Acts 13:13-52

Jul 21, 2019 // By:Dave // No Comment

13 Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

This is John Mark who left them (related to Barnabas) referred to in Acts 12:25, later in Acts 15:38 when Paul objects to Barnabas suggesting they try him again)

Many think, from historical records, that the coastline area was replete with malaria outbreaks, and it may be the same reason as to why there is no record of Paul or Barnabas preaching the Gospel their first time through the area Perga on their way to higher ground such as Antioch in Pisidia and later actually preaching the gospel on the way back through the same area as recorded in Acts 14:25. (Implying Paul may have gotten malaria and the team quickly moved to higher ground for recovery).
Others think that Mark objected to the shift of authority from Barnabas to Paul

14 But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

15 After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, “Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.”

This will be Paul’s M.O. for all time:

preach to the jews in synagogue as the visiting pharisee
1. Shemah (Deut 6:4) “Sh’ma, Yisra’el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad
  (hear, oh Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is One)
2. read from the Torah
3. visiting rabbi read and comment another passage
preach to gentiles

16 Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, ¶ “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:

17 “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it.

18 “For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness.

19 “When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance — all of which took about four hundred and fifty years.

20 “After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

21 “Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

22 “After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.’

1 Sam 13:14

23 “From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,

In Just 8 sentences, Paul goes from the outline of Israel’s captivity in Egypt and their appointed deliverer, to Jesus … The Deliverer, the foretold Messiah.

2 Samuel 7:12–16; Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5–6
all reference coming from the line of David (Isaiah 11:1 refers to Jesse, the father of David)

He starts by outlining four basic points of Jewish faith:

God is the God of the people of Israel
God chose the patriarchs, prophets, kings, and deliverers for Himself
He redeemed them from captivity in Egypt into the desert
Gave the land of Palestine as an inheritance

within this outline, he also creates 3 major stepping stones:

From Moses, the rejected deliverer,
to David the unexpected and overlooked shepherd King,
to Jesus, the unexpected, rejected, and overlooked Messiah.

This is not a casual sermon to “consider adding Jesus to the recipe of your life for some extra depth of flavor …

This is a sermon saying: “all of history, all of God’s activity through the history of mankind has been to lead up to this point in time, to this individual , Jesus”

24 after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

25 “And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

26 ¶ “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.

27 “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.

28 “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed.

29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.

30 “But God raised Him from the dead;

31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.

32 “And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers,

33 that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’

34 “As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’

Isaiah 55:3

35 “Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’

Psalm 16:10

36 “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;

37 but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.

38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.

what might stand out about what Paul says in verse 39 ?

This one statement is “mind blowing to a Jew (and proselyte). This is the Gospel, the good news.

Man cannot be justified by the law (of Moses), but can be justified through the act of faith in Him who justifies us by His death, the Messiah.

Paul is connecting the O.T. dots together in a way they have never heard or considered before. Some will be amazed, some will be outraged.
(for example: My Aunt Shirley said “I have never heard it explained that way before” and she was a life long catholic when I shared the gospel with her)

40 “Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you:

41 ‘BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.’”

(Habakkuk 1:5) is now quoted to remind the listeners that, just as there was consequence to disobeying and ignoring the Word of the Lord (at the hand of the Chaldeans), there is consequence as well to ignoring this Word of the Lord, Jesus Himself.

Habakkuk 2:4 but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness

42 ¶ As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath.

43 Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God.

44 ¶ The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord.

45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.

Why does God allow these Jews to oppose the work Paul and Barnabas are doing?

Isn’t this a work of God ?

Isn’t God supposed to make things go smoothly when we obey Him ?

46 Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

Jews first, gentiles second (as he will later write in Rom 1:16)

Deuteronomy 7:6–7 tells us the Jews are God’s chosen people

Genesis 22:18; 26:4 tells us God intended to use Israel to bless all the nations of the earth

47 “For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.’”

This references God commanding the chosen people to be a light to the entire planet, and not to isolate themselves as they had done.

Specifically Acts 1;8
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

48 ¶ When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

49 And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.

50 But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.

51 But they shook off the dust of their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.

What is this “shaking the dust off their feet” about ?

In Biblical times, when leaving Gentile cities, pious Jews often shook the dust from their feet to show their separation from Gentile practices.^[^{citation needed}^]If the disciples shook the dust of a Jewish town from their feet, it would show their separation from Jews who rejected their Messiah. The gesture was to show the people that they were making a wrong choice. The opportunity to choose Christ might not present itself again. According to the New Testament, when Jesus called his twelve disciples, he sent them into Jewish lands and told them, in a reversal, to perform the same act against the non-believing Jews (Matthew 10:14), and “it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Matthew 10:15).

52 And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Why did Paul and Barnabas go to Antioch, Syria ? or to Cyprus ? or to Asia Minor ?

(After all, if God want these gentiles to hear the gospel , He can bring them to Judea)

Prioritization of the great commission results in: