Acts 16:8-12 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.… The cry — I. WAS HUMAN. 1. A man — (1) Not an angelic intelligence. (2) Not a member of a class, but of a race. It was not a philosopher, artist, priest, warrior, king; but a man. 2. It is the humanity in heathendom that is in moral distress. The aid that is so deeply required is not secular, political, educational, military, but moral. Help to the conscience, soul; help to man as man in his spiritual and eternal relationships. II. WAS SIGNIFICANT. "Come over and help us." It implies — 1. A sense of need. Man everywhere feels that there is something wanting to make matters right between him and his God. "Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord?" 2. Conscious inability to supply the need. The Macedonian felt that the Macedonians, with all their wealth and intelligence, could not supply the necessity. Heathenism has no self-redemptive power. 3. Faith is the power of Christians to help. The Macedonian took it for granted that Paul could help. Macedonia represents the western world. Once this call sounded for help from the heathen West to the Christian East; now it sounds from the heathen East to the Christian West. III. WAS OBEYED. Paul attends at once to the call. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. |
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