“Therefore, in the present case I advise you: 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 only find yourselves fighting against God.”
His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”
“If it is of God, you will not be able to stop these men”. This is quite some wisdom from Gamiliel. Even in the midst of what amounted to blasphemy, he was able to keep his head and sense that there may have been something of God in what the apostles were doing and teaching. It is also, perhaps likely that he thought that their “revolt” would fade away just as the others he recounted had done. Whether or not he was speaking out of reverence for what God might do, or ridiculing the apostles, I do not know, but still, he hit upon something important. God cannot be thwarted. His purposes cannot be denied. We might think we’re in charge, or that we are defeating those who act in the name of God, but if people are actually working in the name of God (and who are we to tell whether they are or not?) nothing we can do will stop them from succeeding. Sometimes it is best for us to stand back and watch for signs of the action of God, particularly when God might act in a way which is beyond our usual understanding of His function. Shockingly God can act however He wants to. We would do well to remember that.
Later in the reading this morning, we see the apostles rejoicing because they were counted worthy to “suffer disgrace for the Name”. There are places all over the world where people heed this call today. Much of our teaching at the present time does not lead us to rejoice over being considered worthy to suffer because of Jesus. I wonder if our soft teaching will be challenged in the coming months and years.