Acts 16:9, commentary and pictures

A night vision at Troas showed a man of Macedonia standing and pleading for help. It was an urgent command without delay to preach the gospel in Macedonia, understood with certainty as the Lord calling Paul with his companions to carry the work beyond Asia Minor into Europe. That same appeal still sounds as the pattern for urgent gospel calls from every quarter, every country, and home and foreign fields. It lays obligation on every believer to go wherever sent, to carry the gospel beyond familiar fields to needy and distant lands, and to answer the great lack of workers while souls perish. The help asked for is people and resources for unworked fields, to be answered by sending missionaries and money with self-sacrificing effort and self-denial.

Night Vision at Troas

At Troas in the night a man of Macedonia stood before Paul in vision and pleaded with him to come over and help. His need for salvation echoes in all who long for the gospel, and preaching to them answers that need. The appeal was an imperative call admitting of no delay to preach the gospel in Macedonia. From it was assuredly gathered that the Lord had called Paul with Silas and Timothy, accompanied by Luke, to preach to the Macedonians and to carry the gospel beyond Asia Minor into Europe.

Obedience was immediate in endeavoring to go into Macedonia, loosing from Troas with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. The vision thus shortened the stay in Troas although longer labor there had been intended, because the Lord opened a door to preach in Europe. There the foundation of a church was laid that grew rapidly.

Worldwide Cry for Help

The Macedonian appeal is the pattern for every urgent call for gospel workers, still sounding from every quarter, every country and every direction, from home fields and foreign fields alike, wherever people need the message and wherever God opens a field for mission. It is the present cry revealing a great lack of workers while souls perish and the world must be tested, calling those who know the truth to care deeply, labor unselfishly, move even with their families to places in need, and cooperate with God lest souls be left without opportunity for saving faith. It summons the last message to distant mission fields while also working destitute fields in every city and suburb at home, with the watchword onward, ever onward.

The man of Macedonia stands for rich and poor in all lands, high ones and lowly ones of every status, calling for light and truth and the gospel of pardon through Christ. Hundreds wait for the warning that they may escape for their lives and lay hold on the hope set before them, while thousands stand on the brink of perdition needing messengers of mercy. Workers are urged to respond with the message of truth so that all classes may be stirred, sanctified and saved, proclaiming it in the power of the Spirit with clear, decided, stirring tones.

Those calling are thousands thirsting for living truth and the bread of life, perplexed and pale with anxiety, standing across the broad ocean and in foreign lands asking for truth because their churches have backslidden into pride, selfishness and worldliness and they want the old paths and gospel simplicity again. They include large companies and small companies, intelligent and earnest people, small settlements and poorer humble laborers hungry for spiritual food they do not receive, trying to search the Scriptures but unable to understand without help. Some pray most earnestly, others look imploring with outstretched, outreaching hands pleading for help, others weep and pray for truth to come, as sheep without a shepherd unfed with the Bread of Life. Even souls who have heard, received and are rejoicing in the truth hunger for more, for the testing truths for this time, and eagerly reach out for spiritual food.

That general and widespread inquiring interest wants the Word of God opened, with hands stretched out asking to be taught. Answering it by opening the Word brings decisions for truth including taking a stand on the Sabbath, so the work moves forward despite backsets because the Lord has not left His people. Those who receive light will impart light and be witnesses of the truth.

The verse lays missionary obligation on the church in a time of peril, now that the end of all things is at hand, when hours of probation are fast closing and the last message of mercy must be given to the world in a short time while souls perish for lack of light and knowledge. The call has been coming for forty years while heavenly beings wait to work with men, and it will come from far off and near, from every country, when strange things take place and rich and poor, high and low are aroused hungering for truth. It comes from cities and villages at home and from across the Atlantic and the broad Pacific and the islands of the sea, demanding the most important work for this time without stopping for every objection.

It means the church in every place must act in organized, intelligent capacity, with organized churches studying missionary responsibilities and obtaining and seriously considering information about destitute fields to decide what can be done. As members of Christ's body, of His flesh and blood, believers receive capabilities, light and efficiency from the living head to bless the world by answering. God opens fields and country after country to gospel heralds where honest hearts seek saving truth, and when human workers cooperate with divine power and divine agencies many souls are won and the Spirit is graciously shown.

It means God calls His people to change and unite and supply agents and messengers of mercy not merely in a few places but throughout the world, with men and women preparing for service in distant lands, with money and workers sent, in a most important and solemn time when doors stand open and the higher classes in large cities must hear the warning. Answering requires a deep work of grace in the heart, reformation and genuine conversion, freedom from death-like palsy in the home, putting on the armor, shaking off careless indifference, communing with God to be imbued with His Spirit, and going forth with unceasing activity, holy zeal and power proportionate to the message to bestow received grace, because thousands are perishing while professed Christians sleep. Many more must be at work on the verge of the eternal world in overwhelming iniquity, showing evidence of Christianity's power.

