The Word Kept Going

“But the word of God increased and multiplied.” Acts 12:24

As I was reading through Acts 12, I was struck not only by the fierce opposition, but by the power of prayer and the Word, these seemingly ordinary means of grace. James is killed. Peter is seized and marked for death. The church has no army and no favor with the throne. What it has is a prayer meeting that does not even believe the answer when it knocks at the door, and a message Herod cannot lock up.

I was especially struck by the phraseology and the word choices in verse 24: “But the word of God increased and multiplied.” Increase and multiply seem odd when they are connected to the word of God and not to people. A side note: I began to ask questions of the text and to sit with the context. That is a vital practice for those who do not want to read Scripture just to check a box. We should be reading it so that it begins to question us, and to read us. It is alive. That, by the way, is the point of this text.

As I tried to understand the word choice, I first inserted people into the equation. People were spreading the word to people, and the people who received it spread it to the people in their circle. It is like that old shampoo commercial: she tells two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on. That certainly applies here. Ordinary believers did open their mouths. Luke never denies it. But that is not the sentence he wrote.

The great point is that the Word of God is living and active. The power was not in the eloquence of the people, or even in the number of the people. The power is in the Word. The first verb is organic. The word kept growing, the way a plant grows, the way a child grows. The second is numerical. It kept being multiplied, the old covenant language of a people increasing under pressure. One verb is active: the word grew. The other is passive: it was multiplied. Luke is not describing a campaign plan. He is describing a living thing advancing.

Set that next to the powers that came against the church. Herod multiplied his own glory and accepted the praise that belongs to God, and he was struck down. The word of God was multiplied and kept going. James was dead. Peter would soon leave the center of the story. The opposition got a corpse. The gospel got the last line. Luke does this more than once. After the church handled an internal crisis and refused to neglect prayer and the ministry of the word, the word increased and the disciples multiplied (Acts 6:7). After Herod, the word increased and multiplied (Acts 12:24). After the showdown with magic in Ephesus, the word increased and prevailed (Acts 19:20). Same instinct each time. Opposition, distraction, or counterfeit religion does not get the last line. The Word does.

Over the centuries many have tried to kill the Word, sometimes literally. They are dead, and so are their decrees. The living Word continues to increase and multiply.

Why did the early church make such an impact in the face of such fierce opposition? Prayer and the Word. Prayer demonstrated that they relied on God and the Spirit, not only to deal with the opposition, but to implant God’s Word in men’s hearts, to give them ears to hear, to make its truth come alive. And even the speaking was the Word at work in them. Jeremiah said it was like a fire shut up in his bones. He could try to hold it in. He could not. I am not saying God does not use people to spread the Word. I am saying that when he does, it is still his Word doing the work.

Notice who carried it. Not a celebrity. Not a famous pastor people traveled to see. Not one great orator with a crowd gathered around his gift. The Word increased and multiplied through an organic movement of regular folk. A praying church. Scattered believers. Men and women with no platform and a message that would not stay shut in (Acts 8:1). Maybe that is the play on words we are meant to feel. Organic growth, through ordinary people.

It is fair to ask why so many churches are closing today. Could it be that many have moved away from the priority of prayer and the Word (Acts 6:4)? That we have been trying to satisfy consumers rather than make disciples? A consumer comes to be served and leaves when the serving no longer suits. A disciple comes under the Word, and then the Word gets into the bones and goes out through ordinary lives. Herod had splendor, soldiers, and a stage. He is gone. The church had prayer and a living Word. That Word is still increasing.

Father, I praise you for giving us your trustworthy Word. We do not need another church-growth strategy as much as we need a living Word and a praying people. Keep us from trading the ministry of the Word for the management of consumers. Put your Word in us like a fire, and multiply it through ordinary mouths, for your name. Amen