Week 15
Psalms 38-41 and Acts 1-18
That was a lot. Like a whole lot. How interesting- those journeys, those encounters, the belief of those early Christians! Wow!! So let’s slow down and examine some of the things we just read in this portion of Acts-
Here we learn that Matthias becomes an apostle, taking the place of Judas Iscariot. The Holy Spirit fills the believers and the believers create a type of commune where everything is shared and no one is needy because everyone just takes care of everyone else. What a nice idea- which of course leads to issues almost immediately. Peter & John get arrested but refuse to stop preaching. Stephen gets stoned which starts a great persecution against the church, lead by Saul. The persecution scatters the believers which effectively just spreads the word even faster.Apostles keep performing miracles and preaching and THEN- curveball- Saul gets blinded when Jesus speaks to him and he ends up believing and preaching more than the others. WHOA- talk about a plot twist!!
At this point I’m wondering, do you think they are keeping track- like a different version of notches in their belt kind of thing? I’m just thinking about men in general- how even the simplest of things somehow become a competition. So I’m curious are Peter and Paul comparing numbers of baptisms, scale of miracles, size of the crowds they’re attracting, miles covered, towns converted, number of arrests?? If Peter is saying- well at least I didn’t start the great persecution of our people! 😳 #awkward
So then (and this is great!!) Peter gets an invitation from Cornelius to come over so he can tell him about Jesus. We learn that Cornelius is a Gentile and not really supposed to be hanging out with Peter BUT right at the same time Peter is having these visions about nothing that God made clean is impure and it registers to him that God is saying He will accept EVERY NATION, as long as they fear Him and do what’s right. EVERY NATION!! So salvation isn’t just reserved for the chosen people- it is open to all of US. Well this is a ground breaking revelation and super great news. Especially a couple chapters later when they determine that salvation comes from the belief- not from being circumcised!
Unfortunately, we still aren’t quite to the happily ever after ending just yet so enter King Herod. Can I pause for a quick sec here- how many Herods are there?! Is this just another name for king like pharaoh was to the Egyptians?! Or was it a super popular name- primarily for kings that don’t like Christians. Anyway- King Herod starts killing apostles, starting with James and then arrests Peter. Unfortunately for Herod, God has other plans and sends an angel to break Peter out of jail. Naturally, King Herod is mad but he goes on and during the famine he’s handing out food and begins to think of himself as a god rather than giving God the glory- and he falls over dead, just done. God says “nope, I don’t think so- you’re done now!”
The disciples continue preaching, sometimes getting persecuted, run out of town, in Lystra Paul even gets stoned to the point of them leaving him for dead- but the numbers keep increasing.
Whew- that was a lot of information but what really sticks out to me here is way back chapter 5 where the Pharisee Gamaliel points out that regardless of the persecution, this message isn’t stopping. It is not of human origin. If you fight it, you are fighting against God. What a big statement. This message has been around for thousands of years- the unchanging truth. It’s not based on idols that rot or get lost. It’s not based on men that die and then decompose. It’s not based on landmarks or tombs that get forgotten about and grown over or captured during wars. It’s not even based on current hypes or fads that change at a moment’s notice. This message can’t be locked up, beat up, burned down, IT CAN’T BE STOPPED because the God we serve is THE GOD. He is forever and He can’t be stopped.
How amazing is that?! I mean really- I can’t think of one other thing that has lasted this long- no books, no treasure, no traditions, no wives tails, nothing.
What about you? New takeaways here? Any ah-ha moments?