Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Female): 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, everyone. Let us turn, please, to the book of Acts today. We are going to read the last chapter of Acts, chapter 28. We want to see if we can cover this chapter today. I'm not sure how much we're going to cover, but by the grace of God, we'll see if we can cover much of this chapter.

And this is, of course, the last portion in the book of Acts. The journey of the Apostle Paul from Caesarea, Israel into Rome, where he finally has arrived to the place where the angel of God and Yeshua Himself said to him, "Paul, just as you have testified of me in Jerusalem, in the temple, among your brethren, the people of Israel, you will also testify of me in the city of Rome." So, please follow with me as we read Acts, chapter 28.

Guest (Male): And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.

And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live."

And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously. And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.

So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed: who also honored us with many honors; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.

And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli: where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.

And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and the three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.

Gideon Levytam: And I'll stop here. This is the last chapter, brothers and sisters, of the book of Acts, and it is a fascinating book. It is a very important book in the Scriptures because the book of Acts, in Hebrew we call it Ma'asei HaShlichim, "The Acts of the Apostles" through the Holy Spirit of God, is a very important book because it places us, it shows us the transition between the time when the Messiah came for our nation Israel, and when Israel as a nation, our own people as a nation, haven't accepted Him, and some early Jewish believers have accepted the Messiahship of Yeshua, preached the message of the Gospel to the world, and were the foundation of the building of the assembly of the church of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

And it is such an important book because when you understand the book of Acts, you can understand the rest of the epistles: Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and all these epistles that God had given to us in the Scripture. So, we are in the conclusion of the book of Acts, and it is the journey now that the Apostle Paul as a prisoner, being taken, of course, captured in Jerusalem, taken to Caesarea, held there in Caesarea for two years as a prisoner, and now he is taken to Rome because he said, "I am going to appeal unto Caesar," and unto Caesar I want to appeal because I haven't done anything wrong. And therefore, they took him now to the city of Rome.

And on the journey that he had to Rome, in those chapters that we have read, in chapter 27, this whole chapter is devoted to the journey from Caesarea to Rome. And how we have learned from our last ministry meeting together how there was a shipwreck where the ship had totally been broken into pieces, and the Apostle and 276 along with him together, 276 souls have been delivered and had survived this shipwreck. And they ended up finding themselves on an island that we know from chapter 28 and verse one that the name of this island is called Melita or present-day Malta.

They had about 14 days, the ship had been allowed to go on its own to the mercy of God, about 500 miles, day and night, and day and night, tossed to and fro with the waves and the storm and the sea and the wind, all the way until finally they find themselves near an island, and they did not even know the name of the island. And yet, beloved brothers and sisters, they were safe and sound on that island. And some of them took boards from the broken pieces of the ship, some of them were swimming, and some of them got there one way or another, helped each other, and ultimately, notice that the last verse of chapter 27, they escaped all safe to land.

And I made the application in the past few meetings together on chapter 27, and I just want to mention this one more time: the ship ride, the boat ride of the Apostle Paul and the 275 others with him, it's a type, a picture of the church of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who is going through challenges and experiences in life and broken to pieces during the journey, but eventually everyone that was on the ship came safe to shore. It is a picture of the assembly of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, who will arrive eventually safe to the presence of the Lord, even though the church is divided and broken today as we know it in the world which we live in today. Everyone of us who is truly a child of God, we will arrive safely to the presence of the Lord because of the promise that God had given His own people, and we can trust in it and have confidence in it because the Lord has spoken this to us through His Word.

Well, they have arrived at this island that they found out here in chapter 28 that the name of this island is Melita. So, in this chapter that we are studying today, chapter 28, there are really two major thoughts that we want to occupy ourselves with in this ministry meeting. The first ten verses of this chapter is the experience of Paul on that island that is called Melita or Malta. The first ten verses, we find out his experience on this island. In Hebrew, the word island is "ee," "ee" simply means island. On this island, the Apostle Paul had experienced certain things that the Lord even used him for the blessing of people around him on the island of Melita.

Notice the first ten verses. Really, even those ten verses divide themselves into two sections. The first six verses, we have the reactions of the people on that island of Melita to the viper that bit the Apostle Paul. This is the first six verses. And from verse seven to ten, we have the miraculous healing of Publius' father and others who lived on that island, that Paul was used by God for the healing of the people on that island. Let's look over those ten verses together. First of all, we find out in verse one that the island's name was called Melita. Notice that. "And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita."

