[AI translation] Here in the very first verse is a very comforting comment. It says, "And after the war ceased". You see, what it says is that everything must come to an end. The good, but also the bad. Whatever you can't wait for to come to an end, it will come to an end. Behold, this Ephesian rebellion, however unpleasant and frightening it may have been, has finally come to an end. And it was a great fire, it looked as if all hell had broken loose on that city and that church, and especially on Paul. It looked like everything Paul had built there for three years was about to be destroyed. But then, as soon as that fire came, it was gone.We may remember from the Bible how hopeless the rebellion of Absalom in the time of David in the Old Testament looked, when he rebelled against David and almost all the people. And when David had to flee and hide from his son and the people who were with him, and when his life was in danger, so that David wept and fled from place to place, this man was going through a great, great trial. And then this rebellion also came to an end. It's good to know that, because there's going to be another very great trial for the people of God. Jesus also speaks about it, the apostles also speak about it, the great upheaval of the antichristian time. When it will really look like the cause of Jesus and the whole church will be doomed, that will be the real great trial, the real great fire. You would think that in this fire everything that was true, beautiful, good, up to now, would be enough. But behold, just as the rebellion of Demeter was once over, so will the antichristian times be over. Therefore there is no need to fear, for it will pass. Because everything will pass! No matter how perilous a situation may be, no matter how hopeless a path may sometimes seem to man, that path will end. Just today I received a very kind letter from someone I have been visiting for a few months. First in the neurological institute, then in surgery and then again in neurology. He is an elderly colleague of mine. He was indeed in such a state that neither he nor his relatives had any hope that it could ever get better. I remember sitting next to him, stroking his arm and trying to convince him that God had the power to change this situation, and I myself, not with much conviction, but rather dutifully, tried to comfort him. And he dismissed everything and said that it would never get better. He didn't want to get better because he was tired of it. Just today I received a letter from him saying with happy thanksgiving that God had had mercy on him and that he had come to the end of the very, very dark road that God had taken him down. And the sky above him was revealed. He was very happy because the doctor told him that after a month's rest he was allowed to get up. The Lord will also restore him to the ministry in the country church. And now the whole letter is full of rejoicing and joy. I immediately replied to him, and gave thanks with him to the Lord God for His saving grace.
One experience comes to mind in connection with this. Perhaps others have experienced it who have flown. I have flown three times in my life. One of those flights was during the day and I remember seeing the ground below me at a depth of 6-7 kilometres like a map, seeing the shadows of the clouds. I could see that this huge patch below me, this town, this village, this road, this countryside was under a cloud, blocking the sun from it. And then I saw that further away, that village, that town, is not under a cloud, the sun is shining there. And I thought to myself that those people over there don't see what I see from above, they only see that the sky is overcast above them. But the sun is shining and if the cloud goes on, the sun will shine above them. Many times, when our lives come under such a cloud, we don't think about the fact that the cloud could pass over our heads. And just as Demeter's rebellion has come to an end, so our troubles and dark ways will one day come back into the sunshine again by the grace of the Lord. And we can especially hope for this, because we know that the ultimate outcome of our journey is the best possible, the most hopeful, the happiest. The very end of our journey is quite certain to bring the complete solution to all problems. For we know that Christ is victorious and we await this victorious Christ, we go towards Him, we go to Him on whatever road we take. And this can also give us the strength to carry the burdens that may have weighed on us in the meantime. And from there, looking back from the very end of the journey, we will speak of the frightening shadows that made our life's journey here so very unpleasant and dangerous, just as we now, almost 25 years later, remember the difficulties of the siege. Even then, we thought, alas, this will never end! And lo and behold, the end came and the sky was revealed.
