Acts 4:23-37  The Kings and Rulers of the Earth Were Gathered Together Against the Lord and His Christ

[Study Aired January 1, 2023]

Act 4:23  And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
Act 4:24  And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Act 4:25  Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Act 4:29  And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Act 4:30  By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
Act 4:31  And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Act 4:32  And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
Act 4:33  And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
Act 4:34  Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
Act 4:35  And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.
Act 4:36  And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
Act 4:37  Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

In our last study, the risen Lord had Peter and John use the healing of a 40-year-old man, who had been born  lame and had begged at the gate of the temple for decades, as an occasion to proclaim His resurrection. In doing so, their witness added five thousand to their numbers. The “the higher power”, the priests and the captain of the temple, arrested them and they were ordered by that “higher power”, the Jewish Sanhedrin, to stop preaching in the name of Jesus:

Act 4:14  And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
Act 4:15  But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16  Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17  But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Hearing that commandment from the Jewish Sanhedrin, the higher power over Peter and John, these apostles set us an example of when it is right and proper to defy ‘the higher power”. This was Peter’s response to a commandment from men to defy the commandment of Christ to take the gospel of the kingdom of God to the whole world:

Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Act 4:23  And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
Act 4:24  And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Act 4:25  Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

‘The kings of the earth… Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the people of Israel… were gathered together against Christ and His anointed’. His anointed are those He has given an anointing to be His witnesses. ‘Anointing’ is the meaning of the word “unction” in these verses of scripture:

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1Jn 2:20  But ye have an unction [G5545: ‘chrisma’, same root as G5547, the Greek word ‘Christos’, Christ] from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

So ‘chrisma’ is defined as the ‘anointing’ which is upon every believer in Christ, and ‘Christos’ are those who are anointed by Christ and with Christ.

Until the coming of Christ, every physical Jew or Israelite was considered one of the Lord’s saints by virtue of being of the seed of Abraham via his son Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob. The phrase “their own company” is not intended here to distinguish the friends and families of Peter and John from the surrounding Gentiles. Rather, it now distinguishes a company within physical Israel from others within physical Israel. In this “time of reformation” the Lord is just slowly beginning to show His disciples that physical pedigree is of no value to Him:

Heb 9:7  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8  The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

This revelation of “the time of reformation” begins right here at the beginning of the book of Acts. For the first time in history there is more to being in a relationship with God than simply being physically circumcised and being of the seed of Abraham. Before Christ came, a Gentile could become a part of the nation of Israel by submitting to the ritual of circumcision and agreeing to keep the laws of Moses.  The phrase “their own company” now added another element to what is required to be in fellowship with God, and that new element was the faith of Christ being given to these Jews. “The first tabernacle was yet standing” and there was yet no thought of Gentiles becoming a part of Israel without physical circumcision and without adherence to the laws of Moses.

Nevertheless, these early Jewish disciples of Christ were all acting within the measure of faith the Lord has until this time given them, and these threats against them and their leaders served only to strengthen their resolve to be obedient to Christ and to wait for His coming kingdom, which they truly believed was eminent:

Act 4:29  And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Act 4:30  By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

These Christians are all devout Jewish men and women who also had seen the beggar who had been sitting at the gate of the temple for literally decades, and the whole congregation of at least 3120 persons was greatly affected by this incredible miracle. As the healing of this man who was born lame symbolizes, the disciples of Christ are also being raised up from their own spiritual impotency to leap and run and walk with their Lord, and to testify to this world that the Lord has healed them of their impotency and that they can now walk and leap as His witnesses in His service.

Act 4:31  And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

The healing of the lame man was both a physical and a spiritual healing, and the ‘shaking of the place where they were ‘assembled together’ was also a physical and a spiritual shaking which was shaking away anything that could be shaken away, and it was revealing what things could not be shaken.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Act 4:32  And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

This is the second time we are told that in the early church ‘No one said anything was his own; but they had all things in common’:

Act 2:44  And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
Act 2:45  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

This communal lifestyle does not fulfill the commandment to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. Instead, it is just what happened when the church of God was in its infancy and expecting the eminent establishing of a physical kingdom of Israel.

This part of our experience is foreshadowed by the Lord having told Abram to leave his father’s house and go into Canaan. However, the flesh is still strong even after our initial calling, and what actually happened, for our admonition, was that Terah, Abram’s father, led Abram out of Ur and half way to Canaan, where he stopped and began a new life on the same side of the Euphrates River:

Gen 12:1  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Gen 11:31  And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

Only after the death of ‘the old man’, Abram’s father Terah, was Abram given the faith to go on into Canaan. That is the message of the entire book of Acts. ‘While the first tabernacle still stands’ the Jewish Christians, just like Abram, could not yet spiritually go beyond their attachment to their past.

