Day 39: The Disciples Boldly Bear Witness

Read: Acts 5:12-42 Reflect: When Jesus was arrested and killed, his disciples went into hiding for fear that they would be next. Yet less than two months later, everything had changed. Between Jesus’ resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the disciples now understood clearly who Jesus really was and what he had come to do. They now found themselves eager and able to tell everyone about Jesus. They began to proclaim this news about Jesus publicly to everyone who would listen. Peter, who only a few weeks earlier had denied knowing Jesus, now preached and healed in Jesus’ name, calling him Savior and Lord and exhorting people to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus. He and the disciples made it their main task to invite people to follow Jesus. Many people listened to them and became followers of Jesus too. This new turn of events was extremely upsetting to the Jewish leaders. They had hoped that by having Jesus killed, his followers would scatter and fall away. Instead, they were publicly testifying that Jesus had risen from the dead—and winning more and more converts to the Christian faith. They tried to stop the disciples from continuing to spread the word about Jesus—by having them arrested and imprisoned, by bringing them before the Sanhedrin and threatening them, and by having them flogged. But none of these efforts worked. A dramatic change had taken place in the disciples. They were no longer afraid of what the Jewish leaders might do to them to punish them for telling others about Jesus. When they were sent to prison, they simply shared Jesus with their fellow prisoners. When they were free, they did not take advantage of their freedom to remain quiet but instead boldly shared about Jesus in public. When they were flogged, they rejoiced that they were found worthy to suffer for Jesus’ sake, just as Jesus had suffered for them. And they were not afraid of death, because by Jesus’ resurrection death had lost its power over them. And so they continued to boldly witness to Jesus wherever they went. The new believers became witnesses to Jesus too, wherever they went. As the persecution of Christians spread out, so did the witness to Jesus. And in this way the good news of Jesus spread past Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, towards the ends of the earth. Taking it Further: The early church was well-acquainted with persecution, but this did not stop Jesus’ followers from boldly bearing witness to him. Ten of the eleven original disciples were killed for their faith in Jesus. Today, there are people around the world who continue to face discrimination, job loss, persecution, torture and even death for proclaiming Jesus as Lord. Yet they continue to boldly bear witness for, in the words of one follower in Africa, “if the gospel is not worth dying for, it is not worth living for.” If someone asked you to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ, what would you say? Is the gospel you have just described worth dying for? What is the most important thing that you want to tell others about Jesus, and why?