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ADVENT IN PLAIN SIGHT: GATES-6

By: Steve Negley

Posted: December 3, 2022

Category: Daily Devotional

Acts 21:27-36

27 When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd. They seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites,[a] help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place; more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30 Then all the city was aroused, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the tribune came, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; he inquired who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another, and as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. 35 When Paul[b] came to the steps, the violence of the mob was so great that he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”

The gates are where the action often happens. And the entrance to the temple is where Paul found both an audience and great adversity. We need to remember that this holy season reveals our allegiance to a Lord that the whole world doesn’t necessarily love.

Prayer

Wonderful God, as I grow excited to once again celebrate the coming of my Savior, remind me that calling your Son the Lord of my life might put me at odds with some who surround me in our world. Let me joyfully celebrate Christmas, and the tribute it becomes as your people sing praise of your Salvation, In Jesus; name I pray. Amen.