After healing the lame man at the temple, and preaching the Gospel to the amazed crowd that gathered, the wicked rulers tried to shut Peter and the others up. Peter confronted them by the Spirit with great boldness, but they rejected the Gospel, and showed no conviction or conversion at all. These wicked rulers didn't believe, because the Holy Ghost did not work in their hearts to believe. God had other purposes for them – not salvation, but wrath and judgment! They threatened Peter and the others not to preach in Christ's name again! The response by the church to all these threats, and this hatred by the rulers, is very revealing! It shows just how well Peter and the other apostles had obeyed Christ's command to strengthen the brethren. It turns out that they had all been very well prepared to react properly to the very first persecution of the church by the world. First, we find that they all raised their voices in praise to Almighty God as the creator of everything. This is in keeping with numerous psalms which were prefaced with the same attitude of worship. Next, they recited David's prophecy, that the nations and the people would rebel against Messiah. David asked the question, why do they rebel against Messiah? But the church now understood why: it was in order to carry out the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus by the hands of those rebellious people! God had before determined that they should do all those things. Why would that be? Because Messiah MUST BE put to death for the sins of His beloved ones, so that He could suffer all the demands of the divine justice that our crimes warranted from the hand of a holy, righteous God.