And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone, for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught. Acts. 5:38
This advice from Gamaliel the Elder comes at a critical time in the history of Christianity. The apostles were in custody for defiance of the rules of the Sanhedrin, and for violating the direct orders of the temple officials. The council’s next step would be to have the apostles stoned. If that had happened (we know it couldn’t), Christianity would have spluttered out and died with its handful of adherents terrified and leaderless. Gamaliel’s advice in effect saved the apostles’ lives and enabled their work to continue and flourish, and the early Assemblies to grow and spread. The fact that Gamaliel made his speech to the sanhedrin is proof of his own words, that Christianity is not of men.
Many thousands of gatherings of the Lord’s people were held this week throughout our world to honour our Saviour’s desire: This do in remembrance of Me. Many thousands of Gospel meetings were held this week to proclaim the message of God’s love for sinners. Many thousands of Bibles were sold – and given out – today, not to mention the tremendous volume of Gospel and Christian literature and music that has flowed, the millions of prayers and worship that have risen to Heaven. If Gamaliel’s words are true, this thing is not of man.
We know that no men would or could ever have written our Bible, nor could a mere man have lived the life that Jesus did, or die His death. We also know that it took more than human effort and ingenuity to launch the great events of Pentecost, to carry out the first missionary journeys, and to perpetuate the spread of the Gospel. In the events of the New Testament we view the purposes of the Father, the devotion and fulfilment of the Son, and the power and leading of the Holy Spirit. The reality that all we have and are in Christ is of God and not of men is of great comfort as we realize that we are depending on our never-failing God and not on ever-failing men. We have been born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13).
What God has wrought can never come to naught, and that applies to what He has wrought in us, for His glory. -Jim MacIntosh