Acts 14:19-22
‘Certain Jews from Antioch…, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city — supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city…. When they had preached the Gospel…, they returned again to…Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them…that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God!’
Acts 14:19-22.
Calvin commented: “Idle rascals have no difficulty in persuading them at once, to stone Paul…. Almost all men cry out against them, and from time to time even riots break out…. Paul.., because he serves Christ faithfully…, is stoned…. He was wonderfully saved by the Lord…. But as far as he himself was concerned, he submitted to a very cruel sort of death…. This stoning must be regarded in the same way as he himself describes it in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians (11:25) — as if he had been slain on that occasion!….
“‘But…the disciples stood round about him’…. The believers were anxious about his life…. They gave evidence of their love and care, when they stood round him lying stretched out there….
“Paul was saved only by a miracle. For on the very day after he had been thrown out for dead, he took to the road like a man fresh and vigorous…. He…actually went back to the places where a short while ago he had been badly treated!… Christ commands His Ministers not only to teach, but to exhort…. Believers are not to neglect the Word of God, as if the reading and preaching of it were superfluous!…
“‘Exhorting (them)’…was the principal method of confirmation…. Our coldness needs to be warmed up!… The disciples (were) to be prepared to endure tribulations…. If we are to live devoted and holy lives, we have to engage in warfare in this world…. It is because innumerable provocations arise on every side and at every single moment, and tempt us to give up, that difficulty springs up…. Therefore, in order to persist right to the end — we must be prepared for warfare!…
“(In his Acts,) Luke does not only have in mind…persecutions which the enemy brings upon us with drawn swords and flaming fires, but under ‘tribulations’ he includes all the troubles to which the lives of the godly are liable…. God…is austerer and harder in His dealings with His Own children…. They are particularly hard-pressed by many misfortunes…. The Lord humbles them with these experiences…. He keeps them alert, lest they should lie asleep on the ground…. There are, in addition, the reproaches and slanders of the wicked…. Finally, the passion of the wicked breaks out into open violence…. By such a way, difficult and hard though it is, they (believers) pass into the Kingdom of God…. This law…is laid down for us, that we are to suffer many tribulations…. It is through them, that we are brought into God’s Kingdom!… For the saints, their sufferings lead to a favourable and joyful end…. Let believers make up their minds that they must persevere through many distresses — and then let them be prepared not only for one kind of persecution but for different sorts!”
So then — note the revival of Paul, after being supposed to have been stoned to death!
