If you are a Christian, I ask that you read and ponder the following relatively short reflection. If you are not a Christian, I pray that ultimately, before it is too late, you find yourself “rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed”.
First, the Word of the Lord, from Acts 13:44-49 (NASB): “The next Sabbath nearly all the city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you repudiate it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have appointed You as a light to the Gentiles, That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’ When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region” (Acts 13:44-49, NASB).
The context of this passage is that Paul and Barnabas were on a missionary journey to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ that “through Him, everyone who believes is freed from all things which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses” (Acts 13:39). I would like give two thoughts and one final point related to these passages. My first thought is that it is exciting to see the reaction of the gentiles in hearing God’s Word, as they were “rejoicing” and “glorifying” the Word of the Lord. And I think that it would be inspiring to see Christians today who have this level of enthusiasm for Scripture.
My second thought is related to verse 49, “And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.” In my first reading of this passage it almost seemed like a matter-of-fact summary statement. Here are missionaries preaching God’s message of our need for repentance and salvation from judgment for our sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then obviously, the missionaries continued to spread the message throughout the whole region. But there are some challenges to this assumption that I will not elaborate on here, so I will just state that it is more plausible that the new converts, in addition to the missionaries were spreading the Gospel. Those who were hearing the word and who were also believing, and in their excitement, took it upon themselves to also share God’s transformative message.
Pastor John MacArthur states in a straightforward manner that “Evangelism always follows true salvation, as those who are saved naturally desire to share their faith” (J. MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, 1996, Moody Press, p.39). This gives us a more complete picture in that that the need for salvation from our sins was preached and those who repented of their wrongdoings and put their faith in Jesus then passionately shared the truth of the Gospel with others. Minister and expositor Matthew Henry noted that when the people believed “they did what they could to spread the knowledge of Christ and His gospel among their neighbors” (M. Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Vol. 6, 1991, Hendrickson Publishers, p.141). Imagine how neighbors were impacted and the area was transformed through God’s Word being shared throughout the region.
And here is my point for today. Let’s put aside new believers for a moment and think, if just those who have long called themselves Christians would be actively “rejoicing and glorifying God” and sharing God’s Message of Salvation to our neighbors, how we could be saying “the Word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.” If this is something that has struck a chord in your heart, let’s talk.