Daily Devotional--9/15/2010

Acts 4:5-12

⁵The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. ⁶Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. ⁷They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, ¹⁰then 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. ¹¹He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.' ¹²Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Psalm 118:19-24

¹⁹ Open for me the gates of righteousness;
I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

²⁰ This is the gate of the LORD
through which the righteous may enter.

²¹ I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.

²² The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;

²³ the LORD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.

²⁴ This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

In this text we find Peter and John before Jewish ruling council of their day giving a defense of their ministry.

• What strategy do Peter and John employ in defense of their ministry before the Jewish ruling council?

The reference to the rejected cornerstone in verse 11 comes from Psalm 118:22. The preceding verse, Psalm 118:21, praises God for “becoming my salvation” and verse 22 tells us how God has become our salvation: through the rejected cornerstone.

• How do Peter and John use Psalm 118 to demonstrate Jesus identity to their Jewish counterparts?