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Acts
16:6-40
The book of
Acts holds a special position among the books referred to the age of
grace, as it is concerned with the practical side of many things later
found in the epistles. Moreover, it also shows the way those men of God
as Paul, Peter, etc. walked with Him, thus giving us their practical
example. Such an example is recorded in Acts 16, a chapter devoted to
the visit of Paul to Philippi. It is this chapter that will be the
subject of our article.
1. The
decision for the visit
Starting our excursion in Acts 16:6-8,
we read:
Acts 16:6-8
"Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of
Galatia, being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia,
they came against Mysia and were attempting to go to Bithynia but the
Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to
Troas."
(Interlinear Bible-NKJV)
If you consult
a map, you will see that what is described in four lines here was a
really long journey. Galatia, Phrygia and Asia (Minor) were three
regions that succeeded each other. Paul and those that accompanied him,
passed the first two (Phrygia and Galatia) and came to the third one:
Asia Minor. However, as the text says, God, the Holy Spirit, forbade
them to preach the Word there, and thus they went north towards Mysia.
Nevertheless, when they tried to move from there to Bithynia, God
forbade them again. As a result, they passed by Mysia and went to Troas,
on the Aegean sea.
As it may be obvious from the above,
Philippi was not a place to which Paul and Silas were planning to go
from the beginning. In fact they tried twice to go to other places, but
God forbade them. The reason He forbade them is not because He didn't
desire His Word to be preached in those areas. Actually, Paul went to
Asia Minor some time later and as Acts 19:10 tells us: "All who
dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and
Greeks." Nevertheless, we all know that it is not possible to be in
two different places at the same time. In other words, the Word was
impossible to be preached simultaneously by the same man in Asia
or Bithynia and in Philippi. Something necessarily had to come
first and something second. As it seems, from God's point of view,
Philippi and Greece had time priority over Asia and Bithynia. From these
we can conclude that God is not interested in just the preaching of the
Word, but in the preaching of the Word where HE wants, as HE wants and
when HE wants. As Ephesians 5:23 tells us:
"Christ is the head of the
church."
The church
really has a boss, someone that should be consulted for the things
relative to it. This is neither you nor I, nor any other mortal man, but
Christ. Regarding our case, what the Boss really
wanted is recorded in verses 9-10:
Acts 16:9-10
"And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia
stood and pleaded with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us.
Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to
Macedonia, assuredly gathering THAT THE LORD HAD CALLED US TO PREACH THE
GOSPEL TO THEM."
(KJV-NKJV)
God hadn't
called them that specific time, to preach the Word in Asia and Bithynia.
Instead He had called them to preach the Word in Macedonia and finally
in all the eastern mainland of Greece. How did they know it? The Lord COMMUNICATED IT TO THEM through a vision. In fact, He communicated it to
them in such a way that they ASSUREDLY gathered that the Lord had led
them to go there. However, do you believe that God would have done this
if they weren't ready to move where He wanted them to move? I don't
think so. God will not compel anyone to work in His field. However,
if someone wants to work for Him - which is exactly what He expects from
us1 - he should not make
up his own way about how, when and where he is going to move, but he
should consult the Master who is ultimately responsible to decide on
these.
2. The visit
to Phillipi and its results
Having Gods clear command to sail to
Macedonia, Paul and those that accompanied him left immediately. Verses
11-12 tells us:
Acts 16:11-12
"Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran with a straight course
to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, and from there to
Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a
colony. And we were staying in that city for some day".
God had told
them to go to Macedonia. So they didn't stop to preach the word in
Samothrace, but went directly to Phillipi, the foremost city of that
part of Macedonia. There, several things happened that we will see
below.
2.1 Lydia: the
first believer in Europe
Starting in verses 13-15 we read:
Acts 16:13-15
"And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the
riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke
to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of
purple from the city of Thyatira, who revered God, heard us: whose heart
the Lord opened, to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her
household were baptized, she begged us, saying, If you have judged me to
be faithful to the Lord, come to my house, and stay. And she constrained
us".
(Interlinear Bible - NKJV)
Did Lydia
revere God? Yes, that's what the passage says. However, was she saved?
