Acts 21:27-36 – When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.) 30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”
“When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him.” The idea of the Jerusalem leaders to have Paul sponsor the four young men in their vows and thereby assuage those who would oppose him did not seem to work out as planned, at least not their plans. Paul, as he had been previously prophesied over, was surrounded and seized by a crowd unified with the cause to beat him and even to kill him. Paul had been warned about dangers that awaited him in Jerusalem. It did not take very long, a little over a week, for them to sweep over him like a wild grass fire. Paul had earlier (V13) stated that he was willing to be bound, and even to die for the sake of the Gospel and surely it would have been easy for him to wonder if he was about to be killed. Oh the strength of the faith in Jesus that Paul had! How do may we become so strong in the faith? Well Paul was first a man who had all his life studied the scriptures. Then he had a personal encounter with Jesus. Then he spent much time with Jesus in fellowship, meditation and prayer in which the Holy Spirit rooted and grew his faith. It is the same journey we are called to. The Holy Spirit calls us, someone gives us the Word to take root within us, we have a personal encounter with Jesus, we yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit and then, all of our lives, we hunger and thirst for more fellowship with Jesus. What previously seemed so intangible, that is communing with Jesus, knowing His voice and being aware of His very presence with us, moves from being intangible to a very tangible reality. Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith in what at first can seem so nebulous, so hard to grasp, grows into a very real and mighty source of life and strength, a very real refuge. When God comes within us He then remakes us and helps us to understand what the worldly mind cannot. Jesus said the most important part of our relationship with God is to love Him with all that we are (Mark 12:30). We know that when we are madly in love with someone, we always want to be around that someone. It’s kinda like that, only better. Paul was madly in love with God, and as a result spent a lot of time with God, and that resulted in knowing God in increasing measure. And Family, those who know God also trust and love Him. That is why Paul had such great faith. It was a faith not in someone he have heard of, or knew of, but in someone he very personally knew and “hung out” with every moment he could. And it is how we grow our faith. Spend time with the Holy Spirit, let Him reveal the Word of God to us, love and talk to Jesus everyday throughout the day. God has given us this great honor. Let’s take advantage of the great offer that is available to us only through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Available to us only as servants of the living Messiah Jesus. Thank you Jesus! Praise and glory to God! Oh how blessed we are!
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.”