Locked Up
for the Gospel Again
[Acts
chapter 16, verses 16-28]
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When
we left off last week at verse 15, Paul and Silas had been invited to
stay – and were staying by the time this week's study takes place –
at the house of Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth and a business owner.
This was just after her conversion at Philippi, having been baptized
by Paul and Silas in the river at the place where they had met. This
week we will move on starting at verse 16, where Paul and Silas run
into trouble on the way to that same place of prayer where they had
met Lydia before.
“16)
Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a
female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She
earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17)
She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, 'These men are
servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be
saved.' 18) She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so
annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, 'In the name of
Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!' At that moment the
spirit left her. 19)
When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone,
they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to
face the authorities. 20) They brought them before the magistrates
and said, 'These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an
uproar 21) by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or
practice.' 22) The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas,
and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.
23) After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into
prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24)
When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and
fastened their feet in the stocks.”
First of all, let's
just set aside for the moment all religious pretense and theology.
The Bible is clearly telling us two things about predicting the
future and those claiming to possess the ability to do so. First, we
can't and we were never meant to, at least not in our natural state.
Second, those who can, as we are about to find out, are
demon-possessed people – literally – because otherwise that
individual would have no such ability. Paul and Silas ignored her for
a long time even though she followed them wherever they went. But
even Paul and Silas had their breaking point. “Finally
Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit,
“In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!”
At that moment the spirit left her.”
And so Paul rebuked the evil spirit that had seized control of the
young slave girl and drove it out with only the spoken words, “Come
out of her!”. Only the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of the risen
Christ has that kind of instant and formidable power.
Driving
out that evil spirit had unintended consequences for Paul and Silas,
as we find out in the very next verse. “19)
When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone,
they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to
face the authorities. 20) They brought them before the magistrates
and said, 'These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an
uproar 21) by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or
practice.'”
These men were furious because Paul and Silas had ruined their cash
cow, and it is evident that the young woman was nothing more than a
cash cow to her captors. We would call her a victim of human
trafficking victim today. If they were standing before the throne of
God at Judgment Day, I suspect the slave girl would be allowed to
enter heaven, but her captors wouldn't be so fortunate.
“After
they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the
jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.”
This just goes to show you that being a Christian can get you singled
out by the authorities in a hurry, especially if what you're teaching
and preaching goes against the status quo. Being a Christian – and
by that I mean living your faith as opposed to merely professing idle
belief – is no cakewalk, and anyone who implies otherwise is trying
to mislead you into joining their congregation so they can milk you
for money. Stay away from those churches, they are filled with
vultures in human form. But to get back to our lesson, one byproduct
of serving Christ is that whenever we drive demons out, their demon
friends are sure to come around looking to stir up trouble – with
ourselves. And so Paul and Silas found themselves getting “severely
flogged” before being put into a maximum security cell. And so now
let's move on to part two of this week's study, beginning at verse
25.
“25)
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,
and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26) Suddenly there
was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were
shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s
chains came loose. 27) The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison
doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because
he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28) But Paul shouted, 'Don’t
harm yourself! We are all here!'”
(Acts 16, verses 25-28)
As
we can see there in verse 25, it didn't matter where Paul and Silas
went – they either preached and taught the Word of God and the Way
of salvation, or they were in a mode of prayer and praise, full time
24x7. There was no other way to get the Word of God out to the
people, since there was no mass media as we know today. The other
prisoners, wrote the apostle Luke, sat up and listened to them,
having never heard such prayers being spoken or such prayers being
uttered as those of Paul and Silas. I
wonder how many of them gave their hearts to the Lord, either while
still in jail or after being released? Someday we will all know for
sure, as we meet one another in heaven.
But
then came a violent earthquake, and the prison doors were flung open,
undoubtedly at the direction of the Lord Almighty. Next, “The
jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his
sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners
had escaped.”
The jailer, who would have faced the death penalty because he failed
his mission, thought it fitting to end his own life on his terms,
rather than face a Roman court. The world was a very harsh place back
then, and the death penalty was handed down by the Roman Empire with
alarming regularity. Joining the Roman legions back then was like
joining the Mafia – you served until death, and if one's death was
a bit premature, well, that's too bad because that's life. Those
Romans were not nice people to work for.
But
Paul, knowing all this, prevented the jailer from doing so in verse
28. “But
Paul shouted, 'Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!'”
In true Christ-like fashion, Paul showed compassion for his captors,
even though he and Silas had been beaten severely just hours before.
How did the jailer react when he realized Paul and Silas had saved
his life? To get the answer to this probing question, you'll have to
come back next week for part three of Acts chapter 16. See you then!
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