“Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers.”
Acts 12:24 (NLT)
Acts 12 closes with enough bad news to steal your focus if you let it. Soldiers die. Cities are in conflict. And Herod is hungry for glory that belongs to God. He puts on his best clothes, sits on the important seat, and makes a speech. The crowd flatters him and says he has the voice of a god, not of a man. Herod accepts that praise instead of correcting it. And his pride rots him from the inside out.
But Luke refuses to let the chaos be the main story. Our verse today begins with one word that reframes everything: meanwhile. In the midst of all this death, disputes, and evil, the Word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers. Not might be. Not could be. There WERE many new believers.
This passage is a picture of our culture today. Evil is rampant. We are aware of every conflict. We can see people acting like Herod: drunk on themselves, infested with pride, and dying from the inside out. Satan wants us to fixate on that, to believe that drama reigns and evil is winning. But I know a name that is above every other name, Jesus Christ. He defeated death, hell, and the grave. And thus the Word of God is continuing to spread today, and there are still many new believers because God’s Word does not return void.
Satan wants you to stare at the bad news like it’s the main story, but God won’t let us. Evil is not the headline worth spreading, Jesus is. The Word of God has not lost one bit of power. What story are you focusing on today? One will rob you of all peace, joy, contentment, happiness, and fulfillment in this life. And the other one will draw you to experience eternal life here on earth, to be a part of the kingdom of God. The enemy cannot stop, stifle, squash, or silence the Kingdom of God. So let’s go spread the Word today and focus on the right story.