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Turning The World Upside Down - Acts 17
Turning The World Upside Down - Acts 17
"And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” " (Acts 17:6-7).
The believers of the first century took the great commission seriously and followed it. They went everywhere, preaching the word (Acts 8:4). Two things are said in this passage about their preaching: 1) they declared that Jesus is King, and 2) they turned the world 'upside down' by doing that.
I like the expression 'upside down', but think maybe 'right-side up' would perhaps be more appropriate. Men have turned God's world upside down and thus made insignificant things to be of importance while discounting the things of God. At the top of men's list would be riches, fame, ease, and power (political authority over others). At the top of such people would be Caesar. He would be the greatest political power in the known world to those of first century Romans. He was 'king' over all the so-called kings (like Herod). At his whim, things changed. He held the very lives of men and women in his hand.
With the coming of Jesus, all of this is put back into correct perspective. Rulers only rule by the permission (will) of God. As Jesus told Pilate, "you would have no authority at all except that God gives it" (John 19:11). God is God. He is the creator of all and thus is ruler of all by right. He has all power, authority, and might. He rules in the kingdoms of men. Yet, this Jesus whom men rejected, was raised and sits on the very throne of God ruling in heaven. He now has all authority in heaven and earth. He is king of kings and lord of lords. It will be before His throne that men stand to be judged.
Men are now taught to obey ALL that HE taught (Matt. 28:18-20). We now live 'under law to Christ' (1Cor. 9:21). By him being resurrected from the dead, He was declared with power to be the son of God (Rom. 1:4). It is the very resurrection of Jesus that turns everything right-side up.
Many people however are still 'upside down' in their thinking. They yet esteem the things of men and not the things of God. They continue to ignore God's revealed understanding of how things really are and cleave unto the ways of the world. When one turns to God through Jesus, his world then becomes right-side up. His perspective now aligns with God's eternal purposes and desires. His hopes and desires now become eternal instead of being temporal. There is an inheritance laid up for him before the throne of God. Our inheritance is no longer like the desires of the world, but is incorruptible and fade not away (1Pet. 1:4).
Being right-side up is to seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." It is the setting of our "minds on things that are above, not on things that are earth" (Col. 3:1-2). It is being renewed in the spirit of our minds (Eph. 4:17-21). Such is being transformed and no longer being conformed to this world (Rom. 12:2). This is being right-side up.
Hugh DeLong
