And having been let go, they came to their own [company], and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
Israel's ruling council has just ordered Peter and John never to speak again in the name of Jesus. Then it lets them go. Where they went first shows who they now belonged to. The ESV says they went "to their friends"; older translations read more literally, "to their own company."
So what made this group "their own"? One writer points to who had gathered them:
It was the Spirit of God who had gathered them to the name of the risen Christ. The people of Israel — their leaders at least — were now becoming enemies of the apostles, just as they were enemies of Christ. A new people was taking shape... They knew the One on high who had accomplished and secured everything. So they were drawn more and more to the circle of those who confessed Him. And they were pulling away from their old belongings and their old boast — in principle, and more and more in heart.
The council could let the apostles go. But a company was already waiting in Jerusalem for them to go to.
At that time in Jerusalem there were many people who formed a company. So when the hostile authorities released the apostles, they knew where to go. The church of God is a company distinct from the world. That has been forgotten. Through the years the aim of the adversary has been to mix the church with the world... The church is not a part of the world's religious system. The church is a called out company. That is what the word translated church, or assembly, really means.
A chapter later, the same believers are simply called the assembly:
They now belonged to a new association, separate from the old congregation of Israel. In Acts 5:11 it is plainly called the assembly — not that it came into being then, but clearly as something already there and known.
Peter and John did not keep the threat to themselves or plan their next move alone. They brought it to the whole group.
They did not act like strong-minded men with dogged determination, set on their course despite every obstacle. Like men of God, they admitted their own weakness and turned to prayer. But they did not pray alone, as Elijah did, for example. They acted as members of the body of Christ, and reported affairs to "their own company." Then the whole assembly prayed as one company... It is an early example of the shared prayer that should always mark what an assembly does.
The news from the council could have crushed the group. It did the opposite.
"They went to their own company." A precious relief from the company of the ungodly! Their report of the ominous threats of the chief priests and elders does not dismay the disciples at all. Instead, they lift up their hearts and voices in praise to the Lord... But in beautiful triumph the disciples add, "to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place." The vanity of man's hostility and pride is tragic: it is God in control, not they.
When the pressure lifts, where do we go? That answer shows where our real companionship lies.
When you see someone who claims to be a Christian going on in fellowship with the world, you may be sure he is going wrong. Must we not do business in the world? Certainly. But to find congenial society in the world that cast out the Son of God is another thing... So they went to their own company, and they told them everything that had happened to them... They brought the matter into the presence of God. That is always where we find our help and our hiding place.
The same lesson shapes everyday life:
This verse takes for granted that, like the apostles who "being let go... went to their own company" (Acts 4:23), we also find our society and companionship among the people of God. It also means we watch over one another's souls and care about one another's spiritual growth... We are far more influenced by the company we keep than many of us like to admit.
- Released — the council let them go. Their first free steps showed where their loyalty lay.
- Returned — "their own company" was a new association, separate from the old congregation of Israel. The Spirit had gathered them around the name of the risen Christ.
- Reported — they told the whole assembly instead of acting alone. They moved as members of one body.
- Prayed — the report brought praise, not fear. They saw God's hand and plan behind the hostility of rulers.
- Recognised — the line between this called out company and the world still stands. Where we go when we are free shows which side we are on.
And they, having heard [it], lifted up [their] voice with one accord to God, and said, Lord, *thou* art the God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them;
Released from the council's threats, Peter and John go back to the believers, and the whole group turns straight to God. Commentators dwell on the name these believers give Him, and on the one voice they give it in.
No one told the two apostles where to go. What formed that circle drew them back to it.
What made these believers "their own company"? What drew the two apostles to them by instinct, the moment the council let them go? It was the Spirit of God, who had gathered them to the name of the risen Christ. The people of Israel, or at least their leaders, were now becoming enemies of these believers, as they were enemies of Christ. A new people was taking shape... So they were drawn more and more to the circle of those who confessed Him. They were detached in principle, and more and more in heart, from their old belongings and their old boast.
