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Acts 13:28-52  It is Necessary That the Word First Be Spoken to Babylon

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Acts 13:28-52  It is Necessary That the Word First Be Spoken to Babylon

[Study Aired April 30, 2023]

Act 13:28  And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.
Act 13:29  And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
Act 13:30  But God raised him from the dead:
Act 13:31  And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
Act 13:32  And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
Act 13:33  God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
Act 13:34  And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.
Act 13:35  Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Act 13:36  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
Act 13:37  But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
Act 13:38  Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
Act 13:39  And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Act 13:40  Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;
Act 13:41  Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
Act 13:42  And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Act 13:43  Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
Act 13:44  And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Act 13:45  But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
Act 13:46  Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Act 13:47  For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
Act 13:48  And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Act 13:49  And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
Act 13:50  But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.
Act 13:51  But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.
Act 13:52  And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

In our last study, Paul and Barnabas had just arrived in Pisidian Antioch and had entered the local synagogue where they were invited to speak:

Act 13:13  Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.
Act 13:14  But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.
Act 13:15  And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.

These verses demonstrate the veracity of James’ statement when he concluded that the Jews were still under the law in chapter 15:

Act 15:19  Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
Act 15:20  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Act 15:21  For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

The consensus of the apostles and elders was that the Gentiles were not under the law of Moses, but the Jews were still expected to keep the law of Moses which… “Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.” The apostles themselves were still very much attached to the temple in Jerusalem and were still tithing to the Levites, circumcising, and offering blood sacrifices. They were still observing all the Jewish holy days and all the laws concerning the eating of only clean meats and zealously keeping all the laws of Moses.

Act 21:20  And when they heard it [What the Lord was doing among the Gentiles through Paul’s
ministry], they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

The point being, they did not yet see the synagogue as a great harlot from whom they must separate themselves. The apostles themselves, at this point and throughout the book of Acts, considered Judaism and the law of Moses to be the same as the law of Christ. Hence “Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues ever sabbath day” was a very positive thing in the eyes of James and all the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.

The reformation had to start somewhere, and this first journey will help us to see the beginning of “the reformation”:

Heb 9:10  Which stood [the temple and all of its Mosaic rituals] only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

When we closed our last study, Paul was in the process of reviewing the history of his nation to those in the synagogue there in Antioch in Pisidia. He began his review from the time the Lord had brought Israel up out of the bondage of Egyptian slavery. He reviewed how the Lord had brought Israel through the wilderness, had displaced seven nations in the promised land, how Israel had lived for four hundred and fifty years under the judges, had then been given a king named ‘Saul’ for forty years, and then the Lord had replaced King Saul with King David, who is a physical ancestor of Christ.

This is where Paul was in our last study:

Act 13:23  Of this man’s seed [King David] hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:
Act 13:24  When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
Act 13:25  And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.
Act 13:26  Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.
Act 13:27  For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

Notice that everywhere Paul and Barnabas travel, they assume that the people in the synagogues are already familiar with the story of the miraculous events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist. They knew that John’s father was a priest serving in the temple, who had been struck with being dumb until John was born and named. They were familiar with the preaching of John the Baptist and the fact that John had proclaimed that Jesus was “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world”:

Joh 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Joh 1:36  And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

His life, His ministry, His miracles and the death and His resurrection had already become common knowledge among all the Jews in all the synagogues. However, it was not necessarily believed by the Jews, and the true significance of the death and resurrection of Christ was certainly not yet realized except by a very few.

Paul continues with his sermon in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch:

Act 13:28  And though they found no cause of death in him [Christ], yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.
Act 13:29  And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
Act 13:30  But God raised him from the dead:
Act 13:31  And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.

Verse 31 is a confirmation of Peter’s testimony at the house of Cornelius, that Christ, after His resurrection, had not revealed Himself to the whole nation of Israel but only to faithful witnesses:

Act 10:39  And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
Act 10:40  Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;
Act 10:41  Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.

Both Peter and Paul and Barnabas mention Christ knowing that their audience was already familiar with what had happened in Jerusalem, resulting in the crucifixion and death of Christ, following three-and one-half years of healing multitudes of people of all their afflictions:

Mat 4:24  And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

Luk 4:40  Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

Luk 6:17  And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;

Christ was the celebrity of His day because everyone had heard of Him.

Act 13:32  And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
Act 13:33  God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

Here is the section of the Psalm to which Paul refers:

Psa 2:6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
Psa 2:7  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

This is the understanding of these verses which many Jewish Rabbis have until this very day:

Notice what this widely respected Rabbi confesses:

This is the Babylonian doctrine of Paul’s day. This is the mindset Paul and Barnabas were dealing with. If John’s witness to whom Christ was, had not been so well known… if Christ’s death and resurrection had not been so well documented, and if all His miracles and all the miracles of His apostles had not been accomplished and displayed in such miraculous and undeniable ways, the gospel of Jesus Christ would never have been accepted by anyone, especially anyone in Judaism. The works of the risen Christ were done in a way that the public was made aware of the veracity of His resurrection. Losing your prisoners on two occasions after publicizing their capture is very hard to deny or hide.

The arrest and imprisonment of all the apostles was public knowledge as was their supernatural deliverance, and their brazen return to the temple to teach the people.

Act 5:18  And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.
Act 5:19  But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,
Act 5:20  Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

Their most respected rabbi, Gamaliel, advised the priests and elders against doing any harm to the apostles. There was no denying or hiding what Christ was doing.

