He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. – Acts 18:25

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 26, 2017): Acts 18

Russian Science Fiction writer Vera Nazarian writes:

“Have you ever seen the dawn? Not a dawn groggy with lack of sleep or hectic with mindless obligations and you about to rush off on an early adventure or business, but full of deep silence and absolute clarity of perception? A dawning which you truly observe, degree by degree. It is the most amazing moment of birth. And more than anything it can spur you to action. Have a burning day.”

Dawn is a time of change and adjustment. It exists wherever there is progress and change. Paul taught at a time that we recognize as the dawn of the Christian Church – a period of significant religious and political change. The dawn of Christianity began with the event that we celebrate as Christmas but continued for the next century as we began to understand what the meaning of this birth in Bethlehem meant for the whole world. It should not be surprising that the story that is told in the Christian Testament are stories of the dawn.

One of these stories is about a man named Apollos. There is no doubt that Apollos was a formidable person. From the description we have of Apollos, we know that he was a man of influential speech. It was hard to hear Apollos speak and not listen to what he had to say. He was knowledgeable in the scripture which meant that he was aware of many of the Hebrew writings in existence in his day, he was an enthusiastic and charismatic teacher, and he had received teaching about Jesus and taught accurately about his life and teaching.

But this was the dawn of an age; it was a beginning. Luke indicates that Apollos did have a lack. He had only received the Baptism of John. We cannot underestimate the influence that John had in the ancient world. Apollos had heard John and was a follower of John, and so he echoed the teaching of John about the Messiah. He taught that the Messiah had come and that his listeners needed to repent and respond to the message of Jesus that was coming out of Paul and the apostles, but at this moment he did not have an understanding of the full person and work of Jesus Christ. But this lack was partially the result of the reality that Apollos stood at the dawn, at the beginning of the church.

Apollos watched the dawn of the Christian Church. Through the messages John the Baptist, Paul, and the Apostles he was spurred into action. He taught about Jesus as he learned to experience him – and in the end, Apollos made himself ready to greet the burning day.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1 & 2