If it be of God

 Act 5:35  And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. 

Act 5:36  For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. 

Act 5:37  After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. 

Act 5:38  And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: 

Act 5:39  But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. 

This is quite interesting. The very same people who put Jesus to death, who told the guards to say that Christ's body had been taken by the disciples, were now going to start killing apostles. Yet Gamaliel speaks out on the matter and is quite convinced that they have enough blood on their hands and urges patience.

He urges them to let the matter resolve itself, for if it was of God then they could do nothing to affect it.

The Pharisees and the council saw the veil after it was torn, they heard the rumors (if they did not actually see the risen dead themselves) of the dead rising from the grave at Christ's death, they saw the sky go dark for a number of hours, they saw the stone rolled away.

Yet still they wanted to deny, they still didn't believe, they still just did not want any challenge to their authority even after seeing all these things.

They had commanded the Apostles that they should not preach in the name of Christ. They had shut the Apostles up in prison, yet those very same Apostles were preaching in the Temple while the prison they had been in was still shut and secure with the guards exactly where they were when the Apostles were in the prison physically.

They had every single opportunity to believe, they saw so many miracles in such a short time and yet they closed their eyes and refused to believe, and why? Because they did not want to. 

For three years they conspired to kill Christ, then they actually achieved their goal, now, the leader of the "group" is dead and yet the "cult" is not dying out. In fact, it is growing, whereas in times past it faded out when the leader of the uprising was killed.

The very Messiah was their in their midst and they did not recognize Him. God came to earth in human form, He came to them in the place foretold, in the very manner foretold yet they refused to believe because it did not fit into their worldview.

This leads me to believe that they did not want Him to change anything, they did not want Him to upset the apple cart. They were so ingrained in the way things were, they were so satisfied with what is, they forgot the possibilities of what could be. They wanted a Messiah merely as a message for the people, a way to keep the people in line and hopeful, while not actually wanting a Messiah who would effect change and make things better for the people.

Isn't this what we have today? God's people want Christ as long as they do not have to do anything for Him. As long as there is no change to the power of the church, or the comfort of the people, we want Christ.

Yet let Him come asking us to change, or accept what He wills, and see how fast people realize they do not want the Messiah, just the thought of Him.

Tell the church they will have to pay for their sins, be the light of the world, have a good testimony and an open heart and see how fast they turn on Him.

We no longer have a "Christ"ian church, we have a christian church that we all go to but we do not want our God to meet us there, we want Him to conform to our thoughts, our ways, and our convenience.

Gamaliel says if if be of God it will prosper. 

Satan found a way to curb the growth, he had the world accept it, infiltrate it, and change the mission of the church. It seems that he has a lot more tricks than we give him credit for. Once the persecution stopped, the comfort and convenience became the driving factor, then the church died all of it's own accord.

The religious leaders saw Christ and His ministry yet they refused to believe. Today we have the Bible that tells us of God, Jesus and His ministry and yet there is a vast majority of church goers that refuse to believe. Not only do they refuse to believe but they have taken the very Word of God and made it say what they want it to say.

Is it of God? What we do?

Or is it to salve our own conscience, to ease our own guilt. Are we playing christian or are we following Christ?

Are we the Light to the world? or are we the world -lite?