its overthrow. "The Church of the living God," the vessel of divine testimony to a risen and glorified Christ,—"the pillar and mainstay of the truth"—could not be destroyed by the hostile action of men in the highest places of power and influence, for God was with them. As the Captain of the Lord's Host appeared to Joshua at Gilgal, so did the Holy Ghost give tokens of His presence with the Lord's new host of Spirit-led warriors. Like their Lord they had been "anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power;" and therefore "with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.”

Filled with the Holy Ghost and with power, they showed it in the following ways: (1) In their cordial and intense experience of the consciousness of an inner unity—"And the heart and soul of the multitude of those that believed were one;" (2) in the brotherly love that cared and sacrificed for others, and which was such an opposite thing to the natural selfishness of man, that it was given (verse 34) as an evidence of "the grace of God"—"And not one said that anything of what he possessed was his own, but all things were common to them;" (3) in the great power with which the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus—a token that the prayer of verse 29 continued to be answered; "and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus;" "and (4) great grace was upon them all," the great grace of God—the divine favor which delights to impart all blessings that divine benevolence for Christ's sake could bestow. This is a statement that has a bearing upon the unity and testimony (for grace alone produced these), and very specially on the self-sacrificing beneficence of the believers, as verse 34 would lead us to infer; "for neither was there any one in want among them; for as many as were owners of land or houses, selling them, brought the price of what was sold, and laid it at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made to each as any one might have need." Impelled by "great grace," their fraternal love was so strong that there was a mutual care for each other among them, that constrained all the owners of lands and houses to sell them that their poorer brethren might not be in want.

There was not one that said that anything of what he possessed was his own, but all things were common to them; yet, as we have already explained on chapter 2:44, the community of goods was but a spiritual realization in the Holy Ghost, and not so complete and absolute as an external thing that it abolished the actual possession of all personal property. For "he possessed" is said of each holder of property. The community of goods was chiefly in this, that "not one said that anything of what he possessed was his own." There was such a flow of self-sacrificing liberality that they were actuated by the spiritual understanding that "all things were common to them;" and the owners of property sold it as the law of love prompted and the necessity of their poorer brethren required: the more conversions of men of property the more sales.10

When Luke continues his description of the action of the Christians in verses 34, 35, the main feature is evidently the provision which was made for the needy. The work was performed with so much liberality and success that no one suffered (verse 34). The wants of every individual were supplied (verse 35). This result was due to the sale of property on the part of all the members of the Church (ὁσοι) who were owners of lands or houses. The funds which were thus obtained were laid at the feet of the apostles (who sat when they taught); that is to say, the funds were entrusted to them as the almoners of the Church.

There is here, however, "a slightly different development from the second chapter. There we find what might seem a greater freeness, and perhaps to some eyes a more striking simplicity. But all is in season, and it seems to me that, while the devotedness was the same (and the Spirit of God takes pains to show that it was the same, spite of largely increased numbers by the continued mighty action of the Holy Ghost), still, with this advance of numbers, simplicity could not be kept up in the same apparent manner. The distribution made to each before was more direct and immediate; now it takes effect through the apostles."—W. Kelly.

The reality and consciousness of unity in the Spirit and Christian brotherhood were in these days so practical, when the Church was at its best, that it led to such tender interest even in the bodies of the saints, which are represented in 1 Cor. 6. as the "members of Christ," and "temples of the Holy Ghost," that owners of property sold their "lands and houses," that they should be furnished with food and raiment, and that there should not be "any one in want among them.”

This selling grace of liberality—common to all owners of property in the Jerusalem Church—seems to have so little illustration in modern times, that the selling of an estate for religious purposes (as when Robert Haldane sold the beautiful property of Airthrey and used the proceeds in missions at home and abroad) is looked upon with astonishment, as something uncalled-for and extraordinary, whereas it is here recorded that this was the normal rule of Christian beneficence among all men of property in these Pentecostal days. This would be at once a more dignified and more scriptural way of raising funds than the miserable and degrading expedient, so generally adopted in modern times, of Christians holding bazaars for religious or benevolent purposes. If the great people who generally figure in connection with these world shows were following the example of their brethren the Christian nobility and gentry of Jerusalem, and selling their "lands and houses," there would be no necessity for bazaaring to "spoil the Egyptians" for any scriptural object connected with Christian beneficence. But instead of adopting this Christian method, how sad it is to observe that the professing Church of our day will grub with naked hands through the entire length of the "miry places" of "this present evil world," if it can raise only a few hundred pounds for its own selfish purposes of church or chapel building, or the promotion of its charities or philanthropies!11 What a contrast have we in this to the Spirit-filled Pentecostal assembly of God; when "great grace was upon them all," and when, as a consequence, "as many as were owners of lands or houses, selling them, brought the price of what was sold and laid it at the feet of the apostles, and distribution was made to each according as any one might have need." There could scarcely be a stronger expression of the love and unity which prevailed in the Christian assembly, when it was not confined to sentiment or language but extended to the interchange of social advantages and the sale of "lands and houses.”