On the television show Lost the survivors of the plane crash refer in fearful tones to the “Others.” The Others have been on the island longer. They know all its secrets. They are able to spy on the survivors without being detected. They appear intent on eliminating the survivors. It is no wonder that the characters start to panic. They don’t know how to defeat the Others.

The Others

Christians may view terrorists as the Others threatening our survival. Governments around the globe grow more and more antagonistic to the Bible’s message that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. “Stop speaking his name” is the message they attempt to impose on Christians.

The Others also include the devil and his accomplices. They are so hard to detect, and they know our weaknesses. They have one, horrible objective: to eradicate Jesus’ name from the face of the earth. That means they must eliminate you.

Take heart! The Others have been trying for millennia to eradicate the name of Jesus. They can’t win. For proof of this, read Acts 4:23-31.

After helping a blind man receive his sight, Peter and John were rewarded with arrest and prison. The authorities then tried to intimidate them into never again speaking Jesus’ name. Who could blame Peter and
John if a few tremors of fear overcame them?

But the only tremors we find are the tremors caused by the Holy Spirit. He moved the early Christians to unite in prayer. In this prayer we do not detect a hint of fear. Confidence in the One exhilarated them as they faced the threat of the nations. “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One” (v. 25,26).

The One

Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel in Jerusalem conspired against the Lord’s Anointed One. He stood alone against them. They were overmatched.

The disciples prayed, “They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (v. 28). God’s power and plan could not be defeated. God had already decided the outcome—the death of Christ would eradicate the curse of sin and initiate Christ’s resurrection and his return to rule. Jesus, therefore, did not fear death. He anticipated the victory.