LESSON 12
PETER AND JOHN ARRESTED
"As no good is done, or spoken, or thought by any man without the assistance of God, * * * so there is no evil done, or spoken, or thought without the assistance of the devil."
Peter Interrupted.
While Peter was still preaching to the thousands assembled in "Solomon's Porch," he saw approaching from the castle near the Temple, the captain of the guard and his band.
The Jewish priests had become jealous, and suspicious of the apostles, and looked with alarm at the thousands of people joining the Church. So they decided to call out the soldiers, disperse the multitude, and arrest Peter and John as the men responsible for all the excitement. However, about five thousand of the people were converted that afternoon.
Imprisoned.
So the soldiers "laid hands on them," and put them in jail, "For it was now eventide," and, therefore, too late to take them to trial. Though they were shut up in close cells, yet their spirits were free and their consciences clear. They could sleep more peacefully than the priest who had caused their arrest.
Before the Sanhedrin.
In the morning, the prisoners were taken to the Sanhedrin where sat Annas, the high priest and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and relatives of the high priest. These men had condemned Jesus, perhaps in this very room, and they were determined that the preaching in the name of Jesus of Nazareth must cease.