Behold! The Judgment of God!

Acts 17:32-34 ESV

32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

One of my favorite parables that the Lord Jesus ever told is found at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter thirteen. It is what we know as “the Parable of the Sower”.

In that parable Jesus speaks of one who sows seeds, going out and sowing seeds. Now, the seed in that parable is representative of the gospel. The sower is representative of the one who goes out and preaches the gospel. And the soil on which the seed falls is representative of the hearts of those who hear the one who preaches the gospel.

The first soil which Jesus speaks of, He says is the path that the sower walks on while sowing his seed. As he sows his seed, some of it falls from his hand and falls on the path and is left behind him. Jesus says that this is indicative of one who hears the gospel, and his heart is immediately hardened to its contents and he outright, immediately rejects it.

The second soil which Jesus speaks of is shallow soil on rocky ground. When the seed was scattered there, there was a quick indication of what appeared to be promising plant life, but because the soil was so shallow, the sun scorched it, and the plant life died. Jesus says that this is indicative of one immediately receiving the words of the gospel with joy, but because they have not received a new heart, their joy and their supposed commitment to the Lord fade away as soon as hardship comes their way.

The third kind of soil which Jesus speaks of is soil that dwells among thorns. Like the soil on rocky ground, this soil too produces what appears to be promising plant life, but because it is growing among thorns, its growth is stifled and eventually comes to nothing. Jesus says that this is indicative of one receiving the words of the gospel, yet because they have not received a new heart, whenever the cares of the world come their way, they covet what the world can afford and thus prove to be no real follower of Christ.

But indeed, there is a fourth soil. This soil, Jesus says is good soil. And because it is good soil, it produces an abundance of good fruit. Jesus says that this is indicative of the elect, the ones whom God graciously gives a new heart to when they hear the proclamation of the gospel and it changes them forever, resulting in an abundance of good, spiritual fruit.

What the Lord reveals here is that there is a plethora of ways in which one can respond to the gospel call, but unless one has first been graciously given a new heart that is capable of positively receiving the gospel, the response will always be to initially, or in time, reject the call.

Now we see this time and time again in our personal observations among people. Sometimes when people hear the gospel they reject it as foolishness right away. Other times they start out ok, but they lose steam and the next thing you know, well, it becomes obvious that their previous profession of faith turned out to be illegitimate. But then there are other times when we receive the privilege of seeing someone hearing, responding, and then sticking around and growing.

And as we close out our series of messages today highlighting the account of Paul the Apostle on Mars Hill, what we are going to be looking at is the different responses that Paul received to his proclamation of the gospel to the judges, academics, and philosophers who were then present.

Now, from our previous messages, we know the context that surrounds what is taking place here, how Paul was brought to Mars Hill, where the leading philosophers and scholars regularly met so that he may explain the gospel to them there.

As we closed out the exposition of our reading from last week, we saw how Paul, in addressing those on Mars Hill, had pointed out the central truth, the main tenet of the Christian faith: the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He said that God commands all people everywhere to worship Him and that God will judge those who do not worship Him and that He has given assurance to all that this future judgment will take place by raising the Lord Jesus from the dead.

Well, as we come to our reading for today, we see how those in attendance responded to this statement from the apostle, looking first at verse thirty-two, which reads:

Acts 17:32 ESV

32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

So, right away, what we read is that the basis of the responses that are given is on the truth of the resurrection of the dead. Throughout the scriptures, we read of a future resurrection, a general resurrection of all people in all times. And, as Paul said at the close of our reading from last week, we know for sure that this general resurrection will take place because the Lord Jesus Himself had been resurrected.

And the first response to this truth that we read of is that when Paul had spoken of the resurrection of the dead, “some mocked”. That these “mocked” when Paul had spoken of the resurrection of the dead indicates that these had derided and scornfully ridiculed, they openly showed disdain for and revealed that they felt as though such a notion was beneath them and worthy only of contempt.

Now, to many people today, among unbelievers and even among some believers, the idea of a general resurrection sounds crazy, though it is scriptural and has been proven that it will indeed come to pass through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but among those in the Greek culture, particularly the Athenian Greek culture, the resurrection seemed like nonsense.

There was a Greek playwright named Æschylus (Aye-sku-lus) who lived about five hundred years before what is written in our reading took place, and one of his famous quotes was, “Once dead, there is no resurrection”. So, according to him, when you die, you die, and then there’s nothing. There is no sphere of reward or punishment, and there is certainly no coming back from the dead.

