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No Other Name, There Is Only One Way!

June 13, 2006

Acts 4:5 - "The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"

Peter and John were preaching in the name of Jesus and claiming Christ to be resurrected. They had just healed a cripple man in the name of Christ. This was a problem to those who thought they had gotten rid of the Jesus problem by crucifying him. They thought killing him was the answer, but not even death could stop Jesus.

I also love to see the power, conviction, and heart of Peter in this message. Even though Peter had been the one to deny Jesus three times, it was him who stood firm now in the conviction that Jesus was not only Lord, but a risen Savior. When the religious leaders ask him this question, he gets straight to the point.

Acts 4:8-10 - "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed."

Peter goes on saying, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

There is only one way to heaven, to God, to salvation, to redemption, and that is through Jesus. There is no law, no other god, no other form of obedience and there is no one good enough to merit the good grace of God, except by death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The religious leaders were still under the impression that it was the law and by their own goodness and obedience that they would inherit the kingdom of God. Peter was clear, there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. There is only one.

Why do Christians have to be so narrow minded? I hear that all the time. Maybe Christians have to be so narrow minded because God is so narrow minded. Maybe God has one plan, one way, and there are no chances for deviating from that path. Maybe God Himself declared that Jesus was the only way, making it impossible for there to be other ways, other religions and other gods that would lead to heaven. Maybe, just maybe, the reason Christians are so "narrow minded" is because we are so single minded with Christ.

Or, maybe we are not the narrow minded ones. Maybe the ones who are narrow minded are the ones who have focused on being tolerant. To people who declare tolerance, everyone's view has to be so general that no one gets offended. You can't have a Christian who believes that there is only one way to heaven, because that is not tolerant of other religions. And yet, it isn't tolerance to not accept the Christian who is believed to be intolerant. If those who desire tolerance become intolerant with Christians, then they are nothing more than hypocrites, trying to force other people to a worldview that they can't even keep themselves.

Speaking of intolerance, the Sanhedrin where so upset about Peter and John healing this guy, but they couldn't do much about it. This lack of power disturbed them and they decided that they needed to warn Peter and John not to speak about Jesus again.

"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and they conferred together. "What are we going to do with these men? They asked. "Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."

Peter the other apostles had done some amazing things in the name of Jesus, and yet the Sanhedrin wanted it stopped. Here are a couple of guys who are healing people and they actually wanted them ordered to stop to prevent the spread of such a thing! It is mind boggling how blind these men were, and yet we see the same thing in our day and age. People who want the 10 commandments removed from the courts, God taken off of our money and removed from our national anthem. Intolerant individuals who desire to squelch the name of Jesus, blinded to the truth of the message of Christ.

"They called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Peter and John had a burning passion for the message of Christ that could not be squelched by the people of their day. They had seen Jesus die, seen him rise again, and their lives were changed so much so that there was nothing that could stop them. They were not willing to obey man over God. I desire to be that passionate for God.

"After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old."

The Sanhedrin couldn't deny it and yet they wouldn't accept it. It was right before their eyes, the truth of who Christ really was, and they did everything they could to try and destroy it and remove it from their lives, rather than accepting it for what it was, the truth.

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