They prayed as one body, not as people who happened to be in the same room. The older wording below, "with one accord," is "together" in the ESV.
They did not act like strong-minded men pushing ahead whatever the obstacles. Like men of God, they admitted their own weakness and turned to prayer. But they did not pray singly, as Elijah did. They acted as members of the body of Christ and reported matters to "their own company." Then the whole assembly prayed as one company: "they lifted up their voice to God with one accord."
A group cannot produce one mind in prayer on the spot. It grows out of what they already are to each other.
The apostle shows clearly that to glorify God with one mind, we must be "like-minded one toward another." We see these two things marking the saints in Pentecostal days. We read that "they lifted up their voices with one accord to God." These same believers, who could glorify God with "one mind," were "of one heart and of one soul." They were one-minded toward God because they were like-minded toward one another.
The word behind "Sovereign Lord" is not the usual word for "Lord." Its other uses show what it carries.
Notice that the word used here for "Lord" is not the usual one. The same term occurs in Luke 2:29, Acts 4:24, Jude 4. It means the Lord as "sovereign master." It is also used in 2 Peter 2:1: "even denying the Master who bought them." This is not the nearness in which we know Him as "our Lord." It is the general relation of authority in which the Lord is Master of the whole world — of all men, whether bad or good.
They turn to God as the Maker of everything. Israel had learned to lean on that name after human help ran out.
Their faith, confirmed and purified through their trials, rises to the full height of what Jehovah had revealed of Himself to Israel: the One who created heaven and earth. Jehovah, as His people knew Him, was the all-powerful God. So the apostles, with the company of believers gathered at Pentecost, "lifted up their voice to God with one accord."... It is as happy for us as for Israel when we come to the end of all human resources. Then we learn that our help is in the name of our God alone.
Many voices, one prayer, and not a word of it prepared in advance.
What they said is a remarkable outpouring to God. It proves how badly they err who imagine that there can be no agreement in prayer unless everyone holds a form written in advance. Such a form seriously interferes with the power of the Holy Spirit, and in practice denies it... They called Him "Master," in the sense of Sovereign owner and disposer of all. They acknowledge His glory in creation. Then they turn at once to His prophetic word through David at the start of Psalm 2.
- One company. The Spirit gathered these believers around the name of the risen Christ. The freed apostles went straight back to them — a new people, letting go of its old boast.
- One heart. They could pray with one mouth because they were already like-minded toward one another. Agreement in prayer starts before the prayer.
- One Master. The title they used means sovereign owner. It is the Lord's authority over the whole world, not the nearness of "our Lord."
- One Creator. Threatened by rulers, they climbed to the highest ground they knew: the God who made heaven, earth and sea. That is where faith lands when human resources are gone.
- One Spirit. They needed no written form. The same Spirit who made them one gave them the words, carrying them from creation straight into the prophecy of Psalm 2.
who hast said by the mouth of thy servant David, Why have [the] nations raged haughtily and [the] peoples meditated vain things?
The ruling council has just ordered the believers to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. They answer by praying, and they pray in words God had spoken through David long before: why do the nations rage?
One sentence names three: God speaks, the Holy Spirit carries the words, David's mouth says them. That settles what the Old Testament is.
We learn from Acts 1:16 that the very same Holy Spirit for whom the disciples were waiting, and who came at Pentecost, was the One who spoke by the mouth of David in the Psalms. Let us avoid thinking of the Old Testament as a mere collection of Hebrew religious books.
David is called God's "servant" here. The same Greek word is used of Jesus a few verses later.
In Acts 4:27, 30 the word is pais, which is translated "servant" as often as "child," since the word means both. In these verses it would be much better to translate "your holy servant Jesus"; David is also called "servant" in Acts 4:25.
The psalm does not just report hostility. It calls the plot empty.
