Peter: What Can We Learn From Peter's Life?Sample

"They Arrested the Apostles"

Peter’s name is only mentioned once in this passage, grouped with the rest of the apostles. They experienced the events described here together. While opposition to their message, as well as persecution, was starting to grow, they were not slowing down in the least. They were so convinced of the truth that it didn’t matter what happened to them, as long as the news about Jesus was spreading. In fact, they even rejoiced in their persecution because to them, it meant that they were walking in obedience to Jesus and being like Him. Jesus had suffered for the Good News, and Peter and the other apostles counted it an honour to be mistreated as He was. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, they had grown immensely from the fearful disciples they were at Jesus’s arrest.

This was Peter and John’s second imprisonment, and the first recorded physical beating for all of the apostles. The religious authorities were getting serious about stopping the message of Jesus, but the Holy Spirit was just as serious about making sure it continued to spread. That’s why He instigated an angelic prison break for the apostles. The crazy thing is that He didn’t tell them to go home and hide from further persecution. He sent them right back into the thick of it to preach in the temple where the religious leaders would most certainly find them. The message they had to preach was Life. Spiritual life was more important to Peter and the apostles than physical life. And for the first time, the religious leaders spoke of killing them. Still, they did not run. They did not stop teaching and preaching that Jesus was the Messiah. Nothing else was more important to them. The Holy Spirit had miraculously led them out of a locked prison. They knew they could trust Him with their lives on earth and with their eternal lives if they were taken from the earth.

Reflection:

How does the suffering of the apostles challenge or encourage you?

What might be getting in the way of you trusting God with your life, as the apostles did?