‘They Could Say Nothing’

And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

Acts 4:14

Evidence silences argument.  The enemies of the Apostles desperately wanted to crush these upstart preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They wanted them to be silent, especially regarding Christ, His Person and His work.  They wanted to evade taking responsibility for having engineered His murder.  The problem these evil men were facing was the evidence.  Peter and John had most recently healed the lame man at the Temple.  This was a very public miracle, and the man was ‘standing with them’ healthy and well.  Christ was getting the glory and His enemies were looking very bad indeed.  What could they do?  As our text for today says, ‘they could say nothing against it.’  This is the powerful effect which the work of God has upon the opponents of the Gospel.  It was manifestly clear that the boldness and power in evidence did not arise from any natural talents or advantages which these ‘uneducated and untrained’ men had.  For this reason, it was also manifestly clear that ‘they had been with Jesus.’  Christ gets the glory for the wonderful changes He effects in the lives of those whom He transforms, regardless of the humble tools He uses.  Let us live in hope that Christ will use us to accomplish His purpose.  Let it be the evidence of His power that silences all His enemies.  When they see what He does, they can say nothing against it.

Our Good and All-powerful God,
we rejoice that You do wonderful miracles,
to make Christ known.
We praise You that You will,
by these works, put to silence,
all your enemies.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning