Acts 5:19-20 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,… The apostles might well say, as Elisha did, "They that be with us," etc. It is only to carnal eyes that the world ever seems to get the better of believers. Very formidable machinery is set in motion to silence the apostles; but the touch of an angel's hand makes it all vain. This, the opening of the prison doors, the angel could do; but there was a part of the work to be done which no angel could fulfil. And the mighty one who set the apostles free, bore the message which bade them, "go and preach all the words of this life." Let us accept these two lessons for use to-day and every day. By His angel hosts, as well as by all other means, the Lord works out our well-being. And if we rightfully boast that the agency is none the less mighty because unseen, so the blessings and deliverances administered to us are often unseen also. but no less real. Along the channel and amidst the circumstances of ordinary things, our welfare is being as certainly wrought out, as if we saw prisons broken, or sickness healed, or the bitterness of death pass us by. It were but a poor faith that would limit our Lord's help only to extraordinary interferences of His power. The next lesson is two in one. The Master sends us help, and works mightily on our behalf to this end, that we may go and witness for Him. Next, we must never so trust in the forces of Divine aid put at our service as to look to them either to do our work or to make it needless. The weakest and most helpless of us, being helped of God, has some mission entrusted to him to make known "the words of this life." If we make it our rule to "obey God rather than men," we shall be maintained by God's resources instead of man's help. (G. S. Rowe.) Parallel Verses KJV: But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,WEB: But an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors by night, and brought them out, and said, |
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