Acts
16:25 ¶ And at midnight Paul and Silas
prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so
that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors
were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of
his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would
have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do
thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29
Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell
down before Paul and Silas, 30 And
brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord,
and to all that were in his house. 33
And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their
stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34 And when he had brought them into his house,
he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Paul and Silas faith
would not allow them to lament the turn of events and they praised God in their
terrible situation, a lesson to us all. They witnessed for God by their singing
of praises, possibly from the Psalms, and the other prisoners heard them. A
discernible, a great earthquake happened which changed the dynamics. Every
prisoner’s chains were loosened from them. The jailer and his family and the
jail were in the same house like Potiphar’s in Genesis in Joseph’s story. A
jailer who lost his prisoners would be executed and perhaps his family, as
well. See a previous situation.
Acts
12:19 And when Herod had sought for him,
and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be
put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode.
Seeing the doors open, the
jailer thought it better to die by his own hand than suffer execution for his
failure. But, Paul pleaded with him not to take his own life as all of the
prisoners were there and no one had escaped.
Now, here we have one
of those statements or questions in the Bible that may have two meanings. 95%
of the time in the Bible when the world salvation or saved is used it is a
reference to a physical danger. Just do a word study from Genesis on. Here the
jailer could be asking how he could saved from his situation and Paul promises
him twofold, temporal salvation and eternal salvation, along with his family. The
jailer took care of Paul and company and was baptized believing and rejoicing
in the Lord that night.
I cannot tell you how
many times I am grateful that my eternal salvation also meant a temporal
deliverance. Were God not protecting me there were several times in my life
where I should have died from my foolishness and sin. But, God saved me and He
saved me, gave me new life and delivered me from danger.
You may not believe
that the jailer here was concerned about he and his family’s fate but it is
clear that he was in grave danger if the prisoners had escaped.
And
thy house is a problem for us if you don’t believe he and his family were in
danger. Were you promised that if you received Christ that your family got an
automatic pass? That it was a guarantee they would all be saved? I think you
can find many people who have come to Christ whose family rejected them and
never accepted Christ as their Saviour.
Here, though, and I am
speaking now in regard to eternal salvation, we have a statement, Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Apply this to eternal
salvation we have believe on. Is that different than believe in?
Well, whether it is or not we have the definition at least of what believing
on means in John’s Gospel.
John
3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the
wrath of God abideth on him.
Clearly, to believe on
Christ means to believe what He said about Himself, believing Him. He made
clear statements listed in John.
John
10:30 I and my Father are one.
John
14:1 ¶ Let not your heart be troubled:
ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go
to
prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 ¶ And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
Acts
16:35 ¶ And when it was day, the
magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. 36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying
to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go
in peace. 37 But Paul said unto them,
They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us
into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them
come themselves and fetch us out. 38
And
the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they
heard that they were Romans. 39 And they
came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to
depart out of the city. 40 And they went
out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they
had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.
Would it were so that
the authorities today were as concerned about violating our rights as citizens
as these provincial magistrates were. Being a Roman citizen carried some weight
in this world as we will soon see again as at one time being an American meant
something around the globe.
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