Acts 8: And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
As we saw yesterday, the more the church grew, and the more bold both the apostles and believers became, the more opposition and persecution became. The apostles had faced repeated and increasing arrests, beatings, and warnings, but now Stephen, one of the first deacons, had been martyred for his testimony. And that was just the beginning of even more intense persecution, scattering believers away from Jerusalem. And that was the point. Why? To help answer the How question. How would the good news spread to every nation, as Jesus had predicted and promised? Through persecution. And it worked. As the chapter goes on, we find details of the next geographical zone: Samaria. Then Philip proceeded from there up the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, taking the gospel to port cities, from which it could go all over the Roman provinces (to prepare the way for Saul, later named Paul.) Along the way he had an encounter with an Ethiopian leader, who would take the Gospel the other direction, where we have record of the church developing soon after. The further we go, the more the confusing makes sense, if we will be faithful to what God has called us to do in Christ.
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