Preaching Among the Heathen
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had determined to follow them and persecute them. On arriving at
Lystra, these Jews soon succeeded in inspiring the people with the
same bitterness of spirit that actuated their own minds. By words
of misrepresentation and calumny those who had recently regarded
Paul and Barnabas as divine beings were persuaded that in reality the
apostles were worse than murderers and were deserving of death.
The disappointment that the Lystrians had suffered in being refused
the privilege of offering sacrifice to the apostles, prepared them to turn
against Paul and Barnabas with an enthusiasm approaching that with
which they had hailed them as gods. Incited by the Jews, they planned
to attack the apostles by force. The Jews charged them not to allow
Paul an opportunity to speak, alleging that if they were to grant him
this privilege, he would bewitch the people.
Soon the murderous designs of the enemies of the gospel were
carried out. Yielding to the influence of evil, the Lystrians became
possessed with a satanic fury and, seizing Paul, mercilessly stoned
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him. The apostle thought that his end had come. The martyrdom
of Stephen, and the cruel part that he himself had acted upon that
occasion, came vividly to his mind. Covered with bruises and faint
with pain, he fell to the ground, and the infuriated mob “drew him out
of the city, supposing he had been dead.”
In this dark and trying hour the company of Lystrian believers, who
through the ministry of Paul and Barnabas had been converted to the
faith of Jesus, remained loyal and true. The unreasoning opposition
and cruel persecution by their enemies served only to confirm the faith
of these devoted brethren; and now, in the face of danger and scorn,
they showed their loyalty by gathering sorrowfully about the form of
him whom they believed to be dead.
What was their surprise when in the midst of their lamentations the
apostle suddenly lifted up his head and rose to his feet with the praise
of God upon his lips. To the believers this unexpected restoration of
God’s servant was regarded as a miracle of divine power and seemed
to set the signet of Heaven upon their change of belief. They rejoiced
with inexpressible gladness and praised God with renewed faith.
Among those who had been converted at Lystra, and who were
eyewitnesses of the sufferings of Paul, was one who was afterward
to become a prominent worker for Christ and who was to share with
the apostle the trials and the joys of pioneer service in difficult fields.