Throughout the Bible, God calls His people to not be afraid. Of course, the positive corollary to this is that He calls us to be courageous. Put both sides of that coin together and you have some of the most common refrains of scripture: “Don’t be afraid” and “Take courage.”
Today, we’ll focus on courage. Zachary Garris writes at Reformation 21:
The words “courage” and “courageous” occur at least 30 times combined in most English Bible translations, with the common refrain in the Old Testament to “take courage” or “be of good courage” (e.g., Numbers 13:20; Judges 20:22). At root, the word translated as “courage” connotes “strength.”
The command in Deuteronomy to “be strong and courageous” combines this Hebrew verb for being courageous with another term that more explicitly refers to being strong. Thus, both verbs in the command “to be strong and courageous” combine emphatically to call hearers to be strong in contrast to being weak.
Jon Bloom reminds us at Desiring God that “Scripture is full of men and women of remarkable courage,” and he mentions Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, Esther, and Jesus. But the ragtag group of young disciples in Acts demonstrated some remarkable courage.
In Acts 3, Peter and John healed a lame beggar who sat at one of the temple gates, after which Peter preached a sermon in which he pointed to Jesus as the way to achieve eternal life. In the next chapter, the priests, temple officials, and Sadducees (the elite Jewish party that didn’t believe in the resurrection) arrested Peter and John, and they appeared before the council.
On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:5-12 (ESV)
The council’s reaction to Peter and John’s willingness to stand firm in the face of pressure and arrest got their attention. Acts 4:13 records their response: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”
Related: Sunday Thoughts: The Encouragement of Future Hope
Boldness. It was a far cry from their behavior just a few weeks before. Jesus’ disciples scattered and hid as He hung on the cross, and Peter even denied knowing Him. Now, here were Peter and John standing strong in front of the ruling council. All the council could do in response is threaten them not to speak about Jesus again.
But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.
Acts 4:19-21 (ESV)
“The gathering of the entire council is undoubtedly an attempt to intimidate these uneducated common fishermen,” writes Joe Rigney in his book, Courage: How the Gospel Creates Christian Fortitude. “Here are the elite, the educated, the men who have power. It is they who basically ask, what do you have to say for yourselves? No doubt other uneducated men have stood before them and shivered, looked pale, and found their tongues tied in the presence of these religious leaders, but not Peter and John.”
Rigney explores the idea of courage and boldness in an explicitly Christian context. He writes, “So then, what is Christian boldness? It is courage and clarity about Jesus and sin in the face of powerful opposition. It is plain and open speech with no obfuscation or muttering. It is unhindered testimony to the truth, whether about Christ and his salvation or about what he came to save us from.”
God calls His people to be courageous and bold. It’s a sign of righteousness: “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1, ESV).
Courage is a sign of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives: “…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7, ESV).
Boldness and courage are the outgrowth of our faith in times of suffering:
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Hebrews 10:35-39 (ESV)
Let’s be courageous and bold every day! After all, God is on our side.
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