With the gospel of Jesus Christ now spreading
out of the land of Israel, Paul and his fellow-travelers became the emphasis
of the movement. Luke will follow Paul out of Antioch on his three recorded
missionary journeys, his two trips to Jerusalem, and finally to Rome. He
tells of Paul’s continual persecutions, his temptation, and the glory of
experiencing the manifestation of Jesus Christ in the preaching of the
gospel. It, also, is the history of the continuing work of Jesus (the Acts)
in the lives of humanity.
The story begins in this second section of the Acts in Antioch approximately
300 miles straight north of Jerusalem. Within the gathering of the believers
at Antioch there were certain "prophets and teachers." By
implication (the fact that one of the terms, prophets, is not translated but
transliterated and the other term, teachers, is a translation), these were
probably not two different groups of "gifted men," the prophets
and the teachers.
"Prophets and teachers" is probably a reference to what was
actually occurring in Barnabas, Simeon, Niger, Lucius, and Paul. Being
"prophets," they were the channel through which God would speak
thereby enabling the people to be taught of God (teaching was occurring). By
what God was doing in and through the lives of these five men, they were
"prophets and teachers."
Since the last sixteen chapters of the Acts is the story of God manifesting
Himself in the lives of men, perhaps it would be beneficial to exams
prophets and teachers a little closer. The temptation that Paul will face in
his first journey, and the temptation that all men will face, is to assume
that the prophet and teacher is somebody in his own right. It is as if the
work of God through a person always tempts that person to believe that he
had something to do with the work of God. The truth of the matter is that
all men are "of like passions" (Acts of the Apostles 14:15) and do
not deserve, earn, or merit the working of God in their lives. God always
come down to man to save him.
The "prophet" of the New Testament was not like the prophet of the
Old Testament. When he does function in the same way (as the prophet of the
Old Testament), he is actually functioning not in the more excellent way but
in a lesser or childish way (1 Corinthians 12-13). Although God does speaks
forth through the prophet (in both Old and New) to the people, it is not
what God intended. God desires to speak face to face with every man. When
man is not where he is supposed to be in Jesus (immature or childish), he
will need prophecy.
The writer of Hebrews reveals the difference between then and now:
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the
worlds" (Hebrews 1:1,2). With the coming of Jesus Christ into the
world, God desires to speak to every man by and through His Son. The
actuality of the events of the Day of Pentecost is the coming of the Holy
Spirit into the lives of every man to teach them all truth (John 14:26).
John even added, "But the anointing which ye have received of him
abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same
anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even
as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him (1 John 2:27).
The struggle of the early church (especially in Corinth) and the struggle of
the succeeding generations of the church to handle prophecy is actually
mirrored in a conflict in the Old Testament. The brother and sister of
Moses, Aaron and Miriam, were anger at him because he had married an
Ethiopian. The issue they raised to speak against Moses, however, was
"Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses?" (Numbers 12:1). In
other words, "Is Moses the only prophet?"
God’s answer to their question is quite revealing. In the struggle of
prophets and their speaking, God said this, "Hear now my words: If
there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in
a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream" (Numbers 12:6).
Concerning Moses, He said, "With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even
apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall
he behold . . ." (Numbers 12:8). Perhaps, one of the reasons why
believers have struggled down through the ages is that they have been
hearing God through the interpretation of a prophet rather than hearing God
mouth to mouth, face to face, or heart to heart. With the coming of Jesus
Christ, God desires for his people not to see "through a glass
darkly" (1 Corinthians 13:12) but face to face that they might be
changed "even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 3:18).
It is imperative to hear God face to face for the hearing of God Himself
carries the power to change the hearer’s life. The power is actually in
the hearing , the learning of God. Thus, when the New Testament prophet
speaks in the manner that enable Jesus to be heard and not the prophet, the
teaching of God and by God occurs. Paul caught the significance of the true
teacher when he wrote to the Ephesians. He told the Ephesians that the only
way they could learn Christ was, "If so be that ye have heard him, and
have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus" (Ephesians 4:21).
