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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ He said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about Me.’”
“‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’”
“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”
Acts 22:17-22
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Through the past three devotions, we found the once murderous crowd gathered in Jerusalem buying into Paul’s testimony as he addressed them from the steps of a barracks while guarded by Roman officials.
They were with him as he professed his heritage as a Jew and one who grew up in the city as many of them had. He piqued their interest by sharing he had been educated in the Mosaic law by a well respected Pharisee and teacher named Gamaliel.
They were with him as he explained how he had once persecuted and even killed Christians before, even gaining approval from the Sanhedrin to take Christians prisoner in Damascus and bring them to Jerusalem.
They were with him as he told of his encounter with Jesus who struck him blind on the road to Damascus.
And they continued to be with him as he told of the visit he received from a man named Ananias while he was in Damascus and how a simple command restored his sight. This led to him being baptized and experiencing the washing away of his sins through calling on the name of Jesus.
Yes, the crowd was with Paul through all of this but as we see him finish up his testimony in today’s final devotion in this series, we find the crowd once again turn on Paul because of his confession about what God had called him to do, the same God that the crowd professed believing in. Look again at these words from our passage from Acts 22:
“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ He said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about Me.’”
“‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’”
“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!” Acts 22:17-22
Fresh off his baptism in Damascus, Paul returned to Jerusalem a new man. He was no longer Saul, a persecutor of Christians but rather Paul, a man committed to serve Jesus and help others come to find salvation in His name.
As was his custom, Paul went to the temple in Jerusalem and prayed, falling into a trance where he saw the Lord speaking a warning to him. Paul was ready to begin proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jews in Israel’s capital city but the Lord Jesus knew it wouldn’t go well because the people would refuse to accept Paul’s testimony about Him.
Paul didn’t agree with Jesus’ take on things. He felt he would be effective because he would confess the man he used to be, the man who abused Christians before in Jerusalem and even presided over the stoning of a devoted Christian named Stephen. Surely the people would be amazed at how he had changed and the new person he had become in Christ.
But Jesus insisted that Paul leave Jerusalem, knowing full about the future before it even happened. And so He told Paul to go and share the good news about Him with the Gentiles, foregoing Jerusalem and the Jews who had rejected and killed Him when He was among them. In Jesus’ view, the Jews in Jerusalem were given ample opportunity to know and receive Him and yet they still chose to turn away.
The final sentence in Paul’s testimony, his proclamation that Jesus had sent him to share the Gospel with the Gentiles instead of the Jews, was too much for the crowd to handle and so they raised their voices, asking once again for Paul to be killed saying:
“Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”
Thanks be to God that we know Paul would live to share the Gospel another day. The riotous crown in Jerusalem would not have their way because the Lord Jesus wouldn’t allow it to happen. In the end, they had refused to accept Paul’s testimony and so that testimony would be taken elsewhere to a people who were willing to listen and receive the good news about Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile.
Friends, as we finish this series, we learn that people may still choose to reject the Gospel message that Jesus calls us to bring when the opportunity presents itself. Like Paul, we can’t allow this to stop our efforts out of discouragement. Rather, we should turn to Jesus, the Perfecter of our faith, and allow Him to guide us to the next opportunity as other people receive the chance to be saved through the good news of Jesus.
In the end translation, one can refuse to accept Christian testimony but that refusal in no, way, shape, or form will stop the Gospel from being spread elsewhere, to people who are willing to embrace it.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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