Act 20:24, Rev 12:11 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 24. Move me . Alarm me, or deter me from my purpose. Gr., "I make an account of none of them." I do not regard them as of any moment, or as worth consideration, in the great purpose to which I have devoted my life. Neither count I my life . I do not consider my life as so valuable as to be retained by turning away from bonds and persecutions. I am certain of bonds and afflictions; I am willing also, if it be necessary, to lay down my life in the prosecution of the same purpose. Dear unto myself . So precious or valuable as to be retained at the sacrifice of duty. I am willing to sacrifice it, if it be necessary. This was the spirit of the Saviour, and of all the early Christians. Duty is of more importance than life; and when either duty or life is to be sacrificed, life is to be cheerfully surrendered. So that . This is my main object, to finish my course with joy. It is implied here, (1.) that this was the great purpose which Paul had in view. (2.) That if he should even lay down his life in this cause, it would be a finishing his course with joy. In the faithful discharge of duty, he had nothing to fear. Life would be ended with peace, whenever God should require him to finish his course. Finish my course . Close my career as an apostle and a Christian. Life is thus represented as a course , or race that is to be run, . With joy . With the approbation of conscience and of God; with peace in the recollection of the past. Man should strive so to live that he will have nothing to regret when he lies on a bed of death. It is a glorious privilege to finish life with joy. It is most sad and awful when the last hours are embittered with the reflection that life has been wasted, or that the course has been evil. The only way in which the course of life may be finished with joy, is by meeting faithfully every duty, and encountering, as Paul did, every trial with a constant desire to glorify God. And the ministry . That I may fully discharge the duty of the apostolic office, the preaching of the gospel. In , he charges Timothy to make full proof of his ministry . He here shows that this was the ruling principle of his own life. Which I have received of the Lord Jesus . Which the Lord Jesus has committed to me, . Paul regarded his ministry as an office entrusted to him by the Lord Jesus himself. On this account he deemed it to be peculiarly sacred, and of high authority, . Every minister has been entrusted with an office by the Lord Jesus. He is not his own; and his great aim should be, to discharge fully and entirely the duties of that office. To testify the Gospel . To bear witness to the good news of the favour of God. This is the great design of the ministry. It is to bear witness to a dying world of the good news that God is merciful, and that his favour may be made manifest to sinners. From this verse we may learn, (1,) that we all have a course to run; a duty to perform. Ministers have an allotted duty; and so have men in all ranks and professions. (2.) We should not be deterred by danger, or the fear of death, from the discharge of that duty. We are safe only when we are doing the will of God. We are really in danger only when we neglect our duty, and make the great God our enemy. (3.) We should so live as that the end of our course may be joy. It is, at best, a solemn thing to die; but death may be a scene of triumph and of joy. (4.) It matters little when, or where, or how we die, if we die in the discharge of our duty to God. He will order the circumstances of our departure; and he can sustain us in the last conflict. Happy is that life which is spent in doing the will of God, and peaceful that death which closes a life of toil and trial in the service of the Lord Jesus. (a) "ministry" (b) "received"

Acts 20:24

Verse 24. Move me. Alarm me, or deter me from my purpose. Gr., "I make an account of none of them." I do not regard them as of any moment, or as worth consideration, in the great purpose to which I have devoted my life.

Neither count I my life. I do not consider my life as so valuable as to be retained by turning away from bonds and persecutions. I am certain of bonds and afflictions; I am willing also, if it be necessary, to lay down my life in the prosecution of the same purpose.

Dear unto myself. So precious or valuable as to be retained at the sacrifice of duty. I am willing to sacrifice it, if it be necessary. This was the spirit of the Saviour, and of all the early Christians. Duty is of more importance than life; and when either duty or life is to be sacrificed, life is to be cheerfully surrendered.

So that. This is my main object, to finish my course with joy. It is implied here,

(1.) that this was the great purpose which Paul had in view.

(2.) That if he should even lay down his life in this cause, it would be a finishing his course with joy. In the faithful discharge of duty, he had nothing to fear. Life would be ended with peace, whenever God should require him to finish his course.

Finish my course. Close my career as an apostle and a Christian. Life is thus represented as a course, or race that is to be run, 2Ti 4:7, Heb 12:1, 1Cor 9:24, Acts 13:25.

