Worth Dying For

The book of Acts tells the story of the early church as the message of Jesus travels from "Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth." 

In chapter 5, Peter and the rest of Jesus' closest followers, are stirring up trouble. They are living out Jesus message, bringing the good news of God to people by preaching and healing hundreds in Jerusalem. 

Things were going well, but word gets around to the same crew that had Jesus killed a couple months earlier and sure enough Peter and his buddies get thrown in jail. 

Herod's Temple, where our story takes place.

But they didn't stay locked up for long. During their first night, God opens the prison doors and instructs them to get back to the business of telling people how Jesus was the climax to Israel's history. How he had carried out his promise to bless the whole world through Israel (Gen 12). 

The next morning the religious leaders call for Peter and the crew to be brought to trial but they weren't in their cells. At that same moment, someone glances out into the Temple square and says, "Look! There are those guys you put into prison!" 

Infuriated, the Temple leaders round up the crew and put plans in motion to have them killed. But a wise leader named Gamaliel, who was respected by all, stands up, has the accused put outside and addresses his fellow leaders: 

Gamaliel addressing the council

"Fellas, consider carefully what you are going to do with these guys. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about 400 followed him; but he was killed and the whole movement died.

After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

So this time, don't over react. Let the chips fall where they may. If what is going on is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, nothing you do will stop them."

Gamaliel's wisdom saves the lives of Peter and crew, and although the council told them to stop talking about Jesus, they didn't heed the command for a minute. 

Jewish historian, Josephus

But a careful read will reveal problems with Gamaliel's speech. According to Josephus (Ant 20.97-98), Theudas raised his revolt in AD 44-46, a number of years after Gamaliel's speech. Furthermore, Judas the Galilean, was active about 40 years before Theudas. 

But such discrepancies are normal in the Bible and should not cause us any alarm. As with the other discrepancies, those here do not affect the overall message of the text. 

That is of course unless we come to the text wanting something it does not offer. Acts does not objectively report its events - it is history infused with meaning. To view the Bible as a mere history text is to have an incomplete view of Scripture.

Acts is about the message of God's redemptive plan for all of humanity, being spread by a group of people who felt they were a part of something worth dying for. 

Do you feel a part of something greater than yourself? Are you connected to a movement whose message is worth dying for?