BULLETIN ARTICLE – 25 November 2018
A Chaplain working among college students tells of how he sometimes gets students who, in the hope of throwing him off the “God business” declare, “I don’t believe in God!” Disarmingly, the Chaplain would look them in the eye and reply quietly, “Tell me about this God that you don’t believe in. Quite likely, neither will I!” And from then on, the Chaplain proceeds to point them to Jesus and his gospel of salvation, repentance and forgiveness of sin. He tells them of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and how they can have a personal relationship with him. The knowledge and personal conviction of who Jesus is impacts on our response in repentance from sin and proceeds to a commitment to a holy God and a meaningful relationship to him.
The Apostle Paul faced King Agrippa and Governor Festus in the law courts in Caesarea to defend the charges of the Jewish religious leaders against him. His stand was that he had the same beliefs as his Jewish accusers from the Jerusalem Temple. They had known who he was for he grew up among them and “conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee”. They would not deny how he was committed in his leadership and involvement in mounting a fierce persecution of the followers of the Way in Judea. Did they, and King Agrippa, realise that it was the same God of the Torah that everyone was thinking of? But, did they realise how his devotion differed from theirs entirely? He proclaimed openly the gospel of Jesus and his resurrection to them.
In every opportunity for sharing the gospel of Jesus, there is a need for a special God-given word in season – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (Prov 25:11). Paul asked King Agrippa and those present at his testimony a pointed question: “Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?” This question did two things. First, it required the hearers to realise what their own view of God was? They had learned about the same Israelite patriarchs – of God giving Abraham a son in his old age, of Jacob’s wife Rebekah, Samson’s mother and Samuel’s mother Hannah. King Agrippa also believed the Israelite prophets. The Jews knew intimately of Prophet Elisha raising from death the son of the widow he stayed with. They themselves might have witnessed or heard of Lazarus being raised from the dead in Bethany. If anyone who should not be amazed by the dead being raised to life, it would be the Jews! By all accounts, such was their omnipotent God! Second, the question Paul asked posed them a challenge – when they know, why they choose not to believe. The truth about Jesus and his resurrection from the dead was not beyond their ability to accept. At the end, King Agrippa chose to distance himself from the pointed question and silence his inner disquiet by focussing on Paul’s legal rights – “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar” (Acts 26:32). How sad!
The occasion of Paul before King Agrippa serves to remind us of the pitfalls of not meditating long and hard on God’s Word – the Bible – to seek to know God and his ways. “A little knowledge of God is worth a great deal of knowledge about God” (JI Packer).
