Acts 5:27-32 (NRSV)
Read Acts 5:27-32 on biblegateway.com
Verse 27When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, Verse 28saying, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man's blood on us." Verse 29But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than any human authority. Verse 30The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. Verse 31God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Verse 32And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."
Devotion
28..."We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man's blood on us."
The Jewish council heard the message of Christ as incrimination. When Peter preached at Pentecost, “but this man… you crucified and killed” (Acts 2:23), the crowd responded with the desire for God’s forgiveness. One group gets it and the other wants to go on, unchanged by Jesus and his resurrection. The Good News will not force people to find life; it is ineffective at changing us unless we know our guilt and our need and let go of control, let God exalt Jesus and raise him from death to life in our lives.
May you believe and find confidence in Christ to receive complete forgiveness!
Prayer
Dearest Lord Jesus, my Savior, my leader, make me strong in confident trust, that the wicked one may find me troublesome to his purposes today. Amen.