Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna | Thursday, March 15, 2018 | Reading: Exodus 33:1-11, Exodus 4, Gen 3:1-21
Topic: The Tabernacle of God 382
Scripture: But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building. (Heb 9:11)
Note: 2Cor 5:1, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Saul who later on became the Apostle Paul, had a dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians for prosecution by the Sanhedrin. Paul’s passionate and direct approach that saw him do so much damage to the fragile, early Church, made the mere mention of his name begin to ring the bell of terror and horror in the ears of the early Christians.
Paul, previously Saul, visited such vicious hatred, persecution and terror on Christians, leading to several arrests and unfortunate deaths, including Stephen, who was stoned to death. Paul must have been a key prayer concern of the early believers, who would be hoping for God to intervene on their behalf and halt this evil menace that was borne out of hatred for preaching on the resurrection and in the name of Jesus Christ. To Paul and the Jewish hierarchy, the name Jesus was forbidden and this could cause the life of an adherent. Paul prosecuted his arresting, torturing and killing agenda of the believers with such passion and fervent hatred that it needed the personal intervention of Jesus to bring him to a halt and to a decision.
Paul’s conversion to Christianity was as equally dramatic as the shock and suspicion of the Christians who were expected to be joyous over their archenemy becoming one of their own and now a defender of the faith. The early suspicions of his loyalty bordered on a conspiracy of a decoy strategy by Paul to understudy the inside out operations of the believers, obtain classified information and proceed to devise a devilish strategy to hound them all out to his paymasters in Jerusalem. They weren’t prepared to be overhauled that cheaply like chickens into the vicious nets of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. As expected of any right thinking human, they kept their options very tight; the obvious result was the rejection of Paul in fellowship by the Christians in Jerusalem.
It took the courage of Barnabas (Acts 9:26-27) whose maturity and levelheadedness endeared him to the apostles, for Paul to be given the right hand of fellowship among the believers in Jerusalem. For a man who laid ambush, principally in wait to arrest Christians, Barnabas had to risk his reputation, image, integrity and even his own life, putting all these on the line for Paul to be accepted into the fold of the apostles. This singular sacrifice of Barnabas was needed in order to birth out the greatest of all the apostles, in the building of the foundations of the early Gentile Churches. It was because one man, in the person of Barnabas, was ready to stand in the gap and even die for it, just as Jesus died for all.
Food for thought: The Church of today needs courage and individual sacrifices, if the battle against the threat of terror is to be won.
Declaration: And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. Acts 9:26
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
