(or, “Bad Politicians, Terrorists and False Prophets”)
I’ve chosen a rather long portion of scripture to preach from, but I do not intend to do an expository study of these 41 verses today, so you can rest assured that this will, eventually, come to a close.
What I want to do is take these three men, one mentioned rather briefly and the other two a little more significantly, and put them under the glass for just a little while, and see what sort of threat or hardship each of them represented to the early church. We might also get some helpful application out of their stories for ourselves personally and the present day church as the body of Christ in the world.
THE HISTORICAL SETTING
Let’s just get a brief overview of events covered in previous chapters, leading up to this period in the development of the early church.
First we see Saul, the Pharisee, going about drooling threats against the followers of this Jesus the Nazarene, persecuting many even to death. He is confronted by Jesus on his way to Damascus and brought into the faith, and set to the work of ministry.
As a result there follows a period of peace and increase in the church throughout Judea, Samaria and Galilee.
As soon as Luke announces this momentous change in circumstances he turns to the ministry of Peter and we don’t hear from Saul/Paul for a few chapters.
Peter, in his travels, goes to Lydda where through him the Lord heals Aeneas, then the folks in nearby Joppa call for Peter because their beloved Tabitha has died. Peter goes there and prays for this faithful disciple who is then raised from the dead. As a result of these two miracles the entire plane of Sharon is converted to Christ.
Peter takes a little rest there, and we won’t comment on that further because Luke did not. All we know is that Peter stayed ‘many days’ in Joppa at Simon’s house, and one day, as he was praying on the rooftop of this house near the sea (10:6), he receives a vision from the Lord that calls him to Caesarea, which is about 35 miles north on the coastline of the Mediterranean, to minister to a gentile; a Roman centurion in fact, and his family.
He goes there in obedience to the call and as he preaches the gospel this Centurion, Cornelius, and his family all receive the Holy Spirit. Peter goes back to Jerusalem where he is under some criticism for going to this gentile family, until he tells the whole story and the other Jewish believers who are listening quiet down and agree that this must be of God, that He “…has granted to the gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.” (11:18)
Brief note: Please observe that the early believers understood as a given that repentance was the first step toward conversion and life. When the need for repentance from sin is left out of the modern pulpit and the witness of the modern evangelist the message of the gospel is effectively neutered.
Moving on…
The ice is officially broken now, in a big way. God has led His man not only to a Gentile, but a Roman centurion, and brought him and his entire family into the fold. It has caused a stir among the Jerusalem believers, meaning, the Apostles and other leaders, and they have accepted that God has offered this salvation to the nations and not just the Jewish people.
So Barnabas goes to Antioch where the gospel is now being widely preached to gentiles, rejoices at what he sees going on there, encourages them, and heads out for Tarsus to find Saul, brings him back to Antioch, and the two of them spend the next year teaching and preaching and the church thrives.
So here is the setting. The church is at relative peace. It’s been a while since the stoning of Stephen, Saul has been converted and is preaching boldly in his own mega-church in Antioch, and the church is turning missional.
“Hey! This isn’t just for us locals! God has shown us that the gospel message is for all people everywhere. So we need to do some dreamweaving. We need to find ways to penetrate pockets of lostness all around the Mediterranean. We need to think in terms of total saturation and resourcing and a Partnership Missions program for more effective outreach.”
The problem, whether they were individually or corporately conscious of it or not, was that they were going to run up against opposition, in the form of bad politicians, terrorists and false prophets.
Sound familiar?
Let’s take an historical look back at these three men brought to the forefront by Luke in these next couple of chapters of Acts and see what we can find that is helpful to us today.
CLAUDIUS DRUSUS
His whole name was Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus. Born in 10 BC, he was the youngest son of Nero Drusus and Antonia, who was the daughter of Marc Antony and Octavia.
According to historians he suffered from ill-health and ‘an alarming lack of social skills’. He was a person who fostered a great lack of respect from those at court because of his ineptness and lack of character.
When Caligula was assassinated in AD 41, Claudius fled to a room in the palace and hid behind a curtain. He was discovered there by the praetorian guard and taken to their camp, where these praetorian prefects presented him to the troops who hailed him as emperor. I think it was done partly as a joke, but somehow it stuck. By this time the Roman military was very strong politically, and they wanted Claudius in rather than the man the Senate would choose, so they got their way.
