Articles
They Had Nothing To Say IN Reply - Acts 4:14
They Had Nothing To Say IN Reply - Acts 4:14
This is awkward! Here stands a man that we KNOW was lame. It is stated that it was JESUS who had done this. In the name of Jesus, whom we pronounced a blasphemer of God and teacher of falsehoods, this man stands before us in perfect health. What can we say about this? NOTHING.
But we have been here before! Remember the blind man of John 9. The FACT that Jesus had healed his blindness stared them in the face, but they refused to see it. Then, Lazarus was raised from the dead and thus gave testimony to the person of Jesus, so they tried to kill both Lazarus and Jesus. Jesus himself had been “attested... by God with miracles and wonders and signs” in their very presence, and they KNEW IT (cp. Acts 2:22).
AGAIN, they are faced with the undeniable evidence: the man whom they KNEW had been lame, now stood in their very presence. He stood there! The lame man had walked into the room and now stood there. How could this be? All that were involved in the remarkable health of this ‘lame man’, said that it was done ‘in the name of Jesus’. Of course, to admit THAT was to admit all that was implied by it: Jesus IS the Son of God, the Lord and Christ.
Seeing the lame man standing there, “they had nothing to say in reply”. So, they believed? So, they admitted they were wrong? So, they repented before God? No, no, no. Instead, they resort to threats, intimidation, persecution, physical harm. As we look back on history, we see that all such actions are in fact an admission of being wrong. If they could have answered this, they would have! They wanted to. They just had no answer!
There is an answer! IF (since) Jesus was raised from the dead, His claims are vindicated. Since He was raised from the dead, it is evidenced that He is the Christ, the Lord, the Son of God, the savior. He is the ‘stone which the builders rejected’, but he is also the stone that has become the chief corner stone. Thus, as proven by His resurrection, there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved”.
They were face to face with the promise and threat of Jesus concerning this message: "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” They not only had nothing to say in reply to the healing of the lame man, they will have nothing to say as they stand in the day of judgment and here the pronouncement of their doom. What about you? What do you say about Jesus?
Hugh DeLong
