Chapter V. - Preaching Among the Heathen.
The apostles next visited Iconium. This place was a great
resort for pleasure-seekers, and persons who had no particular object in life.
The population was composed of Romans, Greeks, and Jews. The apostles here, as
at Antioch, first commenced their labours in the synagogues for their own
people, the Jews. They met with marked success; numbers of both Jews and Greeks
accepted the gospel of Christ. But here, as in former places where the apostles
had laboured, the unbelieving Jews commenced an unreasonable opposition to those
who accepted the true faith, and, as far as lay in their power, influenced the
Gentiles against them. {LP 52.1}
The apostles, however, were not easily turned from their
work, for many were daily embracing the doctrine of Christ. They went on
faithfully in the face of opposition, envy, and prejudice.
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Miracles were daily wrought by the disciples through the
power of God; and all whose minds were open to evidence were affected by the
convincing power of these things. {LP 52.2}
This increasing popularity of the doctrine of Christ stirred
the unbelieving Jews to fresh opposition. They were filled with envy and hatred,
and determined to stop the labours of the apostles at once. They went to the
authorities, and represented their work in the most false and exaggerated light,
leading the officers to fear that the entire city was in danger of being incited
to insurrection. They stated that great numbers were attaching themselves to the
apostles, and suggested that it was for secret and dangerous designs. {LP 53.1}
In consequence of these charges, the disciples were
repeatedly brought before the authorities; but in every case they so ably
defended themselves before the people, that, although the magistrates were
prejudiced against them by the false statements they had heard, they dared not
condemn them. They could but acknowledge that the teachings of the apostles were
calculated to make men virtuous, law-abiding citizens. {LP 53.2}
The unprejudiced Jews and Greeks took the position that the
morals and good order of the city would be improved if the apostles were allowed
to remain and work there. Upon the occasions when the apostles were brought
before the authorities, their defence was so clear and sensible, and the
statement which they gave of their doctrine was so calm and comprehensive, that
a considerable influence was exerted in their favour. The doctrine they preached
gained great publicity, and was brought before a much larger
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number of unprejudiced hearers than ever before in that
place. {LP 53.3}
The Jews perceived that their efforts to thwart the work of
the apostles were unavailing, and only resulted in adding greater numbers to the
new faith. The rage of the Jews was worked up to such a pitch on this account
that they determined to compass their ends in some manner. They stirred up the
worst passions of the ignorant, noisy mob, creating a tumult which they
attributed to the efforts of the apostles. They then prepared to make a false
charge of telling force, and to gain the help of the magistrates in carrying out
their purpose. They determined that the apostles should have no opportunity to
vindicate themselves; but that mob power should interfere, and put a stop to
their labours by stoning them to death. {LP 54.1}
Friends of the apostles, although unbelievers, warned them of
the designs of the malicious Jews, and urged them not to expose themselves
uselessly to their fury, but to escape for their lives. They accordingly
departed from Iconium in secret, and left the faithful and opposing parties to
battle for themselves, trusting God to give victory to the doctrine of Christ.
But they by no means took a final leave of Iconium; they purposed to return,
after the excitement then raging had abated, and complete the work they had
begun. {LP 54.2}
Those who observe and teach the binding claims of God's law,
frequently receive, in a degree, similar treatment to that of the apostles at
Iconium. They often meet a bitter opposition from ministers and people who
persistently refuse the light of God, who, by misrepresentation and falsehood,
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close every door by which the messenger of truth might have
access to the people. {LP 54.3}
The apostles next went to Lystra and Derbe, cities of
Lycaonia. These were inhabited by a heathen, superstitious people; but among
them were souls that would hear and accept the doctrine of Christ. The apostles
chose to labour in those cities because they would not there meet Jewish
prejudice and persecution. They now came in contact with an entirely new
element,-- heathen superstition and idolatry. {LP 55.1}
The apostles, in their work, met all grades of people, and
all kinds of faith and religion. They were brought in opposition to Jewish
bigotry and intolerance, sorcery, blasphemy, unjust magistrates who loved to
exercise their power, false shepherds, superstition, and idolatry. While
persecution and opposition met them on every hand, victory still crowned their
efforts, and converts were daily added to the faith. {LP 55.2}
In Lystra there was no Jewish synagogue, though there were a
few Jews in the place. The temple of Jupiter occupied a conspicuous position
there. Paul and Barnabas appeared in the city together, teaching the doctrine of
Christ with great power and eloquence. The credulous people believed them to be
gods come down from Heaven. As the apostles gathered the people about them, and
explained their strange belief, the worshippers of Jupiter sought to connect
these doctrines, as far as they were able, with their own superstitious faith.
