²¹“And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” ²²They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!”

Rage filled the crowd at these words of Paul. No matter that he was once one of them, thinking as they did. Normally Paul’s background should have lent credibility to his testimony, but it wasn’t sufficient to overcome the mob’s irrational anger. They wanted to kill him! Nothing less.

Paul’s assertion that God had appointed him to reach out to the Gentiles was equivalent to saying that God Himself had authorized Paul’s message that circumcision was not required of the Gentiles. But we may still ask, why such an extreme reaction?

On one level, people of all faiths hold their beliefs sacred and inviolable. To be sure, when a person’s beliefs are maligned, that person feels personally attacked. Maybe they fear loss of influence in that group. Possibly, they fear that they have been wrong the many years when they adhered to and promoted those beliefs. Maybe their pride is hurt. Whatever the reason, the mob raged against Paul. We remember what David wrote:

Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed . . . (Ps. 2:1–2)

On one level this psalm speaks of the surrounding nations who rose up against Israel, where “His Anointed” refers to David or his descendants. At another level, God speaks through his psalm about the Messiah, the “Son” (Ps. 2:7). Now we see the people of Jerusalem rising up against the message of Jesus Christ, who was anointed by God, as Peter had previously proclaimed to them (Acts 10:38). It was not ultimately Paul they were against; what infuriated them was the message of Jesus Christ being freely offered to the Gentiles. It was the message of grace through our Lord.

We today must be careful to preach Christ and His grace. Yes, some will reject; some will become quite angry. But preach Christ we must. When people reject us, they are really rejecting Christ. We, like Paul, are simply the messengers. We want to be grouped not with those who seek the approval of others, but with those who are worthy to clearly proclaim Jesus and to tell how He has changed us. That is what Paul did here, and we would do well to follow his example.

Lord, despite possible rejection, let me be bold to speak of Christ to others.