God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Let us settle in our minds this great truth, that Jesus Christ was verily and indeed Man. He was equal to the Father in all things, and the eternal God. But He was also Man, and took part of flesh and blood, and was made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted. He had a body like our own. Like us, He was born of a woman. Like us, He grew and increased in stature. Like us, He was often hungry and thirsty, and faint and weary. Like us, He ate and drank, rested and slept. Like us, He sorrowed, and wept, and felt. It is all very wonderful, but so it is. He that made the heavens went to and fro as a poor, weary Man on earth! He that ruled over principalities and powers in heavenly places, took on Him a frail body like our own. He that might have dwelt forever in the glory which He had with the Father, amidst the praises of legions of angels, came down to earth and dwelt as a Man among sinful men. Surely this fact alone is an amazing miracle of condescension, grace, pity, and love.
(Acts 16:25-40.)
THE story of the imprisonment of Paul and Silas.
At midnight they pray and sing praises unto God.
What would we have done under such circumstances?
No doubt some of us would have gotten discouraged
and renounced Christianity altogether. But the apos-
tles walked by faith, and not by sight.
The earthquake. The prison doors opened. The
jailor is awakened; rushes out in the night to see
what has caused the commotion; finds the prison doors
wide open; and starts to kill himself, thinking his
prisoners have escaped, and that he will be subject
to the punishment of the Roman law and the prejudice
of the people. But Paul stays his hand in the act.
He secures a light and brings them out of the prison.
Then he asks the supreme question: "What must I do
to be saved?"
No doubt he had previously heard of their message,
as they had practically preached to the entire city.
After their miraculous deliverance, he looks upon them
as gods, and regards the message as divine.
Paul's answer to the question (v. 31). The jailor
knew very little about Jesus Christ. He was a heathen;
and, being such, he must first believe. So, in order that
he may believe, Paul and Silas speak the word of the
Lord to him and his entire household (v. 32). Faith
comes by hearing the word of God (Rom. 10: 17).
What was the result of the sermon? Did they re-
pent? Evidently so, because they were ready to be
baptized the same hour of the night. Faith and re-
pentance are always demonstrated by a spirit of obedi-
ence.
They believed the message. After taking Paul and
Silas, and washing their stripes, he and his entire
household were baptized. They did not stop to quib-
ble about the necessity of the matter • they did not stop
to ask parents, friends, preachers or priests. They
went the same hour of the night (v. 33). This matter
of salvation was too important to them to be delayed
a single moment longer than necessary. How often,
to-day, we are compelled to plead with people to get
them to see the necessity of this positive command.
Evidently Paul included the command in his message;
and the jailor and his household were ready to obey
at once.
This baptism did not take place in the house. Why ?
Because baptism is immersion, and immersion is not
done in a private dwelling except in cases of extreme
emergency. There was a river near Philippi (v. 13).
Perhaps the little assembly went down to the river.
And there the father and mother and entire family
were buried with their Lord in baptism and resurrected
to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4). What a glo-
rious scene!
After the baptism, the entire company returned to
the house for a season of fellowship and rejoicing.
They set meat before the apostles. And the jailor and
his entire household rejoiced (v. 34). No wonder they
rejoiced. They had God's word that their sins would
be blotted out upon their compliance with the terms
of pardon (Acts 2: 38). They were willing to take God
at His word. The evidence of the word of God is
higher than any other evidence that could be given
to man.
Some cite us to this conversion in an attempt to
prove infant sprinkling. However, we see at once that
those who were baptized, previously believed ; and after
they were baptized, they rejoiced. This excludes un-
knowing infants, who could neither believe nor rejoice.
We recall numerous instances in which entire house-
holds have been baptized, that did not contain a single
infant.
Will you not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, turn
to God, and be baptized even this very night? Now
is the accepted time. Do not put this matter off a
moment longer. Manifest that spirit of obedience that
was manifested in the story of the Philippian jailor.
Although faith is the first thing necessary to conver-
sion, faith alone will not suffice; full obedience to the
gospel is necessary to salvation. Will you not obey
all the commands of the gospel and be saved by the
blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for the remis-
sion of your sins?
