Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus Yeshua the Messiah and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat Shalom. Let's turn to the Book of Acts, Ma'aseh Shlichim, chapter 18. We're going to read from verse 23 to the end of the chapter and then go into chapter 19 and read the first seven verses of Acts chapter 19. This passage has to do with the beginning of the third missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, of Sha'ul, as he leaves again Antioch, which was in Syria, and began his third missionary journey.

I'm beginning to read from verse 23: "And after he had spent some time there, he departed and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples. And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John."

"And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace. For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Yeshua was the Messiah."

Chapter 19, verse 1: "And it came to pass that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus; and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, 'Have ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed?' And they said unto him, 'We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Spirit.' And he said unto them, 'Unto what then were ye baptized?' And they said, 'Unto John's baptism.'"

"Then said Paul, 'John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on the Messiah Jesus.' When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Yeshua. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve."

I'm going to stop reading here in verse 7 of Acts chapter 19. We are studying again—and I'm doing always by way of repetition and continuity—we are studying in the Book of Acts and we are arriving right now to the third missionary journey of this amazing servant of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, this man by the name of Paul. His Hebrew name, as we know, is Sha'ul. His diaspora name is Paul. And we see Sha'ul-Paul, how he continuously served his Master and Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

It is beautiful to see that he had a beginning in Acts chapter 13 where he was first commended by the assembly in Antioch to the full-time ministry. He have gone on his first missionary journey and returned back to Antioch. Then he moved again in his second missionary journey, and he returned to the assembly at Antioch, which was in Syria, and reported unto them even his second missionary journey.

In fact, we concluded in Acts chapter 18, where we read in verse 22, that when he had landed at Caesarea, he had gone up to Yerushalayim, to Jerusalem. He saluted the assembly in Jerusalem, and then he went down from Jerusalem and went back to the city of Antioch, from where he began his ministry.

I think it's precious to see how a brother such as the Apostle Paul, who was commended to the Lord's work, faithfully have gone to do his ministry, and then he came back to report to the brothers and sisters in the local assembly in Antioch and shared with them how the Lord had blessed his ministry among the Goyim, among the Gentiles. Many became believers in our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

Now here in the verses that we read, from verse 23 on, the third missionary journey began in Acts 18:23 and it will end up in Acts chapter 21 at about verse 16 when he was in the city of Jerusalem, in Yerushalayim. This is his third missionary journey, which he began again from the city of Antioch.

Some believe that this third missionary journey took from about 53 to 57 AD. The church, the assembly, the heavenly company had already been in process of growth, and the Gentile world had been exposed to the message of the gospel. Many became believers in our Lord Jesus the Messiah, part of the church, of the body of Christ, body of Messiah.

In this third missionary journey, the purpose of this journey is really to strengthen believers, the body of Messiah. This is important. Even though he was speaking and preaching the message of the gospel as he have gone along, he was strengthening the disciples, the believers who need to be strengthened.

They don't only need to accept the Lord and to have their ticket to go to heaven, to salvation—which is wonderful—but believers need to be strengthened spiritually, strengthened in the things of the Lord, understanding of the Scriptures of the word of God, and established in the faith so that they will be able to stand against every wind of doctrine that are coming from everywhere as the world is influencing the believers in Yeshua the Messiah.

In verse 23, we see the beginning of his third missionary journey. You notice two things here. First of all, it says, "after he had spent some time there." The word "there" takes us back to verse 22 where it says that he went down to Antioch. There in Antioch he spent some time. We do not know how much time he spent in Antioch. He may have been there a few months; he may have been there as long as a full year.

But he has spent some time in Antioch and he was not only sharing what he have done, but he was preaching the word, teaching the brothers and sisters in this city. Then he departed from Antioch and he went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia. If you go back to chapter 16 and verse 6, we read the fact that when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.

In other words, he had already passed through these areas, but now he's going over again the same area which he had already covered, where he led many people to the knowledge of Yeshua the Messiah. Now notice it says at the end of verse 23, "strengthening all the disciples."

