December 17

“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away.” Hebrews 8:13

In Acts 21 Paul went into the Temple to perform a vow. Let us not hastily conclude that he was wrong to do so. We dare not apply God’s ultimate standards to his saints in every age, since his movement toward the final goal is progressive. What is required of you and me today is not that we attain to God’s ultimate but that we keep in step with him now. At that period of his life, it may have been perfectly right for Paul to purify himself in the Temple in accordance with the Old Covenant, but what was fitting then could have been wrong at a later time.

From beginning to end, the book of the Acts is a progressive narrative. Even when the record closes with chapter 28, the movement of the Spirit does not cease. The tide flows on throughout succeeding generations, and all the while God keeps raising up those who will make their specific contribution to each stage of his onward move.