Acts 14:19
Then Jews from Antioch
and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul
and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.
God has many ways to deter us from
sin. One is to provide reminders for us that we never take disobedience to Him
lightly. Before his conversion, Paul assumed that he was righteous before God.
In reality, Paul was so disoriented to God that he arrested and executed
Christians in order to please Him! Paul was so blinded to God’s will
that when he watched Stephen being brutally murdered for his faith, Paul’s
heart was hardened, and he became even more determined to imprison other Christians.
It is significant that there are two
occurrences of stoning mentioned in the NT- Stephen’s and Paul’s. Was it
coincidence that God allowed Paul to be stoned in the same manner as Stephen
had been? God had certainly forgiven Paul for his involvement in Stephen’s
death, but God also left him with a reminder of what his arrogance had
led him to do. If pride could blind Paul to God once, pride could do it
again. Perhaps Paul’s “thorn in flesh” was a direct result of this stoning.
It may have served a visible reminder to Paul, and to others, of the terrible
consequences of sin.
God is absolutely just. He loves,
and forgives, but He does not compromise His righteousness. God deals with us uniquely.
He draws upon our experiences to teach us about Himself. God will forgive us of
our sin, but He may provide stark reminders of the ugliness of sin. Let
us thank God that He loves us enough to remind us of the destructive
consequences of sin in our lives.
CONTEXT: Paul and Barnabas escaped from Iconium to Lystra and
Derbe, cities of Lycaonia. They healed a lame man and when people saw this and
heard Paul’s words, they worshipped them as Zeus and Hermes, but Paul and
Barnabas torn their clothes and rebuked them. The Jews hated Paul.
DEATH BY STONING: “Stoning is a method of execution during which a
group of people, usually peers of the guilty party, throws stones at the
condemned person until he or she dies. Death by stoning was prescribed in the
Old Testament Law as a punishment for various sins. Both animals and people
could be the subjects of stoning (Exodus 21:28), and stoning seems to have been
associated with sins that caused irreparable damage to the spiritual or
ceremonial purity of a person or an animal.” .. “Another mode of execution that
was also considered stoning involved throwing the guilty party headlong down a
steep place and then rolling a large stone onto the body.”- like what could
have happened to Jesus in Luke 4:29 but He miraculously escaped. “[http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-stoning.html,
viewed on Oct.1,2015.]
PERSPECTIVE OF STONERS: hating sin. Judgment. On the spot.
PERSPECTIVE FROM THE ONE STONED: Fright. Shame. Anger. Plead. Sorry.
PERSPECTIVE FROM EXPECTATORS: Agreement with stoners. Sympathy for
the one stoned. I don’t care at all.
PAUL DID NOT DIE: unlike Stephen, Paul lived after the stoning. He
was reminded of God’s grace for him. Not to attack his conscience about what
happened to Stephen but to remind him that he is a changed man of God and that
he is living by His grace. His stoning had a purpose, but that purpose
certainly was not because he sinned that time.
EMPHASIS OF STONING: Ugliness of Sin. Paul was reminded of
its ugliness from his past.
God did not use that
situation to punish Paul about something. It was just a reminder of him about
the ugliness of sin. That he may not fall into it and he will be able to know
how ugly it is to be punished because of sin. The gospel that he is delivering
to every city involves this truth. People are sinners, and the ugly punishment
of sin has been removed from us through God’s grace and love demonstrated on
the cross. We are all free from the ugliness of sin because of Jesus!
PAUL’S EXPERIENCES: he was the boldest preacher because of his real
experiences with God. He needed to experience the extremes to be as bold as he
was. This is the reason why his preaching have content that brings life. And
God did it through him. How about you? How
are your experiences affecting your purpose in spreading the Gospel?
©lanilaneocbina, http://everydaywithchibi.blogspot.com/2015/09/painful-reminders.html
(PH: Jesus our Discipler Church, Oct.1,2015).
