Herod Agrippa became King after his uncle Herod Antipas died. He wanted to gain favor with the Jewish establishment quickly so in the first year of his reign he began arresting leaders of the Church in Jerusalem. He put James to death and imprisoned Peter with the hope of making a public spectacle of his trial after Passover.

Peter and John had walked out of prison with the help of an angel some years before so Agrippa put Peter under heavy guard. He was chained to two soldiers while two others stood outside his cell. The four-man squads were changed every six hours so the soldiers remained alert and ready for anything – but that didn’t stop God from releasing Peter.

“Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.” Acts 12:7

Peter thought he was dreaming as he followed the angel past the two sets of guards. The iron gate of the prison opened by itself and after a short walk, the angel disappeared. Peter came to his senses and said, “‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.’” Acts 12:11

Peter went to the home of Mary, mother of John Mark, and let his fellow believers know he was safe. Then he moved on to a safer place. The next morning there was trouble at the jail when it was discovered that Peter had escaped again. Sadly, Herod had the guards killed for failing in their duties.

The Death of Herod

King Herod Agrippa’s reign lasted only four years and he lived in Caesarea where he had business interests. The people of Tyre and Sidon who depended on Agrippa’s good will for their food supplies, arranged to meet with him to end a quarrel they had with him.

Agrippa sat on his throne in his royal robes and addressed the people. They flattered him by shouting: “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” (Acts 12:22) When the king accepted this praise as if he were a god, an angel of the Lord struck him down and he died from a worm infestation.

The Gospel continued to spread and flourish and none of this hindered its progress.

Led by the Holy Spirit

At the end of their first year of ministry at the church in Antioch Barnabas and Saul carried an offering for famine relief to Jerusalem. They came back with a young recruit named John Mark, and resumed their work. By now the Antioch church had several spiritually mature leaders whom Barnabas and Saul respected, so when the Holy Spirit spoke through them during a time of fasting and prayer, Barnabas and Saul listened.

“The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” Acts 13:2

The two new missionaries, with John Mark as their helper, followed the Holy Spirit to the port city of Seleucia and onto a ship bound for the island of Cyprus. Barnabas and Saul were both teachers, so they taught in one Jewish synagogue after another until they reached Paphos on the western edge of the island.

Elymas is Blinded

Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul at Paphos, sent for Barnabas and Saul so they could teach him the Word of the Lord. Paulus had an attendant named Elymas who was a sorcerer and had an evil spirit. This man actively opposed the missionaries’ preaching and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

“Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, ‘You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! . . . Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.’” Acts 13:9-11

A misty, blinding darkness came over Elymas and he had to depend upon others to guide him.

“When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.” Acts 13:12

Paul Preaches

It seems that Paul took the lead on the mission team after their time in Paphos, and young John Mark discovered he wasn’t quite ready for the life of a missionary.

“From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.” Acts 13:13

Paul and Barnabas continued overland to Pisidion Antioch where they went to the synagogue and listened to the reading of Scripture. The leaders of the synagogue said, “Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.” Acts 13:15

“Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: ‘Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!’” Acts 13:16

Paul then preached through the history of Israel, beginning with their sojourn in Egypt and continuing to King David. The he took a bold turn and said,

“From [David’s] descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised . . . We tell you good news: What God promised our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus . . . Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.” Acts 13:23-39

The people who heard Paul that day wanted to hear more so they asked Paul and Barnabas to return the following Sabbath.

“When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.” Acts 13:43

Mixed Response in Pisidion Antioch

The following Sabbath almost the whole city of Pisidion Antioch turned out to hear the word of the Lord.

“When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.” Acts 13:45

Paul and Barnabas didn’t back down in the face of this opposition.

“Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: ‘We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” Acts 13:46-47

The Jews were furious, but the Gentiles rejoiced when they heard this. The Gospel spread quickly through the region in spite of organized opposition from the Jewish leaders. Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet in Pisidion and moved on to Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.

The city of Iconium was divided over Paul and Barnabas’s message. The missionaries spent a lot of time there and the Lord enabled them to do miracles to convince people of the truth of their preaching, but after a while some of the city leaders plotted to stone them, so Paul and Barnabas fled to Lystra.

Mixed Response at Lystra

“In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.” Acts 14:8-10

The people of Lystra were astounded by this miracle. They believed in Greek gods so they assumed Zeus and Hermes had come down to be with them. They wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas, but the two missionaries rushed into the crowd shouting: “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.” Acts 14:15-16

While they were speaking, some Jews from Pisidion Antioch and Iconium arrived and turned the crowd against Paul.

“They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.” Acts 14:19-20

God must have restored Paul after that stoning. A person who was stoned usually died from multiple broken ribs and skull fractures. The fact that Paul was able to get up and travel within a day of being left for dead by stoning was a miracle from God.

This severe persecution didn’t stop Paul and Barnabas. They went on to Derbe, and tomorrow we will see them reverse course and travel back through Lystra, Iconium and Antioch.

We have reached the end of today’s passages, but here are a few more thoughts about suffering and the sovereignty of God.

Death and Blindness

No one ever died or was harmed in Jesus’ presence while he was on the earth. He healed, delivered and raised people from the dead. And after the Holy Spirit came, the disciples continued to do miracles of healing and deliverance.

But God also took the lives of Ananias and Sapphira, and temporarily blinded two men, Saul and Elymas.

God dealt with each person according to his will for her or him, and for those around them. In his wisdom he removed greedy and deceptive Ananias and Sapphira from the community in Jerusalem, but he forgave Simon the Sorcerer who tried to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit in Samaria (Acts 8:18).

He allowed Stephen and James to die, but helped Saul escape from death over and over. God always acted according to his sovereign will.

The Sovereignty of God

To help us understand God’s sovereignty, we need to remember what the Lord said about himself in Isaiah 45:7,9.

“I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things . . . Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making? ’Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’?”

Paul identified himself as a jar of clay, molded by God and filled with the treasure of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 4:7). Paul’s hard work and suffering for the cause of Jesus Christ acquainted him with danger, injury, and brushes with death.

But Paul believed in the sovereignty of God and he was willing to become a potsherd on the ground for the sake of Jesus Christ. In his own words, Paul testified:

“For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21