II Timothy 4:17-18

Please turn over to II Timothy 4, verse 17. Now Paul confirms that the Lord is faithful in delivering us and He will preserve us for our destination, that is, God's Kingdom. We will read verses 17 and 18.

So Paul used the illustration of deliverance to speak of the work of Jesus Christ as a new exodus, and it seems Timothy felt uncertain about himself because Paul, his mentor, was in prison and his church was experiencing turmoil. So Paul appears to be subtly telling Timothy, "The Lord has called you to preach, and He will give you the courage to do so."

God also provides us with the strength to follow His commands. However, this strength might not be visible until we step out on faith and start doing the job. Paul was probably literally delivered out of the mouth of lions because Nero at that time often had Christians killed by throwing them to the lions in the Colosseum. It was not only there that they were thrown to lions, and so possibly Paul was in a situation like that. It is amazing looking at the list of the trials that he had to go through. It would be almost surprising that that was not one of them because everything else seems to be included. Like the psalmists who speak of God's deliverance as both a national and a personal reality, Paul shows that he lived with confidence in God's deliverance.