Why Israel Was Blinded — Acts 13 & Romans 11 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Good to have everybody in, and once again we're, for the benefit of our television audience, we come in once a month and tape four programs, one, two, three, and four. And we always like to show our appreciation for these folks in the Tulsa area, Muskogee and McAllister, that drive up and become part of our studio audience, because as I've said over and over again, I could never just do this to a camera. And whether it's fortunate or unfortunate, I think sometimes I so totally forget those cameras that I probably say something to you that I wouldn't say if I knew it was going out across the country. But nevertheless, we like to think that this is what makes the program as enjoyable as it is, because we're just informal, we just hope to be a Bible study, just like any of our other classes during the week. The only difference is we can't let our studio audience ask questions, and for those of you out in television, you're not getting a portion of what our people do in a class, when they can ask questions and we can have discussions. And as I've said so often, that's how I have learned, has been from the questions of our people out in the class. So anyway, for those of you out in television, we again like to just let you know that all of our past programs, we've come all the way up through Scripture now since Genesis 1-1, and all these programs are available on 6-hour tapes with 12 programs on a tape, and today's taping will finish number 19. And pretty soon we'll have every tape also in print. As of now, we have just 16 of the little books finished, and if you're interested in the tapes or the little books, why, you give us a call or write to us and we'll send you out the information on them. Well, once in a while I like to share a letter from our television audience, and the other night someone said, oh, I wish you could read them all. Well, I do too, because our mail time is the best time of the day. But the other day we got this letter from a couple of our listeners out in Indiana, and just one little part of her letter, she said, we appreciate your teaching and how you show everything in the Bible fits together. Questions I've had for years have been answered when separating Peter and Paul. Oh, how I wish everyone could see this. And to that I say, so do I. So do I, because that's when the Scriptures begin to open up, is when you see how all of these things are progressively unfolded, and you can't jumble them all together, you have to keep them separated. And in a later program I'll share another letter, but I think I can take a moment here to share a couple phone calls we've had just this past week from people who have been in cults for years. And one young lady from, I think it was the Minneapolis area, said she was raised in it. She said, I've watched your program three weeks, three half-hour programs, and she said the way you use the Scripture, it just totally opened my eyes to where we have been misled. And she went on to say how that she appreciated all the references, and that's the reason I do it. I'm not here to show you how much I know, but all I like to do is to prove that what I teach is not based on just a verse here and a verse there. Because see, that's what a lot of... I remember years ago when I was still teaching in Iowa, a young lady and her husband came in one night, and she said, do you teach? And I don't remember what the expression she put on it. She said, do you teach such and such? And I said, yes, I do. And boy, you know, in kind of a huffy way, she let me know that I was way out in left field. And I said, all right. I said, you tell me why you think you're going to go to heaven when you die. Well, she only had about two or three portions of Scripture. And I said, that's it? Well, she said, isn't that enough? And I said, no. I said, because the way I teach salvation and the Christian life, I'm going to use everything from Genesis 1-1 to the last verse of Revelation 22. And everything fits. And if it doesn't, hey, you're on thin ice. Because this Book was written by the Almighty God for that purpose that everything is fit together, all dovetails. And if you've got big questions out here where things do not fit, then there's something wrong. And you've got to come back and search the Scriptures. So anyway, we'll continue now where we left off in our last program. We finished Acts chapter 11. And for just a little bit of a recap, you want to remember that with the stoning of Stephen, we were introduced to Saul of Tarsus. That was back in chapter 8. And then in chapter 9, we had the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. And immediately God sent him out into the desert in Arabia where He's going to reveal the doctrines of grace over what we think is a three-year period of time. And then during that time, God commissions Peter to go up to the house of Cornelius. And you know, I've said so often, and I do not say it to be funny, how we thank God that chapter 10 followed chapter 9. Not numerically, but content. Because see, this again makes everything fit. Had chapter 10's events taken place before Saul's conversion, I couldn't teach the way I teach. But it didn't. Saul was converted in chapter 9 as the head of that long line of sinners that will be saved by grace. And then in the next chapter, God sends Peter up to a Gentile house, Cornelius. And even though Peter couldn't comprehend it, he had to admit that God was indeed saving Gentiles without bringing them in contact with Judaism. And so that then carries on the transition out of Judaism, God dealing with the nation of Israel, and