|
“And when he [the Apostle Paul] came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people. For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him” (Acts 21:35-36).
“But they cried out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him” (John 19:15).
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the Jewish mob cried out to the Roman governor Pilate, “Away with Him,” for they wanted to get rid of the Lord Jesus. It was probably about thirty years later that the Apostle Paul was in Jerusalem, and we find a large mob of Jews crying out the same words. The crowd was all worked up into religious fanaticism, and they wanted to get rid of Paul too. Why was this?
It was because Paul was teaching that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah, and that He had died on the cross to save those same people who were so upset. More than this, Paul was teaching those Jews who got saved that they did not need to carry on with Jewish laws and rules, or Jewish sacrifices, and other things that were only pictures of what the Lord Jesus had done. All this roused the hatred of the Jews, and they wanted to kill Paul too. But there was another reason why they hated Paul; we will see that tomorrow.
We need to remember this too. If this world did not want the Lord Jesus, it will not want us either. We may not always be harmed or killed, but we will not be popular in this world if we are faithful.
|
