Acts 13:14-41

Chapter 40

Prayer

Almighty God, there are sounds of joy in thy house today. Surely the marriage feast of the Lamb is ready! Thou hast taken us up to the top of a mountain, and has shown unto us in the vision of faith the cloudless land. Thou dost surprise us oftentimes with a sight of the beautiful country. Suddenly the night shineth as the day, and the day is made sevenfold in brightness. Sometimes thou dost make us tread upon the grave with holy scorn, taunting it because its victory is lost. These things thou causest to pass before us in Christ Jesus, the Child of Bethlehem, the Man of the Cross. In him we see all things; he is the open door into heaven. He is the revelation of thy person, and brightness and glory. In him is the fulness of the Godhead. His look is light. If we may but touch the hem of his garment, we shall be made whole. If he will but breathe upon us, this breathing shall be the gift of peace. Lord Jesus, make thy Church glad! Come to her in any form she can bear to look upon, either in great degradation, or in might and glory; in mortal agony, or in great strength and pomp. Come as thou wilt, and as we are able to bear the sight, and make thy Church this day glad with infinite joy. Thou knowest how long we have trembled in the dark cloud. Thou hast numbered the days of the bitter wind that has blown around our shrinking life. Thou knowest how often we have found the garden to be a wilderness; now come with the angels, and with the heavens of light, and let thy Church this day sit down at her Lord's banquet and feel that his banner over her is love. We are weary of the world, we have drunk its cup, and found it shallow and bitter; we are now stirred by new inspirations which would lay hold of the heavens, and apply to the wounds of time the balm of immortality. Still we would be patient, though the road is full of sharp stones and turns that make us dizzy by their suddenness and violence. Still we would say now at the cradle, now at the grave The Lord's will be done, for it alone is good. Give us such a hold of thyself in Christ, such a grip of essential truth and everlasting reality as shall make us strong, solid, noble in character, beneficent and redeeming in spirit and in action. May we separate ourselves from the world by distances that shall amaze ourselves. May we know the meaning of the contradictions which we find in Christ, who, though on earth, was in heaven; who, having no food, had bread enough and to spare; who, being a root out of a dry ground, was the flower of Jesse and the plant of renown. Lead us away from the narrow and the small and the contemptible, and may we count as our riches the gold of heaven, and our inheritance the very breadth of thine own infinity. We come in the name of Jesus, the name to sinners dear! He makes our life a beginning, our death a transient shadow, our heaven sympathy with God. Into this heaven we would now pass by the sacred way of the Cross. We will say, "Not our will, but thine be done." Lord, do we say it well, with the lips of the heart, and with the accent of all-believing love? or, is it some letter we have learned, and which we utter with the mouth only? Write it in our hearts; make it part of our very life; may it be to our thirst the wine of heaven, and to our hunger the bread of life. Give us triumph as well as peace, joy that sings and shouts, and calls for organ and trumpet and mighty power of utterance to give it expression. We could not live alway in this high rapture, but if now we could but feel its inspiration, in one moment we should forget the sorrow of a lifetime, and anticipate the heaven beyond the riv. The Lord give us bread to eat. Lead us to living fountains of water, wipe away all tears from our eyes. Make us wise to redeem the time and do the work of life, and at the last may we meet those who have gone before, and those who are coming after, and the whole host of the Lamb in the Chamber where the feast is spread and where the gladness never ends. Amen.

Act 13:14-41

14. But they, passing through from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia [one of the many cities built by Seleucus Nicanor, and named after his father Antiochus], and they went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. [The act implied that they were not listeners only, but teachers. They sat in the seat of the Rabbi, and thus showed that they asked for permission to address the congregation.]

15. And after the reading of the law and the prophets [the order of the lessons was fixed by a kind of calendar] the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them [it was part of the duty of the elders to offer persons in such a position the opportunity of addressing the assembly], saying, Brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.

16. And Paul stood up, and beckoning with the hand [a gesture of waving rather than of beckoning, as if requesting silence], said [almost certainly in Greek], Men of Israel, and ye that fear God [the latter being those who, though in the synagogue, were of heathen origin], hearken.