{LP 55.3}
Paul addressed them in the Greek language, presenting for
their consideration such subjects as would lead them to a correct knowledge of
Him who should be the object of their adoration.
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He directed their attention to the firmament of the
heavens--the sun, moon, and stars--the beautiful order of the recurring seasons,
the mighty mountains whose peaks were capped with snow, the lofty trees, and the
varied wonders of nature, which showed a skill and exactitude almost beyond
finite comprehension. Through these visible works of the Almighty, the apostle
led the minds of the heathen to the contemplation of the great Mind of the
universe. {LP 55.4}
He then told them of the Son of God, who came from Heaven to
our world because he loved the children of men. His life and ministry were
presented before them; his rejection by those whom he came to save; his trial
and crucifixion by wicked men; his resurrection from the dead to finish his work
on earth; and his ascension to Heaven to be man's Advocate in the presence of
the Maker of the world. With the Spirit and power of God, Paul and Barnabas
declared the gospel of Christ. {LP 56.1}
As Paul recounted the works of Christ in healing the
afflicted, he perceived a cripple whose eyes were fastened upon him, and who
received and believed his words. Paul's heart went out in sympathy toward the
afflicted man, whose faith he discerned; and he eagerly grasped the hope that he
might be healed by that Saviour, who, although he had ascended to Heaven, was
still man's Friend and Physician, having more power even than when he was upon
earth. {LP 56.2}
In the presence of that idolatrous assembly, Paul commanded
the cripple to stand upright upon his feet. Hitherto he had only been able to
take a sitting posture; but he now grasped with faith the words of Paul, and
instantly obeyed
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his command, and stood on his feet for the first time in his
life. Strength came with this effort of faith; and he who had been a cripple
walked and leaped as though he had never experienced an infirmity. {LP 56.3}
This work performed on the cripple was a marvel to all
beholders. The subject was so well known, and the cure was so complete, that
there was no room for scepticism on their part. The Lycaonians were convinced
that supernatural power attended the labours of the apostles, and they cried out
with great enthusiasm that the gods had come down to them from Heaven in the
likeness of men. This belief was in harmony with their traditions that gods
visited the earth. They conceived the idea that the great heathen deities,
Jupiter and Mercury, were in their midst in the persons of Paul and Barnabas.
The former they believed to be Mercury; for Paul was active, earnest, quick, and
eloquent with words of warning and exhortation. Barnabas was believed to be
Jupiter, and father of gods, because of his venerable appearance, his dignified
bearing, and the mildness and benevolence expressed in his countenance. {LP
57.1}
The news of the miraculous cure of the cripple was soon
noised throughout all that region, until a general excitement was aroused, and
priests from the temple of the gods prepared to do the apostles honour, as
visitants from the courts of Heaven, to sacrifice beasts to them, and to bring
offerings of garlands and precious things. The apostles had sought retirement
and rest in a private dwelling, when their attention was attracted by the sound
of music, and the enthusiastic shouting of a vast assembly, who had come to the
gate of the house where they were abiding.
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{LP 57.2}
When these ministers of God ascertained the cause of this
visit and its attendant excitement, they were filled with indignation and
horror. They rent their clothing, and rushed in among the multitude to prevent
further proceedings. Paul, in a loud, ringing voice that rose above the noise of
the multitude, demanded their attention; and, as the tumult was suddenly
quelled, he inquired,-- {LP 58.1}
"Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like
passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities
unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things
that are therein; who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own
ways. Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, in that he did good,
and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food
and gladness." {LP 58.2}
The people listened to the words of Paul with manifest
impatience. Their superstition and enthusiasm had been so great in regard to the
apostles that they were loth to acknowledge their error, and have their
expectations and purposes thwarted. Notwithstanding the apostles positively
denied the divinity attributed to them by the heathen, and Paul endeavoured to
direct their minds to the true God as the only object worthy of worship, it was
still most difficult to turn them from their purpose. {LP 58.3}
They reasoned that they had with their own eyes beheld the
miraculous power exercised by the apostles; that they had seen a cripple who had
never before used his limbs, made to leap and rejoice in perfect health and
strength, through the exercise of the marvellous power possessed by
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these strangers. But, after much persuasion on the part of
Paul, and explanation as to the true mission of the apostles, the people were
reluctantly led to give up their purpose. They were not satisfied, however, and
led away the sacrificial beasts in great disappointment that their traditions of
divine beings visiting the earth could not be strengthened by this example of
their favour in coming to confer upon them special blessings which would exalt
them and their religion in the estimation of the world. {LP 58.4}
And now a strange change came upon the fickle, excitable
people, because their faith was not anchored in the true God. The opposing Jews
of Antioch, through whose influence the apostles were driven from that district,
united with certain Jews of Iconium, and followed upon the track of the
apostles. The miracle wrought upon the cripple, and its effect upon those who
witnessed it, stirred up their envy, and led them to go to the scene of the
apostles' labour, and put their false version upon the work. They denied that
God had any part in it, and claimed that it was accomplished through the demons
whom these men served. {LP 59.1}
The same class had formerly accused the Saviour of casting
out devils through the power of the prince of devils; they had denounced him as
a deceiver; and they now visited the same unreasoning wrath upon his apostles.
