The G. Campbell Morgan Archive

Acts 14:21-28
his is the story of the return journey, after the first missionary campaign of Paul. The last place visited in his outward march was Derbe. I think we are warranted in supposing that his work there was characterized by quietness and peace. No details are preserved, but it is recorded in the first verse of this paragraph, that when they had preached the Gospel to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned. From other writings we know that in Derbe the apostle gained a friend, a companion, a fellow-helper, in Gaius. Up to this point the whole journey had been characterized by stress and strain. It may be that the persecuting Jews did not know where Paul and his company had gone. Certainly they do not seem to have followed him to Derbe.
rom Derbe the great eastern road ran through the passes of the Taurus range of mountains straight to Tarsus, from whence Paul and his company could have taken ship, and crossed quickly over to Seleucia, and so would have arrived at Antioch in Syria. That was the easy way back to the Church that had sent them forth. That would have been the most speedy and safe method of return; most speedy certainly, for the distance was very little in comparison with the route now taken. Instead of that they traversed the twenty miles back to Lystra, the forty on to Iconium, the sixty on to Antioch; and then came along the southern coast. The crossing of swollen rivers and the presence of robbers might have made the mountain passes dangerous. Nevertheless perils from robbers and rivers are always easier than perils from antagonistic fanatics. Along the way by which they had come, they had left companies of angry men in every city, determined to deal with them, and if possible to put them to death. Instead of taking what appeared to be the speedy and safe way Paul turned back again, called at Lystra, and tarried there, how long we do not know; moved on to Iconium, tarried there, doing definite and specific work; went back again to Antioch in Pisidia, journeyed down through Pisidia, and stayed to preach at Perga. From thence he took ship, and sailed home.
he fact of this backward journey is significant. The outward journey had been one of missionary enterprise; it was the journey of a pioneer, the going into new territory, with a new evangel. He created division, bringing the sword wherever he came, dividing cities and men into two camps, believers and blasphemers, men full of jealousy, men filled with joy. Let us then survey this journey back; considering first the fact of that journey; secondly, its values; and finally, its consummation, as they rehearsed to the Church all the things that had been fulfilled.
s we think of the fact of that backward journey, the courage of it impresses us; and we are driven to enquire its cause. First of all Paul went from Derbe, the place of peaceful work, over the twenty miles of "wild and dusty plain," to Lystra, the place of the stones. At this long distance of time from the actual happenings we are in danger of forgetting all the facts of the case. The end of his previous work in Lystra is very briefly told; they stoned him and left him for dead. So far as Lystra was concerned, that was the end of his ministry. It is easily read, but to understand it a little exercise of the imagination is necessary. Twenty years after, the memory of that stoning was with him still: "Once was I stoned." Such an experience was one that undoubtedly left its stamp upon him physically, to the end of his days. The journey completed, Derbe being evangelized in peace and in power, there was the short way home through the Taurus ranges, by Seleucia, to Antioch. But he did not take it, he went back to the place of the stones, back to the place of the suffering, back to the places where the hatred of his fellow countrymen, and the opposition of the new men whom he was seeking to lead to light, had broken out into fierceness, where they had rained stones upon him, and left him for dead.
hen he went back still further forty miles, to Iconium. He had left that city in haste. There had been perils and dangers in Iconium from the first of his preaching there; and he had tarried a long while because of the perils and the dangers. At last his friends had discovered there was a plot hatching to end his life, and under their advice he left in haste. Because the plot had failed when he was there before, it was not at all likely that those men had lost their resentment.
nce again, he went still further back to Antioch, over another sixty miles, through all the perils of that strange and wild country of Lycaonia, among men of strange speech. That was the city from which, at the end of his ministry, he had been cast out. He had to leave Antioch because Antioch would have him no longer.
e cannot read this paragraph, then, without seeing the wonderful courage of this man and his little company. If there was no good cause for this backward journey, it was the courage of foolhardiness. Why did he thus go back? The answer is to be found in the discovery of what he did. He went back to Lystra to find the little group of disciples; back to Iconium to see those who had believed; back to Antioch for the same purpose. He went back, confirming, exhorting, organizing.
