Acts 19:8-12 – Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. 11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
“Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.” In Ephesus Paul could be found, as was his custom, at the Synagogue contesting with the rabbis about how their scriptures showed that Jesus was the Messiah. For three months he had success with them and that means that some believed and were saved.
“But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. After three months some of the Jews hardened their hearts. When people harden their hearts to things of God it is their choice. God does not drive people away from Himself. As the Pharaoh of Egypt would not listen to God, as he became more angry and more determined, his heart and mind was hardened to the things of God and his spirit became more and more hardened toward God. Sometimes this is expressed as God hardened his heart. It should be understood in the same way as those in the synagogue hardened their hearts when Paul was speaking. Paul was certainly intending on bringing his fellow Jews to Christ so that they might receive salvation. He loved them so much that in Romans 9:1-3 he wrote that he would be willing to be cursed for the sake of his people (the Jews). Since his passion was so deep he certainly was not trying to harden anyone in the synagogue, he was not there to push them away but to make peace and draw them in. It is just as God did not separate Himself from Pharaoh, but Pharaoh separated himself from God. When people will not believe God, when they do not want to come to God, and yet God persists, the stubborn will become angry and resentful and desire that God would stop calling. But God does not stop calling. His desire to save, which is best for them, does not wane. Just as we would not stop calling to an inebriated man in danger as he walked on a busy street. We would persist till either the man gets out of harm’s way, or until he foolishly is struck and killed. We know that God loves all people in the world and wants none to perish (John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9). God does not harden hearts, those who rebel against God, and those who reject God, harden their own hearts and thereby doom themselves. And they do so by stifling the truth within them from rising up lest they have to change from the evil in their lives.
There is a point of running from God, of refusing God, when hearts become irrevocably hard and will not be saved. Not because grace through Jesus has lost its power or sufficiency, but rather because a person has hardened the heart so as the seed of the Gospel cannot be received (Matthew 13:4). It is the most awful place to be. It is likely the heart and mind of the person is becomes so calloused that (Again not by God) by their own rebellious will. So this happened to those in the synagogue who refused Paul’s ministry. It brings to mind what was shouted by those demanding that Jesus be crucified “All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”” (Matthew 27:25) Is this the curse brought on them by their own? Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, recognized the condition of their hearts and realized that he had to separate from the synagogue lest the arguers poison the new faith of those who came to believe.
Paul moved to the lecture hall of Tyrannus. The original word used is that Paul moved to the “school” of Tyrannus. Interesting is that this word “schole” (school) carried a meaning of leisure, or even laziness. It is because most could not take time from their labor to go to a school to talk, philosophize and learn. An education was truly a luxury for the more affluent.
Family and Friends, we can learn from these scriptures that those who reject or resist God do so at their own peril. They may think that later they will believe, later they will yield, but they don’t understand that resisting God may have a hardening rather than a softening effect. The Word says that “Today” is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Resisting can cause someone to never see that Today is today and that will lead to the most tragic of endings. Let all daily yield to God, to His love, His grace and His will. Let us not harden our hearts. This is about eternal life and death. Let us who are alive in Him celebrate and praise Him that He has saved us. Let us praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”