17. The God of this people Israel [a speech, as we formerly hinted, modelled upon the plan of Stephen's great apology] chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they sojourned in the land of Egypt [they were exalted in the sense of being innumerably multiplied], and with a high arm led them forth out of it.

18. And for about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness [the Greek word translated "suffered" differs by a single letter only from one which signifies to carry as a father carries his child, and that word is used in many of the better MSS. versions.]

19. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land for an inheritance,

20. for about four hundred and fifty years: and after these things he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

21. And afterward they asked for a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin [the very tribe to which Paul himself belonged], for the space of forty years [the duration of the reign is not given in the Old Testament],

22. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king; to whom also he bare witness, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse [the words that follow are a composite quotation, after the manner of the Rabbis, made up of Psalms 89:20 , and 1Sa 13:14 ], a man after my heart, who shall do all my will.

23. Of this man's seed hath God according to promise brought unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus [even in those remote regions of Pisidia there was some vague knowledge of the life and death of Christ];

24. When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

25. And as John was fulfilling his course [the tense implies continuous action], he said, What suppose ye that I am [the question is inferred from the substance of the answer, Matthew 3:10 ; Joh 1:20-21 ]? I am not he. But behold, there cometh one after me, the shoes of whose feet I am not worthy to unloose.

26. Brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you that fear God [the two classes, as before, are pointedly contrasted], to us is the word of this salvation sent forth [the demonstrative pronoun connects the salvation with the Jesus just named: the expression "this salvation" recalls the corresponding terms, "this life," Act 5:20 ].

27. For they that dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath [the Apostle appeals to the synagogue ritual itself, which had just been read, in proof of what he was stating], fulfilled them by condemning him.

28. And though they found no cause of death in him [he had been technically condemned on the charge of blasphemy], yet asked they of Pilate that he should be slain [seeking to terrify him by the suggestion that acquittal would mean treason to Cæsar].

29. And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of him [unconsciously to themselves], they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb.

30. But God raised him from the dead:

31. And he was seen for many days [he speaks as one who had personally conversed with the eye-witnesses] of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are [now] his witnesses unto the people [literally, the people of God].

32. And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers,

33. how that God hath fulfilled the same unto our children, in that he raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm [in some copies of the Old Testament what is now the first psalm was treated as a kind of prelude to the whole book, the enumeration beginning with what is now the second ], Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee [the first fulfilment was in a victorious king the final and complete fulfilment in Christ].

34. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption [ Psa 16:10 ], he has spoken on this wise, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.

35. Because he saith also in another psalm, Thou wilt not give thy Holy One to see corruption.

36. For David, after he had in his own generation served [ministered to] the counsel of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

37. But he whom God raised up saw no corruption.

38. Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins:

39. And by him every one that believeth is justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

40. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken in the prophets;

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, if one declare it unto you.

Paul's First Recorded Speech

"PAUL and Barnabas went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down." They did not violently separate themselves from old traditions and religious companionships. Christianity has no battle with Judaism. Surely the Christian is not the enemy of the Jew; he owes everything precious in his civilization, and precious in his hope, to the Jew, and therefore to hold angry controversy with him would be to display an unappreciative and an unjust disposition of spirit. There was a custom in the synagogue which we have not in the Christian Church. The rulers of the synagogue, noticing distinguished persons in the audience, would almost invariably send to them or speak to them, saying If you wish to address the assembly, we shall be glad to hear you. The lessons of the day were read, the grand lessons from the Old Testament, for then there was no other covenant, and then the rulers of the synagogue would say to distinguished-looking men in the assembly If you have anything to say to the people, say on. There is singular dignity and nobleness in that arrangement; a fearlessness which does not seem to characterize the spirit of the Church in which we live. Who dares now throw the meeting open to any stranger who may have come within its four corners? In the olden time they seemed to believe that the Word was its own defence, that the fire of the Lord would disinfect whatever it touched, and that to be in the synagogue was to be reverent, deeply religious, and loyal to the spirit of the house. These things have all changed. Men can be in the Christian Church in an un-Christian spirit. The mere verbalist; yes, and even the mocker, may find his way into the church, and might be only too glad to have an opportunity impertinently and rudely to contradict what he did not understand. The usual challenge having been given, PAUL stood up. That was an event in history. No other standing up was equal to it. In that brief sentence you have the beginning of a battle which was concluded with these words "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness!" Paul did not stand up by himself. Men are lifted up. Every action of the loyal life is an action of inspiration. The good man lays no plans, and makes no arrangements which can exclude the sudden and incalculable inspiration of God. Having written his outline of purpose and thought, he says "I hold this merely as a trustee, it is not mine, it is God's, I may never look at it more. I will cry mightily and lovingly to Heaven and ask for direction, and according to the word of the Lord I will do." You cannot plan an outline that will exactly, hold God's inspiration. You cannot outline what you will finally do. Let the publicans, the pagans, forecast and determine and draw the geometrical figures within which their movements may be described, but the Christian always goes out without knowing whither he is going, except that he is going with God! To that high faith not many souls have come; we are still in the infant school of prudence and calculation; not in the high school of inspiration and madness.

