Acts 5:17-23: a reflection

17But the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy 18and laid hands on the apostles, then put them in public custody. 19But an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors by night, and brought them out and said, 20“Go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.” 21When they heard this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and taught. But the high priest and those who were with him came and called the council together, with all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22But the officers who came didn’t find them in the prison. They returned and reported, 23“We found the prison shut and locked, and the guards standing before the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside!”

The apostles, arrested and thrown into prison by the jealous authorities for preaching about Jesus, are freed in the night by an angel. But notice what the angel tells them to do with their freedom: Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life. They are not told to flee, to hide, to lie low until the danger passes; they are sent right back to the very place and the very activity that got them arrested, to keep proclaiming the gospel. And at daybreak, obediently, they enter the temple and teach.

Notice the purpose of their deliverance. God did not free them so they could escape and go quiet; he freed them to keep doing what they had been arrested for, to go back to the temple and keep preaching. The deliverance came with a commission: not to retreat, but to resume the mission. God rescued them for the sake of the work, so that they could keep speaking the words of life.

That is often the shape of God's deliverances. He rescues us from trouble not merely for our own comfort or safety, but so that we can keep serving him, keep doing the work he has given. Deliverance is not always into ease; often it is into renewed mission. When God brings you through a trial, delivers you from a hard place, do not assume the point is simply your relief. He may be freeing you, as he freed the apostles, to keep serving, to resume the work, to go back and speak the words of life. Receive your deliverances as commissions: freed, not to retreat, but to keep serving God.

Lord, when you freed the apostles from prison, you sent them right back to the temple to keep proclaiming the words of life, not to flee or hide. Help me see my own deliverances rightly. When you bring me through a trial or rescue me from a hard place, keep me from assuming the point is merely my relief. Free me, as you freed the apostles, to keep serving you, to resume the work, to keep speaking of you. Let my deliverances be commissions to keep serving, not invitations to retreat. Use my freedom for your purposes.