Sunday
Sunday
Expansion and Opposition
Some of them, however … went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.
Acts 11:20
Luke now tells us that some evangelists went northwest to the coast, reaching as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. They preached, he adds, “only to Jews” (v. 19). But some who came to Antioch spoke “to Greeks also” (v. 20). It is uncertain whether they were pagan Greeks, Greek-speaking Jews, or some kind of mixture. Antioch was certainly a highly appropriate venue for the first international church and the springboard for the worldwide Christian mission, for it was a huge cosmopolitan city.
News of this development reached the leaders of the Jerusalem church. As they had sent Peter and John to investigate the Samaritan situation, so now they sent Barnabas to Antioch. He saw the evidence of God’s grace in changed lives and encouraged the converts to remain true to the Lord. He also went on to Tarsus and brought Saul to Antioch to teach the large numbers of converts.
But this significant church growth was not unchallenged. Expansion was followed by opposition. Enter King Herod Agrippa I, son of Herod the Great. He had the apostle James beheaded and the apostle Peter imprisoned. It was a serious crisis. But the church members gave themselves to prayer, and Peter was miraculously released. Next morning, on the very day on which Peter was to have been tried and probably executed, he was nowhere to be found. Herod’s plan had been foiled.
Luke goes on to document Herod’s final overthrow. The people of Tyre and Sidon, who had quarreled with the king, sought an audience with him and sued for peace. On the appointed day he harangued the crowd, who shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man” (12:22). Immediately, since he had usurped the honor due to God, he was struck down and died.
Luke now adds one of his summary verses: “But the word of God continued to increase and spread” (v. 24). Luke’s artistry is evident. The chapter opens with James dead, Peter in prison, and Herod triumphing; it closes with Herod dead, Peter free, and the Word of God triumphing. Such is the power of God to overthrow hostile human plans and to establish his own plans in their place.
For further reading: Acts 12:1–5