Angels From Pentecost to the Last Days
165
After the woman had been freed from the evil spirit, she became
a follower of Christ. Her masters saw that their hope of gain was
gone, and taking Paul and Silas, they brought them before the rulers,
charging them with troubling the city. This caused an uproar. The
multitude rose against the disciples, and the magistrates commanded
that the prisoners should be beaten.—
The Review and Herald, June
29, 1905
.
When they [the magistrates] had laid many stripes upon them [Paul
and Silas], they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them
safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner
prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. But the angels of God
accompanied them within the prison walls.—
Spiritual Gifts 1:95, 96
.
The apostles suffered extreme torture because of the painful posi-
tion in which they were left, but they did not murmur. Instead, in the
utter darkness and desolation of the dungeon, they encouraged each
other by words of prayer, and sang praises to God because they were
found worthy to suffer shame for His sake.... With astonishment the
other prisoners heard the sound of prayer and singing issuing from the
inner prison.—
The Acts of the Apostles, 213, 214
.
While men were cruel and vindictive, or criminally negligent of the
solemn responsibilities devolving upon them, God had not forgotten
[237]
to be gracious to His suffering servants. An angel was sent from
heaven to release the apostles. As he neared the Roman prison, the
earth trembled beneath his feet, the whole city was shaken by the
earthquake, and the prison walls reeled like a reed in the wind. The
heavily bolted doors flew open; the chains and fetters fell from the
hands and feet of every prisoner.—
The Spirit of Prophecy 3:382, 383
.
The apostle Paul, in his labors at Ephesus, was given special tokens
of divine favor. The power of God accompanied his efforts, and many
were healed of physical maladies. “God wrought special miracles by
the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick
handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the
evil spirits went out of them.”
These manifestations of supernatural power were far more potent
than had ever before been witnessed in Ephesus, and were of such a
character that they could not be imitated by the skill of the juggler or
the enchantments of the sorcerer. As these miracles were wrought in
the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the people had opportunity to see that