By means of falsehoods they inspired the people of Lystra with the bitterness of
spirit by which they were themselves actuated. They claimed to be thoroughly
acquainted with the history and faith of Paul and Barnabas, and so
misrepresented their characters and work that these heathen, who had
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been ready to worship the apostles as divine beings, now
considered them worse than murderers, and that whoever should put them out of
the world would do God and mankind good service. {LP 59.2}
Those who believe and teach the truths of God's word in these
last days, meet with similar opposition from unprincipled persons who will not
accept the truth, and who do not hesitate to prevaricate, and even to circulate
the most glaring falsehoods in order to destroy the influence and hedge up the
way of those whom God has sent with a message of warning to the world. While one
class make the falsehoods and circulate them, another class are so blinded by
the delusions of Satan as to receive them as the words of truth. They are in the
toils of the arch-enemy, while they flatter themselves that they are the
children of God. "For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they
should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness." {LP 60.1}
The disappointment experienced by the idolaters in being
refused the privilege of offering sacrifices to the apostles, prepared them to
turn against these ministers of God with a zeal which approached that of the
enthusiasm with which they had hailed them as gods. The malicious Jews did not
hesitate to take full advantage of the superstition and credulity of this
heathen people, to carry out their cruel designs. They incited them to attack
the apostles by force; and they charged them not to allow Paul an opportunity to
speak, alleging that if they did so he would bewitch the people. {LP 60.2}
The Lystrians rushed upon the apostles with
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great rage and fury. They hurled stones violently; and Paul,
bruised, battered, and fainting, felt that his end had come. The martyrdom of
Stephen was brought vividly to his mind, and the cruel part he had acted on that
occasion. He fell to the ground apparently dead, and the infuriated mob dragged
his insensible body through the gates of the city, and threw it beneath the
walls. The apostle mentions this occurrence in the subsequent enumeration of his
sufferings for the truth's sake: "Thrice was I beaten with rods; once was I
stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
in journeyings often; in perils of waters; in perils of robbers; in perils by
mine own countrymen; in perils by the heathen; in perils in the city; in perils
in the wilderness; in perils in the sea; in perils among false brethren." {LP
60.3}
The disciples stood around the body of Paul, lamenting over
him whom they supposed to be dead, when he suddenly lifted his head, and arose
to his feet with the praise of God upon his lips. To the disciples this seemed
like a resurrection from the dead, a miracle of God to preserve the life of his
faithful servant. They rejoiced with inexpressible gladness over his
restoration, and praised God with renewed faith in the doctrine preached by the
apostles. {LP 61.1}
These disciples had been newly converted to the faith,
through the teachings of Paul, and had stood steadfast notwithstanding the
misrepresentation and malignant persecution of the Jews. In fact, the
unreasoning opposition of those wicked men had only confirmed these devoted
brethren in the faith of Christ; and the restoration of Paul to life seemed to
set the signet of God upon their belief.
{LP 61.2}
Timothy had been converted through the ministration of Paul,
and was an eye-witness of the sufferings of the apostle upon this occasion. He
stood by his apparently dead body, and saw him arise, bruised and covered with
blood, not with groans or murmurings upon his lips, but with praises to Jesus
Christ, that he was permitted to suffer for his name. In one of the epistles of
Paul to Timothy he refers to his personal knowledge of this occurrence. Timothy
became the most important help to Paul and to the church. He was the faithful
companion of the apostle in his trials and in his joys. The father of Timothy
was a Greek; but his mother was a Jewess, and he had been thoroughly educated in
the Jewish religion. {LP 62.1}