Your Spiritual Journey
The Wisdom of Gamaliel
The Wisdom of Gamaliel (Acts Chapter 5)
…Leave these men alone! Let them Go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will find yourselves fighting against God. (Acts 5:38&39)
Gamaliel’s advice to the members of the Sanhedrin has always fascinated me in its simplicity, but also in the wisdom behind it. The high priest and the other Sadducees were in an uproar over the apostles. They had recently been discovered teaching the people in the temple when it was believed that they were tucked away in a jail cell. Confronted by the Sanhedrin on why they continued to teach about Jesus, Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than human beings! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead – whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5: 29-32)
What moved Gamaliel to stand up among his fellow leaders and have the apostles removed. To speak boldly and provide examples of two men who claimed to be something they were not, reminding the Sanhedrin that those men failed, and their movements vanished. To warn them that if this is God’s will, they cannot stop it. What wise and logical advice this was. The part that has always stuck with me is where he says you will only find yourselves fighting against God. How many people have fought against God and the fact that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, who willingly died on the cross of Calvary for the remission of our sins. How many people are fighting against it today. Not necessarily physically fighting, but by ignoring the word of God and turning away from the truth. I sit here writing this to you with God’s word open on my desk hundreds of years after Gamaliel’s advice. The words spoken by the apostles that day and the message they preached is from God. And though many have tried, it has not, and will not, be stopped. I pray that God blesses us with the strength and courage to continue to preach the good news about Christ, especially to those who may find themselves fighting against Him.
In Christian Love,
Bob
