"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.”
Acts 5:40,41 (NIV)
The apostles are amazing;
the whole story of Ananias and Sapphira established the apostles as holy men, men who represent God so closely that lying to them is lying to God. The fear that seized the Christians in the church at Jerusalem seemed to be good, even fruitful fear, and when you add this holy fear to the mindboggling miracles that were occurring thru the apostles ministry – the church’s influence in Jerusalem strengthened to the point where the leaders of the temple arrested the apostles threw them in jail and woke up the next day to find that the apostles were no longer in jail, so they “asked” them to appear before the court- wanted to kill them but settled for a flogging??? This is when Acts 5 gets truly amazing- the apostles rejoiced over the flogging, not because they enjoyed it, but because they were counted worthy to suffer for the Name of Jesus. And so I wonder- will I rejoice like the apostles rejoiced when I suffer at the hands of the authorities in Ontario? We have Christ’s teaching, His example and we have the apostles examples - I pray that will be enough for me.
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