Remember the Alamo

I have  fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  --2 Timothy 4:7

In 1961 President John F. Kennedy was in Texas, visiting San Antonio.  One of his publicized stops was at the Alamo, and the crowds pressed in so much that the President's itinerary was getting pushed back.  They were getting behind on their schedule.  President Kennedy asked one of Governor Connally's aides if he could find the back door, so they could slip out and get back on schedule.  "Mr. President," the aide replied, "This is the Alamo.  There is no back door.  That's why they're all heroes."

The memory of men like Davy Crockett, William Travis, and James Bowie, heroes who fought and died defending this small outpost during the Texas war of Independence, served to inspire other men to fight on, to persevere until the end.  "Remember the Alamo" became a battle cry for other brave soldiers who went on to win Texas' Revolutionary War.

There are other heroic figures throughout history, heroes who have inspired in any number of areas.  In the area of civil rights, we remember Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and The Little Rock Nine.  These people decided that there was no "back door", no easy way to achieve their goals.  In the area of Labor rights, we think of people like Samuel Gompers, Frances Perkins, and Cesar Chavez.  These people were so successful at fighting for workers' rights that today most people feel that there is no need to join a Labor Union.

But today, I'd like to spend a few minutes thinking of Bible heroes, men who persevered unto death and beyond in defense of truth, and of faith, and of righteousness.  These people did not look for a "back door", and their individual accomplishments are so inspirational that they have literally changed what we think is possible.  The three most inspirational biblical figures, to me, are Daniel, Paul, and Jesus Christ himself.

Daniel
Daniel was an Israeli exile in Babylon.  Hand-picked by Nebuchadnezzar to serve in his administration, Daniel resolved early on not to defile himself with Babylonian culture, including the rich food and wine served from the king's own table.  Daniel kept true to his God throughout his life, and was used by God to prophesy against king Nebuchadnezzar and his successor, Belshazzar.  When Babylon was overrun by the Persian empire, Daniel was even held in high regard in the eyes of Darius, the ruthless Persian ruler.

Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.  At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so.  They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. --Daniel 6:3-5

Darius had set up administrators, and over them 120 satraps, and over them three governors, one of whom was Daniel.  Daniel was so good at what he did, and so trustworthy that Darius wanted to set him up in a position overseeing the other two governors.  These other two governors were so wicked and so jealous of Daniel that they tried to find fault with him, so that they would not be subject to him.  But they could find nothing against him.  "Finally, these men said, 'We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God'." (Daniel 6:5)

These men hatched a plot to endear themselves to Darius the king, while at the same time betraying Daniel.  They said, "O King Darius, live forever!  The royal administrators, satraps advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next 30 days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions' den." (Daniel 6:7).

The Persian ruler had established a zoo of sorts.  In a pit beneath the royal home, there were lions and other animals that were kept in captivity to amuse the royal family.  Darius had been known to take dissidents and feed them to the lions, while his royal court watched from above.  The governors knew this, and so they lied to the king, saying that "all of us have agreed" to honor the king in this way.  Darius did not notice that Daniel was not in the group when this proposal was made.  So he agreed, and signed the law.

Now when Daniel leaned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem.  Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.  Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. --Daniel 6:10-11

Three things we notice about Daniel in this passage.  First, he did not stop being faithful.  He continued to pray, "just as he had done before."  Even in the face of persecution and certain death, he did not waver in his commitment to God.  Second, he did this openly.  Many times when a movement is under duress, they are forced underground.  People may continue their  practices, but in secret.  Not so Daniel.  He did not shut his windows when he prayed.  He did not go into a closet.  He didn't even try to stay out of sight, staying on the first floor.  No, he went to the upper room and prayed openly.  Third, he asked for help from God, not from Darius.  He did not try to change the political situation, to talk Darius out of enforcement of the law, or to plead for mercy.  He went straight to God for help.  He did not look for a back door for escape.