NO, for she didn't know the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, she was like
Cornelius: he was a devout man, who feared God with all his household
and gave alms generously. He prayed to God always (Acts 10:2). Yet he
needed Peter to come to his home and tell him words by which, as the
angel told him, he and his household would be saved (Acts 11:14).
Similarly, Lydia revered God. Yet, she needed someone to come and tell
her about Jesus Christ, to believe and be saved. And that's exactly what
happened: God had Paul come all the way from Cilicia to speak the Word
to her. She believed it and was made the first recorded believer in
mainland Europe. However, this was but the beginning.
2.2 The
devil-possessed girl
Verses 16-18 tell us:
Acts 16: 16-18
"And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, that a certain
damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her
masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us,
and cried out, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God,
who proclaim to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many
days."
This girl was
obviously possessed with a devil spirit that through her, seemed to
advertise Paul and his mission there. At a first glance, it may appear
that what we have here is the paradox of the devil supporting the work
of the Lord!! However, would it ever be possible that something like
this could happen? I don't think so. As Paul said to Elymas, another
devil-possessed man:
Acts 13:9-10
"Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the holy
spirit, looked intently at him and said, O full of all DECEIT AND ALL
FRAUD, YOU SON OF THE DEVIL, YOU ENEMY OF ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS, WILL YOU
NOT CEASE PERVERTING THE STRAIGHT WAYS OF THE LORD?"
What the devil
is continuously seeking (he never ceases from this) is: TO PERVERT THE
RIGHT WAYS OF THE LORD. Hence, the only reason he seemed to proclaim the
same things as Paul, was exactly because he wanted to PERVERT the right
ways of the Lord. It is not really difficult to understand how he
planned to do this. Just imagine how much the Word that Paul was
preaching was degraded by its outward agreement with the proclamations
of this devil-possessed girl. To the locals she was but a spokesperson
of the ancient Greek god Apollo. We know this for the ancient text does
not say that the girl was possessed with a spirit of divination, but
that she had "a spirit, a Python". As Zodhiates tells
us2:
"Python was the Greek name given
to the mythological serpent or dragon that lived at Pytho beneath Mount
Parnassus and guarded the Delphic Oracle. The name then became the
surname of Apollo, the god of divination in Greek mythology, and hence
applied to all oracular and divinatory spirits."
Obviously,
this girl was considered by the locals as one through whom Apollo spoke.
That's why the text says that she had a spirit, a Python. Moreover, her
"most high God", and the one that those locals perceived as
such, was not the one true God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ3,
but ...... Zeus. It is now easy to understand what perversion she
brought to Paul's preaching and that what the adversary wanted to do
through her, was not to proclaim but to "PERVERT the right ways of
the Lord." Fortunately, he didn't succeed in his purposes.
Really, Acts
16:18 tells us:
"But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I
command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came
out that very hour".
Paul knew
through the operation of discerning of spirits (I Corinthians 12:7-10)
that what spoke through this girl was a devil spirit. That's why he
addressed it so directly, casting it out "that very hour".
2.3 The late
night prison fellowship
Unfortunately, the deliverance given to
this girl didn't make everyone happy. Her masters earned a lot of money
from the deceitful works of the devil spirit and when they saw that
"the hope of their gains" was gone:
Acts 16:19-24
"They seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the
marketplace to the rulers. And they brought them to the magistrates and
said, These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; and they
teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or
observe. Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the
magistrates tore off their clothes, and commanded them to be beaten with
rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into
prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received
such a charge, he put them into the inner prison, and fastened their
feet in the stocks."
After such
tribulation, many of us would have started complaining to God, blaming
Him for what had happened. Yet, murmuring is not what the Word tells us
to do on similar occasions. Really, as I Peter 4:16 says:
I Peter 4:16
"If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, BUT
LET HIM GLORIFY GOD IN THIS MATTER".
That's exactly
what Paul and Silas did:
Acts 16:25
"But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns
to God, and the prisoners were listening to them."
Apart from the
fact that those two badly tortured guys, were praying and singing to
God, see also that all the prisoners were listening to them. The word
"listening" in this passage, is a translation of the Greek
verb "epakroomai" that does not simply mean to
"listen", but "to listen PAYING PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO
WHAT IS SAID4".