aul was driven back first by his consciousness of the importance of the truth which he had declared, the great Gospel of which he was not ashamed, which he knew to be the power of God unto salvation. The first visit through these cities had been that of proclamation; but in all the things he had said there were implications and applications, which it was necessary these early disciples should understand. He had passed through these cities preaching two things supremely: first, the risen Christ; and secondly, the possibility of man's justification by faith in the risen Christ. These were great truths, arresting men, compelling attention, constraining belief in certain cases, and blasphemy in others.
ut those who had been won by the words, constrained by them, and had believed, did not understand the full value of them. There were implications in the doctrines of resurrection and of justification. If these little groups of men, situated in an atmosphere so antagonistic to life, were not to be overcome, and devastated, it was necessary that they should be instructed. It was his passion for truth, and for its perfect understanding, that drove him back over the way. When years later, from prison he wrote the greatest of his letters-letters we had never had humanly speaking, apart from the limitation of the prison house-one thing he repeatedly said, in writing to his children in this very region, in Ephesus, Colossse, and Philippi, was that the supreme passion of his heart for them was always that they might have full knowledge. Full knowledge makes faith mightier, and hope burn more brightly, and love more profound. On the outward way he proclaimed the central verities, and gathered men in the first act of faith; but he went back, in order that the truth might have its full triumph in the lives of those who had believed.
hen he was drawn, not only by passion for truth, but by the fellowship of the saints. There in the cities were the companies, the assemblies, of separated souls. Think of those little groups in the different cities. In Lystra they had left the apostle for dead; but there were disciples there, among them probably Timothy. At Iconium was another group, so much alone, Jew and Gentile alike hating them. At Antioch were those proselytes of the gate, and those Hebrews who had dared to enter the larger life, very much alone. The lure of the lonely saints compelled him to turn his back upon the Taurus passes, and the quick way home, to tramp the long distances, that he might minister a new courage to them. And what courage he must have brought when he came and stood in the midst of that little group at Lystra, and they saw the brands of the Lord Jesus upon his face, the brutal bruising of the stones still there. I think the fellowship of the saints drew him the long way home again.
ut we do not touch the deepest note until we hear one word falling from his lips in the course of his confirmation and exhortation. He charged them that they should "continue in the faith; and that through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God." The master passion of all his work is disclosed in the words: "the Kingdom of God." The way into the Kingdom of God was declared, it is the way of tribulation. The meaning of that declaration is not that through tribulations individual men enter into the Kingdom of God. It is rather that through tribulation we realize the Kingdom of God, set up the Kingdom of God. This man, in common with all the great seers of God, recognized that the Kingdom of God is already established, but needing to be realized. The Kingdom of God is established, and no man escapes it. We do not understand the buffeting of the tempest, and the mystery of the battle, and the strange perplexities in conflict of the saints as they march toward the ultimate; but we know that it is all within the Kingdom of God. No army marches across the face of the world, but that He marshalls the battalions, and overrules the movement. But to enter the Kingdom, and bring men into relation with it, to establish it in the world, to cast out the forces that spoil, can only be done through tribulations. Did not this man know now, as he had not known before, that the Kingdom of God was established through the tribulations of the Lord Christ Himself? Only through tribulations can God enter into His Kingdom, and realize it in this world, with its sin and suffering and sorrow. Paul himself had felt the stones raining on him at Lystra, the physical agony and the mental disappointment; but he knew that by the process of that pain, he was helping to establish the Kingdom. It was the passion for the Kingdom that drove him on the outward journey through perils oft. It was the passion for the Kingdom that drove him back with fine statesmanship and consecration, to strengthen the little companies of men, who in their turn, through trial and tribulation should cooperate with God for the establishment of the Kingdom. This was the courage of faith, and of a great knowledge; courage born of a true conception of the methods by which God would establish His Kingdom.
he values of that journey back to the Churches may be expressed in three words: confirmation, exhortation, and organization.
onfirmation means reestablishment, or perhaps even better, further support. He went back to give further support to these Churches, to interpret to them the meaning of their life in Christ; a most important part of all Christian enterprise. Having seen the flaming glory, and heard the wooing winsomeness of the infinite music of the evangel of a risen Lord, and of justification, the young child of God must be taught the meaning of life in Christ. Paul went back to further establish, to support, to confirm.
