“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
At this point, Paul was in Thessalonica, the second largest city in Greece. He went to this urban setting to fulfill his mission of advancing the gospel to the Gentiles there. People were being saved. The Jews in Thessalonica opposed Paul, formed a mob and appealed to the city authorities to arrest him. The above verse explains their tactic, to play on their loyalty to Caesar and accuse their enemy of insurrection against Caesar. The presence of another King in town would not make the Romans happy so the local authorities wanted this to go away. The Holy Spirit sent Paul away to Berea and the situation calmed down.
In China, during the Coronavirus pandemic there, Christians have had their welfare subsidies annulled if they fail to remove their crosses and images of Jesus, replacing them with pictures of Chairman Mao and Xi Jinping, the president. The Christian Post reports that one official said, “These are the greatest gods, if you want to worship somebody, these are the ones.” In China, it has become dangerous to say that there is another King, Jesus.
In America, our freedom of religious expression is precious. And fragile. Today, many in America are pushing for freedom FROM religion. They may get their wish and I am not sure they will like it when it happens. The ‘king” who removes that freedom will do so for his benefit, not theirs. We have a King, Jesus. Our loyalty is to him and him alone. No mob and no government can take away our perfect freedom in Christ. There is another King.
Let’s turn the world upside down for him.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church
Cape May Court House NJ