See then what happened:
Acts 16:26
"And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the
foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors
were opened, and everyone's chains were loosed".
To understand
the importance of the above event let's for a minute put ourselves in
the position of one of those prisoners. So, let's suppose that you are
in prison listening with particular attention to two badly tortured guys
that glorify God and suddenly an earthquake happens that ......loosens
YOUR chains and opens ALL the doors of the prison. Wouldn't you be
reminded of this phenomenon all your life? Would this not be enough to
make you call upon Paul's and Silas' God? I think so. In fact, let us
see the immediate reaction of one of the guys that was there that night:
Acts 16:27-30
"And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep, and seeing
the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword
and was about to kill himself. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying,
Do yourself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light,
ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought
them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
How was this
guy sure that Paul and Silas were able to give him the right answer to
such a critical question? The answer is because he heard them praising
God and saw how God replied through the earthquake and what followed. He
was therefore persuaded these two truly represented God. That's why he
asked them so straightforwardly. Let's now see Paul's and Silas' reply:
Acts 16:31
"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will
be saved, you and your household."
Really, I
don't know how many people today would be so straightforward about
salvation as Paul and Silas were. "BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
AND YOU WILL BE SAVED." That's really it. You believe you are
saved. You don't believe you don't get saved. As Romans 10:9 also tells
us:
Romans 10:9
"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe
in you heart that God raised him from the dead, YOU WILL BE SAVED".
How simple it
is! Returning to the record of the prison keeper, after Paul and Silas
gave him the answer he needed, they continued teaching him further:
Acts 16:32-33
"And they spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all who were
in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed
their stripes; and immediately he and all his family were baptized. And
when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he
rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household".
Note the time
that all this happened. It happened AFTER midnight, for it was already
midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing to God (verse 25).
After midnight therefore, Paul, Silas, the prison keeper and his
household had a wonderful fellowship in which many souls were saved and
rejoiced in the Lord!! Who could really imagine that this could happen?
And yet here it is in the Scripture. However, would this have occurred
if Paul and Silas instead of glorifying God they were murmuring to Him?
NO. They glorified God in their troubles, teaching, through their
praises and prayers, the Word to the other prisoners. God backed His
Word with a great sign that certainly had tremendous impact on all. In
fact, the prison keeper with all his family, believed that very night
and had a great fellowship with Paul and Silas well after midnight!!
Really what a blessing it is to read such events. And what a blessing
and healing this would have been for Paul and Silas, after the torture
they suffered. However, the blessings didn't stop there. The next day:
Acts 16:35-40
"The magistrates sent the officers, saying, Let those men go.
And the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying The
magistrates have sent to let you go: Now therefore depart, and go in
peace. But Paul said to them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned
Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now do they put us out
secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out. And the
officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid, when
they heard that they were Romans. And they came and PLEADED WITH THEM,
and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. So they
went out of the prison, and entered the house of Lydia: and when they
had seen the brethren, they encourage them and departed".
At the end of
the day, it was the magistrates that were humiliated and not Paul and
Silas. In fact, they PLEADED with Paul and Silas to depart from their
city. However, they had already managed to set up a church there. This
church would have never been created, as many other churches in Greece,
if Paul and his company hadn't obeyed God's will to go to Macedonia, but
acted according to their own wishes. Nevertheless, the fact that they
obeyed God's will, it did not mean that they didn't suffer persecution.
Yet, God even turned persecution to good and through it many souls were
saved, increasing the church in that place and giving great deliverance
and encouragement to His people.
Tassos Kioulachoglou
Footnotes
1. See Luke 10:2 (press
here to return where you stopped).
2. See Spiros
Zodhiates, The complete word study dictionary, AMG publishers, 1992,
p.1253 (press here to return where you stopped).
3. Until then no one
had spoken to the locals about Him (press here to return
where you stopped).
4. See: Dimitrakos:
Lexicon of all the Greek language, p. 2,688 (in Greek) (press
here to return where you stopped).
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