Saturday, August 13, 2016
Acts 12:24 But the Word of God grew and multiplied.
CONTRAST
That first word sends us back to find the contrast. In the previous verse we read: "Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died."
This was the grandson of the Herod who killed all those children in Bethlehem. This was the Herod who had James killed, and Peter arrested; the only Herod after his grandfather who could be called the King of Palestine. He had the mighty Roman empire behind him, and could arrest, execute, shine in splendor. He also had no power to prevent a grisly end.
BUT the word of God, proclaimed by former fishermen of tiny Galilee, continued to increase and spread. What a world of comfort there is for us in this! For all those times when it seems that the enemies of the Gospel are going to be successful in stifling the God's Word, we need not panic. They end in the grave, BUT the Word of God grows and multiplies.
Sometimes we might be tempted to abandon the Word when the unbelieving world starts to praise us, and our sinful human nature loves it. BUT the world's flattery soon withers to dust. Only the Word of God grows and multiplies.
Whether we are faced with imprisonment or death, triumph or failure, unemployment or honors, it is the kind Word of Christ that will last forever, "Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven."
May we always treasure this word, for "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, BUT the word of the Lord stands forever" (Peter 1:24, 25).
