Acts 12:24

‘But the word of God grew and multiplied.'

And in contrast to the end of the pretender, and in spite of what man could do, ‘the word of God grew and multiplied.' The word of God marched on in triumph, sweeping all before it. Nothing could hold it back as what follows will now reveal.

We may perhaps close this section of the Book of Acts by pointing out the pattern in the chapter above. It began with the king setting himself up against God and His anointed, followed by the people expressing their approval of his attitude, and their strike against the representative of the Messiah, it continued with the deliverance of His representative, and ended with the people being deserted by God's anointed who departed for another place, and with the king himself being toppled from his throne. Jerusalem which had for so long resisted Him had received its deserts. From now on attention will turn to Antioch. To us this may seem commonplace. In Luke's day for the early Christians it was revolutionary. It produced a whole new way of thinking.