The First Persecution
“And as they spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.” — Acts rv. 1-4.
THE persecution has begun. Peter’s discourse was rudely interrupted. The preacher was speaking very winsome words (iii. 26) when his mouth was closed. He was making Jesus — that new name — sound sweetly in the people’s ears. He was making offer of redemption to Israel in the clearest words and in the most tender spirit; but “as they spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them.” So it has happened from the beginning hitherto: persecutors are blind. In all lands and all generations they endeavour to extinguish the light, because they love the darkness.
The first persecution of Christ’s disciples exhibits, in its main characteristics, the type of all that have followed. A corrupt and cruel priesthood, in possession of office, gave the word, and led the way; and they were never at a loss to find some “captain of the temple” — some person who nominally held a civil office, but might be employed as a willing tool.
Whether the high priest at that time was personally a Sadducee is not certainly known; but it is evident, both here and in verse 1 7 th, that the sect of the Sadducees supported the officials with all their influence. These men of the short creed were at that period either in or out of office. If they were in power, they wielded the machinery of the hierarchy to suppress the preaching; if they were not in power, so zealous were they in the work, that they entered into alliance with their rivals to make it quick and sure. Those who were at daggers-drawn against each other, combined to put this doctrine and its preachers down. Herod and Pilate become friends in order that Christ may be again crucified in his members. Those who believe very little may become persecutors as well as those who believe very much. Sadducees and Pharisees combined against the gospel of Christ.
“We obtain here a clear glimpse of the work which these apostles were engaged in when they were thus interrupted: “They taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection of the dead.” The infant Church was charged with grand lessons, and she did not keep them secret. From the first the apostles made it their business to publish all they knew. The resurrection of the body, although not first revealed, was illustrated and confirmed by the gospel. After the Lord had risen, it became so much clearer and surer that it seemed to be a new revelation.
This doctrine they taught “in Jesus.” Accustomed as we are now to assume the resurrection without reasoning, we cannot well conceive how great the fact of Christ’s resurrection seemed when it was thrown upon the world. After the darkness that had covered the nations, and the comparative dimness of the light that shone in the Old Testament record, it seemed in this respect a new world for humankind when Jesus first raised Lazarus and then himself from the grave. When the apostles desired to teach the doctrine, they presented the fact.
These new teachers addressed their lessons to “the people.” The gospel, wherever it is preserved pure, exhibits a broad and hearty sympathy with the mass of the community.
The First Persecution.
This was given by its author as a mark of his mission: “To the poor the gospel is preached.” It does not overlook “the people;” it does not oppress or hoodwink them; it does not keep them in ignorance in order to make them docile to authority: it teaches them. It appeals to their understanding while it wins their hearts. “The common people heard Him gladly;” and well they might then; well they may now. “If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed:” there is no other security for popular liberty. Wherever the Word of God is concealed, the people are oppressed.
The gospel is not an eclectic, aristocratic system. There is no respect of persons with God. His word addresses itself to the common people, to enlighten, emancipate, and purify them; but it never flatters their prejudices, or palliates their sins.
The apostles elevated the poor man by teaching him, in Jesus, his own immortality. They might well get the ears of the multitude when they had such a tale to tell. This doctrine raises the poor from the dust, and sets them among princes. These preachers were truly levellers; but they “levelled up.” They made all equal, not by materially bringing down the high, but by spiritually elevating the lowest to the place and name of God’s dear children.
It grieved this heterogeneous band of Pharisees and Sadducees to observe that these grand lessons were taught to I the multitude. It is sad in any case to be in such a state of mind as to grieve over a neighbour’s good. But there was, a measure of conscientiousness in these primitive persecutors.. They thought they were doing God service. It is this vein of truth and reality running through it that has imparted to “persecution its perseverance and its power. The most fearj Iful crimes are perpetrated at the instigation of conscience, j, when it is dark and depraved. Conscience is not a safe guide for man if it be not enlightened and purified by the Word and Spirit of God. “Not conscience, but the Scriptures spiritually understood and conscientiously applied, are the rule of human life.
“They laid hands on them, and put them in hold.” Probably the act of arrestment was performed by “the captain of the temple,” on a hint from the high priest. Like their successors of Rome, they found it convenient to have a pliant magistrate at hand as their executor. The apostles did not on this occasion dispute the authority under which they suffered. These priests possessed jurisdiction, but they did not judge righteous judgment. They imprisoned the apostles in the meantime, and adjourned the case.
“Howbeit, many of them which heard the word believed.” Man proposes, but God disposes. The more that the adversaries attempted to extinguish the light, the more brightly it blazed. “The number of the men was about five thousand.” Probably at this time two thousand were added to the three thousand who were formerly admitted into the church. The specific term “men” in this case may be used in the looser sense of persons; or it may be that no women were present.
Already the Christians were a large family. The corn of wheat had fallen into the ground and died, therefore it is not now left alone. A great harvest has quickly sprung. Christ exalted, sees here of the travail of his soul and is satisfied. The stream of the new-born has begun to pour into the house of many mansions. The stream has flowed from that day to this, without intermission, as waters that fail not, and yet there is room. There is joy in heaven, not in the angels, but in their presence — that is, in Him whom they all adore — over “one sinner that repenteth;” and therefore a flood of five thousand joys that day filled the Ptedeemer’s heart on high. The Shepherd who misses one sheep that strays will not fail to mark each prodigal that returns. Each entrant adds another articulate delight to him who bought them with his blood. The joy set before him — the joy made up of the aggregate of all the saved, as the ocean is composed of water-drops — was very great; and for the sake of it he endured the cross and despised the shame.
These revival seasons, when they come in thousands, like doves to their windows, will be happy eras, marked as harvest-homes in heaven. The gate is open: many are pressing in. Come: whosoever will, let him come. There is pleasant company by the way, and an abundant entrance at the close. Reader, when he maketh up his many jewels, will you and I be there? “Now is the accepted time: now is the day of salvation.”