Angels Open a Philippian Prison
The time had come for the gospel to be preached in Europe. At Troas “a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’”ULe 79.1
The call was imperative. According to Luke, who accompanied Paul, Silas, and Timothy to Europe, “After he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.ULe 79.2
“Therefore ... we ... came ... to Philippi. ... On the Sabbath day,” Luke continued, “we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart.” Lydia and her household received the truth gladly and were baptized.ULe 79.3
As the messengers of the cross went about their work, a woman followed them, calling out, “‘These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.’ And this she did for many days.” This woman was a special agent of Satan and had made a lot of money for her masters by fortunetelling. Satan knew that his kingdom was being invaded, and he hoped to mingle his deceptions with the truths taught by those who were spreading the gospel. This woman’s words of recommendation were an injury to the cause of truth, giving the gospel a bad name; her words led many to believe that the apostles were controlled by the same spirit as this emissary of Satan was.ULe 79.4
The apostles endured this for quite a while. Then Paul commanded the evil spirit to leave the woman. Her immediate silence showed that the demon recognized the apostles as the servants of God. Freed from the evil spirit and restored to her right mind, the woman chose to follow Christ. Then her masters were alarmed. All hope of receiving money from her fortunetelling was gone. Their income would soon be completely cut off if the apostles were allowed to continue.ULe 79.5
Many others in the city were interested in getting money through Satan’s trickery, and these people brought the servants of God into court with the accusation, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.”ULe 79.6