{"id":2017,"date":"2020-01-18T11:02:56","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T19:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=2017"},"modified":"2020-01-18T11:02:56","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T19:02:56","slug":"devotion-acts-21-37-40-love-is-stronger-than-hate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=2017","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Acts 21.37-40 Love Is Stronger Than Hate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 21:37-40\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks,\u00a0he asked the commander, \u201cMay I say something to you?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDo you speak Greek?\u201d he replied.<\/i><\/span>\u00a038\u00a0\u201cAren\u2019t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness\u00a0some time ago?\u201d\u00a0 39\u00a0Paul answered, \u201cI am a Jew, from Tarsus\u00a0in Cilicia,\u00a0a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.\u201d\u00a0 40\u00a0After receiving the commander\u2019s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned\u00a0to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cAs the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks,\u00a0he asked the commander, \u201cMay I say something to you?\u201d<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Paul had a mob materialize with the intent of killing him.\u00a0\u00a0They had been beating him when the Romans rescued him.\u00a0\u00a0If the Romans had not rescued him this hate filled mob would have killed him.\u00a0\u00a0Yet the Jews who responded so explosively and in a united way, who did not have the true facts, thought that they did have some reason to react to Paul as they did other than a rejection of the Gospel message itself.\u00a0\u00a0One of the lies said about him was that he had brought a Gentile (Trophimus) into the temple.\u00a0\u00a0They were told that he had done so and that would have been, in their mind, an attack against their very beliefs.\u00a0\u00a0What the Jews most valued was \u201cthe people, The Law, and the Temple.\u00a0\u00a0Bringing a Gentile past the established boundary would have been considered not just a mistake, but an attack against all three of what they cherished.\u00a0\u00a0Besides it was clearly written at the entrance gate, and archaeology has verified it, that for a non-Jew to pass into the temple demanded death.\u00a0\u00a0The Jews zealously guarded that demand.\u00a0\u00a0So the fact that it was being yelled out that Paul had defiled the temple certainly would have spread like yelling fire in a theater.\u00a0\u00a0It was instant reaction with no further evidence needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u201cDo you speak Greek?\u201d he replied.<\/i><\/span>\u00a038\u00a0\u201cAren\u2019t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness\u00a0some time ago?\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The question do you know Greek was likely not asking Paul if he spoke Greek, but was a surprise statement that may have also be understood as \u201cOh, you know Greek!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0After all, when Paul asked the commander if he may speak to him he likely asked the commander in Greek, and Paul would have known the commander spoke Greek as he likely had already spoken Greek in front of Paul.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The commander told Paul that he had took Paul to be a previous trouble maker who had led a failed revolt around A.D. 54.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPaul answered, \u201cI am a Jew, from Tarsus\u00a0in Cilicia,\u00a0a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.\u201d<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Paul let the commander know that he was not an Egyptian but a Jew from Tarsus, a well know and powerful city.\u00a0\u00a0Paul also revealed that he was Roman citizen and that would have certainly carried weight with the commander.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul asked to speak to the people.\u00a0\u00a0How the commander was probably amazed as this man Paul, who was going to beaten to death, or ripped apart by the frenzied crowd, wanted now to talk to them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We know the deep love Paul had for his fellow Jews (Romans 9:1-3<\/b>) and he perhaps thought that if he spoke truth and reason to them, then they would listen.\u00a0\u00a0It is another example that those with a pure heart often find it hard to understand how others will not listen to reason and truth.\u00a0\u00a0Usually the pure at heart are the most gullible of all.\u00a0\u00a0(Titus 1:15<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0Not to their fault, but to their credit!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter receiving the commander\u2019s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned\u00a0to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0After receiving the commander\u2019s permission Paul began to speak to the Jews, certainly he was hoping that a revival would sweep over the crowd that hat just tried to kill him.\u00a0\u00a0Paul loved even those who beat and wanted to kill him and thereby exemplified the very same love of Jesus his Savior and Lord.\u00a0\u00a0We are also told to forgive others in such a way (Matthew 6:14-15, Romans 12:14<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0After all Jesus forgave us.\u00a0\u00a0Near the death of His life Jesus called out from the cross \u201cFather, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0We should also realize that people who mistreat or persecute us may not fully know the ramifications of what they are doing.\u00a0\u00a0And if they do understand, and still want to harm and kill us, then they are most to be pitied because God will cause them to pay for what they do to us (Romans 12:19<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0Pray for them.\u00a0\u00a0Fear for them.\u00a0\u00a0Love them so that perhaps they might repent and be saved.\u00a0\u00a0In that way we show we are the children of God.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/span><\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 21:37-40\u00a0–\u00a0As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks,\u00a0he asked the commander, \u201cMay I say something to you?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDo you speak Greek?\u201d he replied.\u00a038\u00a0\u201cAren\u2019t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness\u00a0some time ago?\u201d\u00a0 39\u00a0Paul answered, \u201cI am a Jew, from Tarsus\u00a0in Cilicia,\u00a0a citizen…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,101,94,1874,17,10,105],"class_list":["post-2017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm","tag-romans","tag-titus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2018,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2017\/revisions\/2018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}