This is Paul's first recorded speech. He has been talking before; yes, and he has been mightily persuading the Jews that the Man whom he preaches is Christ, but this is his first recorded statement of Jewish history and Christian faith. I like to be present at beginnings. There is a subtle, tender, mysterious joy about planting roots and sowing seed, covering it up and leaving it in the darkness; then what a surprise it is to come back in due time and find the green lancet puncturing the soil and coming up to look at the light it has been groping for all the while! Sometimes our first speeches were very poor because they were our own. We made them, we wrote them out, graved them upon the unwilling memory, and they were like something put on, not growing out; and so we begged our friends who were unhappy enough to be able to quote some portions of them to forget them if they could! But the first speeches of the Christian defender were incapable of improvement. They were as complete as the fiat of God which said "Let there be light: and there was light." There was no emendation, no correction of words, no reconstruction of phrases, no mechanical tinkering of the grand utterance. When Stephen opened his mouth and spoke to the wondering assembly, he himself was more surprised by the eloquence than any man that heard it. Surely Paul will grow in speaking power? No! Surely he will at first be timid and stumbling and incorrect, and people will say It is a maiden effort, but by-and-by he may become a tolerable speaker? No! How do you account for that?

Paul based his apology on the model of Stephen. When he performed his first miracle, which we saw in our last reading, it was a miracle modelled on Christ's transaction with himself on the way to Damascus. As we said before, he probably thought that there was only one miracle that could be done, and that was to smite the offending man with temporary blindness. And now perhaps he thinks there is but one speech to be made! Is not this speech modelled on the lines of Stephen's, which great speech Saul heard? We cannot tell of what elements our life is made up. It is no one shower of rain that makes the summer green. We are gathering from every point all day long; we are daily at school, and every providence that passes before us leaves some impress on our life. Paul was no student of rhetoric when he listened to Stephen; but Stephen's speech, like all vital speech, got into the man, and became part of his intellectual and spiritual life. He never forgot that speech! When he wanted to put his fingers in his ears and shut out the thundering eloquence, he could not exclude the resounding tone! Paul began as Stephen did, with a narrative of Jewish history. To their credit be it spoken, the Jews were never tired of hearing their own history. Whenever a speaker arose in Jewish society determined to carry a specific point, he came with all the background of Jewish history, and under the influence of recollections heroic and thrilling, he endeavored to carry the immediate point of the occasion. One might have expected that the Jews would have become weary of hearing their history time after time, but historians record it to their credit that they were always ready to hear the living story again. Are we patient under the citation of the facts which make up our history? We cannot live in sentiment. You cannot build a castle in the air that you can live in; it must be founded upon rock, however high up into the air you may carry it. This was the great law of Jewish eloquence and Jewish appeal; basing the whole argument upon the rock of undisputed history. Do not some of us occasionally say, "Tell me the old, old story of Jesus and his love"? therein we are partly Jewish that is our story! As the Jews began from the formation of themselves as a people, we begin at Bethlehem, and in proportion as we are in the right spirit and temper, we are never tired of hearing the old, old story; it brings its own dew with it, like every morning in the year. When we are tired of hearing that story the kingdom of heaven amongst men will come to a standstill in its halting progress.