Distant and far-off fields calling for help must not be neglected even when harder to reach and less ready for harvest than nearer ones, including African missions where missionaries lack life's necessities and are not properly supported. The burden for the regions beyond continues until the whole earth is lightened with the glory of the Lord, training workers in twentyfold greater numbers for home and foreign fields.

Going as Workers

The cry for help is a call for earnest laborers because workers are few while souls are perishing and the world must be reached and tested. That lack is to be met by earnest prayer that the Lord of the vineyard will send laborers, with willing acceptance of whatever selection He in divine wisdom makes. Those who go need the baptism of the Holy Spirit in order to represent Christ with strength and saving power. The shortage extends to both workers and money, so helping includes sustaining preaching and putting books into the hands of those who cannot afford them, and praying in faith for God to raise up and send workers to places like Napa and the Pacific coast. Fields spread out on every side are asking for sound men who desire to serve Christ to come where they are needed rather than remain where their efforts are misinterpreted, and workers too much needed must not be turned away nor souls hurt to obtain money. Not every call can be answered at once, and the burden this creates is answered by knowing the cause and work belong to the Lord, who will carry it forward in His own time and way while giving daily new strength for labor.

The appeal lays duty on every church member and every believer to consecrate wholly to God and be a worker for Jesus. All are to keep the senses keenly alert and the ear open to need, unite influence and effort, invite people to the waters of life, and spread truth through the world. They are to care deeply for others, labor unselfishly for salvation, deny self, share what they know, lead souls to Christ, and teach those ignorant of the truth in order to spread the knowledge of Christ. Ministers and missionaries are needed wherever people need the message, and consecrated workers with hearts united to Christ's love are to carry the truth to people in every walk of life, giving time and abilities as messengers of grace, including workers from humble walks who consecrate what they have to service. They are to proclaim the message with clear decided tones and be ready to go wherever God sends, with life and possessions at His disposal.

Hearing the call means carrying the gospel beyond the present and familiar field to other nations and peoples where God opens the way, rather than relying on money alone, since neglecting it leaves souls without opportunity for saving faith. From India, Africa, China and other places the cry is heard where doors are opening to truth and help is needed. In Europe people are longing for light and asking for help to understand the Scriptures, so its cities must be entered and preached to. The same image of a call from another land prompted a visit to Russia after the warning reached people there through emigrants who returned with the truth, and appeals from believers led to establishing a permanent mission in Central Europe.

In America the same call for help is now sounding from unworked home fields, including large cities and the Southern states, naming New York, St. Louis, New Orleans and Memphis where there are no memorials and thousands die daily without the last warning. Believers who have received light must no longer leave these home fields untouched while means go only abroad, but must listen, arouse, and make earnest zealous efforts to enter them, since every believer must give light to those in darkness and continued neglect dishonors God and is rebuked by barren fields. The cries from foreign fields are matched by urgent needs within the United States, especially among the Black people of the South, requiring consecrated workers, schools and practical support to teach the Bible and serve communities close to home.

The same cry is heard in Australia and the Pacific from Maitland and the surrounding country, from Cooranbong to Queensland, from Sydney and three hundred miles beyond, from New Zealand, and from Napa and the Pacific coast. It is the voice of large and small companies of intelligent earnest people, of small settlements and poorer humble laborers, hungry for spiritual food they do not receive, ignorant of the Bible's meaning, perplexed in searching the Scriptures, unfed by shepherds who do not feed them, asking for a minister to come, for baptism, and for the bread of life. It was illustrated three hundred miles from Sydney by a family that learned from a borrowed book that the seventh day is the Sabbath, accepted truth despite strong opposition from the father, asked for a minister, and by that decision helped awaken interest in the father and neighbors. Workers should persevere where the way is prepared and souls are ready, open the Bible patiently step by step without discouragement at slow progress, and pray in faith for God to raise up senders, knowing those who receive light will impart light as witnesses.

Those called should begin in a humble way, work as best they can, and rely on their own abilities with the Lord's help rather than wait to be permitted to labor by centralized authorities or two or three controlling minds. With hearts filled with love for souls ready to perish and earnest seeking to know God and Christ, they are to go out at once where nothing has been done, create an interest in the truth, labor with their hands to be self-supporting, and proclaim warning as opportunity offers, directed by the Spirit and encouraged by the Lord. The fields in every direction are ready for harvest, and those who labor there gather people for eternal life. Answering requires self-denial, sacrifice, hardship and danger, with determination not to fail nor be discouraged, visiting and laboring for souls where they are and cooperating with God, who cooperates with them as long as they cooperate with Him. They must not expect paid passage, large wages, or to be carried financially or spiritually, nor answer in order to seek money, easier life or business gain, but to share Christ's suffering to save souls for whom He died.