now He's going to the Gentiles. Then in chapter 11 we saw that many of these Jewish believers who had been chased out of Jerusalem by virtue of Saul's horrible persecution, they got as far as Antioch. And on Antioch we always picture up there at the upper corner of the Mediterranean Sea, up in what is then Syria. And there God began to generate interest among Gentiles for the first time. You don't catch any of that back in the earlier chapters of Acts, that Gentiles were coming and asking about things concerning the God of Israel. But up at Antioch now, Gentiles were getting interested. And when the Jerusalem church heard that, they got shook up and they sent good old Barnabas up to check it out, see what's going on up there. And when Barnabas, God's man at the right time, when he saw that indeed God was beginning to deal with Gentiles, I pointed it out, I just graphically helped everybody I hope that saw it, that Barnabas went looking for Saul. He didn't just accidentally run into him, he went looking for him. And then the next verse says, "...and when he found him." He brought him back to Antioch and so then Paul and Barnabas ministered there to that Gentile congregation for 18 months. Now as we come into chapter 12, as typical of a transition, we're going to leave Paul and Barnabas for a little bit and we come back to Jerusalem and Peter. And I'm going to take the chapter verse by verse, because this is an account again that I think most of you are acquainted with, where Peter ends up in prison, and all those Jewish believers are praying for him. And if it weren't so pitiful, it would almost be comical, because people then are no different than people today. Here they're having a prayer meeting at the home of one of the believers for the release of Peter from prison. And when the angel indeed does open the prison doors and escorts Peter to the street, and Peter goes on down and stands at the gate of the home where the prayer is being held, and the young lady goes out and sees who it is. She doesn't even let him in. She runs back into the house and tells those that were in prayer, Peter's at the door. Did they believe it? No. Here they've been praying fervently for his release, and yet when it happened, they couldn't believe it. Well, you know, we're no different today. We pray, and we pray, and we pray, and most of the time we really don't believe it's going to happen. But you better believe it, because God's a prayer-answering God. So now throughout chapter 12, then, we've been dealing with Peter and Jewish believers down there at Jerusalem. And now I'm going to take you right into chapter 13, where again we go back to Paul. Up there at Antioch, and with the exception of that little interlude in Acts 15, and we taught that a few weeks ago, which is a parallel of Galatians chapter 2. From here on, you will never see another word concerning Peter. Not a word. Now, isn't that amazing? And how many people realize this? See, in the first eight chapters, it was all Peter, and nothing of Saul of Tarsus. Well, then in chapter 9, Saul is converted on the road to Damascus, and then we have back and forth. But now in chapter 13, Peter fades off the scene, never to be heard from again, except for that one little instance in chapter 15, which is in 51 A.D., if you remember the last time we were together. And everything now concerns Paul and his ministry to the Gentiles. Now he's going to go first to the synagogue of the Jew. In his early ministry, he will always start at the synagogue, every place he goes. Because Romans 1.16, that's the way Paul put it, by inspiration, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and then to the Greek. And so he will, throughout these earlier years of his ministry, he will always start at the synagogue, and when they reject it, then he goes out to the Gentile. All right, so now in chapter 13, verse 1, Now there were in the church that was at Antioch. Now remember, this is a Gentile church, and this is under Paul's leadership and his teaching. So now I feel that we're dealing with the church that you and I are most acquainted with, the real New Testament church, which is the Body of Christ, that consortium of every born-again believer, whether we're Jew or Gentile, black or white, makes no difference. We are all placed into the Body of Christ at the moment that we're saved. All right, so there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers. Now you see, Paul never claimed to be the only one. He merely claimed to be the first, the leader. And then there were others that followed in his footsteps, such as Barnabas, and Simeon, and Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and so forth. Verse 2, As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them. Now you see, God is providential here. He's in total control. So verse 3, When they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away, that is, out into the Gentile world. Verse 4, So they, Paul and Barnabas, being sent forth, not by the Antioch church, they went from the Antioch church, but who sent them? The Holy Spirit. Now that's basic. You've got to understand that, that this is the work of God, not merely the work of the Antioch believers. And the other thing I want to make out right off the bat, the Body of Christ, the church, which is His Body, has no earthly headquarters. All remember that. Denominations may have their headquarters, but the Body of Christ, the true church, has no earthly headquarters. It's in heaven. Now, Judaism, Israel, under the law, Jerusalem was the headquarters. Everything funneled into and out of Jerusalem concerning the Jew, but never get hung up that there's any earthly headquarters