This is how Claudius is described. He was short, possessed neither natural dignity nor authority. He had a staggering walk, ‘embarrassing habits’ and ‘indecent’ laugh and when annoyed he foamed disgustingly at the mouth and his nose ran. He stammered and had a twitch. He was always ill, until he became emperor. Then his health improved marvelously, except for attacks of stomachache, which he said even made him think of suicide.
In history and in the accounts of ancient historians, Claudius comes as a positive mishmash of conflicting characteristics; absent-minded, hesitant, muddled, determined, cruel, intuitive, wise and dominated by his wife and his personal staff of freedmen.
(Information on Claudius taken from a website on the Caesars that gave credit to no specific source)
There’s quite a bit more to be said about Claudius. For the sake of time I’ll just cut to the chase and say that the wide-spread famine that followed on the heels of his reign has been accredited largely to rash and unwise decisions on his part.
The story of his end is rather convoluted politically. In short, he was married to Agrippina, who had a young son named Nero, for whom she had great political aspirations.
On the night of 12 October AD 54 Claudius suddenly died, his demise generally attributed to poison mushrooms, served to him by his wife.
So we come to Acts 11:27ff which reads:
“Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius.”
So the disciples took up a collection to be sent to the saints in Judea; specifically, their mother church in Jerusalem, for relief during this coming time of famine, and the contribution was delivered there by Barnabas and Saul.
HEROD THE KING
The Herods were quite a clan. I’m sure most of you have heard brief historical accounts in past sermons, of the depravity of the Herodian lineage.
Herod the Great, grandfather of the Herod we read about in Acts 12, was appointed procurator of Judea in 47 BC by Julius Caesar, and declared king of the Jews seven years later by the Roman senate, at the suggestion of his friends, Marc Antony and Octavia.
Later, being an insecure and twisted man, Herod thought it best to eliminate any threat from the Hasmonaean family, whom he had displaced from the throne. He had their leaders killed, including his Hasmonaean wife Mariamne and the two sons she had bore him.
He died at age 70 in 4 BC.
Herod the tetrarch, or Herod Antipas inherited his father’s kingdom. He divorced his first wife, the daughter of Aretas the Syrian king, to marry his niece Herodias, who was his half-brother Philip’s wife.
John the Baptist denounced this marriage as unlawful. Because of John’s large following, Herod was careful not to react too strongly, however, at the insistence of Herodias John was imprisoned. Then on Antipas’ birthday Herodias coaxed her daughter to dance naked before the king and his court, and, filled with wine and lust, Herod made the foolhardy offer of anything up to half his kingdom for the beautiful daughter of Herodias. We know the rest of the story from Matthew 14 and Mark 6, and John was beheaded at the whim of this evil woman, and for the cowardice and perversion of her husband king.
Now Agrippa was the nephew of Antipas, and was eventually appointed king instead of Antipas. Herodias was envious, of course, and continually nagged her backbone-free husband until he agreed to petition the emperor to be made king. Agrippa hears of this plan and another convoluted political wrestling match ensues, resulting finally in Antipas and his wife being banished to Gaul.
Agrippa, or Herod the king, the one we’re concerned with here in Acts 12, did nothing to redeem the name of Herod.
He had a penchant for making comments to the wrong people that kept him in trouble with the Caesar, eg, saying he looked forward to the day when Tiberius would die and his friend Caius would become emperor, and he eventually found himself in jail.
Now I’m going to copy here a paragraph from a website where I got this information, so you get the full impact of the humor of this situation.
“After six months in prison news came that Tiberius was dead and Agrippa’s good friend Caius was now the new emperor Caligula. Agrippa and his guard were celebrating the good news with wine when word came that the emperor was not dead, only ill! Agrippa was immediately beaten and thrown back in his cell, the guards fearing that should news of their party get out they would certainly be killed. But, in the morning it was learned that Tiberius was indeed dead. Emperor Caligula not only released his old friend Agrippa from prison, but also made him king of north east Palestine. When Antipas was banished to Gaul, Galilee and Perea were added to Agrippa’s kingdom. Then when Claudius became emperor, Judea and Samaria were added to his kingdom.”
So we come to Acts 12, after James has been beheaded, and, seeing that it pleased the Jews, Herod has had Peter thrown in prison, intending to execute him after the Passover. Then the Lord’s angel comes and sets Peter free, and Herod has the guards executed, and leaves Judea to go to Caesarea, and we pick up in verse 21.
