“In a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third storey and was taken up dead. But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said,“Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him”.    (Acts 20:9-10)

This account of the young man who fell from a third-storey window and died, while Paul was preaching, is an astonishing example of Paul’s confident and practical response to apparent disaster.

There’s so much in this story, (possibly) including elements of humour! One translation refers to Paul’s talk as going “on and on”. But the atmosphere shifted abruptly when the young man tumbled out of the window, and “was picked up a corpse” – which, of course, was a terrible tragedy. We can only imagine the traumatic impact it would have had on the believers who had gathered eagerly to listen to Paul’s ground-breaking teaching about Jesus, their Saviour and Life-giver.

As they looked on in horror, Paul made his way downstairs to attend to the young man. Imagine their amazement when they saw Paul quickly restore him to life, and then take care to reassure everyone that there was nothing to worry about.

Then – most likely still open-mouthed in astonishment – the people watched as Paul went back upstairs to eat and to continue fellowship and conversations until the break of dawn.

There is certainly extraordinary drama here, combined with an unusual sense that this potential tragedy was a rather “incidental happening” in the midst of Paul’s journeyings.

But, of course, it’s not “incidental” at all, because everything in the Word of God is intentional. Furthermore, we know that any passage of Scripture can have layers of meaning which gradually unfurl its deeper treasures – often surprising us with fresh revelation long after we had first read a particular verse or passage.

Deeper treasure!

I’d love to explore with you one of the deeper messages of this story. I believe it contains profound insight into manifesting Kingdom Life and making a difference on earth.

The key phrase here is: “Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.” (Acts 20:9-10).

It’s notable that Paul is not recorded as saying anything at all over the deceased man’s body. He could have commanded life to return. He could have commanded the man’s damaged organs to be healed and restored. After all, we see Paul’s spiritual wisdom and power massively demonstrated in the healing of a crippled man at Lystra, and in ALL those who were sick on the island of Malta.

On this occasion, though, Paul did not issue one single command. Instead, he did something else … something that I believe is very significant.

We read that Paul “fell on the young man and embraced him”. In other words, by his actions, Paul portrayed not only his love and deep compassion, but also his union with the man. And that is the key. 

The thing is, commands imply duality and separation. ie a command is issued from a person to a person or situation. Kingdom Life, by contrast, is about union and oneness. Oneness with each other and with God.

Paul certainly knew and experienced Oneness. His New Testament letters are full of the message of the perfect union with God and with each other that is accomplished for us by Jesus through His completed work. He makes it crystal clear that all separation and division were abolished at the Cross.

So, in embracing the young man, Paul’s actions were silently declaring, “Look! My life is now hidden with Christ in God, and so is your own life! So how can death take the upper hand here?!”

Also, I think it’s quite striking that Paul said to the people around the young man, “his life is in him”. He could have said “he is alive” or “he has come back to life”. But instead, he chose the unusual phrase, “his life is in him”.  (Another deep thought for us to ponder!)

Paul was so convinced of what his Lord had accomplished – and the truth that Christ’s Life was vibrating within the young man – that he didn’t linger downstairs to make sure he remained alive and well. He knew that others were attending to escort the man home, so Paul confidently went back upstairs to continue the evening.

So how does this apply to us today?

Today, we read this passage within the context of an increasing awareness of union and oneness throughout the body of Christ. Unity, love and collaboration are becoming the predominant force for change.

We’re learning to manifest the qualities and characteristics of the Kingdom of God – not by command – but by loving and by being consciously aware that we are united with God and with each other.

In this way, we can bring something from heaven – from the invisible, quantum realm – and establish it on earth in our experience, and in the lives of others, by creating a resonant frequency.

Another way of saying that is to think of ourselves as receptive tuning forks, desiring to resonate, or vibrate, in tune with our Father’s heart, and then to express the messages of His heartbeats – His loving will – here on earth.

Only the Lord can do that through us, of course! We’re not called to grit our teeth and try to “tune” ourselves in line with Heaven – for that’s impossible in our own strength! 

But as we keep leaning purposefully into the beautiful Spirit of Christ within us (perhaps through the portals of Galatians 2:20 or Colossians 3:3, for example) – His own most glorious and powerful frequency causes our hearts and minds to come increasingly into alignment with Heaven’s melodies.

And so we can pray confidently, with hearts wide open and full of praise, for God’s will to be poured out into the world:

“Our Father in heaven …

Manifest Your will here on earth,

as it is manifest in heaven.”  (Matt. 6:9,10, The Voice Bible)

Amen and Amen! We praise you Father!!!     

Images courtesy of Pixabay.com

By Ann Shakespeare  31 July 2024