December 21, 2008
Prayer
Hymn 369 - I claim for my own a King on a throne
Prayer
Last time, we had the story of Paul’s shipwreck while en route to Rome. We read how God promised Paul that no one would die, and how all miraculously escaped. They ended up on the island of Melita, and that’s where our story starts today.
Read Acts 28:1 & 2. When it says that the people showed them “no little” kindness, it means that they showed them much kindness. The people of the island spoke a different language, but they kindly made the newcomers a fire so that they could warm and dry themselves.
V. 3, we find Paul gathering some sticks for the fire; when he threw them in, a viper (a venomous snake) jumped out and fastened on his hand. This one had probably been sleeping in one of the logs that the people used to make the bonfire. It had been rudely awakened and was probably upset. When the islanders saw what happened, v. 4, they said that Paul must have been a murderer and that he was supposed to have drowned in the sea; but since he escaped, now this viper was attaching him. However, Paul didn’t get hurt. He just shook the snake back into the fire.
V.6, After the island people had watched Paul, expecting him to swell up or drop dead, and nothing happened to him, they changed their minds. Now they said that he was a god. Why did God allow this snake to bite Paul? God allows things in our lives that we don’t always understand; but we can be sure that it is all in God’s plan. Here he used this experience to show that Paul was a godly man. The chief man of the island, Publius, housed them for three days, vv. 7 & 8. While there, Paul healed Publius’ sick father, vv. 9 & 10. These islanders were very hospitable folks: they cared for Paul and the others with him. Remember, there were two hundred and seventy six people that paid them an unexpected visit. They fed and housed these guests for three months, v.11. There was a ship that had wintered at this island that was able to make room for new passengers, so they were able to resume travel to Rome in the spring, vv.12 & 13.
They arrived in Italy, and traveled the rest of the way on land. In vv.14 & 15, they meet with other Christian brethren, who are an encouragement to Paul. We think of Paul as a strong and godly man who was able to do much for the Lord. Could others encourage him? Yes, indeed. Though we may be young, we can still be an encouragement to other Christians, even those who are much farther ahead on their Christian pathway than we are. So Paul took courage as he went to Rome. In vv. 16 & 17, Paul talked to some of the Jews in Rome. He told them of what happened at Jerusalem, how the Jews wanted to kill him, and how he appealed to Caesar. These Jews hadn’t heard the Gospel yet, so on a certain day they all gathered together so that Paul could preach to them. There were some who believe, but most of them don’t. Read vv. 25 – 27; Paul told them that it was prophesied that they would not believe. The Jews had heard, but didn’t understand, so Paul told them that he would now preach to the Gentiles. Remember Cornelius further back in Acts? He was a Gentile, yet God saved his soul. In vv. 30-31, Paul stayed in Rome. He had his own house and people were able to come and see him. And he preached to them, “no man forbidding him”.
Don’t you think that if you put yourself out for the Lord, everything should go smoothly? Well, we know that things are not always that way; from our chapter we are reminded that God has an enemy and those who live for Him will have that enemy too. The people in this chapter may have names that are hard to pronounce, but they are clearly labeled in the first verse: adversaries. The news that the Jews were building in Jerusalem was not good news to them. Though Judah and Benjamin were rejoicing, they were not. Instead, they creatively began to plot against them.
First, they appeared as friends; they show their true colours later. They start by making the offer to help; they want to make a co-operative effort. It sounded nice, but the Jews adamantly refused; we may wonder why. After all, they told them that they wanted to worship “your God.” If we research who these people were, we find that they had been brought in to fill the empty land after the Jews had been taken into captivity; they were the ancestors of the Samaritans. They had no rightful inheritance in the land. What can we learn from this situation? Well, we are building the house of God today, by evangelism. Who can participate in this? It can be done only by those who are truly saved. Many large campaigns today have many different people working for them, saved and unsaved. Read I Corinthians 3:9 – 17; we see here three types of builiding: a saved person builiding with good materials, a saved person building with bad materials, and an unsaved person building with bad materials. Both the builder and the building will be tested by fire. When we look at our chapter with this in mind, we can see that Zerubbabel and the Jews made the right choice.
This chapter can be divided into four sections as follows:
Vv. 1 – 4 Ruse (trick)
Vv. 5 – 7 Intimidation Vv. 9 – 22 Accusation Vv. 23 – 24 Violence
The enemy is ever alive, in one way or another; he knows exactly how to get to his purpose. Though he knows he can’t win, he does not give up. We must make sure we do the Lord’s work and are not instruments of the enemy by compromising or bringing in the world.
Hymn 127 – Let us sing of His love once again
Prayer