“But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion” (2 Timothy 4:17).
Although everyone had abandoned Paul the Apostle in advance of his legal hearing before the Roman government, Paul was not disheartened by that development. While the support of his friends and colleagues was undoubtedly important, Paul had the services of a far greater Advocate: “… the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.”
This harmonizes with something Paul had earlier written to Timothy: “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). Paul’s statement in that passage bears repeating. Notice that he did not say, “I know what I believe.” Instead, he said, “I know whom I have believed.” That belief was validated (at least in part) when the Lord stood with him while everyone else abandoned him.
This also reminds us that Christianity is not about an idea, a belief system, an organization, or a set of rules to follow. Christianity is about a relationship with a person, namely Christ. Since Paul knew the One he believed, he could say with confidence, “I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him.”
Paul then followed with a word-picture that illustrated the fate that might have awaited him: “…I was rescued from the lion’s mouth” (HCSB). There are several ways we might understand this reference. Perhaps the most graphic association for modern-day readers is the horrific spectacle of Christians being forced into the ancient Roman arena to be devoured by hungry lions. While this scenario is possible, it seems unlikely that Paul would have been executed in this manner given his status as a Roman citizen.
Another possibility involves the well-known account of the Old Testament prophet Daniel and his experience in a lion’s den. Just as God protected Daniel from a ferocious group of lions, He also protected Paul from those who might seek to injure him (or worse). Or perhaps the apostle may have had Psalm 22 in mind, a Psalm that asks God to “Save Me from the lion’s mouth” (Psalm 22:21).
Perhaps it’s best to understand this passage as a reference to God’s grace in saving Paul from mortal danger. Paul was certainly familiar with that idea, for the Lord had rescued him from such trouble more than once.