Acts 4:23-36; Exodus 16; Psalm 2; Psalm LXX 145/MT 146; Nehemiah 9:6; Revelation 10:6
The apostles Peter and John have just been through a dramatic few days, beginning with the healing of a paralyzed man, continuing with a night in prison, and concluding with a hearing before the officials. They were released with threats, but leave in courage, and go immediately to debrief with the other believers. Here is Acts 4:23-36:
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Spirit:
Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against his Anointed.For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had fore-ordained to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they held everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
Luke uses this occasion to explain to his readers the intimacy that marked the early Church, and how they shared everything. First, we hear that they return to “their friends.” Then, we hear that they pray with one heart and mind, lifting their voices together, and praying in harmony with the Psalms of their people. Their prayer concerns the false unity of those who oppose God and his Christ, and in it they ask for courage to continue. In response, the Holy Spirit falls on all of them gathered. God’s unifying energy is so great upon them that it affects their daily lives together, not simply their witness among unbelievers. And so we hear that they had one heart and soul, held everything in common, and made sure that no one among them was needy. It became common practice for believers to bring their profits to the apostles to distribute them according to the person’s need.
Perhaps they were remembering the early days of Israel in the wilderness when God ensured that everyone who collected manna had the amount that they needed, even carrying over to the Sabbath when they would not gather. In that story, the LORD was the great equalizer: “They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it . . . whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack” (Exodus 16:16-17). In Acts, the people participate in this justice, themselves ensuring that there were no poor among them. They are friends with each other, but God has also made them His friends, as Jesus promised, and so they share in the divine generous nature.
The prayer of the congregation is obvious in its citing of Psalm 2, which speaks of a conspiracy against God and his Messiah – something that happened quite literally when Jesus was arrested by Gentiles, with the help of one of His own disciples, and at the pleasure of the Temple priests. Peter had already alluded to the Jewish participation in this scheme both in preaching to the crowds after healing the paralytic, and in addressing the officials who had arrested him and John. No doubt the recent events of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion still seemed shocking to those disciples who had either lived through it, watched it, or heard about it from those who were originally with Jesus. Making sense of it was possible for those who loved Jesus only through their reading of Psalm 2, where rebellion against God is the major theme, but also God’s final victory. No doubt it seemed unbelievable that peoples normally at loggerheads—the Jewish oppressed and their Roman oppressors—could have banded together in this way against the LORD who loved them. Peter, though, knew of human weakness first hand, as he had denied Christ three times. And so this prayer, where such a plot is seen as futile, probably came with prayers that those who were faithless might turn and repent. For they ask for power to continue witnessing in the very city that called out for Jesus’ death.
They can do this in full knowledge of God’s ability to overturn evil. So Psalm 2 is prefaced in their common prayer by a little phrase that is found explicitly in another of David’s Psalms, Psalm 145/6:6: “[The LORD] is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—He remains faithful forever.” God, the Creator, the One who created by the Word, and with the hovering of the Spirit, made all the components of the cosmos: the heavens with its hosts of stars and angels, the sea with its teaming and mysterious creatures, the land with its variety of animals and seed. All this He did in the beginning, and when finished He declared, it is “good” and “very good.” It is this Creating and nurturing God, says the Psalmist, who is always faithful!
A similar statement is found in Nehemiah, when all the people have gathered to confess their sins so that they can begin anew, back in their Promised Land from which they have been exiled due to their sin. The priests all pray together, invoking the God of their fathers, and saying, “You are the Lord, You alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.” Then the prayer goes on to speak of God’s protection of them, his calling of them out of Egypt and through the wilderness into the Promised Land, their sin there, the conquest of that Land, and all the time of the prophets and kings. The same God who created has been faithful when they were not, and so they call upon His mercy and make a covenant with Him. Nor it is only humans who speak this way concerning God. In the book of Revelation there is a mighty angel who lifts his hand, and swears by this creating and faithful God: “ [God] lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in them, and the sea and all that is in them…” [Rev. 10:6). He then goes on to give power to John to prophesy and relate visions concerning the whole world that God has made.
Let’s look more closely at this Psalm which speaks about God who has created the heavens, earth, and seas, and all their inhabitants. Though the people of God have only mentioned one verse of Psalm 145/6, the whole Psalm speaks to what is happening among them:
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise to the LORD as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.Put not your trust in princes,
In sons of men in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,
Who keeps faith forever;
Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry.The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.The LORD watches over the sojourners;
He upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.Praise the LORD!
Peter and John have just come back to them, released from prison. They have been warned, and so the whole company of Christians understand that the authorities intend to oppress them. It is not to a human prince or leader that they turn, though, but to God Himself, whose faithfulness and mercy never pass away. He, and not the magistrates, is the Ruler, forever! Among them signs have been performed and will continue to be performed: the lame healed, the blind receiving sight, the ill cured. Among them, the needy have been cared for and fed, because of the generosity that the Holy Spirit has put into the heart of those with means.
All this points to the goodness of God, and to the wonder that He has invited His people into the plan which He has for the whole world – for the widow, for the imprisoned, for the ill, for those with no fame, and even for those with some notoriety, such as Saul who will be turned to the Light! The One who made all this is also the One who will heal it, both of death and of sin. Even, as the people have prayed, the evil deeds of those rebelling against God can be woven into His plan. Jesus’ very death has turned everything around, and begun the New Creation. What was meant for evil was really accomplishing “whatever God’s hand and God’s plan had for-ordained to take place.” Here is the God who freely allows those who follow Him to be co-workers; here is also the God who can turn the mislaid plans of evildoers into good. Here is the God who prepared “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” For, as He rejoiced, the cosmos made by His hands is “good” and “very good!” In this knowledge, those who believe in Jesus can trust themselves to each other, and live in echo of the wondrous unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Edith M. Humphrey 