With joy. With the approbation of conscience and of God; with peace in the recollection of the past. Man should strive so to live that he will have nothing to regret when he lies on a bed of death. It is a glorious privilege to finish life with joy. It is most sad and awful when the last hours are embittered with the reflection that life has been wasted, or that the course has been evil. The only way in which the course of life may be finished with joy, is by meeting faithfully every duty, and encountering, as Paul did, every trial with a constant desire to glorify God.

And the ministry. That I may fully discharge the duty of the apostolic office, the preaching of the gospel. In 2Ti 4:5, he charges Timothy to make full proof of his ministry. He here shows that this was the ruling principle of his own life.

Which I have received of the Lord Jesus. Which the Lord Jesus has committed to me, Acts 9:15-17. Paul regarded his ministry as an office entrusted to him by the Lord Jesus himself. On this account he deemed it to be peculiarly sacred, and of high authority, Gal 1:12. Every minister has been entrusted with an office by the Lord Jesus. He is not his own; and his great aim should be, to discharge fully and entirely the duties of that office.

To testify the Gospel. To bear witness to the good news of the favour of God. This is the great design of the ministry. It is to bear witness to a dying world of the good news that God is merciful, and that his favour may be made manifest to sinners. From this verse we may learn,

(1,) that we all have a course to run; a duty to perform. Ministers have an allotted duty; and so have men in all ranks and professions.

(2.) We should not be deterred by danger, or the fear of death, from the discharge of that duty. We are safe only when we are doing the will of God. We are really in danger only when we neglect our duty, and make the great God our enemy.

(3.) We should so live as that the end of our course may be joy. It is, at best, a solemn thing to die; but death may be a scene of triumph and of joy.

(4.) It matters little when, or where, or how we die, if we die in the discharge of our duty to God. He will order the circumstances of our departure; and he can sustain us in the last conflict. Happy is that life which is spent in doing the will of God, and peaceful that death which closes a life of toil and trial in the service of the Lord Jesus.

(a) "ministry" 2Cor 4:1 (b) "received" Gall 1:1

Revelation of John 12:11

Verse 11. And they overcame him. That is, he was foiled in his attempt thus to destroy the church. The reference here, undoubtedly, is primarily to the martyr age, and to the martyr spirit; and the meaning is, that religion had not become extinct by these accusations, as Satan hoped it would be, but lived and triumphed. By their holy lives; by their faithful testimony; by their patient sufferings, they showed that all these accusations were false, and that the religion which they professed was from God, and thus in fact gained a victory over their accuser. Instead of being themselves subdued, Satan himself was vanquished, and the world was constrained to acknowledge that the persecuted religion had a heavenly origin. No design was ever more ineffectual than that of crushing the church by persecution; no victory was ever more signal than that which was gained when it could be said that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."

By the blood of the Lamb. The Lord Jesus--the Lamb of God. Rev 5:6; compare Jn 1:29. The blood of Christ was that by which they were redeemed, and it was in virtue of the efficacy of the atonement that they were enabled to achieve the victory. Compare Php 4:13. Christ himself achieved a victory over Satan by his death, (Col 2:15; Heb 2:15,) and it is in virtue of the victory which he thus achieved that we are now able to triumph over our great foe. "I ask them whence their victory came;

They, with united breath,

Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,

Their triumph to his death."

And by the word of their testimony. The faithful testimony which they bore to the truth. That is, they adhered to the truth in their sufferings; they declared their belief in it, even in the pains of martyrdom, and it was by this that they overcame the great enemy; that is, by this that the belief in the gospel was established and maintained in the world. The reference here is to the effects of persecution, and to the efforts of Satan to drive religion from the world by persecution. John says that the result, as he saw it in vision, was that the persecuted church bore a faithfull testimony to the truth, and that the great enemy was overcome.

And they loved not their lives unto the death. They did not so love their lives that they were unwilling to die as martyrs. They did not shrink back when threatened with death, but remained firm in their attachment to their Saviour, and left their dying testimony to the truth and power of religion. It was by these means that Christianity was established in the world, and John, in the scene before us, saw it thus triumphant, and saw the angels and the redeemed in heaven celebrating the triumph. The result of the attempts to destroy the Christian religion by persecution demonstrated that it was to triumph. No more mighty power could be employed to crush it than was employed by the Roman emperors; and when it was seen that Christianity could survive those efforts to crush it, it was certain that it was destined to live for ever.

(a) "overcame him" Rom 8:33,37 (b) "lives" Lk 14:26