1. The Predicament (22-24). 1. The crowd turned against Paul and Silas (22a). The crowd is no different then, from today. People are the same wherever. The ministry of Paul and Silas prevented evil men from using a young girl to make them rich with her ability to foretell the future. As a result, the men took advantage of the law and dragged them before the Magistrates with three charges. The accusers complained that Paul and his team were throwing their city into confusion.” They complained that the men were Jews. The third charge had some substance, “they are proclaiming unlawful customs for them to accept or to observe as Roman citizens. Even though the accusers had invalid charges, the crowd evidently stood with them and turned against Paul and Silas. …show more content…
The Perplexity (27-29) 1. The jailer attempted to take his life (27). The earthquake awakened the jailer who possibly lived in the upstairs of the prison. He rushed downstairs to the prison only to find the doors wide open and assumed the prisoners had escaped. He attempted to do the obvious. You may be asking why would the jailer attempt to take his own life? Any guard who allowed a prisoner to escape under his care, would have had to serve their sentence even if it were execution. So, rather than imprisonment or execution, the jailer attempted to take his own life. 2. Paul assured the jailer they were all accounted for (28-29). As the jailer drew the short sword which every centurion carried and was about to commit suicide, he heard the voice of Paul crying out to him not to harm himself because all the prisoners were accounted for. So, the jailer called for lights and much trembling out of fear, he fell before Paul and Silas. What a relieve! Why didn’t the prisoners escape? This was a good opportunity, but don’t forget God was working behind the scenes to accomplish His plan and the fact that that the prisoners did not took advantage of the situation set the stage for a greater miracle about to take