The Jewish disciples sold all they owned and had all things in common because they were still expecting a physical nation to be established by Christ. That does not mean communism as a lifestyle is taught by the scriptures as some preach and teach. What it emphasizes again is the great truth of:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Galatians 6 is as much a part of scripture as is Acts 4, and there is no contradiction when we understand that these early Christians sold their possessions and had all things in common truly believing Christ just any day would appear and put down Roman rule and make physical Israel the dominant power in the earth. That was the spirit the Lord had sent them for that time.

This is the spirit He eventually gave them and the spirit which He has given us today:

Gal 6:4  But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
Gal 6:5  For every man shall bear his own burden.

Nevertheless, we are all dependent babies before we become capable of carrying our own weight, and that was as true of the early church as it is of us. The disciples had not yet been given to understand what the Lord meant when He said “they that worship [God] must worship Him in spirit and in Truth”.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The disciples are still all Jews here in this fourth chapter of Acts, and they were nowhere near being capable of understanding what true circumcision is or what a true Jew is:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

They were faithful to the faith they had been given, and that is all the Lord expects of any of us:

Rom 14:19  Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
Rom 14:20  For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
Rom 14:21  It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Rom 14:22  Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
Rom 14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

These earliest Jewish disciples were true and faithful to the faith they had been given and the Lord honored that faith:

Act 4:33  And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

The bride of Christ is only beginning to be assembled in the book of Acts. Christ came to His physical bride, and she had Him crucified. Since Pentecost He is in the process of revealing that He no longer has a physical bride. As He told the woman at the well:

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Christ’s words, “and now is” lets us know what He meant when He gave His first recorded sermon in His hometown of Nazareth. In that sermon He told all His acquaintances, with whom He had been brought up, that the time was at the door when God would begin to work with Gentiles who would gladly receive Him and His doctrine:

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

The Lord had been working with a physical nation for many years and that physical relationship served to demonstrate that “the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be” (Rom 8:7). The entire history and economy of Israel has been used by the Lord to demonstrate for us why “flesh and blood (even the flesh and blood of the descendants of Abraham) cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1Co 15:50). Christ did not reveal this to His disciples while He was here on earth in a body of flesh and blood. Therefore, throughout the book of Acts, the early Jewish church is still under the impression that Christ’s Kingdom is a physical kingdom of flesh and blood, and they believe it is eminent and that it will appear on the scene at just any moment. This mindset was evident by the first question they asked the risen Lord just before He ascended into heaven:

Act 1:4  And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
Act 1:5  For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Act 1:6  When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Act 1:7  And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The apostles and the other disciples took the Lord’s words “Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem… and unto the utmost part of the earth” to mean, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me before the Jews in Jerusalem, and the Jews in Judaea, and the Jews in Samaria, and unto the Jews in the uttermost part of the earth.” The events of Acts 21 and the uproar that ensued when Paul witnessed to the simple fact that the risen Christ had told Him that He would send him to the Gentiles, demonstrates the animosity that even the believing multitudes had toward God working with the Gentiles, and the doctrine of Christ which stated, “the flesh profits nothing” (Joh 6:63). It was the believing Jews who were selling their possessions and having all in common expecting a physical Jewish kingdom of Israel to be established on this earth.

Act 4:34  Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
Act 4:35  And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

For the second time we are told that the early church sold many of their possessions and “distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”

Act 2:42  And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Act 2:43  And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
Act 2:44  And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
Act 2:45  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Act 2:46  And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Act 2:47  Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Act 4:36  And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
Act 4:37  Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

This is the first mention of Barnabas… “the son of consolation”. It was Barnabas who we are told brought [Saul of Tarsus] to the apostles when they feared him so much that “they… believed not that he was a disciple”:

Act 9:26  And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

It is manifested in the words, “They were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple” that the Lord had not informed Peter or James or John what he had done to ‘Saul of Tarsus’ three years earlier. Now, “through the church” in this case, through Barnabas, they are about to learn that the Lord had give Saul an attitude adjustment, and he was no longer the rabid hater of Christians he once was.

Act 9:27  But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus [for three years (Gal 1:18)].

Paul tells us that he was at Jerusalem “fifteen days” (Gal 1:18) before he again had to flee for his life. He also tells us that the only apostles he met while there in Jerusalem were Peter and James:

Gal 1:15  But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
Gal 1:16  To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Gal 1:17  Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
Gal 1:18  Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
Gal 1:19  But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.

Act 9:28  And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.
Act 9:29  And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.

“The Grecians” does not mean Gentile Greeks. Neither does it mean Gentile Greek proselytes. “The Grecians” means Jews who were familiar with the Greek culture and who read the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament.

Act 9:30  Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.

