It had to be frustrating to be an opponent of the work of God in the Early Church. The Temple authorities had arrested the Apostles in an attempt to intimidate them and keep them from preaching about Jesus Christ. But the next day they got up thinking the Apostles were where they had placed them, safely housed in jail.
It was not so. The report came in that the men they had arrested were back out in the Temple courts proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, they arrested them again and tightened the screws a little, threatening them to stop their evangelistic work.
But the Apostles did not cooperate with that either. In Acts 5:29 they replied that they had to obey God and could not obey their commands. They continued to tell the world that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead no matter what anyone did to them.
The Pharisees could hate Jesus and could oppress those who sided with him, those who believed in and served him. But they could not stop the work of God in the church. They grew angrier and more aggressive because nothing they did worked. Every attempt to stop the church only served to advance the kingdom.
We can rejoice that nothing can stop the work of God in us and in his church. Opposition will come, even perhaps persecution, but the gospel goes forward. Satan can sow lies, but the truth prevails. When we serve Christ we can overcome any obstacle and endure through any hardship that is put in our path.
Father, come what may, I thank you for your power and your victory.
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