The people plot a vain, futile thing (Psalm 2:1), as though they can possibly banish God from His place of sovereign power and glory!... God's anointed King, who was once cast out and crucified, will be the object of their hatred, for they know they have not really got rid of Him. Though they rejected Him from the earth, heaven has received Him, though they don't like to admit it.
The psalm's opening lines matched something that had just happened in their own city. Enemies who despised each other joined forces.
Pilate and Herod, who had been enemies, could bury their hatred and agree in rejecting the Son of God. And the Jews, who usually spoke of the Gentiles with contempt as "the uncircumcised," could join them in heaping insult and shame on Christ.
The match is not loose. Commentators say these words fit one event and no other, and that the plot ended in the enemy's loss.
To no event since the Psalm was written can the opening words apply except to the one just before them... There are great principles in Scripture, but also prophecies that belong to one person alone. The disciples do see in it a conspiracy directed by Satan, in which evil seemed to have its own way unchecked, even to the crucifying of the Lord of glory. Yet they are clear that the enemy with all his hosts has in fact gained nothing but defeat.
Commentators separate what a passage will finally mean from how it can be used today.
In their prayer they were led to the Word of God. Psalm 2 shed its light on the situation that confronted them. Its interpretation points to the last days, but they saw an application that fitted their own days. The early church submitted to the Word, and found in it all the light and guidance they needed.
A whole company prayed the same words together, yet nobody had handed them a script.
Their utterance is a remarkable outpouring to God. It shows how wrong those are who think a company cannot agree in prayer unless they all use a form written beforehand... For it was the Holy Spirit who guided them as they spread their present circumstances out before God without preparation. They did so in line with the written word, and in striking identification with the Lord Jesus.
Another writer says their circumstances carried them straight into the psalm.
The circumstances around them so shape the mind of the disciples (under the Holy Spirit, surely) that their souls are at once brought into fellowship with Psalm 2. Without effort or delay, they find the proper expression of their hearts through it.
- Spoken — The words are God's, carried by the Holy Spirit, voiced through David. The Spirit who came at Pentecost is the Spirit who wrote the Psalms.
- Servant — David is God's servant here. The same word marks Jesus a few verses on, better rendered "your holy servant Jesus."
- Vain — The plot is empty because it aims to unseat a God no one can unseat.
- Applied — The psalm's full interpretation belongs to the last days. The praying company still found its light for their own day, and let the Word govern them.
- Prayed — Their united prayer was spontaneous, not recited. The plot it described had already ended in the enemy's defeat.
The kings of the earth were there, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.
The council had just ordered the believers to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. They answered with prayer, taking up words David wrote long before about rulers who band together against God and His Anointed.
Under threat, the gathered believers did not first describe their danger. They named God as Maker of everything, then turned to what He had already said.
Their words are a remarkable outpouring to God. They prove how wrong those are who think there can be no agreement in prayer without a set form written out beforehand... They acknowledge His glory in creation, but turn at once to His prophetic word through David at the start of Psalm 2. They apply it directly to the unnatural alliance Jerusalem had just seen: Gentiles with Jews, Herod with Pontius Pilate, against Jesus the Messiah.
The kings and rulers of the psalm were real men the disciples could name. They were not natural allies.
Pilate and Herod had been enemies, yet they could bury their hatred and be at one in rejecting the Son of God. The Jews usually spoke of the Gentiles with contempt as "the uncircumcised," yet they could join with them in heaping insult and shame on Christ... Satan is well able to bring about unity to accomplish his dreadful purposes.
One event in history fits the opening lines of the psalm.
Since the Psalm was written, its opening words can apply to no event except the one these men had just witnessed. They speak with precision of that strange union and daring guilt, where Jew and Gentile with their rulers set themselves against the Lord and His Anointed as never before or since.
The phrase does not mean men standing in one room. The Gospels place them in different rooms, and that shapes how we read the word.
Scripture says they were gathered "together." Yet Scripture also shows, as every reader of the Gospels knows, that they met in quite different places. The chief priests and scribes led Christ to their own council — to Annas first and then to Caiaphas. The whole crowd of them led Him to Pilate at the Praetorium. Pilate then sent Him on to Herod. In the end Pilate had Him whipped in his own place, before the cross.
