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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 4:23 - 4:28
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The Prayer and the Further Establishment of the Congregation.
The report of the apostles and the prayer:
v. 23. And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
v. 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;
v. 25. who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
v. 26. The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.
v. 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
v. 28. for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done.
By the power of the Spirit's testimony through the mouth of the apostles the enemies had been vanquished. The two disciples were discharged for want of condemnatory matter against them. They came to their own, to their fellow-disciples, who were assembled according to their custom. To these members of the Christian community they made a report of all that the high priests and elders, the members of the Sanhedrin, had said to them. And the result was a spontaneous outburst of prayer on the part of the entire assembly, in the form of a hymn clothed in language from the Psalms. The vigorous spiritual life of the early Christians manifested itself here, and the Spirit Himself taught them the words of their powerful prayer. They addressed their prayer to the almighty Master of the universe, to Him that had made heaven and earth and the sea and all creatures that inhabit them, before whom nothing is impossible, who holds the fortunes of the entire world in the hollow of His hand, and directs them to suit His purposes. It was this God who had inspired David to pen the words of the Second Psalm, as we here learn. It was He that had asked the question through His servant David: For what reason do the nations engage in tumultuous uprisings, and the people meditate things that are vain and foolish? The haughtiness and insolence of all men by nature is equaled only by the vanity, the emptiness, of their aspirations. Here was evidence enough for the truth of the prophecy. The kings of the earth and the rulers had gathered themselves together against the Lord and against His Christ. No matter whether they were otherwise at bitter enmity toward each other, they forgot all their differences when a concerted move was planned against the Word and work of God and Christ. Assuredly, as the evidence before the eyes of all men showed plainly, in this very city they were banding together against the holy Child of God, His Son Jesus: Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,-they were all united against God's Anointed One. They would, of course, be able to carry out and succeed in doing only that which the hand of the Lord and His counsel had seen in advance and known that it would be done. God was still controlling the destinies of nations as well as of individuals. That was the situation. The enmity was there; it was directed against the Lord and His Christ; the believers knew that nothing could happen without the foreknowledge and permission of God. Note that there is no indication of a vindictive or resentful spirit in the prayer, but only a complete trust in the Lord.