#BibleStudy Expressions of Faith. Acts Ch 5. Angelic Irony

¹⁷ Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸ They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. ¹⁹ But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.

²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

²¹ At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

Acts 5:17-21a

Angelic Irony

It shouldn’t surprise you that the “new” religion preached by the disciples infuriated the Jewish religious leaders.

• The Sadducees were a powerful priestly party.
• They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.
• They did not believe in a personal Messiah.
• They did not believe in angels or spirits.

The reigning High Priest was a Sadducee, so they were even more self-important than ever.

• The Sadducees have the apostles arrested and jailed in a public display of their power.
• Dozens of people witness the arrests, but no mention is made of the apostles’ reaction. 

Verse 29b conveys their motivation.

“We must obey God rather than human beings!

Why did God send an angel to rescue them?

• I suspect the apostles were praying.

Okay. But, why did God send an angel to rescue them?

Don't you find it ironic that an angel, something Sadducees don’t believe exists, is sent by God for the task!

• The angel talks to the apostles and escorts them out of prison.
• The Sadducees send a messenger to the prison to bring the apostles to them, even though the apostles began preaching in the Temple before the Sadducees arrive there.
• Temple guards plead ignorance.

Put yourself in the place of a Sadducee. 

• How would you feel about the angel’s visit?

What do you believe that is not God’s truth 

or refuse to believe that is God’s truth?

Ask God to forgive you of those this week, then

 

The next Expressions of Faith is Acts Chapter 5. Rejoicing in...

 

 

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