Bold Speech

Acts 4:23-30 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.” 27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
 
PETER and John returned in triumph from a night in jail and an interrogation before the ruling Jews. The LORD had given them a victory over those who had condemned Jesus. The church’s response was a resounding affirmation of God’s sovereign rule. At the center of their celebration is Psalm 2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The question asks God’s enemies why they do not know how futile it is to oppose God. No one can stop his purpose. No one, it seems, understands this.
   These new church members had quickly developed a solid understanding of God’s work. Not long before this the apostles and the other followers were confused, and they grieved Jesus’ horrible death. But the Holy Spirit’s power and authority began to reveal God’s very true rule.
   The men and women of the new church had been anointed to know God directs all things. They had full faith that the events occurring in Jerusalem demonstrated God’s character. He is eternal Creator. He protects his Anointed One, even as rulers killed him. Herod and Pilate could not rule over him. The crowd that called, “Crucify him!” could not condemn him. The church understood the people who struck down Jesus were doing God’s will as the prophets had told.
   Then the church prayed they could confront the opposition to come. They asked to speak your word with great boldness. They pursued God to do miraculous signs and wonders as they declared the name of Jesus. How often do we pray this way?
    God quickly answered their prayer. How good it would be to feel our church or home shake with God’s glory and power, his love and affirmation for us? The Holy Spirit filled them, too. He answered, “Yes!” to their prayer for bold speech, and this became their faithful testimony of the gospel.