“And on an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. And the people kept crying out, ‘The voice of a god and not of a man!’ And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”
Finally, we look at this third character, Elymas.
BAR-JESUS (Elymas the magician)
While the word ‘magician’ doesn’t always carry with it a negative connotation, eg., the magi, or wisemen who visited the toddler Jesus were not there for evil purposes, still, here in Luke’s narrative he leaves us no doubt that Elymas, which was his Greek name, was a Jewish false prophet who had slithered his way into the court and company of the proconsul of Cyprus; Sergius Paulus.
The proconsul, Luke says, was an intelligent man, and as was the custom of the times in Roman society, he was probably very interested in any new philosophy or religion that came his way. This may be why he had this Bar-Jesus, a Jewish magician, hanging around.
It’s ironic that the name Bar-Jesus means ‘son of salvation’, when we see what kind of man bore it on Cyprus. But we may get some insight from that before we’re done.
There’s an interesting spiritual battle going on here. Sergius Paulus wants to hear what Paul and Barnabas have to say, so he summons them to him. But Elymas is so threatened by the prospect of the governor believing the word of God, he opposes the evangelists, seeking to keep Sergius Paulus from the faith.
But remember, I referred to this as a spiritual battle. It was more than a jealous magician wanting to keep his popularity with his wealthy and influential benefactor. It was Satan, wanting to stilt the spread of the gospel through a very broad scope of influence.
Listen to these words from website, www.facingthechallenge.org/paulus.htm
“In 1877 an inscription was found near Paphos, bearing Sergius Paulus’ name and title of proconsul. Ten years later, his name was also found on a memorial stone in Rome.
The stone records that in AD 47 he was appointed as one of the keepers of the banks and channel of the river Tiber. He held this office when he returned to Rome after his three years as governor of Cyprus.
Sergius Paulus’ family had large land-holdings in the area of Pisidian Antioch, and this stone inscription discovered there contains his name. This inscription is now on display in the Yalvac museum, in Turkey.
Acts chapter 13 and 14 records how Paul and Barnabas went from Cyprus to Pisidian Antioch. Dr. Carl Rasmussen theorizes that Sergius Paulus may have asked them to go there to speak to members of his family – and perhaps even given them a letter of introduction.”
So we come to Acts 13:9
“But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him, and said, ‘You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time’. And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.
Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.”
Just two quick notes of interest before we move on from here. Did you catch the fact that the man’s name means ‘son of salvation’, and Paul made a point of calling him, ‘son of the devil’? Just wanting to call it like he saw it, I’m sure.
His given name probably served to help him deceive many, who thought that as a magician he had all the answers to life. But God knows the heart and the name He gives is the one that reveals the truth about a man.
Secondly, I wonder, when Paul announced that Elymas would not see the sun for a while, if he was remembering his own season of blindness and hoping that the physical darkness Elymas now found himself in would entice him to search for the true Light that had illumined Paul’s eyes.
Remember, Christian, to pray for your enemies.
LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS!
Ok, I’ve said all these things and focused on these three characters today to point out a simple lesson for us to use in order to realign our focus; remind ourselves of the rock-solidness of our hope.
We are in a time that I think most Bible believing Christians would agree is showing signs of being very near the end. Would you agree?
I mean, generally speaking the student of the scriptures knows that we are in the last days. We have been since Christ ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives.
But I’m talking about something more ‘right now and personal’. I’m referring to today’s headlines and signs in nature and just the witness of the Spirit to our spirits, that the time is very near when Jesus will call His church to meet Him in the clouds.
So as I was reading through these few chapters, for the first time my mind made a connection between these three enemies of the gospel and I realized that they represented, in their persons and by their actions and the spirit that drove them, the very things that seem to be confronting the church today.
First of all, there are the bad politicians. Now by that I mean that as time goes on we are seeing more of a swinging of the political pendulum away from the protection of and sympathizing with the church that has marked this nation’s history, toward a collective attitude of apathy toward the church, which will eventually molt into a widespread hatred of Christians.
With all the battles going on in the courts in recent months and years, over the placing of the Ten Commandments in public places and the abortion issue and so forth, although we win an occasional battle, the war is slowly being lost as our society in general turns farther from God and runs to evil.
So it is inevitable; there will be political attack against the true church and it will intensify as men, including politicians, grow more evil, and the days grow closer to the end. Face it. That’s the way it’s going to be.
