THE KING’S BUSINESS
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won the heart of every man, woman, and child in the church of Tyre. W e are apt to lose sight of the exceeding lovableness of this man Paul, he was such a heroic man, suffering hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, that we forget this other side of his character. He was so much else that was great that we lose sight of his gentle winsomeness. In this he was like his Master, as he was ip much else. But let us be on our guard how we try to imitate this scene of an artificial, vain, and self-glorifying way. An evangelist was once used of God in a certain com munity. When he left the town he organ ized the men, women and children into a procession to accompany him to the depot. It was an exaltation of self, and God laid him aside from that hour. The scene before us was utterly different from that. The conduct of these Christians in Tyre was spontaneous. In the closing words of verse 5 we get the second picture, “Kneel ing down on the beach we prayed, and bade each other farewell.” One can almost see that company of men, women and children grouped about Paul, kneeling and all praying. It was, no empty prayer. That united prayer doubtless got what it sought. It brought down from God blessing for Paul and blessings for the church in Tyre. That was a momentous moment for both thi church and him. It always means much, ofteri means more than we realize, ■yiihen a company of true disciples kneel together in believing, simple, and definite prayer. This was a model leave-taking (cf. ch. 20:36). The sixth verse gives us a suggestive sentence, “We went on board the ship, but they returned home again.” So it is our earthly guides and helpers are separated from us, but there are two heavenly guides who always abide with us (Matt. 28:20; John 14:16, 17). Happy is the man whose trust is in them and not in man. Doubtless the Tyrian disciples stood on the shore and watched Paul’s ship until the sails faded out of sight in the distance. They felt deserted as the last faint speck disappeared, but they were not alone, God
in the cities they visit and look them up in the eager desire to help them? Ought any beside ministers to have such strong love for the disciples of the Lord' (1 John 3:14)? A seven days stay seems to have been quite the customary thing with Paul (cf. ch. 20:6, 7; 28:14). These disciples at Tyre “said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not (not to) set foot in Jerusalem.” But Paul did set foot in Jerusalem. Was the Spirit then mistaken? Not in-the least. These men spoke “through the Spirit,” i.e., it was what the Spirit said to them that led them to speak fo Paul, but, they were not wise interpreters of the Holy Spirit’s teaching. Doubtless what the Holy Spirit testified to them was what He testified, in every city, that bonds and afflictions awaited Paul (ch. 20:23; cf. 21:10, 11). They could not endure the thought of Paul’s suffering these bonds and afflictions and imprisonment, and so they put, their own construction on the Spirit’s teaching and put it into their own words, and said he should not set foot in Jerusa lem. They did not speak “in the Spirit,” but they spoke “through the Spirit.” There are those today who would have us believe that this is the kind of inspiration we have in the Bible, viz., that the Spirit gives the “concept,” but Apostles and prophets put this Spirit-given concept into their own words. We see from this passage how unreliable a revelation this would be if this were the mode of its inspiration. Thank God it is not; but the real m'ethod of inspiration that we find in the Bible is as Paul puts it, “which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth, combining spiritual things with spiritual words’' (1 Cor. 2:13, A.R.V.). When the Spirit teaches us, we need to be careful to give out precisely what the Spirit gives us, and not our inferences from it, or we also, “through the Spirit” will teach error. Verse 5 give us two beautiful pictures. As Luke describing it from personal observa tion puts it; “They all,, with wives and chil dren, brought us on our way.” , Paul had
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