Acts 13 — The Risen Son to the Nations

Today’s Passage: Acts 13

Everything in this chapter is one long climb. It begins in the church at Antioch, where the leaders are worshiping and fasting, and the Holy Spirit speaks: set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to. So the church fasts again, lays hands on them, and sends them off. On the island of Cyprus a sorcerer who fights the gospel is struck blind, and a Roman governor comes to faith. Then the going grows harder, and young John Mark turns back for home. Inland, in Pisidian Antioch, Paul stands up in the synagogue and tells Israel’s whole story until it arrives at its true end, the risen Son, and out of that story he holds out forgiveness and the gift of being counted right with God through faith. Jealousy rises against the message, and Paul and Barnabas turn to the Gentiles with a promise from Isaiah. Read it as one thing and not three sermons stacked on top of each other. The sending, the sign, and the synagogue are a single climb, and at the top of it the sent ones preach the risen Son to the nations.

The blindness that came over Elymas was a real event, and it served a real purpose, confirming the word of God before a ruler who had come to listen. We do not take a sign like that, an apostle’s judgment falling visibly on an enemy of the gospel, as a tool the church keeps ready for its own use today. But the gospel those men preached that day still stands, exactly as it stood then.

As you read, hold this: The sent ones preach the risen Son to the nations.

Acts 13:1–3 (BSB)

¹ Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch), and Saul. ² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

The mission to the ends of the earth begins in a room full of worship. The leaders are diverse, they are fasting, and it is into that quiet devotion that the Spirit speaks and marks two of them off for Himself. The church lays hands on them and sends them out. Notice that Antioch does not so much lose Barnabas and Saul as give them away, offering its best men to the work of God, and it is the richer for having done so.

Acts 13:4–12 (BSB)

⁴ So Barnabas and Saul, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. ⁵ When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. And John was with them as their helper. ⁶ They traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, ⁷ an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, a man of intelligence, summoned Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. ⁸ But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. ⁹ Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked directly at Elymas ¹⁰ and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹ Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.

Sent out by the Spirit, the two cross the whole island until they reach Paphos, where a sorcerer stands between a seeking governor and the word he wants to hear. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looks straight at the man, names him for what he is, and announces that a blindness is coming upon him for a time. There is a quiet irony in it, for Paul himself had once been struck blind on a road and led about by the hand until he could see again. The governor believes, moved as much by the teaching about the Lord as by the sign in front of him.

Acts 13:13–25 (BSB)

¹³ After setting sail from Paphos, Paul and his companions came to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And from Perga, they traveled inland to Pisidian Antioch, where they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down. ¹⁵ After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent word to them: “Brothers, if you have a word of encouragement for the people, please speak.” ¹⁶ Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak: “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who fear God, listen to me! ¹⁷ The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers. He made them into a great people during their stay in Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out of that land. ¹⁸ He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness. ¹⁹ And having vanquished seven nations in Canaan, He gave their land to His people as an inheritance. ²⁰ All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. ²² After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’ ²³ From the descendants of this man, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as He promised. ²⁴ Before the arrival of Jesus, John preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ As John was completing his course, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not that One. But there is One coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’

Mark leaves for home, and the rest press on into the highlands. A gracious invitation in the synagogue opens the door, and Paul takes it. He speaks to Israel and to the God-fearing Gentiles by walking them back through their own covenant history, the exodus and the wilderness years, the gift of the land, the judges, King Saul, and then David, until the whole story arrives at Jesus, the Savior born from David’s line. The point Paul is making is that the story was always going somewhere. It was always moving toward a Person.

Acts 13:26–41 (BSB)

²⁶ Brothers, children of Abraham, and you Gentiles who fear God, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. ²⁷ The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸ And though they found no ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. ²⁹ When they had carried out all that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised Him from the dead, ³¹ and for many days He was seen by those who had accompanied Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now His witnesses to our people. ³² And now we proclaim to you the good news: What God promised our fathers ³³ He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.’ ³⁴ In fact, God raised Him from the dead, never to see decay. As He has said: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’ ³⁵ So also, He says in another Psalm: ‘You will not let Your Holy One see decay.’ ³⁶ For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. His body was buried with his fathers and saw decay. ³⁷ But the One whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. ³⁸ Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. ³⁹ Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Watch out, then, that what was spoken by the prophets does not happen to you: ⁴¹ ‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’”

Here is the message of salvation at full strength. The rulers of Jerusalem did not recognize their Messiah, and in condemning Him they unknowingly fulfilled the very prophets they read aloud every Sabbath. They took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb, but God raised Him from the dead, and living witnesses had seen Him. Paul gathers up the old promises to prove it, reaching into the second Psalm, into the words of Isaiah, and into the sixteenth Psalm, and he sets David beside Jesus. David served his own generation, died, and saw decay, but the One God raised did not. And so the offer comes, forgiveness of sins and justification (δικαιόω) dikaioō, pronounced dee-kai-OH-oh. Strong's G1344, to declare righteous, to justify, acquit. The word means to declare a person righteous, to pronounce him in the right. Paul tells the synagogue that through Jesus everyone who believes is justified from everything the law of Moses could never clear them of. This is not a truth we hold loosely, for justification by faith is settled ground. The seed Paul plants in this sermon is the very same gospel his letter to the Romans will one day open out in full. The risen Son is preached for exactly this reason, that the nations might be counted righteous before God. by faith for everyone who believes, sealed with a warning from Habakkuk against the scoffer who will not believe even when he is told. This is Acts preaching with nothing held back.

Acts 13:42–52 (BSB)

⁴² As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people urged them to continue this message on the next Sabbath. ⁴³ After the synagogue was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. ⁴⁴ On the following Sabbath, nearly the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they blasphemously contradicted what Paul was saying. ⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” ⁴⁸ When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. ⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord spread throughout that region. ⁵⁰ The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district. ⁵¹ So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. ⁵² And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

The people are hungry for more, and by the next Sabbath nearly the whole city has gathered to hear. But the crowds stir up jealousy, and Paul and Barnabas answer with a bold turn to the Gentiles, standing on the authority of Isaiah’s ancient word. All who were appointed to eternal life believed, and the message spread across the whole region. The opposition, stirred up among the leading people of the city, drove the missionaries out, and they shook the dust from their feet and went on to Iconium. Yet the disciples they left behind were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. The messengers move on, but the church lives, because the risen Son has been preached to the nations.