SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/23/2017 10:29
AM
My Worship Time Focus: Tolerant Indecision
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 5:34-40
Message of the verses: “34
But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the
people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a
short time. 35 And he said to them, "Men of Israel, take care what you
propose to do with these men. 36 “For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming
to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But
he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37
“After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew
away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him
were scattered. 38 "So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from
these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown;
39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may
even be found fighting against God." 40 They took his advice; and after
calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the
name of Jesus, and then released them.”
I have to say that in
practically all the times when I have explained the gospel message to people
that I did not receive a hostile reply, maybe perhaps they would say that they
are not at all interested, but most of the time they would be with indifference
and this is what we see with a man named Gamaliel in our verses for today. Gamaliel was a much respected Pharisee during
this time period and a man that people listened to when he spoke. We will learn later that Saul of Tarsus
learned under this man’s teaching and we know that Saul who became Paul the
apostle knew the Law very well. What we
see here is that the hand of God was upon this man as he spoke with common
sense. John MacArthur quotes F. F. Bruce
as he speaks about Gamaliel: “He was
easily the most prominent rabbi of that time and one of the greatest of all
antiquity. He was the grandson of
another prominent rabbi, Hillel, and his successor as leader of the liberal
wing of the Pharisees, Gamaliel was one of the few honored with the title rabban, instead of the usual title
‘rabbi.” MacArthur goes on asking “How
highly he was ‘respected by all the people’ may be seen in the following
quotation from the Mishna: ‘When Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died, the
glory of the Law ceased and purity and abstinence died’ (cited in John B.
Polhill, The American Commentary.” His most famous student was the apostle Paul
(Acts 22:3).”
I mentioned that I
thought that Gamaliel used common sense as he has the apostles leave the room and
then he tells them stories of others who had started some things that perhaps
were similar to what these apostles were doing, but then he goes on to say that
if what these men were doing was from the hand of God, if they were actually
doing what was in the plan and will of God that they had better just leave it
along for they could not stop what the Lord wanted to happen. Now I am not going to go over what people
wrote about the different revolts that Gamaliel speaks about for there are
actually differing opinions about them.
John MacArthur writes “While Gamaliel’s counsel seemed
wise to the Sanhedrin, the notion that whatever succeeds has God’s blessing is
false. Cults and false religions in our
day have millions of followers. And what
more evidence did he need to convince him beyond the empty tomb of Jesus and
the miracles performed by the apostles?
The word to all such fence sitters is ‘Now is the acceptable time,
behold, now is the day of salvation’ (2 Cor. 6:2; cf. Heb. 3:7; 4:7). Gamaliel was a pragmatist—a poor substitute
for being a good biblical scholar. Such
lethargy on his part is not commendable in light of what he knew of the
Scripture and what he knew of the work of Jesus and the power of the apostles
in His name.”
As we look at what
happened to the apostles after this we can see that the hostility of some of
these men had to be satisfied as the apostles probably received forty lashes
for what the Sanhedrin thought was punishment for doing wrong. Apparently Gamaliel had no problem with the
whipping, again revealing his indifference.
I have to admit that
some of my thoughts concerning Gamaliel have been changed, and when I am faced
with new evidence concerning him that John MacArthur brings up I have had to
weigh it to see that what he writes is true, and in this case I believe it is.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Indifference is something that as far as when
it comes to the Word of God and what it teaches is not good.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I want to trust the Lord to give me some helpful thoughts and planning
as I continue to prepare to teach about the seven churches in Revelation 2-3 as
I have a couple of weeks not having to teach as we have a Mission’s conference
going on at church, and so I want to use this time wisely.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:
“If he would walk in his ways and keep his commandments” (1 Kings 3:14).
Today’s Bible question: “Who has
a name which is above every name?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/23/2017 11:11 AM
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