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[You can
read the actual account of this event in Acts 16. If you, like the Philippian Jailer, have
found your salvation in Jesus, but have not yet been baptized to identify
publically with His death and resurrection on your behalf, please contact me
right away. We have two people being
baptized this coming Sunday (11/15), and I would be delighted to include you as
well in this baptism opportunity - Pastor Scott]
The unusual rumors of the townspeople had been circulating for
days. Strangers were in the
neighborhood, who were said to be the servants of some “Most High God.” It turns out they were in town to declare “the way of salvation,” whatever that means. This had been brought to light by one of our
local slave-girls who happened to be a fortune-teller possessed by a spirit of
divination. She had recognized some kind
of spiritual power resident in two of the outsiders, Paul and Silas, and had been
announcing their presence in the public forum for many days.
I thought to myself, “Whatever.”
But then there was a bizarre showdown, where one of the visitors seemed
to have the ability to command authority in the spirit realm. He apparently was able to dismiss the spirit
in the slave girl, and she could no longer predict futures. Her owners immediately caught on to the fact that
their source of income through her was now history, and they proceeded to throw
the whole town into confusion. The strangers
were arrested, beaten severely and handed over to me, since I was the local
jailer. And I was commanded to make sure
they were securely guarded.
I didn’t need to be told twice.
Something spooky was going on here.
People were afraid. These two guys
had unleashed a power in our town that was greater than anything we had known
up till now. I figured if they could
command the spirit realm, then they might just have other powers as well. I wasn’t going to take any chances.
I secured them in the inner-most part of the prison where the
possibility of escape was little to none.
And to make it impossible, I threw them in the stocks for good
measure. I didn’t know what else these
guys had up their sleeves but I wasn’t going to allow my life to become forfeit
because of their freak sideshow. After
all, I had a family to think about.
As I was preparing to sleep that night, I thought I heard strange
sounds coming from deep within the prison.
I discovered later from the other prisoners, that these two guys were
actually singing and praying to their “God.”
Well I wasn’t worried. They could
talk and sing to some invisible whatever all night long if they wanted to. I put my money on strong timbers, thick
walls, steel chains, and bars of iron.
Then, just around midnight, my life as I had known it came to an abrupt
end.
I was awakened out of a sound sleep and discovered my world was coming
apart, literally. The earth was quaking
all around me, and everything was falling to pieces. My first thought was for my family. I checked to make sure they were going to be alright. Then I rushed to the jail where, in an
instant, my worst fears were confirmed before my very eyes. As impossible as it seemed, the foundation of
the building had been so badly shaken, and the walls so severely crumbled, that
the prison doors were all wide open.
Clearly the prisoner's chains now were attached only to thin air.
Never in my life had I been so powerfully and instantly confronted with
my own mortality. My life was passing before
my eyes in a rapid sequence of jumbled events.
My entire career was ruined. My
“perfect record” was in as much a shambles as the used-to-be-jail before me. Not to mention the fact that my physical life
would be demanded by my superiors in place of the escaped prisoners. What awesome and terrible power was at work
here? What fearful thing had we done to
offend the “Most High God” of Paul and Silas?
I was now staring at the possibility of actually meeting this “Most
High God” in the very near future. My
mind was reeling. I couldn’t think
straight. What would become of my
family? I couldn’t allow them to be put
through the humiliation and grief of my shameful end. In what I assumed would be my final lucid
thought, I decided to end it all right then and there.
And that is when God spoke to me for the first time I ever
remember. Well, actually it was Paul
speaking. But in my moment of greatest
crisis, it was as if the words were from the mouth of God Himself. The voice stopped me dead in my tracks. The command was clear: “Do not harm yourself! We are
all here!” I heard the voice but I
could see no one. It was pitch black
outside. I began to tremble
uncontrollably. What did I just hear
with my ears? Could it be? Might it just be possible that these men, in
fact, did know the "way of salvation?!?!"
I had to find out for myself, and I had to know now! My life depended on it. The balance of my family’s future was hanging
on it. I had lights brought, stumbled
through the rubble and rushed into the inner part of the prison. Finding Paul and Silas I fell down before
them, ignoring the stares of the others around me. I brought them out of the mess and, begging,
said “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Right then and there I first was introduced to my Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. They spoke the Word of God to me
and to my family. They said "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you
will be saved, you and your household." We did believe - boy did we believe!
At that moment, I took notice of their bleeding wounds and washed them
as well as a burly jailer with rough hands can wash wounds. It was the least I could do. Then something truly remarkable
happened. They, in turn, “washed” me and
my family, baptizing us in the Name of Jesus.
Ignoring their own pain, they applied the symbolic, healing waters of
baptism to me, one of their tormentors(!), and to my loved ones. In that selfless, extraordinary moment, I
witnessed firsthand the supernatural transformation that the grace of the Most
High God can bring into the life of a mortal man. Having believed in Jesus, I felt I was reborn
and given the opportunity really to live for the first time in my life.
I will never forget that night as long as I live. We had these men sent from God into our home
and had a tremendous celebration together with them over a midnight meal. Now, we too, had discovered “the way of
salvation” in the Person of Jesus Christ!
In Jesus our King,
Pastor Scott
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