The prevailing power of the Word.
"So mightily grew the Word of the Lord and prevailed." Compare other Scripture figures; e.g. "His Word runneth very swiftly "(Psalms 147:15). "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified" (2 Thessalonians 3:1).
I. THE GROWING POWER OF GOD'S WORD. Reference is to the gospel message—the tidings brought to men concerning Jesus Christ; the message brought by Jesus Christ, the message centering in, and gathering round, Jesus Christ. Put into all kinds of moulds and shapes and forms of language, the "Word of the Lord" is this: The heavenly Father has himself overcome the hindrances and separating difficulties dividing him from his children. He is become a reconciling God, and in Jesus Christ his Son he is willing to pardon; he is waiting to welcome back home every returning, repenting, believing child. The apostle thinks of this gospel message as a "living thing," and so he speaks of its "growing." Wherever there is life there is growth. If there be life in the seed, there will be growth of blade, breaking the soil, and shooting up into the light. If growth ever ceases in our bodies, death ensues. And so, if there be life in God's gospel, it will have the power of widening, spreading, and enlarging its influence. The sign of growth noticed in connection with the text is the power which Christian truth increasingly gained over the feelings and the conduct of the Ephesian disciples, leading them to a most impressive public act of self-denial. Show that the growth takes two forms.
II. THE PREVAILING POWER OF THE WORD. This sets before us two points.
1. Since there is life in the Word, and that life is seen in growth, it will be sure to meet with opposition. If the apostles would only have ceased to witness for Christ, they would have suffered no persecution. If any of us will let the life in Christ fade down and die within us, the world will cease to present any opposition. The dead in trespasses and sins have no difficulties; but "they that will live godly must suffer persecution." It is a simple condition of growth, that it involves resistance; it pushes its way against opposition. And, in the case of earnest piety, this opposition becomes more than resistance—it is enmity and willful endeavor.
2. Since there is life in the Word, we may be sure that it will overcome the opposition; or, as the text says, it will "prevail"—gain the mastery. This may be illustrated from martyr-times, when Christianity has seemed to be crushed, but the life has proved stronger than all outward resistances. See especially, in recent years, the result of persecutions in Madagascar. Illustrate also from missionary spheres, in which various kinds of hindrances are presented, yet the life in the Word gains gradual mastery. Illustrate by St. Paul's sublime triumphs over all forms of opposition tact with in his missionary work. And show how the prevailing power of the Word is found in individual experience; in the gradual mastery of personal habits; and in our external relations and circumstances. Impress that faith in the "growth" and "prevailing power" of Christianity needs to be kept alive in the Church and in all our hearts; and that such a faith would prove an abiding inspiration to holier living and to nobler laboring.—R.T.