Many Lamps -Acts 20:7-8

Acts 20:7-8 ESV
7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

Why are we told about many lamps in the room? It may be they represented the people listening to Paul that would be part of the light of the world. Paul was bringing the light and they were ready and eager. Their purpose was to receive and bear that light, and to shine forth in a dark place. God saw this from the beginning. There were many lamps.


Acts 20:26-30
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Paul emphasizes that he delivered the gospel in its entirety. He did not mince words or deliver only the part he liked or his audience liked. He delivered the message of God as he received it from the Holy Spirit. He knew that others would come after he left that would deliver a different gospel for selfish motives or out of ignorance. Blessed be to God their words are not preserved in Scripture.

There will come a time when the wolf and lamb will live peaceably, side by side.

Isaiah 11:6
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:9
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

Many write their own books and formulate their own gospel. All will be revealed as each one gives an account before our Lord. The Lord will judge, and He is merciful and just. It is upon that mercy I stand and place my hope.

Isaiah 46:10-11
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11 calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.

Jeremiah 23:22
But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.

2 Corinthians 4:1-6
1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus 'sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 2:18-19
For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.