Now, remember, brothers and sisters, that we just talked together about the whole ordeal of the challenge of the ship experience, the trials, the wind, the storm, and finally we read that word here in this first verse, that they have escaped. In other words, if you remember in the Psalms, where David in Psalm 107 says, "They that go down to the sea in ships, that they do business in a great waters; these are the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." In other words, the psalmist David says, you know, all the experiences that the people who go down to the sea and they are being preserved and protected, ultimately, it is really the wonders of the Lord who preserved them at sea.

It says there in that same verse that I am reading in Psalm 107, it says there in verse 28, "Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven." In other words, the psalmist is really saying that even those that go to sea, they are being preserved by the Lord and protected ultimately and being brought into their desired haven. In other words, God is in control. He allowed things to happen to Paul and to Luke and to the others that were with him, but ultimately He had helped them to escape all this ordeal and to be protected on that island that is called Melita.

Now, we learn certain things about this island of Melita because in verse two, we find out the kindness of the people who lived on that island. It says here, "And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold." Apparently, the people of Malta, Melita, had treated Paul, Luke, the rest of the 276 people who were on board and came safe and sound to the island, they had treated them very kind. You see, it says here that they received us, they kindled for us fire because of the rain and because of the cold. Apparently, they were shivering. It was cold, it was still raining as part of the storm, and they had landed on this island and the people of this island received them kindly.

Now, it is interesting because the Bible called them barbarous people. You know, in Hebrew, sometimes when somebody is speaking foolish or speaking things that we don't like to hear, we say, "Lama atta medaber k'mo barbari?" We call it "barbari" in Hebrew. "Barbari" simply means to us, we look at that, we see somebody who talks nonsense. But really, in the Greek world, to be a barbarous was simply a person who did not speak the Greek language and who had a different culture. It was not necessarily being a bad person or an evil person; it is simply a person who did not have a part of the culture of the day, meaning in this case, in the time of the Romans, they still spoke Greek, and he did not speak the Greek language, it was not part of his culture, and they called them here "barbarous people."

So, the "barbarous" was one who was a foreigner, a person who did not speak the Greek language. And that's why sometimes in the Scripture, when the Apostle Paul was writing to the Romans or to the Corinthians or Colossians, he used this word "barbarian" to distinguish between the cultured person or the one who was not part of this culture. He used the very same expression "barbarous." The word "barbarous" here is in Greek "barbaros." It's mentioned five times in the Brit Hadashah, in the New Covenant, and every time is in connection with those who did not speak the language or were not part of the culture.

So, these people of Melita were called the barbarous people, the foreigners, the people who did not have part in the culture, the different kind of people they called the barbarous. But apparently, they were kind people. They had a conscience and it shows that they really cared for people who had been in trouble. Can you imagine? 276 souls that their ship was just broken a little bit ahead out at sea, all coming, freezing cold, wet and soaked with water, the rain is coming down, the cold is coming upon them, and here we see 276 souls arriving to the island. And what the barbarous people do? They get fire ready for them. They take care of them, they provide for them, as it says here in verse two, they receive every one of them graciously. They were kind to them and they took care of them. These are the barbarous people, the people who were not part of the culture of the day.

Please turn with me to Romans chapter one in verse 14 for a moment and notice what Paul is writing. He says, "I am a debtor to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both unto the wise and to the unwise." In other words, Paul, Shaul, is saying, "Listen, I am a debtor to share the message of the Gospel with the Gentile people of the world, both with the people that are Greeks, cultured, but also with people who are barbarian, who are not part of the Greek culture." "I believe that I am a debtor to share with them the message of the Messiahship of Yeshua." And he felt this when he wrote that to the people of Rome. So beautiful to see how we find this in Romans chapter one.

If you turn with your pages also to 1 Corinthians chapter 14 for a moment, and there the Apostle Paul says the same thing. He made a distinction between the Greeks and the barbarians. 1 Corinthians chapter 14, and look at this: he's speaking about the local assembly at Corinth, and there were so many problems, there was so much confusion at Corinth. And he says to them in verse 11, "Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice," if somebody speaks in a local assembly and he doesn't know what he says, "I shall be unto him as one that speaketh a barbarian and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me."

You see what he is saying? If I speak, in the case of the Corinthians, some of them were claiming that they speak a special gift of tongue, a special language that God had given them the ability to speak, and he says, "Okay, if God had given you the supernatural word to speak in a language that is unique to enable you to share the message of the Gospel, well, if you don't speak it in a way that the people can understand it, what is the benefit in that? You become like a barbarian unto me," in other words, a foreigner, a person who does not know the language and does not understand the words that you are speaking.

