Escape

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

ESCAPE

Acts 9:23-25

23 After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

NIV

There will always be people who oppose the truth, or for that matter anything that is different from what they believe. These Jews were so entrenched in the law they could not see the truth in the scripture, in the prophets which all pointed to Jesus being the Messiah. They would not have anything to do with Jesus, in fact now it appears the very man who they heralded as the chief persecutor of these new believers was in their sights to kill. It would seem there were and will always be people who will love you as long as you agree with them, but then hate you as soon as you disagree with them. Although it is also true, as we can see here, that some of the people in town accepted what Saul had to say about Jesus and not only accepted Jesus as the Christ, but became followers of Saul. It does seem a little odd that Saul would even allow people to become his followers rather than telling them to simply follow Jesus, but nevertheless they were there for him in the face of danger. Those Jews who wanted to kill him just did not have it in for him, they guarded the city gates continually to make sure he would not get out of the city alive. That is faith in God in action, killing a man who opposes what they believe. Surely this is not what God intended the law to be and what Jesus taught, but it is the perverted twisted way man believes what the truth is.  We need to learn from these Jews and from Saul as well as his followers. We must never stop telling people the truth about Jesus. We will always find some who will believe and become followers of Jesus, and we should make sure they follow Jesus, not us. There are some who have gained so much fame and fortune by allowing people to become their followers, giving praise to their silver tongues and dynamic personality, but we must make sure people follow Jesus. We will also always have some who would conspire to kill us, certainly not physically, but in hatred to our message, and thus to us. Saul escaped from those who would kill him physically, and that should be a lesson for us. Rather than stand our ground against those who hate us so because of our message about Jesus, we should escape them too. Leave them to their own path which leads to death. There is a time when we must accept those who oppose Jesus will always oppose him. Saul did not stand against them and try to convince them of the error of their thinking, he escaped and left them behind. Some will simply never believe, and as sad as that is, we simply have to escape and not be trapped by them in their city, their life. Had Saul stayed there his whole life, all the places he went may have been totally different, but Saul was about following Jesus, and he knew when to withdraw and when to stand. We will see this again and again all throughout the record of his life. We can learn from this, as we too must be willing for the Spirit to lead us as he was leading Saul. Stand or escape.