The refusal ran deeper than turning down a Saviour.
God sent His Son into this world as the Anointed One, the rightful ruler, and the world has cast Him out. Can this be a matter of indifference to God? On the contrary, it is a matter of deepest importance. God sees the world as a place guilty of rejecting His Son as its rightful Lord, and He expects the believer to see it the same way... The guilt pressed home on the Jews as a people was not that of refusing a Saviour, which was their own individual loss. It was the guilt of rejecting God's Anointed, which brought condemnation on their nation.
The disciples were not praying in despair. They saw a plot that looked like a success, and called it a defeat.
The disciples see in it a conspiracy directed by Satan. In it evil seemed to have its way without check, even to the crucifying of the Lord of glory. Yet they are clear that the enemy with all his hosts gained nothing but defeat. The others never thought of this when they held their council and condemned Jesus to the death of the cross. But Him who is higher than the highest gathered them, to do whatever His hand and His counsel had decided beforehand.
The psalm found a real fulfilment at the cross. It did not find its whole fulfilment there.
The rejection of Jesus at His first coming fulfilled these words, at least in principle. That showed most of all in the resistance offered in Jerusalem to the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit of grace, He first brought His testimony there to the men who had betrayed and murdered that Jesus... The passage has clearly received a partial fulfilment in those events. But later testimonies of the same Spirit make it quite plain that a fulfilment of these words, still more awful and decisive, has yet to take effect.
- Conspiracy. Herod and Pilate, Jew and Gentile despised each other. They united against God's Anointed.
- Counsel. God Himself gathered them, to carry out what His hand and counsel had decided beforehand.
- Collapse. The conspiracy looked like victory. It was total defeat, and the enemy gained nothing.
- Charge. The world's guilt is more than refusing a Saviour. It has cast out God's rightful ruler.
- Coming. The cross fulfilled these words in part; a fuller and more decisive fulfilment is still ahead.
For in truth against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou hadst anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with [the] nations, and peoples of Israel, have been gathered together in this city
The council has just released the believers with orders to stop speaking about Jesus. They answer with prayer. In that prayer they name exactly who had stood against their Master, and why it happened.
Jesus is called God's "holy servant" here. The Greek word behind that title can be read two ways:
In Acts 4:27, 30 the word is pais, which is translated 'servant' as often as 'child,' the word signifying both. In these verses it would be much better to translate 'your holy servant Jesus.' David is also called 'servant' in Acts 4:25.
The title also shows how far the apostles' preaching had gone by this point.
The Messiah was rejected on earth. The Jews went furthest in urging the deepest shame and disgrace for Him who was born King of the Jews... But, as Peter preached, God raised Him up and made the very Jesus whom His people crucified both Lord and Christ. No apostle went beyond this until now. In Acts 3:13 and Acts 4:27 it is still the Messianic title of "servant" (not "Son").
The prayer quotes David first. It then matches his words, line by line, to what the city had just watched happen.
They acknowledge His glory in creation, but turn at once to His prophetic word through David in the beginning of Psalm 2. They apply this plainly to the unnatural alliance Jerusalem had just seen: Gentiles with Jews, Herod with Pontius Pilate, against Jesus the Messiah.
Kelly presses further. This is not a general rule about opposition, but a prophecy with one owner.
Since David wrote the Psalm, its opening words fit no event except the one just before them. They speak with precision of that strange union and daring guilt. There Jew and Gentile, with their rulers, lined up against Jehovah and His Anointed as never before or since. There are great principles in Scripture, but also exclusively personal prophecies.
The prayer names four parties. Two of them were enemies; the other two despised each other by habit.
How solemn! Pilate and Herod had been enemies. Yet they could bury their hatred and agree together in rejecting the Son of God. The Jews usually spoke of the Gentiles with contempt as "the uncircumcised." Yet they could join with them in heaping insult and disgrace on Christ... Satan is well able to bring about unity for the accomplishment of his dreadful purposes.
