Living By the Power of God's Right Hand!

Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."

Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."

When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed them: "Men of Israel... 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 Christ. [NIV]

It doesn’t matter what age, what gender or education level, whether single or married, with or without kids— each of us would prefer to use power, rather than have power used on us. Power can come in different forms. The superior athlete uses the power of superior skill to defeat lesser skilled opponents. Employers use the power of authority to hire and fire employees. Of course, at each stage of life, the kinds of power we would like to possess and use are different. The younger brother longs to have physical power to pop his older brother who constantly teases him. Teenagers long for the power of a driver’s license which gives them a little freedom from mom and dad. Young adults at the beginning of their careers quickly long for the power of seniority in the corner office.

We Christians have access to power, a great power— in fact, the greatest power of all. But as Christians (which means “little Christs”), we do not long to use this power to defeat others or gain freedom from others or stand over others in authority.

The power to which I am referring is God’s power in the ascended Jesus Christ. The ascended Jesus? That’s right! Forty days after Jesus went to the cross to bear the world’s sin, died and was raised again, He ascended to the Father’s right hand. This was a return to the position of heavenly glory and honor and supremacy He has enjoyed from eternity. From there, He uses his power to intercede for our sins every day (Hebrews 7: 25), and protect and strengthen us to carry out the Christian mission to proclaim His name to all people (Ephesians 1: 19- 22; Matthew 28: 18- 20). How important is it to have access to this power as we live in this sinful world? We turn to today’s lesson to find out.

The lesson begins with the Apostles being put on trial. As they had been doing since Pentecost day, they were preaching about what Jesus did to save all people. But the Jewish religious leaders did not like this because it only dredged up their role in Jesus’ crucifixion. It wasn’t something they cared to have broadcast all over Jerusalem. So the Apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish law court, to be intimidated into silence. The lesson describes the situation this way: “Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."

In this situation, we find how important Jesus’ ascension was to the Apostles’ work. It would have been very easy for them to bite their nails in fear. But they don’t. Rather we find them undaunted . They continue to preach the Good News of Jesus despite the violent opposition. Who was it that gave them courage? It was the ascended Jesus! The Apostle’s were tapping into his power to find strength! In the power of Christ, we hear their fearless words ring out before the unhappy Sanhedrin: "We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead— whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."

Clearly, the Apostles were confident in Christ. They knew that He had won heaven for them by his death for their sins and by His resurrection. They knew He was now interceding for them whenever they did sin (which was as often as the rest of us). They knew He was directing all these events to fulfill the mission of the church to proclaim His name. They knew nothing would happen to them apart from God’s good plan. Consequently, they did not consider their earthly troubles to be worth their attention compared with the coming joy of heaven which Christ won for them! Since Christ was watching over and protecting them from heaven, they longed to preach— even to those who were rejecting Him.

Let’s pause here for a moment. You may have noticed that the Apostle’s preached that “God exalted (Jesus) to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that He might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to ISRAEL.” We might ask: Didn’t Jesus come to bring repentance and forgiveness to all people, not only those of Israel? Certainly, few of us would qualify as citizens of Israel.

But in the New Testament, “Israel” often signifies spiritual Israel. To be a citizen of spiritual Israel has nothing to do with nationality. The citizens of spiritual Israel are God’s chosen ones in Christ— that is, all who God has brought to faith in Jesus, regardless of nationality. As St. Paul once said: “For NOT all who are descended of Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. I do not want you to be ignorant of this fact, brothers, so that you may not become conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles (non- Jews) has come in. And so ALL ISRAEL will be saved” (Romans 9: 6, 10: 25,26). Paul also says: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: FIRST for the Jews, then for the GENTILE” (Romans 1: 16). By the Apostles’ confident preaching, we learn as the Sanhedrin learned: Jesus is the Savior of all people !

How we needed him to save us! As we return to the fact that we all prefer to use rather than be used by power, we quickly realize how we have sinfully used power primarily for our own benefit. We who are husbands know how we have wielded stiff authority over wives. You who are wives know how you have shown disrespect for your husband’s God- given leadership role. We who are parents know the many times we misused discipline upon our children, only embittering them. You older children have bullied the younger. But Christ, from on high, works repentance in us over these things. From on High He pours His forgiveness into our hearts through Word, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Praise Christ, our ascended Savior!

Like the Apostles, we also live by His power to witness to the world about what Christ has done to save the world! We witness even though it will not always make us friends, no matter how gently and patiently we may speak to others about Jesus. So it was for the Apostles. “When the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death.”

But what does this matter when Christ is our Supremacy? He is God’s right hand in power, who carried out the Father’s will to be born from Mary, to suffer, to die, to rise again, to hold close to his breast all those whom the Father gave Him to hold. Since Christ supports the mission of His church, it cannot fail. Even Jesus’ enemies recognized this.

Concerning the Apostles who were on trial, the Pharisee Gamaliel finally said this to the Sanhedrin: “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.” The Apostles were released. They never stopped teaching people about Jesus. By His strength, neither shall we! SOLI DEO GLORIA

DEAR JESUS, I THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASCENSION TO HEAVEN TO BRING ME REPENTANCE THROUGH YOUR WORD FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN. STRENGTHEN ME BY YOUR POWER TO BRING YOUR NAME TO OTHERS THAT THEY TOO MAY BE SAVED. STRENGTHEN ME EVEN WHEN I FACE REJECTION FOR YOUR NAME. AMEN.

[NIV] New International Version used throughout.