Living a life of Immortality

Read Acts 23.

It was George Whitefield, the great preacher from England of the 1770's and founder of the University of Pennsylvania, who said, "We are immortal until our work on earth is done."

Behind that quote are several crucial and personal understandings.
1. Such a person understands God's purpose for their lives.
2. Such a person endeavors to live each day according to God's will for them.
3. Such a person will be taken by God when their individual mission is fulfilled.

That realization for the committed follower of Christ provides an incomparable confidence.  It bolsters our faith in that no matter what may happen, this life is temporary at best.  Every day, then, counts.  Though, on  a human level, we certainly feel the loss of someone who dies or when things do not go according to our plans, we likewise have the certainty that God knows what He is doing.  It is His plans that matter, not ours.  That is what it means to call Him Lord.

Here in this chapter, the Roman tribune did a noble thing to get to the bottom of the facts.  However, the people who were in charge of the trial were the very ones who had already determined to kill Paul.  Two times in two chapters this same Roman tribune had to physically rescue Paul from being beaten to death.  The official sanction of this oath taken by forty men to go without food until they murder the Apostle Paul reveals the total lack of any godliness among Israel's religious leaders.

There are no bullies and no more dangerous individuals like those who oppose the veracity of the Scriptures and the believers in Jesus.  The world will force acceptance of any other belief system and any behavior, even atheism.  But one who commits their lives to Christ and His word are subject to persecution and worse.

But God intervened again for Paul.  The plot became known.  The Satanically energized enemy had forty men.  God used the Roman government to provide four hundred and seventy trained fighting soldiers to protect Paul.  God even provided a horse for him.  They left at 9 PM on a quick 35-mile overnight march.  This is the third recorded time in Acts where Paul had to escape a city at night.

Persecuted?  Yes.  Beaten and suffering?  Yes.  But he remained immortal until he would fulfill his assigned mission.  Jesus had already confirmed His will for Paul.  "Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome." (23:11).  These words were meant to comfort him in midst of every challenge.

To the Romans, Paul wrote: "...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)