Next there are the terrorists. Many of them Moslems, yes, but not all. When it comes to opposition to the church and to the work of God, terrorists wear many faces. One of them is the atheist who had petitioned the courts to take the mention of God out of the pledge of allegiance. The same man recently petitioned to have prayer excluded from the President’s inauguration ceremony. And he is not alone. Not by far. He has individuals and civil rights groups and people with money backing him.
There are those who would destroy the church and destroy all true Christians if they could, and their numbers will increase as time grows shorter.
Finally, there are the false prophets. These are the most dangerous of the enemies of the church, because so many of them are in the church. They are not of the true church, but they are in the institution of the church and they have a firm claw-hold.
Many who are in the church are deceived by them, and most of those outside the church are deceived by them, because, being spiritually dead and undiscerning, they think these people are the true church.
Now are we as Christians to fear these enemies? Just how concerned should we be about how far they’ll be allowed to go and how much the church will suffer because of them?
Should we link arms and go cautiously down the road, chanting, ‘lions and tigers and bears, oh my’?
Should we be concerned with marching into the witch’s castle and snatching the broomstick away?
You see, I wonder about that, because I seem to see a lot of that going on.
It’s nothing new. All my life I’ve witnessed the established church fighting the battles of men, often seemingly neglecting altogether the spiritual battle they’ve been scripturally charged with.
Let’s talk about the on-going battle in the courts to keep the Ten Commandments posted in schools and public places.
Why? Why fight that battle, and what message are we trying to get across to an ungodly world?
To the kids, that’s just one more list of rules! Kids are ruled to death! Everywhere they turn, every event they attend, every new classroom they enter, every day they wake up, there’s new rules to follow! Why put one more list in front of them and say, ‘you have all our rules, now here is God’s list, and He’s watching, so stay in step’?
Here’s a suggestion, folks, and I hope it doesn’t sound too silly, but I just have this dream…
Why not take down the ten commandments from all our schools, and encourage intelligent, sincere, faithful Christian teenagers to start up student-led devotional times before or after school, and teach them to tell their fellow students about a God of grace and mercy and a Christ who died and rose again so they can have life that the world can’t give?
Why not go THAT route?
Instead of trying to legislate morality, why not spend the church’s talents and resources telling young unwed pregnant women about the redemption that is in Christ, so they might keep and raise their new baby, knowing that they have a Savior who will help them in that task?
Why don’t the mega-churches with mega-money and mega-influence buy television ads and city billboards to tell the homosexual community that there is healing and forgiveness and wholeness available from the One who makes a new creation?
What is the common denominator in these several accounts we’ve looked at today? They involved three different men in different places in society, presenting different threats to the church. But the one element that is present throughout is that God took care of them all.
God spoke through His yielded vessel so the church might be prepared for a coming time of trial.
God stopped Herod’s evil in His time and His way and did not require the bloodying of any man’s hand to do it.
God worked through His Apostle to expose the false prophet, and give that man an opportunity for repentance, while confirming the Apostle’s words to a Roman official so he might turn and believe, which he did; and only eternity will tell how many more might have been turned and believed the gospel through his influence.
People of God, our calling is to make disciples, baptize them, and then teach them the things that are part and parcel of discipleship.
We are not called to force the world into godliness, and on the other hand we are not to fear the world.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
And in our own personal walk with Him, Christian, the principle remains the same. Neither circumstances, enemies nor error can threaten us when we walk close to Jesus and listen to His voice.
I don’t care if you’re 10 or 12 or 15 or 16 or twenty something, or thirty something or eighty something; as soon as you become a born again believer in Christ, your calling is exactly the same as for every man woman and child of God from the beginning.
Disciple, baptize, teach. That’s it. The only way the church has ever been called to change society is from the heart outward. And she will always need to be going forward by the power of God’s Holy Spirit to do that. Any other way is of the flesh and useless as the flesh.
Young people, do you know what your calling is? Could you answer me if I pointed to you personally and asked? If not, go to a quiet place and find out from God, because life here is brief.
But don’t let yourself get caught up in the worldly church’s vision of throwing water on the witch. That only happens in fairy tales.
Keep in mind that yours is a heavenly calling; do it heaven’s way. Let God take care of the bad politicians, terrorists and false prophets. You disciple, baptize and teach. We’re all called to it, and we are one.
