Opposing the Unstoppable

Last year I coached my daughter’s flag football team. I must say, coaching a group of 7-year-olds takes you through the whole gamut of human emotion. I had mostly the same kids for three consecutive seasons, and by the third season, I felt like we had really hit our stride. We were the Packers, and we were ready to dominate the field.

It was fun to look ahead at the schedule and size up the competition… I’ll emphasize the word “was” here. It was fun until I saw one team our entire little league was up against: the Ravens. This team was routinely putting up 40+ points, and after seeing them practice one day, I was certain they’d do the same to us.

There are some battles in life that no amount of preparation or willpower can fix. You will fail. In my case, I had little choice but to throw my team out to the wolves (or in this case, “the birds”) and watch them get absolutely destroyed… a good character-building opportunity.

You might be able to relate to that visceral feeling of preemptive defeat. It’s a real bummer to face the reality of undefeatable opposition.The concern of getting dominated in little league sports pales in comparison to the sobering thought we see from a man named Gamaliel. He was a teacher of the law, respected by all, and wise enough to consider the sobering reality of opposing God (Acts 5:34).

So here’s the context of Acts 5:35–39. The apostles had been proclaiming the gospel and healing the sick. The high priest and his associates weren’t just angry – they were jealous (Acts 5:17). They thought this uprising ended with the death of Jesus. Then came the empty tomb. To cover it up, they spread the story that the disciples had stolen His body (Matthew 28:13). But now the apostles were performing miracles and influencing crowds in undeniable ways. The high priest had them imprisoned, only to hear the next day that they were back in the temple preaching!

Reality is, the signs were all there. The signs demanded that a reasonable man take a moment to consider: “what if?”

What if Jesus wasn’t just another name-seeker?

What if He really was who He claimed to be?

What if the apostles were divinely appointed to preach this gospel?

What if they were actually commissioned by God Himself?

These were the weighty questions Gamaliel seemed to wrestle with as he restrained his peers from killing the apostles:

38 “... keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!”

The council listened in so much as they didn’t kill the apostles. They beat them, charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. But the apostles rejoiced, counting it an honor to suffer for His name. And they did not cease to teach and preach that Jesus is the Christ.

So here’s the truth for you and me: if it is of God, nothing can stop it.

If your salvation is of God, no one can remove His saving grace from your life. If your calling is of God, no power of man or darkness can overturn it. Whether the Lord plans to use His people for kingdom work or calls them home through the veil of death, nothing can stop what He has set out to accomplish.

And here’s the flip side: whatever is opposing the Lord will ultimately fail. Always. That is a certainty under the sovereign hand of the Lord.

So take heart. Rejoice, church. The Lord upholds His people. He is a firm foundation, a mighty fortress, and He alone is sovereign forever.

Each of us would do well to consider this… are you opposing the unstoppable or have you set out on the road to glory with the unstoppable God?