Acts 13:8-11 - You are a child of the devil

13:8,9

Elymas tried to interfere, not wanting the proconsul to listen to the gospel. Presumably he feared that if he did so, and believed the gospel, then Elymas would no longer be in favour. Saul took direct action! Note that it also says that he was filled with the Holy Spirit, so the action was approved off by God. It is also from this point onwards that Saul is now called Paul, the Roman version of his name. 

13:10,11

First Paul speaks very directly to Elymas telling him he is a “child of the devil” and is “full of all kinds of deceit and trickery”. There is no beating about the bush here, saying that he has “an interesting point of view, and his views must be respected”, which is the way our culture would probably address him! Then Paul takes an even more direct approach, he tells Elymas that he will be blind for a period of time. And so Elymas did indeed become blind, and totally blind. Now this raises interesting questions for us. Should this sort of thing happen today? Now, I think it is safe to say that it should not be a commonplace occurrence, but this is not the only occurrence of such an action. Nor does it mean that Paul did this on numerous occasions. He was thrown into prison or beaten up far more often than this sort of thing happened. However, we should not be totally closed off to it.

Judges 6:16-18 - I will be with you

6:16

“I will be with you”. When God involves us in His plans, and we choose to follow Him everything changes. All our past conceptions of who we are and how the world is become irrelevant. Jesus called on the disciples to “follow me”. Before the cross He tells them how the Holy Spirit will be with them. In the Great Commission He promises that “I will be with you until the end of the age”. Gideon would strike down all the Midianites.

6:17,18

Gideon is starting to believe, but still wants more “proof”. We can criticise Gideon for this, and it is true that it is far better if we just trust God. However, we should note that God goes along with Gideon’s requests. Gideon asks the angel of the Lord to remain while Gideon goes away to bring an offering. It seems that he is worried that it might all be a dream, a figment of his imagination.

Acts 13:4-7 - Sent on their way by the Holy Spirit

13:4,5

Barnabas and Saul went down to the port at Seleucia, about sixteen miles away, and then sailed to Cyprus. They landed at Salamis, which was the nearest port to Seleucia. John Mark was with them as their helper. Initially they preached the word of God in the synagogues. Jews had been dispersed through many places by various events in history. While Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, God had also told him that he would speak to Jews and Gentiles. Synagogues were a natural place to start as it is a place where he would have a chance to speak. Moreover, the general pattern was “first to Israel, then the Gentiles”.

13:6,7

Paphos was the seat of the Roman government and was about ninety miles away. There they met “a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus”. Later it becomes apparent that he was working under demonic influence. He is named because he was “an attendant of the proconsul”. Paul would preach to high and low. Bar-Jesus would try to frustrate Paul’s work. Luke speaks well of Sergius, and he wanted to hear the word of God.

Judges 6:14,15 - Go in the strength you have

6:14

The Lord tells Gideon to “go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”. How can Gideon going in his own strength do any good? But that is the point. He did not need to increase his own strength, rather he needed to trust in the Lord, to go in his own strength and the Lord’s strength. The focus needed to be on what God was doing. Note also that there is an almost equivalence between the “angel of the Lord” and the Lord. The angel was representing the Lord Himself.

6:15

Gideon does not understand what is truly being asked of him, the subtle but profound change that occurs when we start living out of the Lord’s strength and not just our own. He is still focused on himself, and so cannot see how he could possibly save Israel. Looking to his family is no help either, for his clan is the weakest, and he is the least in his family. It is not that our own strength and abilities do not matter. They do matter, for they are given to us by God, but we are meant to use them in fellowship with the Lord, following His lead. God involves us in what He is doing. It is more a matter of us getting involved in what God is doing, than God getting involved in what we are doing.

Acts 13:1-3 - There were prophets and teachers

13:1

The focus of Acts now turns largely to Paul;s missionary journeys. Events originated from the church at Antioch. Luke lists the prophets and teachers at the church. It isn’t clear whether the people named performed both ministries, or some were prophets and some teachers. Barnabas and Saul were the ones who would embark on the missions. Simeon and Lucius were from Africa. 

13:2,3

“While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting”. The more diligent we are in carrying out the normal duties of the Christian life, the more likely we are to hear God speak. This is what happened in the church at Antioch. The Holy Spirit told them to “set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. We are not told exactly how the Holy Spirit told them, just what He told them. It may have been through a prophet, and that seems to be the most likely, but the emphasis is on what He told them. Note that it is the Holy Spirit who is in charge, they were to be set apart for Him, and to do the work for which He has called them. The church responded quickly and Saul and Barnabas were sent off.

Judges 6:11-13 - The angel of the Lord came

6:11,12

We are now introduced to Gideon. Gideon is seen as something of a hero, and in some ways he is, but he is also a deeply conflicted character. At the outset he is presented as very timid. He does then carry out heroic acts, but he ends up in idolatry. Gideon is the son of Joash. Gideon was threshing wheat, and doing so in secret because of the oppression of the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and says “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior”. Now this did not fit with the current state of Gideon at all. But this is what he, and indeed all Israel, would be if they trusted in the Lord.

6:13

Gideon, understandably, questions the Lord, focusing on the Lord being with them, or rather it seemed as if the Lord was definitely not with them. They were currently oppressed by the Midianites, they had heard of the wonders God did in the past, but in the present day they saw nothing. It seemed as if the Lord had abandoned them. The reason for this was that the people had no love for the Lord, they were only concerned for their material well-being. We can be the same, but the Lord is concerned for our spiritual well being, from which material well being follows.

Acts 12:21-25 - But the word of the Lord continued to spread and flourish

12:21-23

Herod addressed the people, dressed in all his finery. The response of the people that Herod was a god probably does not represent what they actually thought, rather they were just flattering him because they needed his favour. Herod was struck by an angel. Why? Because he did not give glory to God. All rulers who are full of pride at some time come to a sticky end. Herod was “eaten by worms and died”. This implies that he died as a result of the worms, rather than the worms eating him after he died.

12:24

“But the word of God continued to spread and flourish”. Men may make all sorts of attempts to destroy the gospel, and there may well be a significant price to pay, but in the end the attempts will fail. In the examples here we see the direct intervention of God, in both cases sending a n angel. First to free Peter, secondly to kill Herod.

12:25

This verse arguably belongs with the next chapter, but the chapter divisions (which were not part of the original text) were not always put in the most logical places. The mission referred to here was the taking of the famine relief to Jerusalem. Paul (still referred to as Saul) and Barnabas return, and we are introduced to John Mark being with them, he was mentioned indirectly in 12:12.