Still getting caught up on my journaling. But it’s good to put all of these thoughts down on paper and flush them out. It also gives me a chance to research anything that I didn’t understand. Which is what this NT40 journey is all about anyways, right? Reading Gods word, but not just to say that we read it, but to learn from it. So let the learning commence!
Don’t Fall Asleep in Church
Before you continue reading this, I wonder if you can tell by the heading what story in Acts this is going to be about? This is about the story of Eutychus in Troas who fell asleep while listening to Paul speak late at night and proceeded to fall out of the window to his death. Remember this one? Paul brought him back to life. Is the lesson here to not fall asleep in church? There was a little on-line about this story, but most of it to the point of this being a good children’s "resurrection" story. Here it is if you want to read it to your kids:
Paul was Warned
An observation here… I didn’t know that the Holy Spirit had revealed to Paul that he would be facing so much hardship. In Acts 20:23, Paul says:
“I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.”
Prior to reading this, I hadn’t given it much thought whether Paul looked forward to a hopeful, peaceful future or the future that we read about; full of difficulties. Knowing that he had a sense for how difficult his life would be, it tells me of Pauls conviction and zeal to fulfill the task Jesus had given him of spreading the good news.
The Lord Stood Near Paul
I’m the kind of guy that reads into the literal meaning of things more than the figurative meaning. So when I read Acts 23:11 I underlined it and thought, “Really?” Acts 23:11 reads:
“The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
Is this possible? Does Jesus come back to earth after he returns to the Father but before the End Times? I looked online for some help, but couldn’t find any.
The Goads?
The account of Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus is a little different between Acts 9 and Acts 26. In Acts 9 Jesus says “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”, but in Acts 26 it adds “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” When I read this I thought, “What??” Soooo, a little search on the good ol’ internet box found this:
"A large percentage of people in the first century were tillers of the soil. Oxen were used to work the soil. The prick or goad was a necessary devise. The prick was usually a wooden shaft with a pointed spike (prick) at one end. The man working the ox would position the goad in such a way as to exert influence and control over the ox. You see, if the ox refused the command indicated by the farmer, the goad would be used to jab or prick the ox. Sometimes the ox would refuse this incentive by kicking out at the prick. As result, the prick would be driven deeper into the flesh of the rebellious animal. The more the animal rebelled, the more the animal suffered. Hence, the statement to Saul: "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." (Saul was rebelling against God.)"
Makes sense, right? I think this is also the root of the word as it is used today (e.g. We used money to goad him into making a decision).
A Little FYI
I’m not sure if this caught anyone else’s attention, but in Acts 28 it mentions that Paul put out on an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. I was wondering who these guys were and if they had any literary importance to the story. Turns out, I could only find out who these guys were and the fact that they were in the Bible, but not any additional information as to why they were in the Bible. Here’s an outtake from Wikipedia:
“In the myth the twins shared the same mother but had different fathers which meant that Pollux was immortal and Castor was mortal. When Castor died, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together and they were transformed into the Gemini constellation”
That’s it!!!
Day 9 in the books! Acts, in the books!! Day 10 is both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, both very short books, but good reading.
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