Acts 14:26-27 – God Can Even Use Governments
A young African boy listened intently as the missionary teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas Day: “Because it’s an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our love for one another”.
When Christmas came the boy brought the teacher a very beautiful sea shell. “Where did you find such a shell?” He told her how there was only one spot, several miles away where they could be found. “You shouldn’t have gone all that way to get a gift for me!” His eyes brightened as he said, “Long walk was part of gift.”
It was the long walk that Jesus made that makes Christmas special. It wasn’t that God sent a prophet – He had done that before, and they were already part of this world. But for Jesus to come was a long walk, part of this story called Christianity that brings a wonder and a fascination to it all.
Last week we began a series on the timing of Jesus’ birth: why did He come into the world when He did? Galatians 4:4 tells us that it was just the right time, that the time was perfect. Last week we saw that at the time of Jesus’ birth, 90% of the known world spoke one common language: Greek. The time was right culturally for Jesus to come into the world, when the message of God’s love could be easily communicated to many people.
This week, we are going to look at the political setting that Jesus was born into. Let’s read Acts 14:26-27. This passage shows that God had done and was doing something new. Salvation was taking on a whole new face. A person no longer needed to be Jewish to be right with God; one only had to receive Jesus. That was such a new thing. Now, nobody thinks twice about it. Who would think nowadays that you’d have to convert to Judaism and submit to its laws like circumcision and dietary rules, just so you could call yourself a Christian? But at the time, it was revolutionary. God had opened up the door of faith to all peoples.
And that was a good thing, too, because the Jews were surrounded by foreigners. They may have been in their homeland, the land God had promised them back 2000 years before, but they were still encircled by outsiders. And they had been for some time. First the Assyrians came and conquered them. Then the Babylonians. Then the Persians. Then the Macedonians, with their far-reaching Greek language. And as we saw last week, by the time Jesus stepped into history, the Jewish homeland, called Palestine, was ruled by the Roman Empire.
Now, at this point, I want to say 2 things that perhaps didn’t come across well in last week’s sermon: 1) I said that the province of Macedonia was overthrown by the Romans in 165BC, but Palestine, the Promised Land, the Jewish homeland, didn’t come under Roman rule until 65BC, 100 years later. There’s a whole section of history I didn’t mention last week, like the Jewish wars and Judas Maccabees. But what I did want to correct was this: that Roman occupation was still very new in Jesus’ day. God did not wait long to bring His plans into effect after the Romans started to rule. And 2), the Romans ruled in name. They ruled politically. But the dominant language was not Latin. It was Greek. The victorious Romans ruled the world, but the defeated Greeks still ruled the culture.
So what was the Roman world like? What kind of civilization did the Romans bring to their defeated lands? Why did God choose the regime of the Romans to bring His Son into the world? Well, realistically, looking back, we can see so many advantages that the Roman world brought to the spread of the gospel, the story of God’s love.
The 1st blessing that came from the Roman system was peace. It was called the Pax Romana. The world was relatively at peace. The wars had been fought. The land had been taken. And the Roman Empire would remain more or less stable for the next 300 years. This is fairly significant. Wars have a tendency to distract us. Wars cause us, by necessity, to batten down the hatches and prepare for the worst, without giving too much thought to ourselves, our well-being, our futures. Wars are too often pointless. Wars devastate the economy. Wars make things difficult on the homefront.
But what the Pax Romana did was enable the early believers in Christ to share His love. Things were going pretty good. People had time to sit back and consider their futures. It would not always be like that, granted, but at least in the start, Roman peace would be able to spread the gospel.
The 2nd blessing that came from the Roman system flows from the 1st. The 2nd blessing was that there was a great military system. The reason there was peace, in part, was that there was a good military program. Things were well-organized and soldiers were well-trained. Which means, that if one person, one soldier, perhaps someone like Cornelius in Acts 10, were to receive God’s forgiveness, the message would spread well within that soldier’s ranks, and ultimately, around the empire. As hated as the Roman military must have been at times, God used that organization, that level of order, to get His message around.
