Acts 4:1-22 We Cannot but Speak the Things Which we Have Seen and Heard

[Study Aired December 25, 2022]

Act 4:1  And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
Act 4:2  Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
Act 4:3  And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.
Act 4:4  Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.
Act 4:5  And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,
Act 4:6  And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
Act 4:7  And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?
Act 4:8  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
Act 4:9  If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Act 4:10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Act 4:11  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Act 4:13  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Act 4:14  And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
Act 4:15  But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16  Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17  But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Act 4:21  So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.
Act 4:22  For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.

The mysteries of the kingdom of God (Mat 13:10-11) are in the process of being revealed and the events of the day of Pentecost and the healing of the 40-year-old man who was lame from birth are the events the holy spirit chose to establish beyond any doubt that the crucified Christ is indeed the Son of God and the Messiah Israel has been waiting for ever since this prophecy was given by Moses:

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

“A prophet from the midst of thee, of your brethren, like unto me” means that this prophet will be a reformer like Moses was.

Before Moses, mankind could offer a burnt offering to the Lord upon any altar at any time and any place. When Moses was given the law, that all changed, and from that moment on every offering to God  had to be offered only at the tabernacle of the congregation and later at the temple in Jerusalem. Israel was prohibited from offering sacrifices anywhere but at the temple in Jerusalem:

Deu 12:5  But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:
Deu 12:6  And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:

This commandment was given by the Lord Himself, and the Lord Himself is the only being in the world who could possibly change it because He has come in “the time of reformation”, and He alone is “greater than the temple” and “Lord also of the sabbath”:

Mat 12:1  At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
Mat 12:2  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mat 12:3  But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4  How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5  Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6  But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7  But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Being required to come to the tabernacle to offer an offering was just one of the six hundred and thirteen laws this great reformer, Moses, instituted. The ‘prophet like Moses’ had arrived in Israel and everyone in Jerusalem had witnessed Jesus performing miracles of healing on the sabbath day, and all knew their leaders had condemned Him for breaking the sabbath and claiming that He was God’s Son:

Joh 5:12  Then asked they him [the lame man Christ had healed], What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? [on the sabbath day]
Joh 5:13  And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.
Joh 5:14  Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
Joh 5:15  The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
Joh 5:16  And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
Joh 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

The gift of languages on the day of Pentecost was witnessed by the many thousands of devout Jews who had come to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, and all who were native to the city of Jerusalem knew that the 120 people who had been given the gift of languages were all Galileans who were disciples of Christ.

Act 2:7  And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
Act 2:8  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Act 2:9  Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Act 2:10  Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Act 2:11  Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
Act 2:12  And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

What this means is that “the time of reformation, spoken of by Moses, was being introduced in a way that caused it to be spread throughout the entire Roman Empire by those who had been there on that day and witnessed what had happened and who heard “the wonderful works of God”.

Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

This is what Christ had to say about this “time of reformation”:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

We all live our own “time of reformation”, as the Lord replaces the law of Moses within us with His “law of love”, and His fear which will cause us to “tremble at his word”:

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not [Sacrifices rather than obedience to the Reformer].
Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

The healing of the forty-year-old man who was lame from birth and was “laid daily at the gate of the temple” was another undeniable proof that Jesus was indeed the reformer Messiah. This man had been there begging for decades and everyone who went up to the temple was familiar with this man.

In our last study, we read what the holy spirit had inspired Peter to say to that forty-year-old man who was born lame:

Act 3:1  Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour [3 P.M.].
Act 3:2  And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
Act 3:3  Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
Act 3:4  And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
Act 3:5  And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Act 3:6  Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
Act 3:7  And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Act 3:8  And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
Act 3:9  And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
Act 3:10  And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

Act 4:1  And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,

Notice that we are told “they spake unto the people”. Therefore, John was also preaching the gospel and saying the same things “unto the people” that Peter was preaching and teaching, which was confirming that Christ was the prophesied ‘prophet like Moses’ who would be a reformer to be rejected and crucified as the prophets foretold:

Act 2:22  Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Act 2:23  Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Act 2:24  Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

Act 4:2  Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
Act 4:3  And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.

The priests were all Sadducees (Act 5:17), and they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Neither did they appreciate being accused of “by wicked hands having crucified and slain” their own Messiah.

Act 23:8  For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.

The Sadducees were little better, if any, than atheists. They taught that this life was all there is. They did not believe in being raised “as the angels in heaven”, so they denied there was a resurrection. Christ saw right through their hypocritical questioning when they just knew they could make Him look foolish:

Mat 22:23  The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,
Mat 22:24  Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
Mat 22:25  Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:
Mat 22:26  Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.
Mat 22:27  And last of all the woman died also.
Mat 22:28  Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
Mat 22:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Mat 22:30  For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

These are the same hypocritical people who covenanted with Judas to betray the Lord:

Luk 22:3  Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
Luk 22:4  And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.
Luk 22:5  And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.
Luk 22:6  And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.

Luk 22:52  Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?

The only difference in the description of those who arrested Christ and those who arrested Peter and John is not really a difference at all because that difference is merely the name of the sect of the Sadducees to which the priests belonged.

Act 5:17  Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,

These are the same people who insisted on the crucifixion of Christ, and there is no doubt they would have loved to crucify Peter and John also. However, the healing of a man who had been born lame, and who was “laid daily at the gate of the temple”, was so powerful a witness to the resurrection of Christ that five thousand were added to the church that day via the preaching of Peter and John. The fact that this beggar was “above forty years old” (Act 4:22) means he had been begging there at the temple for decades and was known of by everyone who came to the temple, especially to “the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders” who went up to the temple for all those decades.

