Acts 4:1-7
The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand. The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
We see here that not everyone is excited when the gospel is preached and people are saved. The rulers, priests, and elders, were troubled when they heard of the number of people who believed in Jesus. Why was this so? This was because the message preached by the disciples was different from the message that they have preached in the past. They also saw that they lost many followers as people turned to Jesus upon hearing the message preached by Jesus' disciples. They were selfish and they did not care about what the truth was, or what was good for the people. They were only concerned for themselves, and for their own benefit. This is true even in the church today. Many Christians have the same reaction to the work of the Holy Spirit. There are many in the church who oppose to the work of the Holy Spirit today. It is not for the truth, nor for the benefit of others. It is often because they are afraid of losing their position and authority, afraid that they will lose the people in their congregation. Many non-Christians oppose Christianity, not because the gospel doesn't bring benefit, but because they are reluctant to relinquish their rights to be their own God. They are troubled because they are not willing to do so.
These men arrested Peter and John and asked them, "By what power and authority do you do these things?" This is such an interesting question: By what power, by whose authority, doing these things. We can sort of understand them asking by what power, but the strange thing is they asked by whose authority. As we can see, the name and authority is very important to them. The name represents authority. The elders, rulers and Pharisees, they all recognize that the name represents authority, as such asked the disciples for the name of the one by which they do these things. The apostles answered clearly, "By the name of Jesus Christ."; because the name of Jesus brings authority and power. Thinking back to Acts chapter three, at the gate called Beautiful, the crippled man pointed to Peter and John and asked for their money. However, Peter told the man that he does not have gold or silver, but what he has, he gave the man. What was it that Peter had to give? "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk." The crippled man started walking. Sometimes, we fail to recognize the power and authority of Jesus Christ, and hence we are not able to say what Peter said. Pray that the Lord will have mercy on us and help us the power and authority in the name of the Lord Jesus, that we may learn to use the name of Jesus in our daily lives.
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