The Sabbath-School by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 26, 1883

The Sabbath-School.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Lesson for the Pacific Coast—Aug. 4.

NOTES ON THE LESSON.

"Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only." These, as we learn from Acts 8 : 1, 4, were lay members, for the apostles remained in Jerusalem. They could not refrain from telling the wondrous truths that they had learned. This is in accordance with our Saviour's injunction, "And let him that heareth say, Come." The proof of their fitness to preach is found in verse 21, "And the hand of the Lord was with them; and a great number believed, and turned to the Lord." The enemies of the gospel thought they were crushing it out, when they drove the disciples away from Jerusalem, but instead of that they were causing it to spread. The enemies of the truth may rage, but God can cause even their wrath to praise him. Paul says, "We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." 2 Cor. 13 : 8.

We may learn a lesson from the course of these disciples under persecution. When Christians are in trouble they are too liable to think that God has forgotten them; but these disciples did not stop to pity themselves, and mourn over their hardships. And the result proved that God had an object in allowing this persecution to come upon them; he wanted to use them in his service. If they had murmured at their hard lot, how much they would have lost; they would not have been honored by God with a position in his service, and their selfishness might have resulted in the loss of many souls who, under the circumstances, received the truth at their hands. Who knows but that all who complain on account of trials lose just as much?

"And some . . . . spake unto the Grecians." The Revised Version, following some of the best authorities, has "Greeks" instead of "Grecians." And this seems the most harmonious. The most of them confined their labors to the Jews, but others, having less national prejudice, or a clearer view of the scope of the gospel, preached to the Gentiles also. The following remarks of H. Clay Trumbull in the Sunday-School Times, are pertinent:—

"Christianity is sure to carry some men ahead of their age in the right direction. However the mass of those who are in the church may be bound by the common customs of the present, or by the blind traditions of the past, there will ever be more or less of radical and progressive reformers, who will do as others ought to do, instead of being content to do as others do. From the days of the apostles this has been the way of moral and religious reforms; their beginning has been with the few extremists, rather than with the many conservatists. So it was with modern missions, with the Sunday-school work, with the cause of temperance, and of anti-slavery, and of anti-church lotteries, and of anti-duelling; so it was with the progress of both religious and civil liberty; so it was with the now world-wide plan of uniform Bible study. So it is with prohibitory liquor legislation, with the battling of the anti-Chinese spirit, with the pressing of the anti-tobacco reform, and of the anti-church debt movement, and with a host of other good enterprises. Whatever may be the views or the practices of Christians generally, there are 'some' who have taken an advanced position on these points, a position which they don't propose to yield for anything short of death, or the second coming of our Lord."

When tidings of these things reached the church at Jerusalem, "they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch." The object in sending Barnabas was to assist and direct these disciples in their work. "As far as Antioch," indicates that he should follow up the work in the various places where the scattered ones had preached. The preaching to the Gentiles may have struck the church in Jerusalem as an irregularity that must be checked. But when Barnabas arrived at the field of labor, he found that he had only to exhort the new converts to continue in the way as they had begun. When he saw the grace of God he was glad. He had no feeling of envy because the Gentiles had received the word, or because some humble persons had been the instruments of their conversion, "For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith." The Bible never deals in flattery, and when it says of a man that he was good, it means a great deal. The highest titles of honor that this world can bestow sink into insignificance in comparison with the words, "Thou good and faithful servant," when spoken by the King of glory.

"And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." On the reason why Antioch should have been the place where this term was first used, "Conybeare and Howson's Life of Paul" says:—

"As new converts in vast numbers came in from the ranks of the Gentiles, the church began to lose its ancient appearance of a Jewish sect, and to stand out in relief as a great self-existent community in the face both of Jews and Gentiles. Hitherto it had been possible, and even natural, that the Christians should be considered—by the Jews themselves, and by the Gentiles whose notice they attracted—as only one among the many theological parties which prevailed in Jerusalem and in the Dispersion. But when Gentiles began to listen to what was preached concerning Christ,—when they were united as brethren on equal terms, and admitted to baptism without the necessity of a previous circumcision,—when the Mosaic features of this society were lost in the wider character of the New Covenant,—then it became evident that these men were something more than the Pharisees or Sadducees, the Essenes or Herodians, or any other sect or party among the Jews. Thus a new term in the vocabulary of the human race came into existence at Antioch about the year 44. Thus Jews and Gentiles, who under the teaching of Paul believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Saviour of the world, 'were first called Christians.'"

