Last week we took a look at the second attempt of the Sanhedrin to squelch the new church. The Sadducees arrested all the apostles, who were promptly freed from prison by an angel. The high priests turned a blind eye to the miraculous occurring under their nose, and go forward with the trial.

When Peter and the apostles make them look foolish, and call for their repentance (rather than submitting to the high priests' orders to quit preaching), the Sanhedrin as a whole wants to kill the apostles!

Instead, the pragmatic advice of Gamaliel convinces the Sanhedrin to release the apostles, since they didn't believe in the supernatural, and in their experience 'upstarts' like these tended to die out once the leader had been killed.

The apostles were flogged and released, and went out rejoicing! Why? Because they had been deemed worthy to bear the shame for the sake of Jesus.

Remember how Jesus was scourged before the crucifixion? This is the same thing.

How do you react when the Bible confronts your sin? Are you angry? Rebellious? Or do you repent and rejoice at what God has done for you, then obey, like Peter says?

How do you think about persecution? Are you joyful, even through the pain, at the thought that some day you will rejoice in full glory with Christ?