That is a ministry that is so much needed today in the body of Christ, in the body of the Messiah: the strengthening of the disciples, those students or Talmidim, as we call them in Hebrew, those who have accepted the Lord and have become part of the assembly of the church of the living God. Now they need to be strengthened. Every local church, local assembly needs the strengthening of the believers. It's not only strengthening in a sense of knowing the gospel, but growing spiritually.

We need pillars in the local assembly. We need believers that are mature and can stand for the things of the Lord and can speak for the Messiah and can testify the truth of the word of God. When they are asked anything, they can say, "Listen, I can turn the page into the Book of Acts and into the Gospels and into the epistles and into the Old Testament, the Tanakh, and find the Scripture and share what they know, what they have learned from the things of the Lord."

That is what the Apostle Paul wanted for those believers in these areas, the country of Galatia and Phrygia. He wanted them to grow spiritually. So he began his third missionary journey going in order. He has order. Unless something happened and changed the purpose of his going to one city or one region or another, he went in order. He was going from one town to another town, from another area to another region, to strengthen the disciples.

From verse 24 to the end of the chapter, we have something very interesting about a Jewish man by the name of Apollos. Here's a great lesson for us to learn in these verses. We find out, first of all, in verse 24, the origin of Apollos. Where does he come from? And who is this man? This is not Paul, Sha'ul; this is another Jewish person by the name of Apollos.

We find a few things about this man Apollos, a very interesting Jewish believer in Yeshua the Messiah. Verse 24 says a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. The Spirit of God placed before us this man. First of all, we notice that he was a Jewish man, and his hometown where he was born was in Alexandria.

Today Alexandria is in the land of Egypt. I remember my grandfather when he immigrated from Yemen, a Jewish man, to Israel, he immigrated through Egypt. He spent some time in Alexandria. Apparently, Alexandria was a city that was established at about 332 BC by Alexander the Great. At that time, it was maybe about 600,000 individuals who lived in that city.

That city was very well known as a city where there was a school and a university. It was a very popular city, Alexandria, one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. In this city, there was a lot of learning that was going on. They had a big library there with thousands and thousands of books. There was also a large Jewish community in Alexandria.

Some say that maybe one-quarter of the population of Alexandria at that time were Jewish people. Others said that maybe one-third of the population was the Jewish community. So there was a great library, a large university, and many Jewish people were living in the city of Alexandria. Just like you have large Jewish communities in many cities in the world today, like New York City, Toronto, Montreal, Paris, and other countries in Europe, in Alexandria there was a large Jewish community.

Apparently, also the Septuagint, the Hebrew translation of the Tanakh, the Old Testament, was translated into Greek in Alexandria. So Alexandria was a very well-known city in the Roman Empire of which this man by the name of Apollos came from. He was born in that amazing city with much intellect, much brilliancy, and much learning.

We find in the next verses that this Jewish man by the name of Apollos was an eloquent man. You can just imagine coming from Alexandria, a place where there is so much learning, a large library, and a great Jewish community, he must have been a man that could speak well. He was speaking with much eloquence as he was sharing.

He was a man who believed in the God of Israel as part of the Jewish community because notice what it says next about Apollos: that he was mighty in the Scriptures. He knew the Hebrew Scriptures. Again, to remind you, there was no Brit Chadashah at that time, no New Testament. When we read about the Scriptures, we read about the Hebrew Scriptures, the Tanakh, the Torah, the Nevi'im, the Ketuvim, the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.

He was mighty in the Scriptures. In other words, he knew the word of God, the Hebrew Scriptures. Then we read about him also in verse 24 that he came to Ephesus. So he was born in Alexandria and came to Ephesus, which is the same city to which the Apostle Paul was heading as he was traveling now in his third missionary journey.

