17 Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, 18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. 19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, 20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.21 And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned and told, 23 Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within. 24 Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow. 25 Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.
The most powerful of wicked men cannot bind the Word of God- v. 17. Men attribute to themselves a power greater than God, in thinking that by their supposed ‘free-will’ they can either aid God in His work, or oppose Him at will. This is a delusion, but none the less a reality that we see in religious individuals in our day, even as it was in the early church. Here the high priest and ALL that were with him…filled with indignation had the apostles arrested and imprisoned with the purpose of condemning them. However, in the end, as stated in Psalm 76:10- ‘Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.’ Even as there is no sinner too hardened for God to save, whom He has chosen and Christ redeemed, neither is there any sinner too strong for the LORD to defeat to accomplish His will. Daniel 4:35 declares- “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”
There is no prison so strong that the Word of God is bound- vv. 18,19. Men presume that because they arrest and bind the messenger that somehow then the message is bound. However, over and again we find the LORD God ruling and overruling in the affairs of men to accomplish what He has purposed. Here, although arrested, the LORD sent His angel to release them and put them right back in the middle of their religious false worship, to stand and testify of the grace of God and salvation in the LORD Jesus Christ alone by His finished work. The guardians of the temple continued for a time after Christ’s death to offer their sacrifices of abomination, thinking that they were doing service to God. But, God had already offered unto Himself the One sacrifice required for satisfaction. It wasn’t the blood of bulls and goats. These could never put away sin. They were but an atonement (covering for sin) until Christ came and put away sin and obtained redemption for those that the Father gave Him from eternity, Hebrews 9:12-“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” These very same religious chieftains plotted the death of our LORD Jesus, binding HIM, ‘the Messenger of the Covenant,’ In crucifying HIM they thought themselves to be rid of Him, and therefore no longer able to continue to propagate His doctrine, but we see that the WORD (Christ) could not be bound. Just as the apostles were released and stood back in the temple preaching Christ, so the gates of Hell cannot prevail against Christ building His church and saving His people- Matthew 16:18.
Because men resist and reject the Word, that does not mean that it is in anyway thwarted- vv. 21-25. It was according to the eternal purpose of God that they with wicked hands bound our LORD and crucified Him, Acts 2:23. Yet by that wicked Act, God the Father delivered and exalted His Son, and is now calling out that people for whom He paid the debt. He shall not lose one! Romans 8:32.
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