We all know the rest of the story.  Daniel was thrown into the pit where the lions were being kept.  The lions did not eat him, or even harm him at all.  The king rejoiced, and believed in Daniel's God.  "At the king's command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions' den, along with their wives and children.  And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones." (Daniel 6:24).  What an inspiration to us to remain faithful.

Paul
There was no more outspoken and successful missionary in the early church than Paul.  And none was more faithful in the face of persecution.  As a former member of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish council), Paul had been raised as a militant Jew.  He had been a persecutor of the church, killing many who professed the name of Jesus.  But when he was converted, he became an outspoken proponent of Christianity, and he was severely persecuted by the same militant group of Jewish zealots that he had been a member of prior. Paul said

(I have) been exposed to death again and again.  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.  I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.  --2 Corinthians 11:23-27

One of the events he describes is found in Acts 14.  Paul and his friend  Barnabas were constantly on the move. They arrived in Iconium, a city in modern-day Turkey.  They went to the synagogue, as there was a Jewish outpost there.  Many Jews believed their message, and followed Christ, but many other Jews became indignant.  In fact, they became violent.  "There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and to stone them." (Acts 14:5).  Stoning was a Jewish form of capital punishment, meant to keep the religion pure and undefiled by idolatry, witchcraft, and disobedience.  While Paul's message was that Christ was the fulfillment of Jewish law, the disbelieving Jews thought that Paul's message was heresy, and needed to be permanently eradicated.  So the Jewish leaders met with the Gentile law enforcement, so they could arrest Paul and the Jews could then put him to death.  "But they (Paul and Barnabas) found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, where they continued to preach the good news." (Acts 14:6-7).

Lystra is about 19 miles southeast of Iconium.  There they met a man who had been lame from birth.  He had never walked.  But this man listened to Paul's teaching, and believed.  Seeing his faith, Paul healed him in Jesus' name.  Well, word spread all over Lystra about this miraculous healing event.  In the city was a temple of Zeus, and the people who had brought sacrifices to Zeus came out to where Paul and Barnabas were teaching.  They thought that the gods were visiting them in person.  Barnabas they called Zeus, since he was the more handsome man, taller and stronger looking, and Paul they called Hermes (or Mercury, in the Roman pantheon of gods) because he appeared to be the messenger.

Paul and Barnabas begged the people to not look at them as gods, but instead as messengers of the true God, and of his Son, Jesus.  About this time, the Jews who had wanted to put Paul to death arrived from Iconium.  They seized Paul and convinced the crowd that not only was he not a Greek god, but that he was a fugitive from Jewish justice.  They picked up stones and started throwing them at Paul until they were convinced that he was dead.  Then they dragged him outside the city, not even giving him the respect of a Jewish burial.

What happened next is unclear.  Acts 14 concludes that the disciples surrounded Paul, and he got up and walked away.  In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks of himself in the third person, recounting an experience that may correspond with this event in Acts 14, or one like it:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.  Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows.  And I know that this man--whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows--was caught up to paradise.  He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. --2 Corinthians 12:2-4.

So it may be that Paul actually experienced death, and that he was raised by Barnabas and the other disciples there outside of Lystra.

What is clear is that this event did not dissuade Paul from preaching the gospel, from planting churches, and from writing public letters to those churches.  He did not seek a "back door" way to avoid persecution and death, but having gone through persecution leading up to (and maybe including) death, he went on with his mission to share the good news of Christ to all men.

Jesus
Paul wrote about Jesus in Philippians chapter 2

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. --Philippians 2:5-11.

Jesus himself, although obedient unto death, prayed in anguish that God would spare him from it.  He begged God to find another way, and was so agonized about it that he literally sweat blood in the hours before he was arrested and crucified.  And by completing this sacrificial act, Jesus provided the way for men to come to God, to be saved from sin, and to avoid eternal hell fire.

Aren't you glad that Jesus did not find a "back door" to avoid his own death?  And unlike the men at the Alamo, the result was not just a rallying cry for his followers: we do not say, "Remember the Cross!" when we face the battles before us.  We know that we have the hope of resurrection to eternal glory because of His resurrection from the dead.  Praise God for his unspeakable gift!