So "after the war ended". So begins this chapter. But Paul's ministry also came to an end. We know that Paul served here in Ephesus day and night for three years. It was not the rebellion that ended his ministry, but quite simply his time, his time ordained by the Lord, was up. Now he has a completely different mission again, he must go on. So it is not only the unpleasant time, not only the time full of problems and frightening shadows, that is over, but also the time of grace. The time of blessing will also pass. So it's good to take advantage of this time while it lasts. Because we never know how long it will last. I always think back again and again to some 15-20 years ago, God gave our people in this country a very special time of grace. Blessings literally poured down on all those who were listening to the Word of God in conferences, in churches somewhere. It was truly a wonderful revival time. And it is over! And it was a time of terrible regret for all who missed it. Anyone who didn't take advantage of that time when the presence of God's Spirit was really so thickly felt here on this earth. Of course, that doesn't mean it's too late now, because it still can be. There is still a time of grace of a certain kind. It lasts as long as we can even breathe, until our hearts beat their last beat. This time of grace, oh, let us not miss it! For it too will come to an end!
Then we read in verse 2: "And after he had gone through those provinces, and had admonished them with a loud voice, he went to Greece, and there he tarried three months." What is astonishing about this Paul is that his work ethic and his laboring power does not diminish. Never. We never read in the apostle Paul that he was weary. And yet it would have been really conceivable in such a life that he would have become weary, that he would have retired for a time, that he would have said, "Let me rest for a little while. With Paul there is no such thing. And yet he preached the Word day in and day out for three years in Ephesus and had to overcome all sorts of difficulties. In a way, I could say that Paul had no time to be tired. But he really had to face a lot of problems: stoning, imprisonment, the rod. Then time passed for him too. In human terms, it was time for him to retire. No! He cannot rest, he goes on, the Spirit drives him on, as long as he knows that people, people going to damnation, can turn back on that road if they hear the gospel of Christ, he cannot rest, he can only do one thing: he preaches Christ everywhere.
How quickly we can grow weary. We do not even have to struggle with difficulties like Paul, but we simply get tired. Yet in the service of the Lord there is no holiday, no vacation. The child of God is in service even when he is on vacation. And whoever is not in permanent service in the Lord's service is simply not in relationship with the Lord. It will be good to take note of that right now, at the beginning of summer, when others may be thinking with me about when they are going on vacation. We will remain in ministry during vacation.
Verse 3 says, "Because the Jews had rebuked him as he was about to sail to Syria, he ended up returning through Macedonia." So he had originally intended to return to Jerusalem by boat, but then somehow he became aware that there was a plot against him by those who had been plotting against his life, and so he changed his plan. I can imagine that they might have wanted to throw him overboard, because they were so incensed at these Judaizers - that is what they are called - so incensed at Paul that they would do anything to get him out of the way. It would have been a good opportunity, during the long voyage, to throw him over the rail. And then get rid of him. It says right here that he's been given a lest. So there was some kind of plot against his life in secret, but it's wonderful that Paul found out about it. The secret plan was revealed. How did Paul find out? Well, obviously, when these so-called Judaizers were plotting in secret, they forgot about an invisible witness Who sees all and Who hears all and without Whose knowledge and will nothing can happen. It becomes very real when we read the Scripture, "There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed." (Mt 10,26) A secret never remains a secret, it is always revealed. Either God will see to it that it is revealed, as here, or perhaps Satan will see to it that it is revealed, if his interests so require. But how does the apostle relate to all this, this conspiracy against him? We read that he immediately decides not to make the voyage by boat, but to return by land, via Macedonia. It is a much longer and more arduous journey, but he does not follow his first plan, but immediately sets out on a new one.
A true believer does not trade trust in God for temptation. For it would have been temptation on Paul's part, knowing the peril he was in, to stick to his first plan. A child of God must sometimes listen to reason. He does not go another way out of fear, but simply out of common sense. We are also allowed to use our common sense before deciding which is the right path. For God sometimes leads us not by supernatural ways, but simply by the ways of reason. It is interesting how many people accompany Paul on this journey. To Asia we have Sopater of Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, Gaius and Timothy of Derbe, and Tikhicus and Trophimus of the Thessalonians. Then we see in verse 5 that "they waited for us", that is, he who writes the book of Acts - that is, Luke. There are also seven accompanying Paul on this journey. It is so good to see that someone who truly devotes his life to serving God has so many dear brothers and sisters, even if he is alone in the whole world. Paul had no family, no wife, we know nothing of his parents, they were obviously no longer alive at that age, and we know nothing of his brothers and sisters in a physical sense. So he really did wander the world as a completely solitary man and yet he was not a solitary being. He had many good friends, many good brothers and sisters everywhere. In fact, wherever he went, there were people left behind who were the fruits of his faith, the fruits of his ministry. For the places listed here, Berea, Thessalonica, Derbe, etc., are all places where Paul had already been. So he had brothers and sisters everywhere who, through his ministry, came into fellowship with Christ, came to experience salvation here on earth. Everywhere souls were awakened through his ministry. How much fruit this thin, uprooted tree bore!
