Against Thy Holy Child Jesus (Acts 4:27)

2024-05-04

For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together (Acts 4:27)

Once again, the unhelpful question is coming up in the public sphere about who killed Jesus, and justifying violence on those whom they perceive are guilty. There are many verses that answer this question of who killed the Prince of Life, but the verse above answers it rather comprehensively.

The entire world system killed Jesus Christ, but what they meant for evil, God used to accomplish the reconciling of His people to Himself.

Really, now that our Lord is risen, there are two mutually exclusive camps. There is the world camp that is just as much anti-Christ as it was then, or you have been transferred into the kingdom of God. Now being transferred into His citizenry, it begs the question as to why we are still so entangled in its clutches. “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14). No wonder that the Scripture tells us, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). We work with the enemy when we are involved in the world system and its pleasures.

Recall that the devil himself claims the kingdoms of the world as his own. “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:8-9). He is the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and the “god of this world” that deceives the people therein (2 Corinthians 4:4).

The world is a gluttonous place (Luke 12:29-30). The world hates God’s people (John 15:19). There is a “course of this world” wherein its citizens walk. There is a “fashion of this world” that is fading away (1 Corinthians 7:31). “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19).

So, it is time to take our position away from the world.