Acts [16:16]-34
I want us to keep an open mind as we read the verses from Acts. This is a well known story of how Paul and Silas were delivered out of jail. But I want to look at the jailer instead of the two missionaries. And I want us to use a little imagination here.
The scene. A courtroom where the judge is on the bench, our bailiff/jailer is standing to the side ready to escort the prisoners away to their cell, the defendants sitting on their knees in front of everyone, and their accusers standing and accusing them. So the accusers state their charges against them. They are well known businessmen and have a lot of friends in the community. They get riled up and start attacking them. The judges let it happen.
Meanwhile our jailer thinks something is off. He’s heard these guys talk and pray. He’s heard they’re the servants of God. They good folks.
The verdict is given quickly. Guilty. The judge calls the jailer over and tells him to lock them up good. Not willing to upset the system he follows his orders. Bottom of the jail. Pitch black. Miserable.
He goes to start his paperwork. Shortly he hears a sound from the bottom of the jail. Great, he thinks. They are going to be complaining and yelling all night. He goes to tell them to can it but stops before he gets there. They are praying. Asking God to forgive their tormentors. They are singing. He has heard that psalm before.
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord… serve Him with gladness…the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting.”
He thinks to himself, they serve a wonderful God, for them to be so happy in a place of such hopelessness. He tries to finish his paperwork but the singing is too pretty and he quickly falls asleep. He dreams of a grassy valley, with a quiet stream running through it.
He is awakened by his chair overturning and throwing him to the ground. He looks around quickly to see all the cell doors open. The cells are empty. Darkness clutches his heart as he walks to the bottom where the chief prisoners were kept. Seeing the empty cell he grabs a sword to end his life before the judges and businessmen do it for him. Before he makes the fatal blow a voice tells him to stop.
The jailer calls for light and the bulbs twinkle on revealing everything. He sees the men still in the cell!
He falls at their feet crying. He knows that the jail is well built. Only a miracle would cause all the cells to open. Only the love of a wonderful God would constrain the falsely convicted to remain, saving a jailer from death.
I’ll not keep you much longer. Here’s the rest of the story.
“And he brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.”
We are the missionaries in the story. We are despised by the world. We teach strange beliefs that go against the world. We are in a prison. This world is not our home. We are looking forward to a new world that is in perfect harmony with God. While here we must spread the good news to the jailors of the world. And trust that God will bless His word to find hearts ready to believe and trust in Him.
Riley Lee