Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Acts 12:24–25
“The word of God increased and multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.”
God’s Word will certainly go forth to the nations and persevere against all opposition. Acts 10–12 demonstrates this, for in these chapters we have seen the gospel bring conversion, inspire opposition, and survive the many threats raised against it.
In Acts 10 and 11, Luke recorded how the gospel began its powerful advance beyond the boundaries of ethnic Israel into the gentile world with the conversion of many people who had never taken on the full yoke of the Jewish law. Cornelius, his friends and family, and many of the God-fearers in Syrian Antioch surprised Peter and other Jews with how readily they believed the gospel and received the Holy Spirit. The message of Jesus Christ could not be confined to one nation but had to break down ethnic and national boundaries as the church fulfilled Jesus’ commission to make disciples of all nations (see Matt. 28:18–20).
Additionally, Luke’s account has shown us how the gospel invites opposition. Acts 12:1–19 describes some of the suffering that the early church endured. James the son of Zebedee was martyred and the Apostle Peter was imprisoned but later rescued by an angel. Sinners will try to suppress the gospel whenever it is faithfully proclaimed. Sometimes the world will put believers to death, but at other times the church will escape, and we must be prepared for either result.
Peter’s escape from prison demonstrates how the gospel will endure and continue to spread even when the church suffers persecution, and the death of Herod Agrippa I shows that the gospel will persevere despite all opposition. Herod had tried to put an end to the gospel, but the Lord struck him dead and the gospel endured (vv. 20–23). Any success that the world may seem to enjoy as it fights the people of God can be only temporary. Ultimately, the church will prevail as it battles the kingdom of darkness (Matt. 16:18).
Luke summarizes all these truths and the scope of the narrative in Acts 10–12 by stating that “the word of God increased and multiplied” (12:24). But the advance of the gospel was just getting started. Luke also reports that Barnabas, Saul, and John Mark returned from their mission to carry financial relief to Jerusalem (v. 25). They would not be back in Antioch for long but were about to embark on a significant missionary journey.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
It can be easy to look at the state of the church and the world and to think that the gospel is not advancing and persevering through all opposition. Yet we have the sure promise of Christ that His gospel will conquer the gates of hell, and we have the record of this promise’s coming true throughout church history, beginning in Acts. Let us be encouraged that God’s gospel cannot fail, and let us trust the Lord to bless our gospel proclamation.
For further study
- Proverbs 12:19
- Isaiah 40:8
- Acts 19:20
- 2 Timothy 2:8–9
The bible in a year
- 1 Chronicles 21–23
- John 11:1–27