Day 1190: A jailer set free - Acts 16 vs 27 - 40

27-29 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30-31 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32-33 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

35-37 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” 38-40 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. Acts 16:27-40 English Standard Version

In the last post of Acts, we left Paul and Silas in jail singing praises to God. And around midnight there was an earthquake that shook the jail so that all the doors were opened. Not only were the doors opened, but the shackles that bound the prisoners were unfastened too. The jailer woke up because of the tumult and was going to kill himself, fearing the prisoners had all escaped. But oh the grace of God, His steadfast love endures forever. Those prisoners were like the people described in Psalm 107 who “sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons.” But I wonder how many who'd been listening to Paul and Silas were converted? How many of them realised that they'd been bound by something stronger than their chains, and a deeper darkness? Charles Wesley described that darkness when he wrote: “Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night.”

But not so with the jailer. Trembling before Paul and Silas, he asked: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.' And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.” The jailer was shown how he and his household could find true freedom. And from that time on he could sing: “No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him, is mine.” May we take it on our heart to pray for those working in Prison ministry, that both the jailers and the jailed might be set free from sin as this man was.

Verses 35-40 remind us that, depending on the country we live in, Christians have rights too. As Roman citizens Paul and Silas ought not to have been treated as they were, and Paul deemed it good for the authorities to be made afraid, and to be humbled.

In the UK at present, Christians have been being singled out for discriminatory treatment. Organizations like the Christian Institute and Christian Concern have been bringing their cases into the public arena so that justice might be fair. Pray for them, and for wisdom in their ministry. The apostle Peter wrote “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” (1 Peter 2:13-16) May God help us to discern when to use our freedom, and when to endure suffering patiently.