The Book of Acts ~ Study Sixty-Three

"Deadly Fall"


Acts 20:7-12 (Message) We met on Sunday to worship and celebrate the Master's Supper. Paul addressed the congregation. Our plan was to leave first thing in the morning, but Paul talked on, way past midnight. We were meeting in a well-lighted upper room. A young man named Eutychus was sitting in an open window. As Paul went on and on, Eutychus fell sound asleep and toppled out the third-story window. When they picked him up, he was dead.
   Paul went down, stretched himself on him, and hugged him hard. "No more crying," he said. "There's life in him yet." Then Paul got up and served the Master's Supper. And went on telling stories of the faith until dawn! On that note, they left—Paul going one way, the congregation another, leading the boy off alive, and full of life themselves.

Paul and his bunch ended up in Troas. Here's a description of the area known as Troas, now located in Turkey (biblical Ephesus): Alexandria Troas is an ancient city located south of Canakkale province on the Aegean Sea. It was one of the major sea ports in the Aegean connecting trade routes in Asia Minor to Neapolis in Macedonia by sea lines and then to Rome by road. The city was founded in 310 BC and its original name was Antigonia Troas, named by Antigonus, but then it was changed into Alexandria Troas by Lysimachus and dedicated to Alexander the Great. (allaboutturkey.com)


Here is where Paul and those who traveled with him stayed for a week. The last day they were there, Paul spent the night preaching to a congregation of believers in an upstairs room that had better lighting. In one of the windows a young man sat in a window. He fell asleep and toppled out of the window falling to his death three stories below. They all ran down and found that he had indeed died. Paul went to him and held him in his arms. He told the crowd that there was still life in the boy. Later the boy returned home with his family after they had all celebrated in the Lord's Supper.


There is another instance in the Old Testament that is very similar. Check it out:




2 Kings 4:32-37 (NLT) When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed.  He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the Lord. Then he lay down on the child’s body, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hands. And as he stretched out on him, the child’s body began to grow warm again! Elisha got up, walked back and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out again on the child. This time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!
   Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. “Call the child’s mother!” he said. And when she came in, Elisha said, “Here, take your son!” She fell at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs.

These stories remind me of the frailty of human existence. We will all die one day and that is 100% accurate. None of wants to face the topic of death. There has been only One who has conquered death and that is Jesus. He didn't just accomplish this for Himself only. He accomplished it for the whole world. Its up to each person whether they will accept this gift.

I recently had a discussion with a young women's bible study I lead called S. P. I. E. S.  (Sisters Praying In Every Situation) were the question was raised if we will be ourselves when we are in heaven. The answer is, "Yes". We won't be angels and we definitely won't be absorbed into the light or be reincarnated. God created each one of us in His image and He wants us to be part of His family through the belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we leave this earth we will be given temporary bodies until His final return to earth and then we will all be fully restored to the perfect body that He had in mind before sin entered the world. (See "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn)

When Christ returns He will create a new heaven and a new earth were there will be no more sorrow or pain, illness or death, hatred or bitterness. We will be made perfect as He is perfect all because of Who He is. Jesus is God. No other religion offers this. NONE!

Here's some interesting facts about other religions and what they believe that happens after death:

Buddhists: Many Buddhists believe in reincarnation, or, more specifically, that the mind-stream continues after the physical body dies. As long as a person remains deluded about the true nature of reality s/he will continue to be reborn into Samsara for lifetime after lifetime. When the true nature of reality is understood - Nirvana - a person can choose to continue being reborn, in order to help others understand as well. These people are called Bodhisattvas.


Hindus: They believe in the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. It is like changing clothes; the soul moves from one body to another. Your next birth is determined by your karma. You carry the effects of the good and bad deeds to your next life. This cycle continues till you attain Moksha (salvation).


Mormons: All men will receive a degree of salvation commensurate with their desires, their faith, and their good works. This is the divine will and plan. Their salvation is not based on Jesus but on the "good works" they accomplish on earth.


Jehovah's Witness: Jehovah's Witnesses believe death is a state of non-existence with no consciousness. There is no Hell of fiery torment; Hades and Sheol are understood to refer to the condition of death, termed the common grave. Jehovah's Witnesses consider the soul to be a life or a living body that can die. Their hope for life after death involves being resurrected by God to a cleansed earth after Armageddon, or to heaven for a limited number. Those remaining on earth are referred to as the "other sheep". Only 144,000 will go to heaven.


Islam: On the Last Day, resurrected humans and jinn will be judged by Allah according to their deeds. One's eternal destination depends on balance of good to bad deeds in life. They are either granted admission to Paradise, where they will enjoy spiritual and physical pleasures forever, or condemned to Hell to suffer spiritual and physical torment for eternity. 

Here's what the Bible says about heaven:

John 3:16-17 (NLT) “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him."


Romans 3:22-24 (NLT) We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
   For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 


Romans 6:5-10 (NLT) Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.     When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.


Romans 6:23 (NLT) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

These passages are but a few of the promises found by believing that Jesus is God and overcame the penalty of sin, death, by raising from the dead by the power of God Most High. With Christ there is no doubt that He made a way for mankind to have an eternal relationship with God. It isn't about "good works" or trying to get things right through our reincarnated lives. It's about the work Jesus did for us. I think I'll choose Jesus because I am insufficient to save myself.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. 

Just as the young man fell from the window to his death, we too fall to our death without the love and rescue of a Savior. Jesus rushed down from heaven to earth and lived as one of us. He loved us so much that He gave up His life to pay the debt we owe to God for our sins that separated us from Him. There is no other Savior. He takes us into His arms and breathes His Holy breath into us, saving us from death and raising us up to eternal life with Him. We can now truly celebrate His communion because we are now alive and not dead in our sins.

There is no other Savior. Come to Him if you haven't already. He's waiting for you because He loves you with an everlasting love.

John 14:1-7 (NLT)  “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”
   “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
   Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.  If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”





Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."