Notice in this speech what we may call Paul's grip of GOD. I know not any speech of the same length in which the sacred word occurs so frequently. Gather the phrases together, and see if this be not so: God chose our fathers; God destroyed seven nations; God gave them judges; God gave them Saul; God raised unto Israel a Saviour; God raised him from the dead; God , God, GOD! That man can never be put down! When he dies he will die a victor, and in his last speech will he make mention of a crown of glory. The factor we have omitted from our sermons is only GOD! We are afraid or ashamed of his name; we pronounce it hesitatingly, mincingly, timidly. Paul did not use it so; he hurled it like a thunderbolt; he measured everything by that grand standard. All through history he saw a Figure after the similitude of God. You can dislodge a man from any position but that, but once in the munitions of rocks, once really hidden in the very centre of the sanctuary of the Divine presence and providence, a man treats so-called "great questions" as a drop of a bucket, he takes up the isles as a very little thing, he sits with God on the circle of the earth and all things pompous and great, and in figure dominating and forceful, he stands back in the shadow of a sublime contempt! We lose hold of history when we lose hold of God.

As we find Stephen's character in Stephen's apology, so we may find Paul's character in Paul's exposition. Mark his courtesy " Paul stood up, and, beckoning with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience." He was no rough intruder; no rude annotator had found his way to the synagogue that day, but a gentleman born, and indestructible, all through and through, polite, refined, courteous, gentlemanly. His tact is most wonderful; he notices how the assembly is made up he is a poor speaker who takes no note of his hearers; he must, without staring, take in the whole company; he must take the census, intellectual and moral, and know who is before him. Paul saw not only the Jews, but the Greeks and proselytes, who, wearied with the absurdities of polytheism, had come to believe there was One God, a spiritual, invisible, eternal God! So Paul accosted both classes, "Men of Israel" always distinguishable, never to be confounded with others "and ye that fear God" converted from mythology to true spirituality of thought "give audience." How delicately he puts the case in the twenty-seventh verse; speaking of the dwellers at Jerusalem and their rulers, he said, "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." They knew not the voice of the prophets; they heard the letter, they did not know the inner and spiritual meaning. We do not read a book when we peruse its pages as to its mere lines and letters. Sometimes we read a book by reading only one page of it; we know we have the soul of it in our soul, and all the gamut of its music repeats itself in our sympathetic ear. Sometimes we read a book right through and know nothing about it. Pre-eminently is this so with the Bible. It is possible to read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation and to know nothing about its secret soul, for it is a book of analogue and parable and suggestion, and not literal meaning, having about it a mystery greater than itself; not a fact, but a truth; not a point, but a circle.

How wondrously Paul introduced the right way of quoting Scripture. There is hardly a quotation which he makes here which is not a double or treble quotation turned into one. For example, in referring to David, Paul says that God gave testimony and said, "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfil all my will." That passage cannot be found in the Old Testament; it is at least three passages made into one. It is all in the Bible, but is in no one place in the Scripture. He does not quote the Bible who quotes mere texts. Those texts in their isolation may or may not be in the Bible; the Bible is larger than any one text that is in it. There is a spirit of collocation and a spirit of quotation, a Bible- spirit that can bring from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south lines that shall focalize in one intense and dazzling glory. Away, literalists and word-mongers, and text-quoters, unless they have in them the spirit which sees how lines converge and focalize, and how scattered parts sum themselves up into one massive doctrine. Paul's voice surely had a quiver in it which no reporter could catch for in reports we do not get the tonic colour and force of speech when he said "God gave unto them SAUL, a man of the tribe of BENJAMIN." There he repeated his own name; his name was Saul, and his tribe was Benjamin, and as he himself had changed the Saul into Paul, and gone over to the Christian host, he would call others to a new name and a new fellowship, the name of Christ and the fellowship of the whole world. Now, at the very beginning Paul is himself "Be it known unto you, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses." That is a new voice in the Church; that is a doctrinal teacher; justified, justified by the law: this is a new intellect, no other man has ever fought with these weapons. From this moment Christian speech acquires a new accent; new words are minted, new values are attached to old expressions. Here we have the logician, the philosopher, the theologian. This man will one day write an epistle "hard to be understood."