Bellett puts it as a standing rule, not just a past event.
The world has power to combine very different elements when an unworldly Christ stands out as a common enemy. Herod and Pilate were made friends together. A society may hold the secular and the religious, even the unbeliever and the superstitious. But let an unworldly Christ appear, and they will all challenge Him as their common enemy.
Some press the phrase to mean meeting in a single location. Kelly shows from the trial itself that it cannot carry that weight.
It is very certain that this gathering "together" of Herod and Pilate, of the Gentiles and of Israel, does not say, or support the idea, that they were all assembled "in one place"... Yet Scripture clearly shows, as every reader of the Gospels knows, that they met in quite different places. The chief priests and scribes led Christ to their own council — to Annas first and then to Caiaphas. The whole crowd of them led Him to Pilate and the Praetorium. Then Pilate sent Him on to Herod.
The verse begins with human plotting. It does not end there.
The disciples see in it a conspiracy directed by Satan. In it evil seemed to have its way unchecked, even to the crucifying of the Lord of glory. Yet they are clear that the enemy and all his hosts have really gained nothing but defeat. The others did not think so at all when they held their council and sentenced Jesus to the death of the cross. But He who is higher than the highest gathered them.
This is what makes the verse steadying when everything looks dark.
Take the worst act the world has ever seen — the crucifixion of Christ... If we may read the hand and foreordination of God in this act, then we may read it in all acts whatever. In this way alone, no darkness is left without relief.
- Gathered against — Herod, Pilate, Gentiles and Israel shared nothing but their opposition to Christ. Rejecting Him turned enemies into friends.
- Gathered apart — "together" does not mean one place. The trial ran from Annas to Caiaphas to Pilate to Herod, yet Scripture calls it one gathering.
- Gathered by God — One higher than the plotters was gathering them, and they never guessed it.
- Named as Servant — the Greek word can mean "servant" or "child", and here "servant" fits best; at this stage Peter still preaches the Messianic title, not "Son".
- Turned into prayer — under threat, the disciples read Psalm 2 back to its Author and applied it to their own city.
to do whatever thy hand and thy counsel had determined before should come to pass.
The believers in Jerusalem had just been threatened and told to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. The believers answered by praying. In that prayer they looked back at the killing of Jesus and called it the very thing God's hand and plan had already settled. That raises the hardest question in the verse: if God settled it beforehand, what becomes of the guilt of the men who did it?
The men who condemned Jesus thought they were disposing of Him. The prayer says otherwise: a higher hand had gathered their council. (Older translations say God's "counsel" where the ESV says His "plan.")
The disciples see in it a conspiracy directed by Satan. In it evil seemed to have its way without check, even to crucifying the Lord of glory. Yet they are clear that the enemy with all his hosts in fact gained nothing but defeat. The others never thought of this when they held their council and condemned Jesus to the death of the cross. But He who is higher than the highest gathered them, to do whatever His hand and His counsel had determined beforehand.
The prayer names God as Maker of all, then turns at once to the second Psalm. The believers saw that Psalm coming true in front of them.
"Master," they said, in the sense of Sovereign owner and disposer of all... They acknowledge His glory in creation, but turn at once to His prophetic word through David at the beginning of Psalm 2. They apply it directly to the unnatural alliance Jerusalem had just seen: Gentiles with Jews, Herod with Pontius Pilate, against Jesus the Messiah.
The same act was God's settled purpose and the guilt of the men who carried it out.
God delivered Him up to this according to His "determinate counsel and foreknowledge." God knows how to make the wrath of man praise Him and carry out His designs of blessing. Yet this does not lessen man's responsibility in the matter. Here is a clear instance of how the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man do not clash, when it is a question of practical results. We may still find the two hard to reconcile as a matter of theory.
God's purpose does not blunt our moral judgment of the deed. Both sides in the verse acted out what they were.
