His first imprisonment is alongside Silas in the city of Philippi. The two of them get into trouble when Paul casts a fortune-telling spirit out of a slave girl. Her masters are not happy over the loss of income.
So they stir up the crowd and the local magistrates against Paul and Silas. The two men are severely beaten and then shackled in a cell in the heart of the local jail.
You often hear preachers marvel that many of Paul's most joy-filled letters were written from jail cells.
This story of his first imprisonment proves joy was a habit from the beginning: Around midnight, Paul and Silas are found praying and singing hymns as the other prisoners listen. (Acts 16:25)
In the midst of those prayers and hymns, an earthquake strikes. The prison doors fly open. The chains fall from all the inmates.
And, ultimately, the jailer - and all his household - come to know Christ.
A miraculous escape story! But there's an oddity at the end that I had never paid attention to before.
It turns out Paul and Silas were going to be released the next day anyway.
At daybreak, the magistrates send word to the jailer to release the disciples. And there is no hint that the Lord is directly behind this decision. (But He undoubtedly knew it was going to happen.)
So why go to the trouble of unleashing an earthquake?
I can think of at least three lessons that God drove home to Paul and Silas in all this:
1) No matter how bleak the circumstances, the Lord is still in charge.
2) No matter how bleak the circumstances, there is still work to be done for the Kingdom.
3) When it is God's timing - not before and not after - those bleak circumstances will end.
I don't suppose Paul ever forgot those lessons after that first half-night in prison, do you?
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