The Book of Acts

Paul & Silas are put in prison...

Acts 16:16-40 _NLT

“One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes.”- Acts 16:16-17

                  Here we have an interesting story of a demon-possessed slave girl whose unfortunate state was gleaning for her owners a lot of money. The point can be made that this was ill gotten gain and even though the girl was shouting out the truth, it originated from a demonic source within her. What she said as she followed Paul & Silas was, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.” After enduring this for a few days (the exact number isn’t given), Paul finally lashed out at the demon saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” The evil spirit immediately left the slave girl. She was perfectly whole, possibly for the first time. However, this event infuriated the owners of the girl, who grabbed the apostles and dragged them before the local authorities. Her masters lied to the city officials stating that the entire city was in an uproar over what they were saying, teaching customs that the Romans were forbidden to practice. This was untrue. Regardless, the officials had Paul and Silas stripped and beaten badly with wooden rods and thrown into prison. The jailer was told to secure them so they could not escape. So he placed them in the inner dungeon and shackled their feet.

At around midnight, the apostles were praying and singing praises to God, while the other prisoners listened. Suddenly there was an immense earthquake that shook the prison to its foundation ... all the doors flew open & all the shackles of the prisoners fell off. The jailer, seeing all the open doors and the dungeon in ruins assumed the prisoners had all escaped, so he was prepared to take his own life as a consequence. He drew his sword, but just then Paul shouted in a loud voice that all the prisoners were there, and the jailer called for lights, ran into the dungeon and visibly shaken, fell to his knees before the two apostles. He wanted to become saved. Paul declared, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with your whole household. 

Dispute the late hour, the jailer tended to Paul & Silas’ wounds and led everyone to his home where they were all baptized. The authorities found out the apostles were both Roman citizens and at Paul’s insistence apologized for their rough treatment, then begged them to leave the city. Since they serve no one but the Lord, they first went to Lydia’s house to encourage the believers there, then left town. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His name & for His glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Resource: The Life Application Study Bible.