Everything is in its place, not one side only but both. God has His determinate counsel and foreknowledge. The Jews played their evil part, the Gentiles theirs. They differed in thoughts and feelings, yet together they showed their characters and their guilt. In that very same act they fulfilled the prophets. And it gave occasion for the display of God's holiest judgment and for the carrying out of His work of grace.
God foreknew what men would do. He did more than permit it — He steered it.
God was not responsible for the evil in the hearts of men. But He showed His supremacy over all. First He restrained that evil for a while. Then the hour came, and it poured out in unrestrained and determined hatred against Him. At that point He turned it into the channel by which it became the means of glorifying Him, and, more wonderful still, the way of blessing for men. He knew what men would do, and predetermined that their act should turn into a triumph of His love.
The cross is the extreme case. What holds true there holds true everywhere else.
Take the worst act the world has ever seen — the crucifixion of Christ... If we may read the hand and foreordination of God in this act, then we may read it in all acts whatever. Only in this way does the darkness everywhere stop being unrelieved.
- Plot — Herod, Pilate, Gentiles and Jews joined against Jesus, and the praying believers saw Psalm 2 coming true in that alliance.
- Plan — God had settled beforehand what the council carried out. The enemy, with all his forces, gained nothing but defeat.
- Guilt — God's foreknowledge takes nothing off man's responsibility. In practice the two never clash, even when theory struggles to hold them together.
- Grace — God held that evil back until the hour came. Then He turned it into the channel of His own glory and man's blessing.
- Gaze — if we can read God's hand in the worst act ever done, we can read it in every act. No darkness stays unrelieved.
And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and give to thy bondmen with all boldness to speak thy word,
The rulers have just hauled Peter and John in, warned them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Their friends' response is a prayer — and the striking thing is what they ask for, and what they refuse to ask for.
Their first response was not to fight back or lobby for better laws.
Notice verse 29. All they say about their enemies is, "look upon their threats." They bring the matter before God and leave it to Him. They do not try to get better laws, or anything of that kind. The Lord had said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting" (John 18:36).
Behind that restraint lies confidence that God is the one deciding how far opposition may go.
Their hearts were content that the Lord should look upon the threats of those who wanted to harm them. He knew best what to allow and what to hold back. And He could rescue them. For themselves they asked for grace to speak His word with all boldness or liberty.
What their prayer leaves out is remarkable.
Those gathered in prayer knew what kind of times they were living in, and they asked for what they needed. What was that? Shelter from persecution? Power to crush their enemies? No. They asked to speak the Word with all boldness, and for God to stretch out His hand — not to shield them, but to heal others.
No one asked for relief. One writer traces the reason to what they valued most:
They were marked too by far more concern for the honour of the Name of Jesus than for their own ease and comfort. They did not ask for persecution and opposition to stop. They asked for boldness in speaking the word, and for miraculous support that would exalt His Name.
Prayers in the Psalms do call on God to deal with the wicked. This prayer does not.
So praying saints today do not ask God to take vengeance on their enemies, as we find in the Old Testament, and above all in the Psalms, which show the deepest feelings of the godly people concerned... Many dare to think, in ignorant presumption, that these prayers against the wicked — as in Psalms 6, 10, 54, 59, 83, and the like — are vindictive. They are not. They are judicial, meant for the time when God's instruments are in place to pour out His wrath on all who despise Him. But now it is the day of grace and salvation, the accepted time.
The second petition turns inward.
Their second petition is for boldness. They cry to be moved themselves; and that has its application to some of us. We may pray for others to be moved, but how are we moved ourselves? To act with power on those around us, we need to be right ourselves. What a short prayer! Only four petitions! Yet they were "of one accord," and in earnest, waiting for the answer.
Kelly points to the opposite danger:
It is easy for Christians to sit over the word rather than let the word rule them, admiring the things they know, and criticising those who do not know the wonderful counsels and ways of grace.
God answered on the spot.
