”…ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God…” Paul in Gal. 4:14

Acts 23: 14-24

14And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.

 15Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.

 16And when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul.

 17Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him.

 18So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee.

 19Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went with him aside privately, and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me?

 20And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul to morrow into the council, as though they would enquire somewhat of him more perfectly.

 21But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee.

 22So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me.

 23And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night;

 24And provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor.

The pharisees plotted to kill Paul, but one young man heard their plan. He decided to risk his own life to save him. He was taking on a very real danger; these men swore they wouldn’t eat until they accomplished their plan. He proved that he believed that the message Paul was preaching was more important than his own life.

Some would say that without this young man, Paul may have been killed. I don’t think so. There are many times in the book of Acts that God uses angels to accomplish important tasks, and keep the gospel message alive. If this young man had not warned Paul, maybe God would have sent an angel to deliver the message. But God did not. He saw a boy, willing to risk his life to carry the message, and told the angels to have a seat. He watched and protected that young man as he carried the warning of death.

He allowed one unknown youth to do the work that angels do.

I don’t believe that people will go to hell because you failed to carry the warning to them. God is not risking one man’s salvation on another human being. The Bible says that God will get the message to them, in spite of the failure of the messenger (Rom. 1:20).

However, God gives us the great privilege of carrying his message to souls in danger. He could have sent his “star players” the angels, but he has them sit on the sidelines while he lovingly gives us, his children, a chance to “get in the game.”

The requirement for the job: understand and accept that the message is more important than our own life. Death to self. Death to our plans, our will, our message. Living to deliver his message.

PS - When it’s all said and done, he’ll get all the glory for doing something amazing with us, these little lumps of clay.