Daniel is told of the end, of judgment and separation. Michael, the head of the angel armies, will
come and there will be trouble such as never has been. Remember that Daniel is in Babylon, having
been forcibly taken in exile by this wicked nation, he has seen trouble and
Israel has certainly seen trouble. The promise
is it is going to get worse before it gets better but in the end they will be
delivered. Daniel is told of the resurrection
of the dead and in particular, two groups are singled out: "those who are
wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many
to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." So there are two things we should pursue,
wisdom and discipleship and evangelism if we would shine in God's kingdom. Does that motivate you at all?
Jesus promised persecution not from the world but from their
own people. They would be put out of the
synagogues and killed. He promises,
however, that even though He won't be with them they will not be alone, the
Helper will be with them. Could any of
them even remotely understood what in the world that meant? Who was this Helper? How would the Helper lead them into truth,
how would He convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment? It may not have made much sense to them at
the time but they would soon experience that help first hand and find their
strength and become a powerful force to be reckoned with as they preached the
Gospel. We need to pray every day for
that power and strength.
Five thousand people believed and Peter and John were
imprisoned. The Sadducees didn't believe
in the resurrection from the dead and they tended to dominate the Council at
that time because of their wealth and social prominence, so they were able to
have the apostles taken into custody by the church authorities until the
Sanhedrin could be assembled the next day.
It is amazing to see Peter, the man who denied he knew Jesus to the slave
girl of the high priest, standing before the high priest and all his family and
the leaders of the Jews, proclaiming that salvation is in the Name of Jesus
alone. The boldness Peter always wanted
to have is now living in him by the power of the Holy Spirit. That night of the trial it was not Peter's
trial and he feared. Today, he is on
trial but his desire isn’t to have his best life now, it is to receive the crown
of heaven he knows awaits the faithful because of the resurrection of
Jesus. Resurrection can be speculative
theology for the Sadducees but not for Peter, he is like Mark Twain who was
once asked if he believed in infant baptism and responded, "Believe in it,
heck, I have seen it."
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