I love the way that the Bible explains itself, or to perhaps say in another way, I love the way that the Bible is always consistent with itself.
In the latter part of Acts, Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit had warned him, Paul soon encountered prison and hardships. Due to rumors and false accusations, he is arrested by the Roman commander - or should I say, "protected" by the Roman commander - who cannot uncover the reason for the Jews' anger against him. In his effort to settle the matter, the commander orders Paul to be taken before the Sanhedrin. Following the Sanhedrin's failure to act, a conspiracy is formed the next day by more than forty men who bound themselves with an oath to not eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
Guess what? Those men either broke their oath or died of starvation! I would love to have seen those men when they took their first bite of food, realizing they were not going to be successful and probably feeling very guilty about giving up their self-imposed diet.
As it turned out - or I should say, "In God's providence" - the nephew of Paul overheard the plot and told Paul, who then sent his nephew to the commander with word of the plot. Hearing of this conspiracy, the Roman commander sent Paul to Cesarea under the protection of four hundred soldiers and seventy horsemen.
Now to the point I introduced at the beginning of this post.
Just what does this illustrate? Well, a number of things are very apparent.
One, you may say, "O, how lucky Paul was to have his nephew over hear the plot." No, it wasn't luck, it was God's providence. God's providence is always better.
Second, you might say, "The Lord had already promised Paul that he would bear witness to Him in Jerusalem, so what took place through the nephew really didn't matter."
No, Paul acted on the report of his nephew. He took it seriously. He did something about it.
Some will say, “If God has ordained all things from the beginning, even concerning the salvation of sinners, why do anything about it, why pray, why preach?”
Answer: Because God has ordained both the end (His purpose) and the means to the end. He determined that Paul would bear witness to Him in Jerusalem. He put Paul's nephew exactly where he had to be in order to learn of the plot (and we are not told how the nephew learned of the plot). And Paul acted on his nephew's report.
God has ordained that His elect will be saved through the preaching of the gospel to every nation. The Bible says so. We must pray, we must preach, we must go to all the nations because God has commanded that we do so. Anything other than that is disobedience. God has ordained the end and the means to the end.
So if Paul's nephew thought it necessary to let his uncle know of the conspiracy to kill him, how much more must we be willing to make known the words of life!
Practical, isn’t it? Very theological also.
Don’t you love Scripture, how it explains itself and is consistent with itself? Now go tell someone....
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