Paul, Prisoner of Christ Jesus (2)—At Philippi - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2026

The magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailor to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Acts 16:22-25 NKJV

Paul, Prisoner of Christ Jesus (2)—At Philippi
Here God lets us visualize one episode of what in 2 Corinthians 11 Paul refers to as "beaten with rods," "stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently." Mobs were easily aroused to violent action for wrong reasons in those days too, and officials also were quick to side with the mob against those who served God by doing good—here expelling a demon from a slave girl who had been following Paul and his companions, shouting that these men were servants of the Most High God proclaiming the way of salvation there at Philippi. Her owners were irate to realize their hope of making money by her fortune-telling was now gone.

Paul and Silas, painfully sore from the beating and the stocks, were not in despair. They prayed and sang hymns. What was this? Their audience of fellow-captives not only heard, but listened. God heard, and responded with an unusual earthquake shaking the foundations, opening the doors, and freeing the prisoners from their chains, but not collapsing the roof upon them. The jailor came running in, shaken and ready to kill himself. The prisoners were still all there. The jailor's query, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" was answered at once. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." His whole household was saved, taught, and baptized that night. They and heaven rejoiced together! The jailor washed the sufferers' stripes and gave them food. God's purpose had been accomplished.

-- Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.