for the church. Now, you remember way back when I started in Genesis 1-1, in the beginning God created what? Heaven and earth. And you remember how I tied that together? That all the way through Scripture we have these two areas in which God works. The earthly people of Israel, or God's earthly people, Israel, God's heavenly people, the Body of Christ. And you can't mix them. God's earthly people were predominantly under law. God's heavenly people are under grace. And there's that chasm that keeps them separated. And so consequently, as Jerusalem was the head of everything concerning the Jew, heaven is the headquarters of the church. Not Antioch, not Rome, not Jerusalem, nor any other city that you can name. All right, so they left with the Holy Spirit being the sender, and they departed on the solution since they sailed to Cyprus, the island. Now, it's an interesting experience. This is only one of the few places I'm going to stop because, as I told the studio class, I'm going to try to wind this whole book of Acts up in the next four programs, if possible. Here on the island of Cyprus, they come to the city of Salamis, and they preach the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jew. See, he always goes first to the synagogue, every place he goes. And they also had John, that's Mark, the young man who wrote the Gospel of Mark. So they had John to their minister, and when they had gone through the island of Paphos, at the other end of Cyprus, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, and he was a what? A Jew. Now, watch this very carefully because this is prophetic to a certain disease. To a certain degree. All right, so they found this Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the deputy, or the governor, the political leader, a Roman, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the Word of God. Now, you see this constantly now, where Gentiles, by the unction of the Holy Spirit, are showing an interest in the Word of God. And so even this Roman deputy now puts forth the feelers, I guess we could say, toward Paul and Barnabas, that he wants to converse with them. All right, but verse 8, this Jewish sorcerer, you remember, was probably his right-hand man. And when this Jewish sorcerer, or Elimus, as he's so called in verse 8, he withstood them. In other words, he tried to keep Paul and Barnabas from any contact with his Roman governor. The deputy. And so he withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Isn't that something? Verse 9, Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit. Now watch these words carefully. He filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him, that is, on this Jewish sorcerer, And he said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, will thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now here's prophetic. Verse 11, Now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun, not forever, but what's the word? For a season, or for a short period of time. All right, what am I driving at? This Elimas is the perfect picture of the nation as a whole. Because you see, everywhere that Paul went, who were his strongest opposition? The Jews. And they refused to have anything to do, for the most part. Now some did. But for the most part, the Jewish people were the chief opposers of Paul's message of grace. Now let's just compare that a moment, if you will, to the book of Romans. Now we'll be in Romans the next time, hopefully, we get together. And when we finish the book of Acts. Let's turn to Romans chapter 11 for just a second. Now remember, Elimas the sorcerer wasn't stricken blind for all the rest of his life, but only for a season. And the same way with the nation of Israel. They've been blinded tonight, but it's not a permanent blindness, it's a temporary one, although it's been 1,900 and some years. But someday, one day, the spiritual eyes of Israel are yet going to be opened. But for now, look what the Scripture says. Verse 7 of Romans 11. What then? "...Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election have obtained it." Now we've got to stop there. I didn't intend to teach Romans here, but we've got to stop. What did every Jew really want way down deep in their being, even before Christ came in His first advent? What were they longing for? The King, the Messiah, the Redeemer, see? A few of them recognized Him. That's what it meant here, see? A few became the elect. They recognized who He was. But the majority, they rejected Him. All right, now read on. "...And the rest," those who could not believe that He was the Christ, they were what? Blinded. The Book says that. I'm not accusing Israel of anything. The Book says it. I was listening to a tape that someone sent me here just a couple weeks ago by a rabbi. And he was pointing out the differences between our Christian doctrine and Judaism. And of course, he's a rabbi. He was under Judaism. And he says, you know, Christianity teaches this and teaches that, and he says, we just can't agree with that. But he said, maybe. And this is what's so shocking. He said, maybe it's like the Book of Romans said. Maybe we've been blinded. Well, no maybe about it. They have been. And I've talked to a couple Orthodox Jews who've watched my program, and they've called, and we've had some interesting conversations. But you'd be amazed. I mean, I'm shocked when I hear these people say some of these things where they totally reject what we think are basic truths, even in the Old Testament. Oh, that's not any mention of the Christ. That was one of the prophets. Well, that was somebody else. And as you can see that the Scripture here is talking about Jesus of Nazareth, oh