Where Did They Go?
"Demas has forsaken me,
having loved this present world."
2 Timothy 4: 10
Some of the Bible’s greatest warnings can only be
uncovered through careful study. Reading the letters
of Paul, we find the name Demas three times.
When Paul was first imprisoned in Rome under house arrest
(Acts 28:30), he wrote to the Colossians, saying, “Luke the beloved
physician and Demas greet you” (Colossians 4:14). He also wrote
this to Philemon: “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus,
greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow
laborers” (Philemon 1: 23-24).
Just a few years later, when Paul was facing a second
Roman imprisonment under far worse circumstances,
Demas was nowhere to be found.
In his final letter, Paul wrote, “Demas has forsaken me, having
loved this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10). What happened to
Demas? Where'd he go? No one knows. He's not mentioned
again.
This will become a sign of the Last Days—as more and more
apparent Christians fall away. Guard yourself and your heart
closely. Keep courage. Stay close to the Lord. Be a disciple,
not a Demas.
"Standing between Demas and Paul, with the world all before
him, Luke chose for Paul while Demas chose for the world.
Then Demas disappears, and Luke’s memory lives in
perennial honor."
Charles S. Robinson
