23 And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? 26 The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’ 27 “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
Commentary
Vs. 23 “And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.”
The apostles Peter and John now return to the brethren, greatly enriched and empowered, because though they were unjustly brought before the Sanhedrin, they were they’re for their faithfully preaching the Gospel and doing good in the Lord Jesus Christ’s Name. And so, they now report all that the chief priests said to them.
Vs. 24-26 24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? 26 The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’
When the brethren heard their report, they all with one accord raised their voice to God, declaring Him as the Only and Absolute Sovereign who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is them (vs. 24), not science and Darwin! Therefore, neither their threats nor their schemes nor anything else they seek to do will by any means overtake or surpass or cofound Him! For it is He alone who rules over all of creation, over all of the nations, and all of the people and all things in them! Who by the mouth of His prophet David, foretold all the futility of their seeking to oppose Him, when He said through David: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? 26 The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’ Psalm 2:1-2
Vs. 27-28 27 “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.
The brethren then being filled with the Holy Spirit now rightly see and understand the fulfillment of God’s Word spoken through David in the ongoing actions of Israel’s leadership, declaring to Him, “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.”
And so, what they did was not to a man, but to the Son of Man the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Holy and Anointed Servant, the appellation exclusively used of Him in Psalm 2:2. Therefore the brethren now charge them with conspiring with Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and people of Israel with fulfilling the Scripture by their taking their stand against the Lord and His Christ. Nonetheless though they have done so according to their own volitions, they were only fulfilling God’s own pretrained Counsel and Will, saying that what they did was only “to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.” Thus, even in their hatred of God and their rejection of His Anointed One, they could only find themselves fulfilling His Sovereign Will!
Vs. 29-31 29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
The brethren then having declared with great insight and understanding all that has transpired and why, now ask the Lord to look on all their threats against them and to grant them boldness that they may speak His Word. Thus, they didn’t ask God for His actively punishing those wicked people here and now, but rather they ask Him for the boldness the He already gave Peter and John to speak/preach His Word fearlessly in the presence of one and all! And so just as He gave them boldness to declare His Word before the Sanhedrin counsel, and to heal the lame man, so they themselves now ask that He stretch out His hand to heal through them and do signs and wonders through them in the Name of His holy Servant Jesus. For this is the sign that must come to Israel and the whole world who conspired with them that the Lord Jesus Christ Lives and Reigns, and so these things would be done through them right up until Israel’s dispersion as a nation.
Vs. 31 “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”
The brethren then having then declared to the Lord their words and made their supplication to Him now pray. “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”
Now notice that they did not request that they would speak in tongues, (i.e. other languages), rather that they might speak the Word of God with boldness in their native tongue, which is the ongoing request of this chapter, and should be our as well. For nowhere in the N.T. does the church ever pray to speak in tongues languages or even ask individually to do that, but only to speak the Word of God with boldness!
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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