Who will Listen

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

WHO WILL LISTEN

Acts 28:25-28

25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: 26 "'Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." 27 For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' 28 "Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"  

NIV

For the most part we think of the Apostle Paul as a man of love, a man filled with passion for God and for his people demonstrating the love of Christ in his life by both bringing the Good News and healing people. He wanted everyone to understand the truth of God, the greatness of Christ. We get that sense from all the places he went, the hardships he endured for the sake of the Gospel as well as all the letters we have that he wrote to all those places he had visited. We get the character of Paul and how he desired for his fellow Jews to see Jesus as their Messiah. Here we have seen him talk all day long, explaining from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets all the words that pointed directly to Jesus and how Jesus fulfilled all those words. Now, as we have mentioned before, some did believe, but others did not. We do not know what kind of actual responses Paul received from those who did not believe, but we can sense by his last words the responses were not very friendly. Paul concludes by quoting the Prophet Isaiah and we can see by this quote Paul was not happy about those who did not believe. He pretty much slammed them and slammed them hard. What can we learn from this? Does it seem appropriate that when we share the Gospel with someone and they turn it down, or dismiss it, that we say what Paul said to those who turned down Christ? When we get rejections do we just shrug our shoulders, smile and go our way? Have we been conditioned to not be offensive if people do not accept Jesus when we witness to them? Although Paul was quoting from what they professed to believe, he was certainly offensive to them. He did not mix any words, but let them know they were without understanding, and their hearts were calloused, their minds were closed to the truth. Do we dare tell people who reject Jesus that kind of truth? Although Paul was rather blunt to them, we have to believe he was still trying to show them the truth, and in this case, it was the truth about themselves. It may seem as though he has given up on them, but this statement is one last ditch effort to get them to see the error of their thinking, and accept the truth about Jesus Christ, but at the same time we also learn that there is a time when we must let them go in their futile thinking. Paul also writes in some of his letters to various churches that very fact. The point here is keep trying to win them over, but at some point we have to realize it is useless to continue and we must move on to those who will listen.