How God-Haters in Authority Treat Christians

A Case Study from Acts 4:1-22

Photo by Jackie Hope on Unsplash

Paul’s catalog of nastiness in Romans 1 describes the immorality of Gentiles who forgot God. But it is revealing to consider how many of those sins would also apply to the first-century Jewish Sanhedrin. How about words like envy, murder, deceit, maliciousness, slanderers, haughty, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless? What about “haters of God” (v. 30)? Of course, if you asked any of the high court’s members, they would have claimed to be righteous men. Then again, Satan’s servants “disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:15, ESV).

When God-haters gain power, Christians suffer. Acts 4 provides a case study that is useful because many countries thought to support freedom (including America) are becoming increasingly anti-God, and because their methods haven’t changed since they called Peter and John on the carpet 2,000 years ago. Look what they did…

I. God-haters will use government power against Christians (Acts 4:1-4).

Jewish leaders are “greatly annoyed” that Jesus is being preached. There are about 5,000 newly minted Christians in Jerusalem (not including women) and that is too many to be ignored. Peter and John are arrested, but then nothing is done since it’s “already evening.” The council could have asked for a calm visit with the apostles to discuss differences. Instead, they chose a show of force, perhaps designed to show the apostles just who’s in charge. There is no effort to be considerate or accommodating. If that were their intention, they could have waited till the next morning to take the apostles into custody and gotten to their case right away. Instead, Peter and John get to cool their heels for a night in prison. Christians should not expect consideration from God-haters (it’s not their nature, since they are of their father, the devil).

II. God-haters will ask what they already know in order to get evidence against you (Acts 4:5-7).

Next day, the Sanhedrin grill Peter and John, asking “by what name did you do this?” They already know the apostles healed a lame beggar the day before in the name of Jesus (Acts 3:6). Why ask? Maybe it was to get them on the record in an official legal proceeding. Maybe it was to see if they would still hold to Jesus when the screws were tightened. Or, could it be they’re just trying to give Peter and John the opportunity to hang themselves? Remember the blind man Jesus healed in John 9? Jewish leaders questioned him, but got nowhere. So they brought the man’s parents in, grilled them, and that didn’t help. They brought the healed man back and questioned him again. Why? They already heard his story. They were evidently just looking for—hoping for—something to be said that would help them build a case against Jesus. Interrogate long enough and maybe someone will stumble upon a strategy. Following the facts and being satisfied with where they led was not in their nature. Demons know God (James 2:19), but it doesn’t turn them honest. Haters of God in high places already have their verdict; they just have to find a way to throw a cloak of legitimacy on it so the desired sentence can be carried out. Lavrentiy Beria, the chief of Joseph Stalin’s secret police, is credited with saying, “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” The Soviets didn’t invent injustice. Neither did the Sanhedrin. Dishonest men litter history’s landscape. Remember what they did to Daniel.

III. God-haters let no good deed go unpunished (Acts 4:8-12).

In Peter’s answer, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” he unloaded with both barrels on the council, giving more than they wanted to hear. Had it really come to this? That they were “being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man”? Indeed, it had. There may be those who don’t know much about Jesus who envision themselves being able to get along with Bible believers. But those who genuinely seethe against the gospel cannot stand people who love it and live it. Child murder (a.k.a. abortion) and sexual anarchy are two sacraments in the godless religion of our day that adherents will push at all cost, even if Christians suffer. Maybe that’s the point. In September 2024 a new law went into effect in Scotland. All abortion clinics are now surrounded by a 200 meter “safe access zone.” If anything happens within that sizable area to cause distress to someone in the abortion industry, or someone wanting an abortion, the one who caused the discomfort can be held liable—even if he was in the confines of his own home. That’s right. Their government is warning residents they could run afoul of this law by what is done in the privacy of their own houses if they live within the “safe access zone.” Imagine a pregnant woman on the way to kill her baby, walking past a home where she happens to see or hear someone through a window praying at his table. That causes distress and she complains to police, who open an investigation into the person praying in his own house. How could a legislature even consider such a law? Because abortion no matter what. It’s not about live and let live. It’s not about toleration. It’s certainly not about diversity. It’s about abortion no matter what. Kill the children and tolerate no one who might disturb those who are killing the children. That sounds like the plan of someone Jesus described as “a murderer from the beginning.” Once Jesus said, very pointedly, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” (John 10:32). Since the godless Left calls good “evil,” and evil “good,” they lose no sleep over punishing the good.

IV. God-haters are not deterred by having no case (Acts 4:13-14).

The day after he was healed, the formerly lame man was there standing with Peter and John. He had come to support them. Or, perhaps he was officially summoned but, if so, his presence only helped stimy the council. With Peter and John bold as lions, and with the healed man in the room, the Jewish council “had nothing to say in opposition.” No case at all. So, did they drop the matter? Did they offer an apology for wrongfully detaining the apostles? What do God-haters do when faced with their crumbling case? Double down, of course. Notice that the leaders do not deny a miracle occurred. Nor do they deny the miracle was a “good deed.” For that matter, they don’t even deny what Peter said about Jesus’ resurrection (remember, these are the same people who were architects of the lie about the empty tomb [Matt. 28:11-15]). Their lack of evidence is only eclipsed by their inability to blush at the embarrassment they’ve created.

V. God-haters resort to irrationality (Acts 4:15-20).

The apostles are ordered to temporarily leave the room so things can be said in private that the Sanhedrin hates to have to say, even in private. They admit “a notable sign has been performed” by Peter and John. And “all the inhabitants of Jerusalem” know about it. Even the council “cannot deny it.” Notice, they cannot deny the miracle, but they will not admit the meaning of the miracle. They cannot deny, but will not admit. How is that rational? If you won’t accept a miracle you admit happened, what would it take to convince you? Remember, in Jesus’ story, the tormented rich man is told that, if his five brothers won’t listen to Scripture, they won’t listen even if someone goes to them with a message from the grave (Luke 16:31). There are people that dishonest.

VI. God-haters will press persecution as far as they can get away with it (Acts 4:21-22).

This time, they feel the best they can do is issue a threat and let the apostles go, “finding no way to punish them.” It wasn’t that they didn’t look; they just didn’t find a way. It wasn’t because they decided to stand on principle; it was because of the pressure they felt from the people, “for all were praising God for what had happened.” This is the same high council that got Jesus crucified. They did it because they could. It took a good bit of effort and creativity, but they got it done. There will be another opportunity to go after the apostles. God-haters are never satisfied. They don’t accept defeat and move on. Like the devil himself, they keep coming back. Until they get what they want. In Acts 5 they incarcerate all the apostles—not just Peter and John. God sends an angel to open the prison and set them free. That doesn’t stop God-haters, though. In Acts 6 the Sanhedrin is after Stephen. By the end of Acts 7, they’ve succeeded in his death. Acts 8 opens with “a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem.”

We shouldn’t be discouraged, just realistic. Not naive. We already have the enemy’s playbook, so “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6:10-11).