That memorable day in Jerusalem ended with a remarkable prayer meeting (Acts 4:23-31). When they were let go, Peter and John went back to their own people. They reported everything that had passed between them and the chief priests and elders. The assembly at once turned to God with one accord. When they had prayed, God gave open proof of His presence among them: He shook the place where they had gathered. "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness."
- Threats — they hand the danger to God instead of fighting it, and say no more about their enemies than "look upon their threats."
- Ask — not for shelter, not for the crushing of enemies, but for courage to keep speaking. God stretches out His hand to heal others, not to shield them.
- Grace — no call for vengeance. This is the day of grace and salvation, not the judicial hour of the Psalms.
- Themselves — they ask God to move the praying company, not the opposition. To act with power on others, we must be right ourselves.
- Answer — God shook the place, filled them all with the Holy Spirit, and sent them on speaking His word with boldness.
in that thou stretchest out thy hand to heal, and that signs and wonders take place through the name of thy holy servant Jesus.
The council has just ordered the believers to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. Their prayer does not ask for safety. It asks God to act for other people, through the name of His holy servant.
Notice where the power they ask for is aimed. They ask God to stretch out His hand, but not over themselves.
Those gathered in prayer saw what kind of times they were in. They asked for what they needed. What was that? Shelter from persecution? Power to crush their enemies? No. They asked to speak the Word with all boldness. They asked God to stretch out His hand — not to shield them, but to heal others — and to do signs and wonders in the name of His holy servant Jesus. Their earnestness must impress us. They knew how serious their position was, yet the threats did not dismay them, nor did the power that might be called out against them.
What they asked for shows what they wanted for their enemies.
Their first request laid before Him was the testimony, the word of God. They wanted mercy and blessing for their enemies, not revenge. The proofs of power they asked from His hand were not fire from above, or the earth opening to swallow the enemy. They asked for "healing". And if "signs and wonders", they asked for them "through the name of His holy Servant Jesus". They asked this way because their hearts were set on the honour of the Son, just as they honoured the Father.
Older English Bibles put "child" here. Later revisers made a different choice.
In Acts 3:18, 26, as in Acts 4:27, 30, the Revisers are right to give "servant," not Son or Child. The word refers back to Isaiah 42:1; Matthew 12:18; Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 53:11.
The title says how Jesus lived, not only who He is.
There was nothing of independence seen in God's Servant; He was in everything obedient to God, and all that He did was by the Holy Spirit with which He was anointed.
These opening chapters of Acts keep calling Jesus God's servant. Not every preacher after them started there.
Notice the emphasis in these early chapters, that Jesus is the servant of God, the Messiah. Paul, as soon as he was converted, preached Him as the Son of God (Acts 9:20). He had seen Him in heaven: they had known Him in His blessed path of service on earth.
The healing they asked for did more than relieve sickness. It had an audience.
Their faith, according to the word of the Lord (Mark 16:17-18), counted on more than spiritual blessing. They asked for the sick and the disabled to be healed in His name, as a precious and meaningful sign to unbelievers. The Master had worked this way when He was here. His servants would do the same, as a witness to His gracious power. He was now risen and in heaven, and He had defeated Satan. The Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.
Do such signs continue? Commentators read the promise as real but not permanent.
The more you weigh the matter, the more fitting it seems. He who granted miracles at the beginning did not tie them to the church or to His servants as a permanent inheritance. He promised that they would follow "those that believe"; and so they did. He never said they would follow forever, or in every case.
They asked for one thing. God gave more.
When they had prayed, the place shook. Better still, "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." They had not asked for that. They had asked for boldness, and they got it.
- Threat — The council warned them. They took the threat straight to God, and never asked Him for protection.
- Request — They asked God to stretch out His hand toward others: healing, not shelter. Mercy for enemies, not fire from heaven.
- Name — They asked for that power through "His holy Servant Jesus". Older Bibles read "child"; the better word is Servant, the One Isaiah spoke of.
