The False Prophet Elymas Bar-Jesus Series

The False Prophet Elymas Bar-Jesus

(Based on a message preached at New Hope Baptist Church near Fulton, MO on Sunday evening, 3-16-2025. This is not an exact transcription.)

(Full disclosure: Sermon Central has an outline of mine on this passage, but this is an edited sermon and not just an outline,)

Introduction: Just as in the Old Testament, there were false prophets mentioned in the New. Unlike most of the Old Testament false prophets, this man was a Jew who lived on Cyprus. He tried his best to keep a prominent man from hearing and believing the Gospel!

The Prolog

Text: Acts 13:1-3, KJV: 1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

The immediate context should actually go back to chapter 11 when a spiritual awakening took place in Antioch. Luke (gladly?) relates how people who weren’t even from Jerusalem took the Gospel to Antioch, preached, and won many to faith in Christ! The apostles sent Barnabas to Antioch and he was overjoyed with what was taking place! He, then, went to Tarsus to find Saul, and brought him to Antioch, as well. Take a look at the last half of Acts 11 and you just find some words of encouragement!

Now, at a later time, Saul and Barnabas are back at Antioch along with John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas. While they and several others are there, “ministering to the Lord and fasting”, they heard the Holy Spirit tell them directly to “separate Barnabas and Saul for Me so that I may send them for the work I have for them (paraphrased)”. The group then fasted and prayed some more, finally laying their hands on them and sending them away.

They may not have known it, but this commission would be the start of Barnabas’ and Saul’s first missionary journey!

1 A Walk Across the Island

Text, Acts 13:4-5, KJV: 4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.

Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea, about 50-60 miles from Israel’s coastline. Cyprus has an area of about 3600 square miles and is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (per https://bibleatlas.org/cyprus.htm). Salamis is at the eastern edge of the island, under the extension of land that looks like one of West Virginia’s panhandles!

My sister taught at one of the universities on the island some years back and loves to regale me with things she’s seen, and I haven’t! “Hey, brother, have you seen Barnabas’ house? I have! And it’s a beaut!” Well, I have to give her credit for being appointed as a lecturer or instructor in a foreign university. And, she’s my sister so I do have to love her (I then muttered kind of sotto voce, “if I have to” and the congregation laughed out loud!).

By the way, I think she would have liked Cyprus even more if they had moved enough dirt to make another panhandle so it looked more like West Virginia. That way she wouldn’t have been so homesick (she never did admit that to me, though)!

Now of course it’s anybody’s guess what Cyprus looked like when Saul, Barnabas, and John Mark arrived. We do have a hint that there was a strong Jewish presence in Salamis, as Luke tells us that there were “synagogues (plural)” at that location. I’ve heard from several teachers and guest speakers that at a minimum there had to be at least 10 practicing/observant Jewish families in order to establish a synagogue.

The Lord did give them an advantage, as Barnabas had originally come from Cyprus, and was a Levite as well (Acts 4:36). It’s possible that he may have known some of the very people who he and Saul were preaching to. Saul, being from Tarsus originally, living in Jerusalem, and returning to Tarsus, may have known only a few of these Cypriots (the term for a resident of Cyprus per https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cypriot). Then again, these two may have compared notes with men of Cyprus who had come to Antioch at an earlier time (Acts 11:19-20). At any rate, the Lord had provided them with an open door and they seemed to take advantage of that opportunity!