When Paul last went up to Jerusalem, just as he was about to perform the giving of a blood sacrifice to conclude a vow with four other men, he was attacked in the temple by “the Jews which were of Asia”. After being rescued by a Roman captain from a mob intent on killing him, Paul requested and was granted to “speak to the people”. This is where we will hear Paul’s account of why he fled Jerusalem to go back to his hometown of Tarsus when he first met Peter and James:

We must skip ahead to Acts 21 when we last see Saul of Tarsus, whose name is now changed to Paul the apostle. We will begin in verse 27:

Act 21:27  And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,
Act 21:28  Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.
Act 21:29  (For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)
Act 21:30  And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut.
Act 21:31  And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
Act 21:32  Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul.
Act 21:33  Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done.
Act 21:34  And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle.
Act 21:35  And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people.
Act 21:36  For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him.

At this point Paul requests of the chief captain to speak to the people:

Act 21:37  And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek?
Act 21:38  Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?
Act 21:39  But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.
Act 21:40  And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,

Act 22:1  Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.
Act 22:2  (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
Act 22:3  I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
Act 22:4  And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
Act 22:5  As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
Act 22:6  And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
Act 22:7  And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
Act 22:9  And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
Act 22:10  And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
Act 22:11  And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
Act 22:12  And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
Act 22:13  Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
Act 22:14  And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
Act 22:15  For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
Act 22:16  And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Act 22:17  And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;
Act 22:18  And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
Act 22:19  And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:
Act 22:20  And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
Act 22:21  And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
Act 22:22  And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.
Act 22:23  And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,

The mention of God having a relationship with anyone other than the seed of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob was simply more than the Jews would even listen to. Christ had simply pointed out that God sent Elijah to a Gentile widow and had Elisha to heal a Gentile captain, Naaman, the Syrian, and the people He had been brought up with immediately attempted to murder Him. The point being made is that the transition from our attachment to our flesh to the understanding that “the flesh profits nothing”, takes a long time within all of our lives, and while the Lord is blessing and growing His church here in Acts 4, there are still “many things… ye cannot bear now”:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Let’s go back now to Acts 9 when Paul, whose name was still ‘Saul of Tarsus’, fled from Damascus and attempted to join himself to the apostles in Jerusalem for the first time:

Act 9:26  And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

The Lord had not seen fit to tell the apostles at Jerusalem what He had done with Saul of Tarsus. The Lord saw fit to have Barnabas reveal that to them (Eph 3:10)

Act 9:27  But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

As we noted earlier, the Lord waited three years before letting the apostles at Jerusalem know what He had done in the life of Saul of Tarsus. The Lord is not speaking only “by the church”, and in this case ‘the church’ by whom this was made known to the apostles at Jerusalem was Barnabas:

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Eph 3:12  In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

It appears that Barnabas had been in Damascus at the time of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus and saw and heard the changes the Lord had made in the life of Saul.

Act 9:28  And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.
Act 9:29  And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.
Act 9:30  Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.
Act 9:31  Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

All we are told here in chapter 9 is, “When the brethren knew [“the Grecians… went about to slay Saul of Tarsus] they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus.” In Acts 22 Paul informs us that the only way “the brethren knew” about those plans was because the Lord had revealed it to Paul while he was in a trance and praying in the temple.

We are not yet in Acts 9, and the conversion of Saul of Tarsus has not yet taken place. We are still in chapter 4 where Peter and John healed a lame man who was known by everyone in the city who went up to the temple. The man “was above forty years” upon whom this miracle was shown, and this witness to the power of the risen Christ is so powerful that when Peter and John told the people that it is the risen Christ who has healed this man, 5,000 men were added to the church that day. The unbelieving Sadducee priests, who do not even believe in a resurrection of the dead and who had slain Christ just a few weeks earlier, arrest the apostles Peter and John and the man they healed and kept them in jail overnight before threatening them and then sending them on their way with the warning that they are not to preach in the name of Jesus, and commanding them to cease and desist from doing so.

Act 4:16  Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17  But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Peter and John knew that these were the very same people who had orchestrated the crucifixion of Christ, and they no doubt thought that might be their own fate. However, this time they did not run away for their lives. Now their physical lives no longer mattered because they now “had respect unto the recompense of the reward”, and that “respect unto the recompense of the reward” meant more to them than their earthly life:

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

In our next study, we will see how the Lord continues to build and establish His church by performing many miracles, including the death of Ananias and Saphira his wife for lying to the holy spirit. We will also see how the Lord’s blessing of the church in this “time of reformation” was perceived as a threat to the “church in the wilderness”, the established church of that day, and how the Lord, by releasing the apostles from their jail, once again rubs the noses of the murderous Sanhedrin in the undeniable Truth that He is now risen and is alive and is doing His own will among the nations of this world, including the physical nation of Israel with their ruling Sanhedrin.