2 Timothy 4:16–17

This points to Paul's trial — to what we would call his first hearing. The words are better translated "my first defence." Not one person was found to go with him to the court. All "forsook" him, and that word is the same one used of Demas. So they, like him, had given in to the power of the enemy. But if fear was what moved them, grace was still at work in Paul's heart. It lifted him above their unfaithfulness and his own desertion, and made him able to pray that the sin would not be charged against them.

Few can measure how painful and humiliating this was to the apostle, because so few come anywhere near him in faith or in love. No one on earth could feel as he felt what such failure was to the Lord Himself. That feeling gave immense weight to his prayer, "May it not be charged against them!"

That same lone prisoner stood before the emperor Nero — a defenceless captive, worn down by age and by a lifetime of suffering. He stood in the very jaws of the lion and preached the gospel of God without fear, but no one stood with him. His friends abandoned him. Like frightened hares they ran for safety when his life was in danger. He felt it, and felt it deeply — more for their sake than for his own.

The apostle found in his day, as many have found since, that the path narrows as we near the goal. So, on trial before the powers of this world, he had to say that no one stood with him and all deserted him. This treatment looks heartless and cowardly, but it stirs no resentment in Paul's heart. Instead it draws out his prayer that it may not be charged against them.

How closely Paul had to follow in the steps of his Master! And how clearly the same Spirit led him, whatever the difference in degree of power! We read that when the Lord allowed Himself to be arrested, "Then all the disciples left him and fled" (Matt. 26:56). And before His death He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). A blessed likeness! But how few are ready for the suffering that such a privilege brings!

Not one stayed by him! Peter tells us that "it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God," 1 Peter 4:17. I name these on the authority of the word of God. They show that even then, at the very beginning, something was going on in the open. The Spirit of God could see it and point to it as the ground of final judgment. It was already visible in the church of God.

Some believers prefer the simple, reliable word of Scripture to the many confusing creeds of fallible people, propped up as those creeds are by custom, tradition, or convenience. Such a believer must expect the isolation that always goes with faithfulness in a time of decline. The church has certainly not improved since everyone deserted no less a man than the apostle Paul, leaving him to stand alone at his first defence in Rome. Still, the Lord stood with him (2 Tim. 4:16-17). He will do the same for every true-hearted follower, and give enough grace for the heaviest burden anyone may have to carry for His sake.

The apostle was in these circumstances for the truth's sake. They only served to bring out fully what a reserve he had in the Lord Himself... Notice the beautiful moral order of these words — not "strengthened me and stood by me," but "stood by me and strengthened me." This order conveys a reality that is very blessed. It puts first, and in the foreground, the Lord's company and presence with His faithful servant at the moment when all deserted him.

May we not say this? It is exactly when someone in the Lord's service, and for His name, has to feel the loneliness of the path of a faithful witness that the Lord comes and reveals Himself in a special way. So at this moment of trial, the Lord stood by Paul and strengthened him — strengthened him inwardly. The enemy's effort became an opportunity to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles who filled the court.

If all others fail and forsake us, the Lord's words will always remain true: "I will never leave you nor forsake you"... But when the Lord gives power, it is not power to crush our enemies. It is not power to get ourselves out of hard circumstances. It is spiritual power to bear witness for Him in front of His enemies... From the records of Paul's preaching we know what that proclamation was: the forgiveness of sins "through this Man" — Christ Jesus, the risen Man in the glory (Acts 13:38)... Paul was given power to proclaim Christ, and the Lord Himself used His power to deliver His servant from the immediate danger. So he can say, not "I rescued myself," but "I was rescued from the lion's mouth."

Let us note this: Paul says nothing about being on the defensive on this occasion. In fact he boldly took the positive action of fully preaching the truth of Christ before the great Gentile court. Such is the power given as a result of any real sense of the Lord's standing with the servant.

He did not use every ounce of his wit and strain every nerve to prove his own innocence. Instead he concentrated on giving the fullest and plainest testimony to the gospel. His trial became the occasion in which "the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it." Paul eagerly seized the chance to set the gospel fully before the most impressive gathering on earth at that time. His words then stood on record in the official report of the trial, open to any and every Gentile.

"So I was rescued from the lion's mouth." Does this refer to the Emperor in particular, or to his representative in a more general way? People say they cannot determine. The phrase clearly means rescued from the most immediate or overwhelming danger.

God delivered Daniel from the mouth of the lion "because he believed in his God." Paul, too, was delivered, though perhaps in another sense. But we do know that he was afterwards put to death by Caesar's executioners. So let us have no fears for our own life. Our time here is certain until our work is done and our testimony for Christ is complete.