Peter’s apprehension by Herod after the slaying of the apostle James, the son of Zebedee, and then his miraculous deliverance from prison, happened during the days of unleavened bread while there were Jews in Jerusalem from all over the known world, and King Herod had made a big showing of his power to stifle this Jesus movement by killing the apostle James, and now King Herod wanted everyone to know that the apostle Peter was next, and yet Peter was not available for this very public trial before the Sanhedrin.

It was so humiliating that Herod had the guards all slain and then left town for Caesarea where he died being eaten by worms. This was all known by everyone because it all happened during the days of unleavened bread, and so many pilgrims were in Jerusalem and heard about and saw what happened. Christ was showing the whole world at that time that He was very much alive and working His own will in the kingdoms of men.

Saul of Tarsus had even had a very active part in the efforts of the chief priests and the elders in Jerusalem to destroy this new and growing movement, and now the Lord had converted the most zealous Jew on earth who had been intent on stomping out this perceived heresy.

All that zeal was now being used by the Lord to proclaim His gospel to this dark and dying world. Saul had been given the inspiration to pronounce blindness upon the false prophet Elymas in Paphos, in the presence of the governor of the island of Cyprus, and the governor had become a believer. At that time Saul’s name, meaning ‘asked of’ or ‘desired of’, reflected what Saul had done in requesting letters from the high priest at Jerusalem to go outside of Israel seeking to destroy the followers of Christ.

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

His name is then changed to Paul, which means ‘small’ or ‘little’. It may or may not reflect his physical stature, but it certainly reflected how he now thought of himself as ‘chief of sinners’:

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

The Lord has now prepared a knowledgeable soldier to do battle for Himself, so here we go:

Act 13:34  And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

The phrase “the sure mercies of David” is quoted from:

Isa 55:3  Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Act 13:35  Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

“Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” is quoted from:

Psa 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. (ASV)

The word ‘corruption’ is translated from the Greek word, ‘shacath’ H7845, and it is defined as “a pit” and Strong’s tells us that it can refer to corruption or to the other Hebrew word, ‘sheol’ which is defined specifically as the grave, or “the world of the dead”.

The Jewish Rabbis teach that the words of Psalms 16:10 apply to King David, even though, as Peter also pointed out on the day of Pentecost:

Act 2:29  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Act 13:36  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
Act 13:37  But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

As we demonstrated earlier, nothing in the history of mankind was more affirmed and proven by the facts than was the death and resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ.

Act 13:38  Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
Act 13:39  And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

From what could not the law of Moses give us justification? From all the sins worthy of death, which were prescribed by the law of Moses, that law could not justify – sins like murder, adultery, apostasy and blasphemy.

This statement by Paul was music to the ears of many Jewish proselytes because, as Peter told all the elders at the Jerusalem conference:

Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Act 15:11  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

Paul continued his discourse in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch:

Act 13:40  Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;
Act 13:41  Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

These words are quoted from:

Hab 1:5  Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

The context, as always, leads you to the conclusion that Habakkuk is prophesying about the coming Babylonian captivity:

Hab 1:6  For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

The holy spirit, through Paul, reveals that these words of Habakkuk are primarily referring to the work Christ is doing within us, giving them a far deeper meaning than being outwardly conquered by a foreign nation.

Act 13:42  And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.

The Gentile proselytes loved those words… “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard…” The Gentile proselytes loved the words “…ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (vs 39).  The Gentiles are on the verge of coming out from under the law of Moses, and the Jews want them to stay right where they are and to be circumcised “after the manner of Moses”.

Act 15:1  And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

Act 13:43  Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
Act 13:44  And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Act 13:45  But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

The detractors were saying all those things we just read about how a Jew should answer a Christian. They were “contradicting and blaspheming” every word of Paul and Barnabas. We need not go back over how the Jews until this very day are blinded to the spiritual meaning of their own scriptures. It is they, and all those who are still under the law, to whom the scriptures are a stumbling block:

Rom 11:9  And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:

1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.

Act 13:46  Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Act 13:47  For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

The proclamation that Christ was “to be a light to the Gentiles” is repeated by the prophet Simeon when Christ’s parents brought Him up to Jerusalem as a baby to be dedicated to the Lord according to the law of Moses:

Luk 2:22  And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
Luk 2:23  (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
Luk 2:24  And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
Luk 2:25  And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Luk 2:26  And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
Luk 2:27  And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Luk 2:28  Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
Luk 2:29  Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
Luk 2:30  For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Luk 2:31  Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
Luk 2:32  A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Luk 2:33  And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.

Simeon was quoting a prophecy concerning Christ in Isaiah:

Isa 42:1  Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Isa 42:2  He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
Isa 42:3  A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
Isa 42:4  He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Isa 42:5  Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
Isa 42:6  I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
Isa 42:8  I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
Isa 42:9  Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Act 13:48  And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Act 13:49  And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
Act 13:50  But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.

Popularity for Christ and His Christ in this present time is fleeting. “The whole city” can come together all excited to hear what you have to say on one day, and the very next day they can all turn on you and expel you out of their coasts. We will see this in an even more striking way when the apostle Paul and Barnabas go to the city of Lystra in a future study.

Act 14:18  And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.
Act 14:19  And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.

There it is! Their own disciples wanted to worship them in verse 18, and then stoned Paul in verse 19. Christ has given us specific instructions about how to respond to being rejected:

Mat 10:14  And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

Act 13:51  But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.

However, knowing the Lord had foretold them to expect such a reception, the apostles were not at all discouraged:

Act 13:52  And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

That is part of our joy until this very day:

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

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