One more verse, we read in Colossians chapter three. Just turn to Colossians for a moment, just one more verse there, chapter three. And the Apostle Paul, again, speaking there concerning the distinction between the Greeks and the barbarian. And so, listen to verse 11: "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian or Scythians, bond or free, but the Messiah is all and in all." In other words, what he's saying in Colossians, when we became believers in Yeshua the Messiah, a Jewish person and a Gentile are united in Messiah, in Christ. A circumcised Jewish person or an uncircumcised Gentile, united in the body of Messiah, part of the body. Whether it is barbarian, a person who doesn't know the language from another land, from another country, another culture, or Scythian, they are coming on the same ground. They are part of the body of Messiah, whether you are bond or free, whether you are a slave in the Roman Empire or free man in the Roman Empire, you are united together in the body of Messiah.

I'm mentioning all these verses in connection with the word barbarian mentioned to us here in Acts chapter 28 and verse two. So, the kindness of the barbarian people to the 276 souls that escaped the storm at sea and have ended up on the island of Melita, of Malta. What a kindness. Beautiful to see their behavior. You know, sometimes, brothers and sisters, we talk about, what about those people who live far away in the island? And how would they know about God and about the truth of the word of God? Look, apparently this barbarian, they had a conscience. They understood the care for people. They understood that there is someone whom they are accountable to. They may believe in other idols and so on, but God is able to reach them as well. And you can see how the Apostle Paul is assisting them in this island of Melitus.

Well, look at this, verse three. Now something has happened. In verse three, we find out that when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and he laid them on the fire, there came a viper or a snake out of the heat and fastened on his hand. We learn something interesting here, first of all, about Paul, about Shaul: that even though he was the Apostle, even though he was the one that God had spoken to him and have commanded him and used him in so many ways, when the time came and everybody's cold and shivering and everybody's trying to find a place of safety and they need to be taken care of, the Apostle Paul was like everybody else. He went to find sticks, he picked up sticks, he put them in the fire, just like everybody else. He participated in the service that is needed at that time.

He didn't say, "Hey, listen, I'm the Apostle Paul, and I'm going to sit around. Don't forget that on the ship I told you that the angel of God spoke to me and I cannot do anything." Notice that, he is used by God even by picking up sticks, bringing them to the fire. But here something happened. A viper came from the midst of the fire and fastened to his hand. Now, that was something dangerous. I mean, if somebody's been bitten by a snake, by a serpent, by a viper, that person is liable to lose his life. How many of people have played with serpents and snakes and end up bitten and lost their lives? But here's the Apostle Paul. It just happened, he didn't look for serpents, he didn't search for vipers. It just happened to be as he's helping everybody that a viper bit him and was hanging on his hand.

So, the people, of course, look at this in verse four, five, and six. The reaction of the barbarians, of the people of the island of Malta, they had two kind of reactions. The first reaction, it's found in verse four: "And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hanging on his hand, they said among themselves, 'No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffered not to live.'" So, the first reaction was, there is a reason why he's the one that got bitten by the serpent. He must be a murderer. He had been successful in fleeing the sea and the storm, but he did not succeed totally to escape because here we can see that ultimately, vengeance did not allow him. He deserved to die because if he's a murderer, vengeance caught him and now he is going to die because of the biting of the viper. That's the first reaction.

Well, look at this, because immediately what Paul does, Paul is shaking the beast from his hand into the fire and he felt no harm. Now, Paul is shaking that viper out of his hand, putting him down back into the fire, and he's standing there, continued to do what he had to do. No harm. The Bible tells us nothing happened to the Apostle Paul. Well, so then the barbarian, these people of Melita, who were very, apparently, had a conscience, you see that when they saw somebody like Paul have a viper biting him and they thought here he deserves it, there was a reason why it happened to him, in other words, they have been sensitive to maybe have done something wrong and that's why this thing have happened to him.

But immediately, in verse six, after he shook off this serpent, it says they looked, and they said, "maybe he would be swollen or fallen down dead suddenly." They thought it was going to happen to him. And believe me, they have an experience with this kind of things. In fact, in some of my reading and listening, apparently in Malta, Melita, there is known to be vipers that is dangerous for the human being, and if somebody is bitten by that viper, they lose their life.