Answering also requires purity of heart and life with talents used to God's glory, and then God and angels work with the effort. Success lies in reaching common minds with plain pointed arguments standing out as mileposts rather than only a large array of elaborate arguments that investigating minds alone will follow, and in doing the most important work for the time without stopping to answer every objection while souls perish for lack of light and a great work must be done shortly. Humble consecrated children of God should fit themselves by schooling as public speakers to teach truth, going where work is to be done including warm climates in winter, and stepping aside from places where help is despised and criticized until it is hungered for. In the closing days when the end of all things is at hand, answering means seeking gospel simplicity as revealed in the Saviour's life of ministry and gaining education in practical duties of life rather than seeking long courses of education for children. The call is answered by consecrated men and women with hearts united to Christ's love serving as messengers of grace, including workers from humble walks who may serve without long formal education or conference support.

Workers should be sent from America to Australia and especially to New Zealand where need is great. Those sent should be a man and wife who do not make filling the house with children their first work, and no numerous family should be sent, because care of many children engrosses half the time of husband and wife that belongs to the churches. They should be true unselfish missionaries with an eye single to God's glory, believing the end is at hand, keeping self and animal passions under control for Christ's sake and the building of His kingdom, giving themselves unreservedly to the work needed in the crisis, though children must in no case be neglected. Where there is no money in the treasury, young men and young women should do missionary work right where they are instead of feeling they must go to foreign regions to be useful, acquiring unwavering trust in God and His Word, loyalty and truth in assigned positions, and advanced knowledge and heavenly wisdom as single-hearted followers engaged in the Lord's business. Missionaries must be kept in the field and not called away for lack of money, trusting God who holds all resources to supply means through others if those who ought to help will not, while the church gives many costly offerings in self-denial after Christ's life and is never made poorer by giving.

Giving Means and Support

The help called for is people and resources for needy, unworked fields in many lands, in both home and foreign missions, to carry them the truth and establish it in new territory. Members are to respond with deep interest and self-sacrificing effort, giving what they can and sending workers with the money needed for missionary work, publications, and preaching the gospel throughout the world and to people in every country, rich and poor, who need the light. Money placed in God's treasury for this work brings rich returns and great blessing to those who answer, since new converts rejoicing in light received from the Word will give of their means to carry the light to others.

Answering requires not tying up entrusted money in city land or buildings but selling what can be spared and placing it in the Lord's storehouse to work those fields. Those who own houses besides the one they occupy should sell them and invest the means in the Lord's work to meet high costs like hall rent and other expenses, especially for the work to be done in large cities where doors stand open and the higher classes must hear the warning message in a most important and solemn time. By so doing they prepare the way for His coming, rather than retaining possessions until mercy ceases to plead and the door is shut.

It means doing the best in sending missionaries and money, denying self in the embellishment of houses and the adornment of persons and the gratification of appetite and unnecessary expenses, devoting self unreservedly to His work and supplying the wants of the cause and the empty treasuries. Those unable to go as missionaries can help answer these calls by giving freely to support missions, and giving never makes the church poorer. The money spent on tobacco should instead be given to God's work, enabling churches to be organized and laborers to be sent, so that sacrificing tobacco can help send many workers into the field. Prompt giving matters now because the hours of probation are fast closing and the last message of mercy is to be given to the world, with the cry coming from the cities and villages of the homeland and from across the Atlantic and the broad Pacific and from the islands of the sea, and one dollar now is worth more to the work than ten dollars at some future period. Missionaries must not be called from the work because of lack of money but kept in the field, trusting God who holds all resources to supply means through others if those who ought to help will not help, while the church gives many and costly offerings in self-denial and self-sacrifice after the life of Jesus Christ.

Support includes sustaining preaching and making books available to people who cannot afford them, where the call is met by a shortage of workers and money. It includes multiplying publications to enlighten and mold minds in every country and clime, sending men adapted to the work, and giving money with a steady flow of means to keep the treasury supplied, each member rousing to God-given responsibility and answering with willing consecration to go. It includes providing workers and means to plant churches in the suburbs as lightbearers to the world for scattered sheep without a shepherd, and educating young people by assisting them to attend school and by opening primary schools in different localities where children may be educated, work that must be done even where only a beginning must be made to raise the standard.

The work needs a large outlay of means, careful thought, and disciplined, efficient forces for foreign missions and the continually increasing enterprises for the spread of truth and the salvation of souls. Workers must be trained in twentyfold greater numbers for home and foreign fields, pushing the triumphs of the cross with the watchword onward, ever onward, working the destitute fields in every city and suburb at home while carrying the last message to distant mission fields until the whole earth is lightened with glory. Means must go where it is really essential to work having more direct reference to the salvation of souls, especially in large cities and in new fields opening in every direction in Europe and in different parts of the country. Personal and superfluous enterprises and new local burdens that consume means and time and perplexing thought must not cripple more important branches of the work, and urgent practical support through schools, money, and capable ministers trained through schools must not be diverted into work that obstructs it.

African missions especially must not be ignored where missionaries lack life's necessities and are not properly supported, showing the need to push the triumphs of the cross into harder fields even when those fields are harder to reach and less ready for harvest.