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The Acts of the Apostles
wrought to build up and extend His work in the earth. To neglect or
despise those whom God has appointed to bear the responsibilities
of leadership in connection with the advancement of the truth, is to
reject the means that He has ordained for the help, encouragement,
and strength of His people. For any worker in the Lord’s cause to
pass these by, and to think that his light must come through no other
channel than directly from God, is to place himself in a position where
he is liable to be deceived by the enemy and overthrown. The Lord
in His wisdom has arranged that by means of the close relationship
that should be maintained by all believers, Christian shall be united
to Christian and church to church. Thus the human instrumentality
will be enabled to co-operate with the divine. Every agency will be
subordinate to the Holy Spirit, and all the believers will be united in an
organized and well-directed effort to give to the world the glad tidings
of the grace of God.
Paul regarded the occasion of his formal ordination as marking the
beginning of a new and important epoch in his lifework. It was from
this time that he afterward dated the beginning of his apostleship in
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the Christian church.
While the light of the gospel was shining brightly at Antioch,
an important work was continued by the apostles who had remained
in Jerusalem. Every year, at the time of the festivals, many Jews
from all lands came to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. Some
of these pilgrims were men of fervent piety and earnest students of
the prophecies. They were looking and longing for the advent of the
promised Messiah, the hope of Israel. While Jerusalem was filled
with these strangers, the apostles preached Christ with unflinching
courage, though they knew that in so doing they were placing their
lives in constant jeopardy. The Spirit of God set its seal upon their
labors; many converts to the faith were made; and these, returning to
their homes in different parts of the world, scattered the seeds of truth
through all nations and among all classes of society.
Prominent among the apostles who engaged in this work were
Peter, James, and John, who felt confident that God had appointed
them to preach Christ among their countrymen at home. Faithfully and
wisely they labored, testifying of the things they had seen and heard,
and appealing to “a more sure word of prophecy” (
2 Peter 1:19
), in an