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Today: Psalms 78:40-55; Acts 20; 2 Kings 1 & 2
Acts 20
The casual language of Acts brings the Bible to life for me so strongly. It reads like a travel journal (with lots of awesome miracles sprinkled in).
Many people don’t realize that God raised two people back to life from the dead through the disciples after Jesus had gone. In Acts 20, we read about one of these instances when a “certain young man named Eutychus was overcome by sleep… fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.” (v.9) Paul “went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, ‘Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him,'” (v.10) And then Paul went on preaching! Can you imagine such amazing miracles being so commonplace that raising someone from the dead only warrants a short intermission?!
The Holy Spirit had warned Paul through visions, words, and dreams that he would be imprisoned in Jerusalem. He knew what was coming but he wasn’t afraid. He resolutely journeyed to Jerusalem as God had instructed him to do. His tearful goodbye to the Christians in Ephesus is heartbreaking, but also serves as a warning to us. Paul told them, “For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” (v.29-30) And these predictions about the Christian church have all come true…
2 Kings 1-2
Elijah was one of the greatest prophets who ever lived, the precursor of John the Baptist who prepared the way for Christ. Elijah never physically died. God took him in a chariot and horses of fire and he “went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” (v.2:11)