Act 4:4  Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

That is two thousand more than were added on the day of Pentecost.

Act 2:41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Act 4:5  And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,
Act 4:6  And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
Act 4:7  And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?
Act 4:8  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
Act 4:9  If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Act 4:10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Act 4:11  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Act 4:13  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

As we familiarize ourselves with the Word of God, we, too, ‘have been with Jesus’, and it cannot be hidden from this world because we will be like Him “the light of the world”:

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

If we are given to desire to know Him, then He will live His life in us, and we, too, will be “the light of the world”:

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Being the light of the world will not make us popular with the world. To the contrary we will be “hated of all men” because the world lies in darkness, and it hates the light:

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Act 4:14  And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

Hypocrisy is inherent in our flesh. If we are indeed guilty of having a man who was prophesied to be a reformer crucified for breaking the sabbath and claiming to be the son of God, and then that same man is raised from the dead and is seen by over 500 people at once, and then that same man is credited with giving the gift of speaking in languages to 120  people, and then just a few days later that man we had crucified heals a man who was born  lame and is over forty years old and is known by the entire city, and His disciples are telling the people that they and their leaders are guilty of crucifying their own Messiah, we just naturally defend ourselves as opposed to repenting of the obvious humiliating, murderers we are proven to be.

What to do???

Act 4:15  But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16  Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it [‘Nothing to see here’].
Act 4:17  But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.

Here we are brought face to face with the one condition under which we are not to “be subject unto the higher powers”, as “the sum of Thy Word” demonstrates. Do not the scriptures command us to submit to the higher powers? Yes, they do:

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Rom 13:2  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Rom 13:3  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
Rom 13:4  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Rom 13:5  Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
Rom 13:6  For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
Rom 13:7  Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

In Christ’s day the priests and captains of the temple were “the higher power” to whom Christ and His disciples were subject, and Christ taught that as His doctrine:

Mat 23:1  Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2  Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

When Christ healed a leper, He commanded the leper to ‘show himself to the priests and to offer an offering for his cleansing, according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto them’:

Luk 5:12  And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Luk 5:13  And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.
Luk 5:14  And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

This is where every future priest and king finds himself in time. We will all have our faith tried to show us whether we are worthy to be Christ’s disciples:

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

Luk 14:25  And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Luk 14:29  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
Luk 14:30  Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Luk 14:31  Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Luk 14:32  Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
Luk 14:33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Peter and John are types of us when the Lord gives us the resolve to forsake all that we have, to be a witness of His resurrection power as His disciples.

Act 4:21  So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.
Act 4:22  For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.

Just a few weeks earlier both Peter and John had fled from the very people they are now boldly confronting with their witness that the healing of this lame man who is known by the whole city is the work of the resurrected Messiah, whom these men had murdered.

Peter and John and the whole church, which now numbered well over eight thousand men, “all of one mind and one accord” in believing that Christ is the resurrected Messiah who will establish the kingdom of God on this earth. The apostles did not go to the higher power looking for a fight, but when the higher power came to them demanding that they ignore the power that was higher than they, then the apostles, as types of us, had to be willing to lay down their lives rather than disobey Christ and His Father who are the highest power of all.

It is true that at this point the thought of the Gentiles becoming part of that kingdom has not entered their minds, but they are remaining true and faithful to what they are given to understand.

It will be another thirty or forty years before all the apostles, James and John, along with Peter and Paul and Barnabas, will all acknowledge that “if ye be in Christ, then ye are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”:

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

This simply is not yet understood because the holy spirit has not yet revealed this to any of the apostles. It wasn’t yet revealed because the holy spirit knew that no one was yet capable of receiving that message. If Peter and John here at the beginning of their ministry had told the multitudes on the day of Pentecost that…

Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

They would have had the same reception Christ had when He began His ministry with just that message:

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a [Gentile] woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the [Gentile] Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

Christ made this point at the very beginning of His reforming ministry for our benefit. We have no record of Him regularly making this point during His ministry. He was very clear to the Samaritan woman at the well that the day would come when physical Jerusalem would no longer be prominent in the worship of God, but this was not a prominent part of His gospel of the kingdom of God to the Jews to whom He came first:

Joh 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

These words at the beginning of the gospel of John demonstrate that this apostle had come to see that:

Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

John’s is also the only gospel which refers to the holy days of Moses as “feasts of the Jews”, distancing Himself from those who had rejected their own Messiah.

Joh 6:4  And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.

Joh 7:2  Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.

If the apostles had brought this message to the multitudes of “devout Jews from every nation under heaven” on the day of Pentecost, they would have been stoned on the spot. It simply was not yet time for this to be known among the devout Jewish disciples of Christ, and Christ Himself was aware of the ‘frame’ of His own creatures:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

The calling of the Gentiles was part of the “things to come” which neither the apostles nor the people could bear at the time surrounding the day of Pentecost. It would have been too much for them to bear:

Psa 103:13  Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
Psa 103:14  For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

It was more than “the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees” could bear just to hear that they had crucified their own Messiah. However, it was given to many to accept that revelation and to repent so that:

Act 4:4  Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

Peter and John were faithful to what they were given to believe and now, through the holy spirit which was given to them on the day of Pentecost, they both “had respect unto the recompense of the reward” for being faithful to the end, and they did not value their life in this world above “the recompence of the reward” of life eternal in the age to come.

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ [in type] greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Peter and John were now willing to die with Christ and not just for Christ.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

“The recompense of the reward” is to become “the manifestation of the sons of God” and the saviors of all mankind:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God [“The recompense of the reward”].