no, no way. Why? They're blinded. See? They're blinded. But a Jew can be saved today, the same as any Gentile, if he can just open his eyes and his spiritual heart and believe it. But for the most part, the nation has been blinded because of their rejection, of course, of the Messiah. All right, now let's come back then to chapter 13. And so this Elimas the sorcerer is a prophetic picture of the nation as a whole. They would oppose the gospel at every turn. They were spiritually blinded, but not forever, because one day the nation of Israel is still going to see the truth of their Messiah. And as Isaiah says, a nation will be born in a day. All right, now let's move on. Verse 11, Now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately, see, there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Now it's a miracle. Paul performed it, but it was also a prophetic act of God. Verse 12, Then the deputy, the Roman, when he saw what was done, what did he do? He believed, see? He believed. He didn't go through anything else. He didn't go through any actions, any contortions, or anything like that. He believed, being astonished at the doctrine or the teaching of the Lord. Now you always want to remember that every place Paul went, and we'll be seeing this more and more as we get into Paul's letters, and even though every instance may not just lay it out that completely, yet I want you to rest assured that every place that Paul went, this was the main theme of his message. And here we pick it up in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. Always remember this. Most of the time he will say that if you believe that Christ died for your sins and was buried and rose again, thou shalt be saved, and so forth. But he won't always, like here in Acts. But what did he preach to this deputy? The same thing, and here it is. For the preaching of the cross. See that? The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved, it, the preaching of the cross, the gospel, is the what? Power of God. All right? You drop on down to verse 24, in the same chapter. But unto them who are called Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God. All right? Drop up to 22, or drop back to verse 22. For the Jews require a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom. They're philosophers. But, Paul says, we're not going to preach signs and miracles. We're not going to preach philosophy. We're not going to quote Aristotle and Plato and Homer and all the rest. We preach what? Christ crucified. See? And that's his theme. It'll pop up throughout all of his letters. But, like it says here, come back now with me quickly to Acts 13. When he talks about the doctrine of the Lord having come from the lips of Paul, you know what it was. How that Christ died for the sins of the world. Verse 13. So when Paul and his company loosed from Pamphus, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John, John Mark, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. Now, this, of course, is going to be a point of contention a little later on in Paul's ministry because, evidently, John Mark, the young man, like I said, who wrote the Gospel of Mark, wavered when he got under the underbelly of Asia Minor. And I'll put the map on the board before our next program. But going up into that probably semi-civilized, probably going through areas of barbaric-type peoples, Mark chickened out. I mean, that's plain English, but that's what happened. Mark just was fearful of what was out there. And so he turned around and went back to Jerusalem. And it just never got out of Paul's crawl. So later on, when John, of course, John Mark had matured, and he was a nephew of Barnabas, of course. And so later on, when Barnabas insisted now that they take John Mark along this time, Paul says, no way. He chickened out on us once, and maybe Paul was a little unforgiving. I don't know. But anyhow, this is why Paul and Barnabas then had their falling out. And again, we have to recognize that God must have been on Paul's side because it isn't Paul that disappears from view. You know who does? Barnabas. Never see or hear anything of him again, except like Peter up in Galatians chapter 2. So who takes Barnabas' place? Silas. And then after that little event, it's Paul and Silas. Paul and Silas. But for this first missionary journey, it is Paul and Barnabas, and John Mark turned around and went back home. Well, now, as they come up then into Asia Minor, and like I said, I'll have the map on the board next program, they go up into that area where all of the basic early churches were located. All the churches that are listed in Paul's letters and here in the Book of Acts were all in that western half of Turkey. Now remember that back in biblical times that was called Asia Minor. And that went all the way to the western coast of Turkey where Ephesus, of course, was located. But in that area of Asia Minor is where Paul had his greatest work. And all the cities that you're acquainted with, Colossae and Ephesus and Pergamos and Thyatira, they were all in that same geographical area. Now, when we come to our next program then, we're going to take just a brief look, we're not going to take it verse by verse, of this tremendous message again that Paul rehearses in the Jewish synagogue up there in Antioch of Pisidia. Now, not the Antioch back there in Syria. There's two Antiochs in Paul's history. The one that he came from, but now the other one is in western Turkey, Antioch of Pisidia. And he's going to go through just like Stephen did in Acts chapter 7. He's going to go through the whole gamut of Israel's history. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick. Bye.