The 3rd blessing is what made the military so effective: the road system. The roads were built and maintained mostly for the military. But when you have a good road system, it makes getting from one place to another much easier. The roads, which Rome built to ensure military conquest, became God’s tool for spiritual victory.
We can see the 4th blessing that the Roman system brought to the spread of the gospel in the same place. The Roman roads also benefited the postal system. Think about it. If the roads were maintained enough and far-reaching enough for believers to spread the message, they were effective enough to get letters from one place to another too. What we call the NT was at first letters, spread from one place to another by means of the postal system. Sometimes they were hand-delivered through mutual friends, but other times it seems that the mail was how God helped the churches to communicate with each other. Right under the irreligious authorities’ noses, God’s word spread.
Another interesting aspect of all this, the 5th blessing that came from the Roman system is citizenship. Now, this sounds strange but hear me out. There were times that Paul could get to places and talk to people that other people would not be able to – because Paul was a Roman citizen. Actually, he was a dual citizen – a citizen of Rome and of Tarsus, his hometown. He appealed legal judgements. He spoke to kings. He got out of jail. Citizenship had its advantages. As a Roman citizen, he had protection, and he had privileges. And God used this to advance His message in the early days of the church.
So far, we’ve only seen the big picture. What about certain instances when the Roman system was used for God’s purposes? Well, for one, it was a Roman census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, to be taxed. It was a tax just for existing, a head tax. Of course, while Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, Jesus was born, all part of God’s plan. This tax was first brought about while Caesar Augustus was the Roman emperor, while Herod the Great was the king over the area known as Judea, and while Cyreius or Quirinius was the local ruling governor.
Speaking of governors, it was the governor known as Pilate who gave Jesus the death sentence. Sure, it was all part of God’s plans, but it was Pilate’s cowardice that provided the framework for it. Both Pilate and Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, were cowards and scoffers at serious things. God used them.
And of course, the cross, crucifixion, was a Roman form of execution. It was not Jewish; it was Roman. And the cross fulfilled prophecies of the OT. God’s plan for His Son and for us included the Roman form of execution.
So, armed with the words of love understood by everybody, and marching on the roads available to everybody, our forefathers carried the message of the Messiah to everyone everywhere. Not just to the Jews, but the Gentiles as well. Jesus was the longing of the Jews and the craving of the gentiles. The Jews knew what they were looking for, the Gentiles didn’t. Either way, it’s no wonder that Haggai 2:7 calls Jesus “the desired of all nations”. Jesus was what all the world was wanting, even if they couldn’t define their longings precisely.
And the point is, God made a way to do it. He orchestrated world events to bring to pass what happened. He really was in charge of the whole thing, even when it looked as if He had forgotten us down here. Which is really good news for us, when we wonder the same thing. Let’s be honest: how often in the last week did you wonder if God would come through on the thing you thought He would? Did you wonder about your impending bills that you have no money for? Did you wonder about a prayer unanswered as yet? Did you wonder about plans that you are sure are God’s will for you, but they seem so far away? Well, take heart. Because our God is a Way-maker God.
These are the words to the church in Philadelphia in Revelation 3: “What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.” Our God is a Door-opening God. Now, a word of caution. This does not mean that things will be perfect. If you are expecting God’s doors to be pain-free, think again. The Roman system that brought roads to Jerusalem also brought crosses there. Paul did not suffer the death of a criminal, i.e. crucifixion. No, he suffered the death of a citizen, i.e. beheading. God’s plans included a frightened teenage mom giving birth in a stable. God’s plans including new parents fleeing from a jealous and insane king to a foreign country. No, sometimes God’s plans for you may include pain or discomfort.
But let me tell you, I’d rather go through pain knowing it’s God’s plans, than go through it thinking that God wasn’t in charge. I’d rather have trials and be right with Him, than have trials and not be right with Him. I’d rather be with Him and without Him, whether it’s good things or bad things that happen to me. I want to trust in His plans, because His plans are perfect, and so is His timing.
So where are you weak? So are you struggling? Where do you fall short, trusting in His wisdom and in His timing? Let the message of Christmas comfort you. God sent His Son when the timing was just right, and trust that He’ll meet your needs at the right time too.
