Acts 13

Here's my Introduction - whenever I read scripture, I invite God to reveal to me His Word. He is the source of ALL truth; therefore, I can count on Him for revelation through the Power of the Holy Spirit. This Power has been described a lot throughout Acts. When the disciples did miracles or preaching, the Holy Spirit gave them the words and the power.


Having said that, I stumbled upon a scripture in Chapter 13 that really gave me pause:


v48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified (praised and gave thanks for) the Word of God; and as many as were destined (appointed and ordained) to eternal life believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Jesus as the Christ and their Savior). - Amplified Version

This is a confusing statement! Destined? Was it already planned? Did I have any choice in the matter? What's the purpose if that is so?


I decided to check out some commentaries on this. Sure enough, the camp of theologists are divided in this verse. Calvinists say that it was a predestination. John Wesley explains it this way:

The sum is, all those and those only, who were now ordained, now believed. Not that God rejected the rest: it was his will that they also should have been saved: but they thrust salvation from them. Nor were they who then believed constrained to believe. But grace was then first copiously offered them. And they did not thrust it away, so that a great multitude even of Gentiles were converted. In a word, the expression properly implies, a present operation of Divine grace working faith in the hearers.

As I continued to read, ponder and pray, the parable of the sowing of the seed (Matthew 13:3-9) kept coming to my mind. This parable was explained by Jesus, the Word, to His disciples in Matthew 13:18-23:

¹⁸ “Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: ¹⁹ The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. ²⁰ The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. ²¹ But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. ²² The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. ²³ The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

The Jews and Gentiles who listened to Paul had different types of soil (hearts).

Those who rejected the message had hard hearts; they were not "appointed" (the Greek translation) to receive that Word. Like Pharaoh their hearts were hardened, not by the Lord, but by who they had become.

The rest of them received the Word. Now whether that Word was retained or not depended on their hearts.

If their hearts did not allow deep roots to grow, then the persecutions that followed, easily pulled the seed out of their hearts. Salvation was not for them.

Those that allowed thorns to choke the seed by allowing the troubles of the world and/or the lure of wealth, would not bear fruit for the Kingdom. Salvation was still theirs.

Then there are those that had hearts made of good soil - their seed grew deep, and that Word produced a great harvest. Not only Salvation was a part of their lives, they were now working with God to produce a harvest for Him!

I believe the ones "appointed" to eternal life are the ones who had seed sown in good soil, and the ones whose seed was choked by thorns. Notice that the ones whose seed fell upon rocky soil receive the seed, but they fall away after troubles of the world follow or after persecution because of Jesus.

Good soil doesn't mean a good life, by the way. I am a walking testimony of that! It's all about the heart. A wise man explained good soil to me this way:

How does "good" soil come to be? First it must have all the weeds pulled out; a painful process to say the least. Then, to make matters worse, this soil must endure long knives of steel being ripped through it by the farmer and his ox. To add insult to injury, manure is placed all over it - a nasty business, indeed! Then come those long knives of steel again, ripping through this soil over and over again. None of this is a pleasant process. But the result is "good" soil!"

Now the "good" soil is ready for the Farmer to sow his Seeds, knowing that a fantastic harvest is on its way.