The series purports to offer a history of Moses, but it’s a history lacking in scholarly rigor because it grants any source that mentions Moses equal authority regardless of authorship or date of composition.People unfamiliar with the Bible will finish this series confused about who the Moses of Scripture was, but Christians firm in the faith might be interested in watching the show to learn about Jewish and Islamic teachings.

The Unexpected popularity of The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins’ series about the life of Jesus, sparked the entertainment industry’s interest, causing it to pay more attention to faith-based projects over the last few years. Movies and series with religious overtones have improved in quality, and many are finding bigger audiences. But Netflix’s new docudrama Testament: The Story of Moses shows what can happen when religious entertainment is designed for the widest possible audience.
The miniseries comprises three 80-minute episodes. The first episode, “The Prophet,” begins with Moses’ life as a prince in Egypt and takes him into the land of Midian where he fled after killing an Egyptian taskmaster. “The Plagues” recounts Moses’ attempts to convince Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go and the various calamities God unleashed on the stiff-necked ruler. The third episode, “The Promised Land,” feels misnamed, considering Moses never makes it to Canaan. The episode begins with the Israelites’ crossing of the Red Sea and culminates with Moses’ giving of the Ten Commandments.
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Acts 5 reminds us that our actions matter. Moreover, we have a choice. We can fight against God and His purposes in the world, which will bring us to ruin. Or we can fight with Him, join Him in His battle, and see the world come actively under His Lordship.

Introduction
In our quest to uncover the end-times themes buried within the Book of Acts, we have begun to unveil the hidden depths and subtle intricacies of the early church’s well-developed eschatology. We learned that eschatology is not for cloud gazers, numerologists, or makers of jumbled charts but for those who are willing to put in the work to see the Kingdom built. It is not filled with a mass of spiritually overweight spectators who are just as much a consumer of church as the Nutty Professor is a consumer of fried chicken. But unlike the Klumps, this one is not a joke.
Instead, the eschatology Luke records is for the one who will put his hand to the proverbial plow and break a symbolic sweat. It is for the here and now not to decode the uncertain events concerning an even less certain future. Acts tells us when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and other believers, and when they began doing miracles in Jerusalem and Samaria, that the end was upon them; the end of the ages had come.
For some, that end would climax in smoke and flames, devastation and destruction, as seen temporally in the events of AD 70, which stands as a type of eternal hell. For others, the end of the Old Covenant era of temples, a priesthood, and feasts would be joyfully replaced by the reign of God’s one and only Son, who sat at His right hand until all of His enemies would be made a footstool for His feet. Moreover, as we learned last week, His reign would not cease, be paused, or could ever be overcome until the whole world, every family on earth, is under the blessing of God! What a glorious message our friend and brother Luke has been telling us!
Now, as we stand upon the plank of our ninth blog in Acts, my aim is for us to be recast into its bristling blue waters, a new tank of oxygen in tow, as we plunge into its fifth chapter. However, before we put on our snorkel, we need to remember the flow of the book. In Acts 1, Jesus prepares His disciples for what life and the Kingdom will look like in His absence as they wait for the promised Spirit to come and empower them. In Acts 2, Jesus sends the third member of the trinity upon them in dramatic fashion, causing a crowd to swell, Peter to preach, and about three thousand souls to be added to the believing ranks. After his first powerful sermon, in Acts 3, the apostles began performing miracles in the city, drawing another large crowd, and Peter preaching another powerful sermon. Out of fear that these events would spark an uncontrollable revival, the Jewish leaders began persecuting and arresting believers in Acts chapter 4, especially those who served God publicly.
As the narrative unfolds into Acts 5, we find the apostles released, only to be swiftly summoned before the Sanhedrin – the paramount Jewish council of the era. Their alleged transgression centers on their steadfast and unyielding proclamation of the name of Jesus despite explicit directives to desist from their missionary activities. This resolute commitment to their faith prompts vehement opposition from the religious authorities, who seek to quell the burgeoning Christian movement once and for all.
Acts 5:33-39, therefore, emerges as a pivotal juncture within this narrative. It is a moment when the Sanhedrin, incensed by the apostles’ unwavering conviction to continue unabated, prepares themselves to take severe and even bloody action against the apostles as they had against their Lord. However, amidst this maelstrom of tumult and theological fervor, an unlikely voice of moderation rose in the form of Gamaliel – a respected Pharisee and a learned doctor of Jewish Law, who plays prominently in today’s passage, along with the two false messianic figures we will hear about in a moment. He, Gamaliel, ardently advocates for the council to proceed with extreme caution lest they be found laboring against God.
The events chronicled in Acts 4 through Acts 5 encapsulate a volatile chapter in the annals of the early Christian church and will teach us much about eschatology. Let us read verses 33-39.
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“The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened, and what he bestows on one corner of the vineyard is not given at the expense of another. It is rather designed to awaken a desire and expectation for like gifts of grace, where they have not yet been received, and to give manifest proof to all of God’s infinite power and goodness.”

How do you react when God blesses others and not you? When a neighbouring church sees conversions and yours doesn’t? Particularly if questions could be asked of both their theology and their practice?
The temptation is to be bitter. Or even try to belittle what’s happening in order to make ourselves feel better.
In his commentary on Jonah, nineteenth century pastor Patrick Fairbairn counsels a better way:
“Whenever and wherever God is pleased to manifest of his grace and goodness, it is our part to acknowledge and rejoice in the manifestation.
“It may possibly be done through instruments that we should not have expected to be peculiarly honoured, or in regions which are in a manner cut off from our sympathies and regards. That such showers of blessing should descend there, while scarcely a drop falls where our desires and efforts are mainly engaged, may often appear strange. It may even be felt to be mortifying, as if what were given to the one were somehow withheld from the other.
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