“Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” {Acts 21:13}
I was reading this chapter today and as in time past every time I get to this verse I am always amazed at Apostle Paul for responding this way: I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. What makes him say this? What makes him so dedicated and so bold in his love for Christ? Why can’t I be one? I wish I could be so brave like him. He is the same guy who penned:
For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. {Philippians 1:21}
Dying doesn’t seem to faze Apostle Paul, that is if he’s dying for the Lord. Dying in itself is not something he’s attracted to however, as he told governor Festus when he was standing before him and defending himself before the Jews who had accused him of being a pestilent fellow. He told him,
“For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar.” {Acts 25:11}
Basically he’s telling them, “If I did something wrong I deserve to die but if I didn’t you have no right to condemn me.” So, no, he’s not just going to die without good reason. But when it comes to the Lord he not only was ready to be bound, but also to die for His sake.
I wonder about Apostle Paul and his zealousness for Christ. What made him like this? The twelve apostles of the Lord of course were zealous of Him too and probably all of them except John the Beloved died because of Him. But apostle Paul on the other hand was just plain unstoppable. He had no bounds when it came to his love for the Lord. He was almost like a raging bull ready to fight and defend the Lord at any cost. He traveled far and wide to preach the message of the Lord and suffered so much persecution and affliction and yet he didn’t care. As a matter of fact you get the picture he gloried in them. His previous life before Christ he counted as loss and did not care for as long as he won Christ. Paul was not an ordinary Pharisee either before he met Christ. He was a powerful one and got so many Christians killed in the process. He was just so zealous of God and thought the Christians had lost their minds and needed to be silenced. The Jews looked to him to be their ring leader in persecuting the Christians and he did it well. But when he met the Lord that was it for him. He said,
“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” {Philippians 3:8}
And again he tells us,
“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” {Philippians 1:20}
It didn’t matter to him, whether in life or in death, as long as he can glorify God. That’s all that counts. Could it be because Paul was a Pharisee and studied all his life about God and His promise to be the Messiah for His people, that when Paul finally met Jesus Christ and saw God for himself face to face on the road to Damascus that nothing else mattered to him anymore after that? Could it be that he above all people appreciates the knowledge of Christ because he had been studying about Him since he was very small? He told the mob on the day he was bound at Jerusalem,
“I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.” {Acts 22:3}
Even though he had been born in a different city, Paul was brought up in Jerusalem under the tutelage of his teacher Gamaliel. He knew nothing else but the study of the word of God and knowing who God is. So now that Paul had come to know Christ after many years of study about Him, the God of his forefathers, there is no turning back. He found what he had been looking for and searching for all those years, there is nothing else left to do. There is nothing else to know but Christ. There is no turning back. It is no wonder then that even losing his life meant nothing to him, if it meant winning Christ. It is no wonder then he was willing not only to suffer for Christ, but also to die for Him and be with Him for eternity.
Prayer
Father God in heaven, my Lord Jesus Christ, You are the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who made the heavens and the earth and everything that breathes and lives in this life today. There is no one else like You. You are God alone. I love You.
Today Father I pray that You will give us more love for You. Maybe we cannot be exactly like Apostle Paul in his love for You, but please let us at least come to have the same surrendered life that he had with You – the same dedication, the same appreciation that he had for You. Let us please Lord, come to that wonderful knowledge of You that Paul had. Let us know You Jesus. Let us love You and give our lives up to You because indeed there is no one else who is so worthy of all of our love and of all our devotion besides You. You alone loves us so much that You would give Your life and die for us at the cross to set us free from all our sins and shame. You alone came down from heaven and loves us so much that You were willing to become like one of us and suffer for our salvation and to give us eternal life with You. Jesus, You are the greatest thing we can ever know and possess in this life. Please, Savior let us love You and give our lives and soul to You. I ask for more love for You, Lord, I pray in Your most wonderful and precious name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