By the way, the Apostle Paul had already been at Ephesus. In chapter 18 and verse 19, he came to Ephesus and he left Priscilla and Aquila there. He only stayed for a short time in Ephesus and then he entered into the synagogue and he reasoned with his Jewish brethren from the word of God. We have talked about it already.

They desired him, in verse 20, to stay longer with them at Ephesus, but he consented not. So he stayed a very short time because he was going to go to the feast in the city of Jerusalem. Indeed, he had gone to the city of Yerushalayim and visited the assembly there and visited the brothers and sisters.

But now Apollos arrived at the city of Ephesus, an eloquent man, mighty in the Hebrew Scriptures, in the Tanakh. When he arrived at Ephesus, it tells us a little bit more about this man. Notice it says in verse 25 that he was also instructed in the way of the Lord. "This man was instructed in the way of the Lord."

We have to pause here for a moment because you can see later on that even though he was instructed in the way of the Lord, it does not mean that he actually knew the Lord Yeshua the Messiah yet. He was instructed in the way of the Lord, meaning the Old Testament Scriptures. At this point, he was not yet where he should have been and he will become a believer in the Messiah.

In other words, he was taught by word of mouth. Somebody told him about the Lord Yeshua. He heard about him, but he was not yet what we would call a born-again believer in Yeshua the Messiah. He heard about him, but he was not yet established in what the Messiah Yeshua have done and in the teaching of the church age.

It continues and says about him that he was fervent in the spirit. Again, it's not the Holy Spirit here; he had this zealousness and he was speaking. His spirit was so fervent when he was speaking about the things of the word of God, the things of the Lord. It says here that he spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord.

But now notice what it says in verse 25 at the end: "knowing only the baptism of John," of Yochanan. The moment you arrive to the end of verse 25, "knowing only the Tvilah, the baptism of Yochanan," that tells you that he only gone so far and no more. Whatever the reason may be at that time that Apollos only knew about the baptism of John, it tells us that even though he came to Ephesus and he was speaking in a synagogue, he was not yet what we would know today as a born-again believer in Yeshua the Messiah.

He was not yet part of the body of Mashiach, the body of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. He was not yet where he was heading towards, to become a child of God, but he was a Jewish believer that had arrived so far with his knowledge concerning the things of the word of God. Now let's for a moment make sure that we understand this expression: "knowing only the baptism of John."

The word "baptism" comes from the Hebrew word "L'hitavel." "Tvilah" means to be put under, to be immersed. And what he really came to was the threshold of understanding what John was presenting when he presented himself before the nation of Israel. You know that John, Yochanan, was a forerunner of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. John presented the Mashiach, the Messiah, in his first coming.

When he went down to the Jordan River in Judea, he was a Jewish man, John the Baptizer. Actually, he's not called John the Baptist; he really should be called John the Baptizer. He was presenting himself before the nation and he was saying to our people Israel: "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent."

He was preparing the people of Israel for the coming of the Messiah. It may have been that Apollos went to the land of Israel, to the land of his forefathers, for the time of one of the feasts, perhaps. As he arrived there, he learned the ministry of Yochanan the Baptizer. He was listening to what he was saying.

In fact, I would like you for a moment to turn to Matthew chapter 3 so we can see what John was presenting. In Matthew chapter 3, we read: "In those days," verse 1, "Yochanan the Baptizer, Yochanan Hamatbil, John the Baptizer, came preaching in the wilderness of Judea." And what was he preaching? Look what he said: "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, saying, 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight.'"

"The same Yochanan had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and the wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region about Jordan, and they were baptized of him in the Jordan, confessing their sins."

You see, this is verses 1 to 6 of Matthew chapter 3. John's baptism was a Jewish baptism. It was a baptism unto repentance. All of Judea and Jerusalem came down to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. In a sense, they were identifying with the call of Yochanan because the Lord, the Messiah, was going to come. "Prepare," he says to them, as Isaiah said, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight." Get ready, the Messiah is coming. So Apollos had gone and heard the message.