Now, many of those who regularly gathered at Mars Hill had come to greatly respect the teachings of Æschylus (Aye-sku-lus) by this time, so when they heard Paul speak of the general resurrection of the dead, they said, “Give me a break!” and unapologetically showed contempt for both Paul and the scriptural teaching that he had delivered to them.

Others though, we read, said to Paul “We will hear you again about this”. Now, when we read that specific statement, we may perhaps see in that statement several people who were not yet convinced and therefore had not yet subscribed to the Christian faith, but desired to hear more before coming to a firm conclusion.

And yes, there may have been some then present who were legitimately saying that, but it is more likely that the majority of those who responded this way were giving a similar response to those who were mocking, but in a more polite manner.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that most of these who responded this way probably thought that orthodox theology was foolish as well, but were more “polite” in their rejection of it. Kind of like going to a job interview and once it is all said and done, the interviewer does not intend to hire you but instead of him saying, “Look, you’re not cut out for this, so hit the road!”, he says, “Well, we’ll think about it and get back to you. But don’t call us, we’ll call you!” and then he never calls.

So, the first two responses that we read of consist of outright, arrogant, vulgar rejection, and a more passive, “polite” rejection. But rejection nonetheless.

So, because this was the case, we read the words of verse thirty-three in our reading, which says that,

Acts 17:33 ESV

33 …Paul went out from their midst.

So, because these rejected the gospel, treated it as foolishness, something to be scoffed at and mocked, or something to “politely” ignore, Paul left “them”, that is, Paul separated himself from those who rejected and treated with contempt the God of heaven and earth and the clear plan of salvation given through Him.

These rejected not only Paul, but the God Who Paul spoke for, and they having rejected him, Paul in turn rejects them, figuratively shakes the dust from his sandals, signifying that as God has left them to their own damnation, so will he no longer remain among them as a bearer of good news.

Indeed, this verse may seem like a minor footnote in the account given in this chapter, but as Paul “went out” from those who scornfully reject orthodox truth, it reveals an awful judgment for them.

But thankfully, these responses were not the only responses given in this account; no, not all responded to the gospel in such a volatile, arrogant, or dismissive way as we read at the beginning of our last verse, verse thirty-four, that “some men joined him and believed”.

Many there dismissed the orthodox truth in one way or another, but here we read that there were indeed some who were present for Paul’s presentation of the gospel who willingly joined Paul and openly broke with their former persuasions. Paul left the mockers, but these joined his ranks.

They left what they had been familiar with, what they had been taught, what they had learned, they left off from the fellowship that they shared with the judges, philosophers, and academics at Mars Hill. They left off from the fellowship of mockers and joined the very one who the mockers were mocking.

Now, why did this happen? Why would these do this? Why would they leave what they have known to join the ranks of the one who was being mocked by their colleagues?

Because before the foundation of the world, God had lovingly, unconditionally chosen them to a gracious salvation. Thus, God sought them, and in the fullness of time, in the time in which God had chosen, indeed, it was at this time that God had lovingly taken hold of them and communicated everlasting life to them, causing them to join Paul and believe the gospel.

And while, of course, we don’t know all who came to believe or how many came to believe, we are told the names of two people who did.

One of them went by the name “Dionysius” (dee-OH-nee-sos), identified here as “the Areopagite”, which means that he was one who regularly gathered at Mars Hill also known as the Areopagus, and was a prominent fixture there.

We don’t know a whole lot about Dionysius (dee-OH-nee-sos) because there is no other scriptural mention of him other than what is written here, but it is believed, according to tradition, that he later became pastor of the church in Athens and was eventually martyred in the city.

Another one mentioned here is a woman named “Damaris” (DAM-uh-riss). Now, just like Dionysius (dee-OH-nee-sos) there is no other scriptural mention about Damaris and she isn’t even mentioned in any other historical document either, but because she is mentioned by name here suggests a certain level of significance or prominence surrounding her.

And so, we leave off from our study of this account by observing the wondrous works of God. Apart from His intervening grace, all would have mocked at the contents of the orthodox faith, all would have sneered at the revelation of God, all would have thought it to be foolish.

Indeed, if there had even been one and only one who responded positively to the proclamation of the orthodox gospel it would bring us to great wonder and amazement that God loved that one, that He willed to save even that one man, woman, or child.

Alas, if it had been that God had willed to save none of those at Mars Hill when Paul preached to them, still even then it would bring we as believers to reverence God as we observe His just judgment, a judgment that would fall upon all if He had not lovingly chosen to intervene for some.

And lastly, as we consider such an account, it causes us as believers to say, “And I am one of those He loved. I am one of those He caused to leave off from the world and believe.”

Great glory to the almighty God Who loved us from everlasting!

Amen?