“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:28-30).
The apostle Paul had invested himself deeply in the church in Ephesus. His heart for missions usually didn’t allow him to stay too long in one place, but the Ephesian church was blessed to have Paul work among them for three years. So now, when it was time to move on, he couldn’t do so without admonishing the Ephesian elders to carefully protect the people he loved so much.
Paul knew that, in his absence, the congregation would be more vulnerable to the attacks of those seeking to destroy their faith. He describes these attackers as “savage wolves.” What a vivid and apt description! Like a pack of ravenous wolves circling a herd of sheep, these predators would attempt to isolate and devour the weak and unguarded members. Paul himself had experienced the savagery of the Ephesian wolves, so he knows well the danger involved. The “wild beasts at Ephesus” he mentions fighting in 1 Corinthians 15:32 likely refers to this same human threat.
The Scriptures pull no punches in describing those who seek to destroy our faith. “But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed…” (2 Peter 2:12). “But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed” (Jude 10).
Never doubt the resolve of those who seek to devour you spiritually. Beware of the wolves who want to entice you away from the flock and then have you for lunch.
God loves you!
Mike
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