The New Testament prophet is merely the channel through which God speaks
enabling the hearer to hear Jesus and not the prophet. He is "prophet
and teacher."
The significance of hearing Jesus face to face can be illustrated again by
an Old Testament incidence. God told Moses to "Gather me the people
together, and I will make them hear my words [Jesus is the manifestation of
that word in the flesh], that they may learn to fear me all the days that
they shall live upon the earth" (Deuteronomy 4:10). It would be only
the hearing of the words of God face to face (Deuteronomy 5:4) that would
produce the fear of God in the people. Unfortunately, they did not want to
hear God face to face and so Moses "stood between the Lord and [the
people] at that time" (Deuteronomy 5:5). Consequently, the children of
Israel struggled all the days of their life in their lack of fearing God.
The emphasis on the Word and the Word alone is illustrated by the warning
that God gave the people when He spoke to them at Horeb. Moses recorded,
And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the
voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he
declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even
ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone . . . Take ye
therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on
the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the
fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image . . . .
(Deuteronomy 4:12-16)
The people heard the voice of the words but saw nothing.
After they had heard the voice, God warned them not to corrupt themselves by
making a graven image. The danger for the children of Israel was that they
would be tempted to make a graven image out of what God said, the Ten
Commandments. They heard only the voice and saw nothing, yet they did
exactly as God warned them not to do. By the time the Word was manifested in
the flesh (the coming of Jesus), the Children of Israel had made an idol out
of the Ten Commandments and was actually worshiping and serving them. This product
of the words of the Father had such a hold upon them that they missed the
living Word when He came.
The visible church in every generation is faced with the same challenge. For
example, there is no question concerning the praying and fasting that the
gathering of the believers at Antioch were doing. Praying and fasting by the
early believers in the Acts continually happened. They were the product of
Jesus, however, being manifested in their lives. So consumed by Jesus their
thoughts (their prayers) were constantly on Jesus. So consumed by Jesus
there was little thought of natural food. They were a praying and fasting
people.
The succeeding generations of the visible church, however, have many times
made an image out of praying and fasting. They are actually bowing down to
them, serving them, and yet wondering why the same results as recorded in
the Acts of the Apostles are not happening. By believing that praying and
fasting will produce something in their lives, they are making it the means
by which they get what is needed from God. Praying and fasting have become
an idol of which they find themselves bowing at its feet.
In the lives of all believers, God will produce praying and fasting as He
did with the commandments. Too many times, however, the focus is shifted
upon the praying and the fasting and off of the God who produces the praying
and the fasting. A right relationship with God will always produce praying
and fasting. Praying and fasting, however, can never produce a right
relationship with God. Jesus Christ is the only way to God.
Jesus was being manifested in the lives of the believers at Antioch. The
same Lord that produced the fasting and praying said, "Separate me
Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." The
separation and calling of Barnabas and Saul meant only that they were not to
stay in Antioch. Unfortunately, how it is often understood is that Barnabas
and Saul had a special "calling" and the others did not. All men
are called and all men have a work of which God will perform in their lives.
Barnabas and Saul were not only to stay in Antioch. They would be sent out
from the fellowship of the believers in Antioch. This is the implication of
"and when they fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they
sent them away" (13:3). With separate meaning "to set off
by boundary, i.e. (figuratively) limit, exclude, appoint," the
fellowship at Antioch would have to set Barnabas and Saul fully free
(literal meaning of sent away).
Since the all inclusive characteristic of the New Testament believers was
joyfulness, this calm delight in experiencing Jesus in the fellowship of the
believers would cause them to want to stay in the fellowship. The believers
in Antioch would desire to keep Barnabas and Saul with them. The
experiencing of Jesus in the lives of Barnabas and Saul would cause the
fellowship to not want to give them up.
The manifestation of Jesus in Antioch, however, produced a more excellent
way for those believers . After the Holy Spirit spoke and after much fasting
and praying, they imposed (literal meaning of laid) upon Barnabas and
Saul to set them free to leave. True love will always set the beloved free.
Barnabas and Saul were sent on their way with the full blessings of the
fellowship in Antioch.
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