NOTES for Act 4:23-31

When the other apostles learn how Peter and John were questioned before the Sanhedrin, they recall David's psalm about the united revolt of the kings of the earth against the Lord and against His Christ. The apostles equate the persecution of their brothers with persecution of Christ Himself, and this is no exaggeration: He created the Church and entrusted it with carrying out His work on earth; He is invisibly present beside His faithful; and it is at Him that the persecutors aim when they pursue the disciples, since they cannot seize Him a second time.

But God is not mocked. The persecutors withdrew this time not because the apostles possessed some special courage—only recently it would have been difficult to say that of Peter. The Lord strengthened them by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whether to receive this power depended on the apostles' own choice. They chose faithfulness, and therefore they would have remained victorious whatever the outcome of the interrogation.