Preparedness to die

[Acts 21:13]

A person who is prepared to die when fighting is truly frightening.  The reason is that such a person is willing to stake their life in the battle.  If someone charges fearlessly, ready to die in the fight, who would dare to stop them?

In today's passage from Acts 21:13, we encounter Paul, who is determined to go up to Jerusalem, prepared to face death.  Despite the Holy Spirit testifying to him about the bonds and afflictions that await him in Jerusalem (20:23), Paul's resolve to go up to Jerusalem remains unshaken.  Among the various prophecies, a prophet named Agabus comes down from Judea, takes Paul's belt, binds his own hands and feet, and declares that the Jews in Jerusalem will do the same to the owner of the belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles (11:16).  Upon hearing this, Paul's companions and those present strongly urge him not to go up to Jerusalem (12:13).  At that moment, Paul responds by asking them, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart?  For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" (13:13).  Paul is a person who has prepared himself to die for the cause.  He is willing to be bound and even die for the sake of Jesus Christ.  In this context, he represents one who has staked his life for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He is someone who, for the sake of the Kingdom of God and the body of Christ, is prepared to face death.  As Acts 20:24 states, "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

Paul considered the mission he received from the Lord Jesus more valuable than his own life.  In other words, he regarded completing the task of testifying to the grace of God's gospel as more precious than his life.  How remarkable is this perspective? How did Paul come to value the mission he received from the Lord more than his own life?  I believe the reason lies in Psalms 63:3: "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you."  Paul could consider the mission he received from the Lord more precious than his own life because of God's eternal love.  Recognizing, feeling, and experiencing God's eternal love, Paul was thankful and moved, and in completing the mission of testifying to the gospel that the Lord had given him, he did not consider his own life as precious at all.  Inflamed with the love of Christ that he had received from the Lord, Paul, who was willing to be bound and even ready to die for the sake of the gospel, saw the fulfillment of his mission as more important than his life.  Witnessing Paul's fervor for the mission received from Jesus, those who had advised him not to go up to Jerusalem, despite the bonds and the prospect of death, conceded, saying, "The Lord’s will be done" (21:14), and they ceased their persuasions.  Afterward, Paul and his companions made preparations and went up to Jerusalem after many days (21:15).  In Paul's journey to Jerusalem, we see a resemblance to the image of Jesus, who, like a lamb led to the slaughter (Isa. 53:7), went willingly to Bethlehem's stable, and ultimately to the cross on Golgotha, sacrificing His life for our salvation.  Like Jesus, who obeyed the will of God the Father even unto death (Phil. 2:8), Paul, as an apostle of Jesus, also moved toward death.  Reflecting on how Paul did not regard the one life lived in this world as so valuable, we are challenged to once again acknowledge the importance of the mission received from the Lord and the necessity of fulfilling that mission.

With a fervent desire to be a burning evangelist of God's love and a source of comfort,

James Kim

(Gratefully appreciating God's eternal love, which is more precious than our seventy or eighty years of life)