Acts 28:11-31 | It's Just the Beginningنموونە

A Spiritual War

Paul got proactive. He invited the Jewish leaders to hear about his case directly from himself before rumors and gossip started to spread from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.

Fortunately, word had not yet reached them. Here’s what they said—

“We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect” (Acts 28:21-22, NIV).

So they arranged to meet with Paul again, and just like Jesus experienced when crowds beyond number would pile in around him while he was teaching, Luke tells us large numbers came to the place where Paul was staying. And he witnessed to them, from morning until evening, explaining all about King Jesus and the Kingdom of God and how all they hoped for and the prophets foretold came to pass in Jesus.

Some were convinced. Some—others would not believe. We should have expected this. It’s been the pattern from day one. And you should expect this, too.

Because there’s a spiritual war going on. And it’s for the hearts and souls of people.

Paul quotes Isaiah to show that rejecting Christ is spiritual blindness and that hard hearts are not neutral—they are under the enemy’s influence.

Here’s a truth about spiritual warfare: Belief and rejection reflect the battle between Satan’s blinding and God’s illuminating work. Every time a person comes to faith in Christ, it’s a spiritual victory. And every believer is evidence of God’s power to overcome darkness—not to mention the human heart.