THESE were the words of the messenger of God's blessed gospel to the Philippian jailor who was about to kill himself, thinking that all his prisoners had fled.
Paul spoke these words in the darkness, and unable to see what the jailor was about to do. What then led him to cry out loudly these arresting words? He was God's servant, and the Lord God to whom the darkness is as the light, saw all and knew the thoughts that had been awakened in the jailor's mind. And He it was who gave these words to be uttered by His servant that the terrified man should be saved from suicide.
But this was only the prelude to a greater blessing. Not only was the jailor's life preserved, but his soul was saved for eternity through the blessed gospel message. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." He believed, and also his household, and divine joy filled his heart and his house." What a Saviour is Jesus the Lord!
Have you, dear reader, had thoughts that death would end all your troubles? Be not thus deceived. It is but to plunge you into a place of deeper trouble that can never be removed or alleviated if you die refusing the only way of escape. "Come unto me," said the Saviour when here, "and I will give you rest." And now that He, the Just One, has died for our sins, rest and forgiveness are yours if you will but repent by confessing your sins and confide in His precious blood that cleanses now (not hereafter) from all sin. "Do thyself no harm," but "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”