ut he went back for exhortation. He exhorted them to continue in the faith. In those cities the seen things were antagonistic. Go back to Lystra, Iconium, Antioch in Pisidia, get right into the midst of the city, and look around, and you will see temples, idols, shrines, lasciviousness, lust, luxury. That is a description of all cities, ancient and modern. Cities never change. These people were living in the midst of these things. Oh, this lure of the near. How is a man to be victor over the things that can be seen and touched and handled, of which he is quite sure? By faith, which is the assurance of the unseen things. Faith is the venture that steps off the tangible; and in the doing of it, demonstrates to its own soul the reality of the intangible. Paul said to these men as he went back, Do not look at the seen things in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch; continue in the faith. This is the great word that ever needs to be uttered for the establishment of Christian life. He exhorted them to patience in tribulation, because that was the way of victory.
hen organization. He appointed elders, or presbyters, in all the Churches, by prayer with fasting, in the company of the Church. Finally he commended them, Church and elders, to the Lord in Whom they had believed. This was the first organization of the Church outside the area of Judaism.
o far all the emphasis of the declaration has been upon the Church. Was there any value in the return journey to the apostle? That return journey, and all such return journeys, gave him an exposition of the very doctrines which he had preached. Paul did not study theology before he began preaching, but learned his theology as he preached. It was when he had seen the effect produced by the evangel on life that he knew what justification and sanctification really meant. Seeing the effect of the Gospel on the lives of men, he came to an understanding of its power and method; and it was after such observation that he was able to say, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God."
he return journey was thus also one of confirmation of his own Gospel. He saw its power, and was growingly convinced of its value. He was also confirmed in his purpose to continue in the great work.
think there was also another value. When he had confirmed and exhorted and organized at Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, and after he had preached in Perga, and reached Attalia, there emerged another value of the long journey home. Watch the progress of that little ship along the coast, to the north of Cyprus, and observe that man on deck, bruised and battered, weakened physically by the perils of the journeys, and the brutality and cruelty. Look at his eyes, sore eyes, weak eyes perchance; but eyes through which on that sea voyage there flamed the glory of a triumph. I think the quiet restfulness of that sea voyage was great gain. Thank God this apostle was a man, who knew the weariness of work; and there was great value to him in the longer journey by sea, as he took his way back.
ne brief glance at the consummation of the journey. The Church at Antioch had commended him to the grace of God. They had sent him forth with Barnabas to the work whereunto the Holy Spirit had called them. There at Antioch they had waited for his return, and had prayed. At last he came back to them, the work fulfilled, and they awaited the report.
hat was a wonderful meeting when the Spirit had said, "Separate Me Barnabas and Saul"; and the Church had separated them, and sent them on their way. This also was a wonderful meeting, full of expectation, and the glory of a new enterprise. The men they had separated are there; one of them is bruised and weakened; he is carrying the brands of Jesus in his body. What will they talk about? "They rehearsed." Did they tell about the difficulties, the stones and the bruises? Yes, but how did they tell them? Listen to the brief ring of triumph. "They rehearsed all things that God had done with them, and how that He opened a door of faith unto the Gentiles." Their view-point was that of the Divine activity. Other things were out of sight, or set in relation to it. But the supreme thing they said to the Church was this, that "God had opened a door of faith unto the Gentiles," That was the report.
s we close this meditation there is one sentence of supreme value to all Christian men and women. "Through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God." The form and fashion of the tribulations change with changing years, but the principle abides. The places of suffering are the places of power. Lystra, the place of stones, is the dynamic centre, "I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost; for a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries" That is the reason why he stayed, The place of power is where the adversaries are, and the stones, and the tribulations. It is the process of tribulation that brings the victory.
"Far down the ages now,
Her journey well-nigh done,
The pilgrim Church pursues her way
In haste to reach the crown.
The story of the past
Comes up before her view;
How well it seems to suit her still,
Old, and yet ever new!
"Tis the same story still,
Of sin and weariness;
Of grace and love still flowing down
To pardon and to bless:
No wider is the gate,
No broader is the way,
No smoother is the ancient path,
That leads to light and day.
"No sweeter is the cup,
No less our lot of ill;
'Twas tribulation ages since,
'Tis tribulation still:
No slacker grows the fight,
No feebler is the foe,
No less the need of armour tried
Of shield and spear and bow.
"Thus onward still we press,
Through evil and through good,
Through pain and poverty and want,
Through peril and through blood;
Still faithful to our God,
And to our Captain true;
We follow where He leads the way,
The Kingdom in our view."