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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