"The Frustration of His Enemies" (Acts 18:12-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/30/2018 9:04 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  The Frustration of His Enemies

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Acts 18:12-17

            Message of the verses:  “12 But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, 13  saying, "This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law." 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; 15 but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters." 16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat. 17 And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.”

            As we remember from our last SD which spoke of God giving peace to Paul as he preached the gospel in Corinth we see that God is totally in charge, and so as we look at the frustrations of Paul’s enemies, who were at this time the Jews, we see according to these verses that they could do nothing about this.  The preaching of the Gospel is very offensive to those who are not saved because the preaching of the gospel shows people that they are sinners and that is what is so offensive to them.  The following is what Jesus said to His disciples on the very night when He would go to the cross, and in this section of John 16 we see what the Spirit of God does in His ministry then and is still doing today.  “7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8  "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9  concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10  and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11  and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”  What you see in these verses is what was happening to people at Corinth as the gospel was being preached.  As one goes back through the gospel of John, which we have already studied we see how the Pharisees reacted to the Person and the Preaching of Jesus Christ.  They hated both His preaching and Him, and that is what is going on in our verses for today.  Look again at John 16:10 where we read “and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me,” and this tells us that because Jesus is now in heaven that people hate His followers because He is in heaven, and cannot get to Him.  In our study of Revelation we also see this happening to the tribulation believers as Satan could not get to Jesus because He was in heaven so Satan takes it out on the believers through the works of the Antichrist.  My point in all of this is that people hate the works of God, the preaching of the gospel, but when God has the door opened so that His people can be saved, His enemies can do nothing to stop that person from being saved.

            I have a couple of quotes explaining about Gallio:  “Gallio was the brother of Seneca, the famed Roman philosopher and tutor of Nero.  Seneca described his brother as ‘an intelligent person who hated flattery, and was blessed with an ‘unaffectedly pleasant personality.’  He was proconsul of Achaia from July, A. D. 51 to June A. D. 52.  Luke’s use of the title proconsul is another important testimony to his painstaking accuracy as an historian, as Richard N. Longenecker explains:

‘That Luke distinguishes correctly between senatorial and imperial provinces and has the former governed by a proconsul on behalf of the senate and the later governed by a propraetor representing the emperor says much for his accuracy, for the status of provinces changed with the times.  Achaia was a senatorial province from 27 B. C.  to A. D. 15 and then again from A. D. 44 onwards…It was therefore governed by a proconsul…Macedonia, however was an imperial province, and therefore Luke rightly called the magistrates at Philippi praetors.’”

            As we look at the rest of our verses we see that the Jews were hoping to capitalize on Gallio’s inexperienced authority.  Well as we can see this did not happen and I believe it was because of the promise that God gave to Paul about experiencing peace as he stayed in Corinth preaching the gospel. 

            I believe that the rest of these verses from Acts 18 that we are looking at today are pretty self explanatory and so I only want to make a comment on the term “judgment seat.”  We know that when all believers go to heaven through the Rapture either as dead or alive that later on during the tribulation period that is going on, on planet earth that we will all stand before the “Judgment Seat of Christ.”  My point here is that during the time when the New Testament was written there were “judgment seats” as seen here in our text for today.

            At this point I want to quote the last short paragraphs from John MacArthur’s commentary as he wraps us this section on the first 17 verses of Acts chapter 18.

            “God strengthened Paul through friends, converts, His own presence, and through the discomfiture of Paul’s enemies.  He was faithful to His promise recorded in Isaiah 40:29-31:

‘29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.’

“That same comfort and encouragement is available to all who faithfully serve our Lord.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I was speaking to a lady whom I have known since she was in kindergarten about a very difficult situation that she and her rather large family is going through now, and my prayer for her is that she will find the same strength that God had given to Paul in this section of Acts chapter eighteen we have been looking at for these last few days.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to pray for this lady’s son along with our neighbor across the back who is dying of cancer and who as far as I know does not know the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “120 Years.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What happened to the waters of Marah when Moses cast tree into them?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/30/2018 9:49 AM