The spiritual conquest of Earth had already begun, with the gospel taking such a firm footing in Antioch among the Gentiles. From this beachhead against the Darkness, Our Lord sent out emissaries to offer terms to nearby areas. Thus, we have the first half of Paul's First Missionary Journey.
The church had sprouted a very strong crop of spiritual leaders. We are already familiar with Barnabas and Saul. Add to that a fellow named Simon, with a nickname meaning he was black, still rather rare in that area. Lucius was from Cyrene, and there was Manean. This latter was the official court playmate to Herod Antipas, and by custom could keep that title for life. These men were seeking the Lord specifically, and received guidance regarding Barnabas and Saul, who had been called as the first ambassadors of God to the Gentile world. After a time of confirmation, the men were dispatched.
After a short journey down to the port of nearby Seleucia, they took ship to Cyprus, Barnabas' home country. Typical of previous efforts, these two Hellenized Jewish Christians went to the synagogues. Luke notes John Mark assisted them. Having worked their way across the island, this being likely the spring of 45 AD, they stopped at the Roman headquarters city of Paphos. The imperial representative here was Sergius Paulus, and among his courtiers was a Jewish man claiming to be a prophet, who played at sorcery. His public name was "Son of Salvation," but he was also called Elymas ("Sorcerer"). When Sergius had invited our missionaries to share their message with him, Elymas realized it was the end of his free ride as court "wise man," and tried to hinder their appearance. Luke notes in passing Saul began using the Roman form of his name, Paul. Paul sharply reprimanded Elymas as a servant of Satan, and cursed him with temporary blindness to match his spiritual blindness. Sergius was impressed, and became quite absorbed in the gospel message.
From Cyprus, the trio sailed to the Roman region next door to Paul's hometown of Tarsus. Luke does not tell us why, but John Mark bailed out on the mission, returning to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Paul and Barnabas crossed the Taurus Mountains into southern Galatia, where another city named Antioch stood. As usual, they went to the synagogue there. As Jewish visitors, they were not unnoticed, and were invited to address the synagogue as was customary. Paul rises up to give a respectful greeting, then recounts a bit of history. The point was to emphasize how Jehovah had remained active from the very beginning of Israel's departure from Egypt. Despite the nation's apparent unworthiness, God had remained faithful to His promises. So they demanded and got a king. First Saul's sad reign, then David heralding the golden age of Israeli prominence.
The focus of all this was to bring about the birth of His Son and Messiah, Jesus. The herald, John the Baptist, boldly declared he came to point out the Messiah. While the leaders in Jerusalem rejected Him, this simply played into God's hands. They didn't understand the prophecies pointing to Jesus, and were thus surprised by His resurrection, which had also been prophesied. There were plenty of witnesses ready to back the claim of resurrection. It should have been obvious those prophecies about David were not literally about the ancient king, but about the Messiah, born of David's lineage. Jesus is now the one true sacrifice for sins, and in Him is a level of justification not possible under the Old Covenant, yet promised through it. Paul appealed for them to avoid the mistake of rejecting his message, quoting Habbakuk's warning of rejecting as hard to swallow a mighty miracle God had prepared.
Naturally, it was the Gentiles who were most interested in hearing more about this, lacking the vast hardened prejudice of the Jews. Not only did they beg the synagogue leaders to book Paul and Barnabas to speak at next week's meeting, but tagged along behind the men the rest of the week. Both men elaborated on what Paul had already said, stirring a very strong interest throughout the community. On the next Sabbath, it seemed the whole town had turned out for the meeting. This set the Jewish members on edge. A message meant for them was obviously going to include these unclean barbarians, provoking the ancient Jewish contempt for Gentiles. The threat of having their own kind deny their special standing with God was too much, and they began harassing Paul and Barnabas, contradicting the gospel message. Paul noted they came to the synagogue only to satisfy the command from Jesus to start with the Jews. Given their reception, Paul and Barnabas declared that obligation was fulfilled once and for all, and would no longer bother with Jews. This, too, was prophesied by Isaiah, whom Paul quotes as passing on the reminder from God Israel was meant to reach out to the Gentiles in the first place.
We can be sure the Gentiles in any city with a Jewish synagogue had already had their fill of self-righteous contempt when trying to answer the irresistible pull of God to seek Him. The Jews kept Gentiles at a distance, and pretended God did the same. Hearing this message of redemption was now theirs provoked a thrill hard to describe in the Gentile seekers. In a very short time, the gospel won converts in the entire region as the offer of Christ was carried by word of mouth. The region had been conquered by the divine love of God, and it was now the Jews who were left out. They stirred up political turmoil, propagandizing how Paul and Barnabas were a serious threat to social order and peace, so that the missionaries were expelled from the district. As commanded by God, the two men observed the ritual departure by shaking the very dust of that place off their sandals, lest the filth of sins cling to them. It hardly soured their mood, nor that of the Gentile converts they left in the region around Galatian Antioch.
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By Ed Hurst
25 July 2009
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