- Purpose — The signs confirmed the word in front of unbelievers. Writers say they were never promised as permanent.
- Answer — They asked for boldness. They got it, and more: the place shook, and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness.
Peter and John are free again, under orders never to speak in the name of Jesus again, so the believers pray together. The answer comes at once, and it raises two questions: what had they prayed for, and what does "filled" mean here?
Their prayer left out the requests we might expect:
Those gathered together in prayer recognised the character of the times, and asked for what they needed. What was that? Shelter from persecution? Power to crush their enemies? No. They asked that God would stretch out His hand — not to shield them, but to heal others — and that with all boldness they might speak the Word, and that signs and wonders might be done in the name of His holy servant Jesus.
The filling itself was never on their list:
We ought not to be surprised that our souls are filled with blessing. When they had prayed, the place was shaken. Better still, "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." They had not asked for this; they had asked for boldness, and they got it.
Commentators differ on what the shaking meant. One reads it as the Creator answering those who had appealed to Him:
How certain the answer is, when the Lord and His interests are what the prayer is all about! God assures them at once that He has heard: He shakes the very place where they are gathered. This is the answer of the Creator, whom they had appealed to. He will yet "shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and shake all nations," to bring in Christ (Hag. 2:6-7).
Another sees the shaken building as a picture of what was happening inside them:
Their prayer was united and real, and God answered in a striking way: He shook the building they were in. This pictures the deep stirring of the Spirit of God in their souls. They were all filled with the Spirit, which gave boldness in speaking the word of God. Such a miracle today would likely excite us so much that we would forget to proclaim the word.
Scripture also speaks of people being full of the Spirit, and the two phrases are not interchangeable:
In a few cases we have the word "full" of the Spirit, but in most it is "filled." The difference seems to be this. "Full of the Spirit" describes the habitual state of a soul always controlled by the Spirit — as our blessed Lord was, and Stephen and Barnabas in their measure. "Filled with the Spirit" is very often for some special service, prophecy, or testimony. I do not think that the opposite of "filled" is necessarily "empty." For instance, the apostles were filled again and again. It would not be fair to conclude that in between they were in a lower spiritual state. Rather, God gave special power as special emergencies arose.
This filling also differs from the Spirit's permanent home in the believer:
On the day of Pentecost the disciples did not simply receive the Spirit to live in them. "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:4). When a believer is filled with Him, no force inside is active to check His power. This filling of the Spirit is not permanent like His indwelling. Peter was filled with the Spirit again in Acts 4:8, and yet again in verse 31 of the same chapter.
Boldness was not the only result. The verses that follow trace a second effect back to the same cause:
All of them were filled with Him. The very building where they met was shaken, and God answered their prayer for special boldness at once. And He gave them what they had not asked for: they all were "of one heart and soul." This of course flowed from the "one Spirit" filling every one of them. If all believers today were filled with the Spirit, oneness of mind and heart would mark them. It is the only way such oneness can be brought about.
The scene is exceptional, but the experience is open to ordinary believers too:
No doubt we know we are born of the Spirit, and are sealed with the Spirit; but to be filled with the Spirit goes further. This blessing is not confined to the apostles… In Ephesians 5 we are urged to be "filled with the Spirit." Is that an impossible thing? Or is the exhortation not needed? We all should seek to be "filled with the Spirit," which means our whole being under His control.
- Ask — under threat they did not pray for safety or for power over their enemies. They asked for boldness to keep speaking, and for God's hand to heal others.
- Answer — God replied at once, and gave more than they had asked. The place shook, and He filled them all with His Spirit.
- Sign — some read the shaking as the Creator's own answer to those who had appealed to Him. Others see a picture of the Spirit stirring their souls.
- Filling — "filled with the Spirit" means special power for a particular moment. It is not the same as the habitual state of being "full of the Spirit," nor the same as His permanent indwelling.
- Effect — one Spirit filled them all, and two things followed: bold speech, and one heart and soul among them. Believers today are urged to seek the same filling.