I thought how many towns and villages I have visited in a lifetime, and how I have memories of each one. But did I have any fruit left? Have there been souls left who can be considered as the fruit of my faith, who have come to know the living Jesus as a result of my ministry? For the Lord sought fruit on the fig tree. And he is looking for fruit in us. The fruit is that in which the life of the tree lives on. The fruit of our faith is a spirit in which the faith that has been kindled in us lives on. It lives on as a result of our service. Are there such fruits of our lives? And that is why we are still on earth in the first place! We should live our lives as fruitful lives! This is not only an apostolic right, it is a universal duty of the believer!
Then there is a very interesting scene: when they arrive in Troas and spend seven days there, and on the first day of the week the disciples gather together for the breaking of the bread - that is, the small church in Troas gathers for worship, for the breaking of the bread - and Paul, being there, preaches to them, because he was going to leave the next day and prolonged the teaching until midnight. So Paul preached at length on this occasion. Perhaps he stretched it until midnight and tried to say a lot more because he knew that this would be his last sermon in Troas and in this whole area. And when you know that you are speaking to this congregation for the last time, you try very hard to squeeze in everything that is most important, you try to say everything that you think you still owe to them. Just think, if we knew that we were talking to our son, our daughter, our wife for the last time, what we would have to say in a condensed form! I am not surprised that Paul could not stop but spoke, prolonged his sermon until midnight.
I don't know if you remember, it was at least 20 years ago that I once hosted - not held, but hosted - a series of evangelistic meetings here in the church called "As if for the last time". Over six days I invited six different pastors - including myself - and asked each pastor to preach as if it were the last time he would preach. I didn't tell them what to preach about, just that it was as if they were preaching the Word for the last time. And I invited the congregation to this week of evangelism so that everyone would come as if they were listening for the last time. Well, it was shocking.
So that's kind of how Paul was. Not just as if, but he knew it was for the last time! So he preached the Word with that in mind. And lo and behold, it's so funny that even in a meeting like this, someone falls asleep. This is Eutychus. Three of the disciples, Peter, John and James, fell asleep with Jesus once. And it was in the garden of the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus was dying. To these sleeping disciples Jesus said, "Watch and pray, for though the spirit is ready, the body is weak". Sleep is not always a sign of boring preaching. Rather, it may be the tiredness of the body. The weariness of the body imposes itself on the readiness of the soul and affects it. But certainly what Paul said in that long sermon was not boring. But on the other hand, it is also true that people today would find it very difficult to endure such a long sermon. Today's man is impatient, today's man is in a hurry. How much Paul was not to blame for the fact that this young man fell from the third floor and died is shown by the fact that a miracle did happen. The dead man was resurrected. God justified the long-winded preaching. The devil wanted to disrupt this very blessed, final occasion, but God would not allow it. And by that very incident, He blessed Paul's ministry, his long preaching, that much more. And I am quite sure that it was not only this dead Eutychus who was resurrected, but many souls were resurrected that night. And it would be the true blessing of any church meeting today to see the dead rise to new life.