"Herod the King." It is not to be wondered at that many persons find it difficult to distinguish between the several Herods mentioned in the New Testament. In character they were all alike,—slaves of lust and ambition, and monsters of cruelty. This Herod was Herod Agrippa I., grandson of Herod the Great, who ordered the massacre of the infants, and nephew of Herod Antipas, who caused John the Baptist to be beheaded, and father of Herod Agrippa II., called simply Agrippa. Acts 26. The Herod under consideration is designated as "Herod the King," because he was the first one since Herod the Great, who had ruled over Judea. On this, Paley, in his "Evidences" makes the following point:—

"The accuracy of our historian, or rather the unmeditated coincidence which truth of its own accord produces, is in this instance remarkable. There was no portion of time, for thirty years before, or ever afterwards, in which there was a king at Jerusalem, a person exercising that authority in Judea, to whom that title could be applied, except the last three years of this Herod's life, within which period the transaction recorded in the Acts is said to have taken place."

The death of James and the prospective death of Peter pleased the Jews. It seems that the church had lost some of that "favor with all the people," which they gained soon after the day of Pentecost. The reason for this may be found in the fact that they were making many converts, and necessarily showing the errors of the Jewish Church. However much of the favor of the world the people of God may gain on account of their upright course, they may be sure that in time they will lose it for the same reason. The purer the lives and doctrines of God's people, the more will they be hated by the world, and an apostate church.

The antithesis in verses 4 and 5 of chapter 12 is worthy of notice. Peter was in prison with no prospect of coming forth until he was led to execution. He was constantly guarded by four soldiers, two of whom were in the cell with him, and two before the door. Added to this, he was chained to the two soldiers in the cell. There was no use of trying to bribe the guard, for should they allow him to escape their lives would be forfeited. All this was done by Herod; "but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God" for Peter.

The disciples had no power to draw the bolts of Peter's prison door, nor could they hope for any favor from the king, but they had a key that would admit them to the presence of the King of kings, before the weakest of whose messengers Herod's whole army was as nothing. Well was it for Peter that the church could do nothing but pray.

Although the disciples had been earnestly and perseveringly praying for Peter, they could not believe that their prayers were answered. We are not to suppose that they had been praying without any faith, but that they did not expect that their prayers would be answered in that manner. They may have expected that the Lord would so move Herod's heart that he would release Peter; at any rate it is evident that God did more for them than they had hoped. Their surprise, however, showed that they did not have that full faith that comes from an intimate acquaintance with God. It is as easy for him to do a great deed as a small one; nothing is too hard for him. Therefore we ought to ask and expect great things from him.

"Then said they, It is his angel." Why the disciples should think that Peter's guardian angel should come to them, it is needless to inquire. In their surprise and excitement they themselves may not have been able to give a reason. But it is not out of place to state what the text not mean. It does not mean "The angel Peter," as we have seen it misquoted. Some commentators say that it was the belief among the Jews at that time that departed souls of good men officiated as ministering angels. Whether or not some Jews believed this is of no consequence, for it is certain that the Bible Christians entertained no such belief. The fact that Protestant commentators can now believe such a theory, gives a clue to the rapid spread of modern Spiritualism.

Angels are not departed dead men. This may be proved (1) by the fact that "the dead know not anything," Eccl. 9:5; that "their thoughts perish," as soon as they die, Ps. 146:4; and that they know absolutely nothing about that which would concern them most if they were conscious, Job 14:21; Eccl. 9:6; and (2) by the fact that angels were in existence before any man had died, Gen. 3:24, and even before man was created, Job 38:4-7. Angels are a superior order of beings, entirely distinct from man. And this distinction will remain throughout eternity, for saints will never become angels. The promise to the righteous is, that in the resurrection they shall be "equal unto the angels," and this of itself shows that they will never become angels. Angels are now "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation;" and it was in this capacity that one of them rescued Peter from prison. E. J. W.