Acts 4

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Review

The Deaths of the Apostles

• James the son of Zebedee - the first apostle killed. Killed by the sword by King Herod in Jerusalem about AD 44 - Acts 12:2

• Philip - crucified and stoned in Hierapolis in AD 54

• Matthew- beheaded in Ethiopia in AD 60

• James, son of Alphaeus - stoned in Jerusalem or Syria in AD 63

• Peter- crucified upside down in Rome in AD 69

• Andrew- crucified in Patras in AD 70

• Judas/ Thaddeus- executed with arrows or a javelin in Armenia in AD 70

• Bartholomew/ Nathanael- flaying and crucifixion (head down) in Armenia in AD 70

• Thomas- thrown into an oven and speared in India in AD 70

• Simon the Zealot- crucified upside down then sawn in-half in AD 74

•John- though not dying a martyrs death, his life displayed a martyrs qualities of great suffering and persecution. Tradition has it that John escaped being put to death on several occasions, such as the time that he was scheduled to be boiled to death in oil, but God intervened. He died quietly in Ephesus in AD 98.

•Judas Iscariot- committed suicide after betraying Jesus. 

• Matthias - stoned to death in Jerusalem in AD 70. 

• Paul - beheaded in Rome in AD 69.

Other Members of the Early Church

• John the Baptist - beheaded by King Herod in Jerusalem in about AD 30.

• Stephen - stoned to death in Jerusalem in AD 34 - Acts 6:8-7:60.

• Mark - dragged to death on the cobblestone streets of Alexandria in AD 64.

• Luke - hung in Greece in AD 93.

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Acts is about everything Jesus continued to do through his apostles and the church to make Himself known to the world after he left to go be with the Father.

The twelve disciples were witnesses to Jesus's life, miracles, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven.

They were also witnesses to two messengers of God who told them that Jesus will return.

Jesus is with the Father in heaven.

God sent the Holy Spirit to help the apostles and the church be witnesses of Jesus by telling everyone everything that Jesus did, to the ends of the earth.

The Holy Spirit came upon them like fire as they were gathered together, and only the apostles had the ability to see it.

The apostle Peter shared with them the things he saw Jesus do, and told them to turn from sin and to turn back to God.

Peter told them if they turned from sin and turned to God, and were baptized in the name of Jesus, they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Peter told them that this promise is to everyone the Lord calls.

About 3,000 people received Peter's word, were baptized, and were added as members of the body of Christ.

The church met together daily for teaching, fellowship, eating/communion, and prayer.

The Holy Spirit empowered the apostles to perform miracles and signs, so fear of the Lord came upon everyone who saw it.

All the believers were always together, and they used everything they had to advance the Kingdom of God.

They shared everything they had, and gave to anyone who had need.

The apostles and the church had favor with all the people, and the Lord saved people daily and the church grew.

The Holy Spirit allowed the apostles to perform miracles in order to demonstrate God's power in order to turn people to Himself.

Both the Jews and the Gentiles believed that God was only the God of Israel.

God performed miracles through the apostles to show that He was not only the God of Israel, but that He is the God of all who believe in His Son, Jesus. 

He healed a lame man because the man did not deny Jesus as the Jews did (Acts 3:12-16), showing that God is the God of anyone who believes that Jesus is His Son.

Background

If you recall in the Gospels, the Jews greatly opposed Jesus because they did not believe that He was the Messiah or that He was the Son of God, and He claimed to be both.

They believed Jesus was a false prophet who was leading Jews away from their Jewish faith, and it was threatening to them.

One reason they thought this was because they believed the Messiah was going to come as a political, military leader, sent by God to restore Israel and set them free from their Roman oppressors.

However, Jesus did not come as a political military leader to set Israel free from Rome, but as a King to set all people free from the bondage of sin so they can be forgiven and reconciled to God, and live as a part of His Kingdom.

The Jews also did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah because He was ministering not only to the Jews, but to everyone including the Gentiles.

Rome was the enemy of the Jews, and they believed the Messiah was going to use physical force, or war, to defeat Rome.

After Rome was defeated, the Messiah would reign as king over a restored kingdom of Israel. This restored kingdom of Israel would be compromised of all the Jews of the Babylonian exile. 

Because of this, they believed the Messiah was for Israel alone, not also for the Gentiles. So they did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah because He was healing, performing miracles and offering forgiveness to all people, including their enemies, such as Roman soldiers, Samaritans, and Gentiles of all sorts.

The Jews did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God because they believed they alone were God's people, yet Jesus ministered to all people, not only the Jews.

Because they believed they alone were God's people, Jews thought they were better than Gentiles, and they looked down upon them as "filthy sinners" and treated them badly.

However, Jesus ate with sinners and many of His healings and miracles were for Gentiles.

Jesus's claim that He was the Messiah and the Son of God irritated the Jews, and hatred towards Him escalated to the point where they wanted to kill Him. They rejected His claims, and therefore they rejected Him as their King.

They killed the Son of God thinking they would put an end to Him and His message, but what they did not realize is that killing Jesus was part of God's plan of salvation for all people, and that no matter what they did to Jesus, the Gospel would not be stopped.

Introduction

Acts 4

Like Jesus, many of the Jews opposed the apostles because they taught about Jesus and were healing in His name.

Verse 2 says the Jewish leaders were "greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead".

Many of the Jews rejected Jesus as their King, including the Sadducees who were a Jewish sect that did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and therefore they did not believe that Jesus was raised from the dead.

The Jews arrested Jesus's apostles, Peter and John, and threatened them not to teach or speak about Jesus. This was the beginning of the persecution against the church.

However, the apostles did not stop sharing about Jesus and the church continued to grow.

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📕 Acts 4

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