Then there is one very interesting little thing. In verse 13 we read, "And we went forward into the ship, and rowed to Assyria, intending to take Paul up here; for so it was decreed, that he himself would come on foot. And when he met us at Assus, we took him up, and went to Mithilene." Well, unfortunately I didn't look at the map to see how far that distance was, but in any case there was a part of the journey that Paul wanted to make entirely alone. He separated from his companions, who went by boat, and he himself walked overland from one port to the other. I somehow understand this strange provision of Paul's - he himself made this provision - as a need for the apostle Paul to have a time of complete silence. Because sometimes it is like that. And sometimes it is necessary to be completely disconnected even from one's best friends and to be completely alone, alone with God. Paul, as it were, breaks away from the company of his friends and takes this walk instead. But he needed a time when he could spend more time alone with God. When He discusses the past and the future, when one lets Him do the talking. And when he pours his heart out to Him completely. So it is not a time of daily silence, which of course is also very important; it is different, it is a retreat from everything. I could almost say that in addition to the daily cleaning, there is also a need for a big cleaning. Yes, it is a time of cleaning up. Jesus needed such a period. When, after feeding five thousand people, he retired to a secluded place to pray. He left the five thousand, he left his disciples, he left everyone, and he spent a long, long time alone with God. These are not quiet minutes, that's what they are, these are quiet hours, quiet days. In Paul's life, too, these few days of walking were such quiet days. It is becoming more and more difficult in this modern life to find the opportunity to have quiet days and it is taking more and more effort for man to carve out a few days out of his life when he is completely alone with God.
In the Netherlands, and abroad in general, there are plenty of such opportunities. There are so many places, so many homes, that are built with the very purpose of giving people who want to do some spiritual cleaning a place to do it. In fact, they help him to do it. There are weekend quiet hours, there are week-long quiet days where anyone can simply go in. There, one's soul is truly bathed in the silence that is there and in the engagement with the Word. But let us not tie our retreat to such opportunities, which are not given to us. There are other ways of doing this. I, for one, would very much like to use my vacation time entirely for this purpose. A real quiet time! I want to use my time off to be fully with the Lord, to be renewed. And I believe that this is what a believer's time of freedom is for.
Finally, let me just draw your attention to one more point. "Paul had made up his mind to sail past Ephesus - that is, not to get off at Ephesus - so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was in a hurry to be in Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost, if he could." This haste of the apostle Paul is incomprehensible. For he was almost constantly being vomited on by the Jews, and could not have been in a more dangerous hurry than to Jerusalem. And yet - and I have not read verse 22 here, we will talk about it next time - Paul says: "Now behold, I am going to Jerusalem under compulsion of the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there." So the apostle cannot resist going to Jerusalem. But the goal is to go to Rome. So it's the opposite direction. And yet he went east instead of west. He wants to get back to Jerusalem anyway. In general, I think there are two reasons why Paul is in such a hurry to get to Jerusalem. One reason is that he was very serious about the unity of the Christian church. Let not Christianity grow in two parts, divided into two branches. He wants at all costs to prevent there being a Pauline Christianity and a Petrine Christianity. Let there be an Eastern Christianity and a Western Christianity, or let there be a Jewish Christianity and a Gentile Christianity. But let the one camp, the one body remain under the one head. And this pilgrimage of Paul, the great apostle of Western Christianity, to the East, to Jerusalem, is almost symbolic. And his collecting alms, diaconal aid in all the churches of the West for the poor of the church in Jerusalem. As an outward sign of unity, he collected and carried the donations of the Gentile Christian congregations to the Jewish Christian congregations in Jerusalem. So he did this also as a way of maintaining unity. That was the great goal, that was what he wanted to achieve at all costs. For another great unity must have been in Paul's mind at the same time. The unity of the church and the synagogue. The unity between Christians and Jews, between the old people of God and the new people of God. As much as there was a complete break on the part of the Jews, there has never been a break on God's part, even to this day, between Christians and Jews. Even when the hostility of the Jews was so evident, Paul did not give up hope until the last moment. It was also around this time that Paul wrote to the church at Rome, "I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience testifies with me by the Holy Spirit, that my sorrow is great, that the pain of my heart is unceasing. For I would that I myself were a curse, being cut off from Christ for my brethren, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, the Jews. Who are Israelites, who have the sonship, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the worship, and the promises. Who are the fathers, and of whom according to the flesh is Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever." This sense of the apostle's responsibility for the Jews, from whom he had always suffered the greatest persecution and much inconvenience, is wonderful. He says that he would almost give his own salvation to keep the church and Israel together. That is why he is determined to go to Jerusalem.
But first there is a very moving scene here in Miletus, when he calls the elders of the church to him and bids them farewell. But if God is with us and we meet again, we will deal with that next Tuesday.
Amen.
Date: Tuesday, June 9, 1969 (Men's Bible Study)