SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/5/2018 10:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Fearlessness in Suffering
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 9:23-31
Message of the verses: “23 When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. 26 When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death. 30 But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. 31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.”
I have to say at the beginning of this SD that I am still
not sure of Saul’s timetable at this time, but the important thing was that God
controlled it and so I will leave it at that.
We begin this SD by looking at verse 28 and see there
that after Barnabas convinced the leaders of the church that Saul had truly
been born again Saul began to move freely around Jerusalem. I have to wonder what Saul’s thoughts were
once he returned to Jerusalem the place where Stephen was put to death and the
place where he had been persecuting the believers there. I have to believe that he leaned heavily on
the Lord realizing that all of his sins were forgiven. Just like Stephen had done in the past Saul
now argues with the Hellenistic Jews, and similar to what happened to Stephen
they could not win the argument so they wanted to kill him, but we don’t really
know how they tried to do this as it is not stated.
It probably seemed to the apostles that they were just as
bad off having Saul there preaching the Word as it was when he was persecuting
the church, and what I mean by that is he was stirring up a hornets’ nest
either way. Paul speaks in Acts 22:17-21
about how the brethren learned of the Hellenists’ plot and it may have been
that Paul had a vision:
“17 “It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance, 18 and I saw Him saying to me, ’Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ 19 “And I said, ’Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You. 20 ’And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.’ 21 “And He said to me, ’Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’"”
MacArthur writes “For his
own safety, they brought Saul down to Caesarea (the seaport on the
Mediterranean) and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown in Cilicia.”
So Saul disappeared from the scene for a few years. MacArthur writes that “during this period,
however, he was far from idle. Between
this time and the time when Barnabas found him in Tarsus and brought him to
Antioch (11:25-26), he was aggressively doing what the Lord had called him to
do. According to Galatians 1:21, he
‘went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.’
At least some of the churches of that region mentioned in Acts 15:23
must have been founded by him in those days.”
Now as far as what happened in Jerusalem after Saul left Luke summarizes the progress of the church by writing “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.”
In conclusion to this section we have been studying we
have seen Saul’s life dramatically and totally transformed that day on the road
near Damascus. From that moment on so
was history changed as Saul changed his identify to Paul and began many Gentile
churches and wrote a good deal of the New Testament. Now in chapter 13 we will see him return to
the center stage of the book of Acts.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Herod” (Mark 6:23).
Today’s Bible
question: “What city did Jesus say
killed the prophets?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/5/2018 11:00 AM
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