Day 323 – Acts 9-10

Talking Points

• Luke relays Paul’s miraculous and powerful conversion to the Way. He went from “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” to “confounding the Jews…by proving that this Jesus is the Christ” and “speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord” (Acts 9:1, 22, 28). There is no one so far gone whom our merciful God cannot save and use mightily for His purpose and glory.
• Jesus makes it plain – persecuting His followers is persecuting Him. He is inseparable from His Church. Truly, He is in every believer, and we are in Him.
• Peter takes the gospel out of Jerusalem and performs miracles witnessed by many who spread the news, bringing many to believe in the Lord.
• A radical vision comes to Peter, revealing an astonishing truth to the Jewish converts — Jesus died for and is the Savior of the Gentiles as well as the Jews. The promise made to Abraham all those years before was being fulfilled by a faithful God, and “all the families of the earth” would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). “God is not one to show partiality” (Acts 10:34). The gospel is for all people and all who believe are saved, receiving “forgiveness of sins” (10:43).
• In Peter’s response to Cornelius’s bowing at his feet and worshiping him, we learn an important truth about Jesus. All throughout Scripture, people who bow down and worship Jesus are never stopped, never corrected, never told, “Oh, no. I’m just a man. Get up. Don’t worship me.” Be sure — Jesus is not just a man. He is God in flesh, and it is completely appropriate to bow down at His feet and worship Him.
• Chapter 10 includes the account of another of the three times when there is a delay in the coming of the Holy Spirit (Days 320 and 322). This time it is to confirm by the authority and witness of the apostle Peter that the Gentiles who believe the gospel are saved, receive the Holy Spirit, and can be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, just as the Jews did (10:43-48).

Thoughts

There was talking and arguing, proclaiming and speaking boldly in the synagogues and in the streets. There was plotting and attempting to bind and murder Christ’s followers, surveillance and plans of escape.

Amid the darkness and danger of the day, those who knew Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who had saved them from their sins, went “on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit” (9:31). Can you imagine having to be lowered down from a hole in the wall in a large basket because people are trying to kill you for words you were saying, and to still go on preaching the same words? The only explanation for such courage is the unshakable conviction that the words you are speaking are true and of such value they can’t be silenced.

And, in all of the persecution and wicked plans of the world, God turns it all upside-down and brings about the spread of the gospel. Instead of the Church being silenced and extinguished, it is built up and increases! Truly, Jesus is the “Son of the living God,” just as Peter and Paul confessed, and God built His Church upon this confession, “and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Acts 9:20, Matthew 16:16-18). Let us be reminded of the call to testify and the faithfulness of our God.