Holy Scriptures and Israel

Gideon Levytam: This study of Acts chapter 28. If I know not the meaning of the voice, if somebody speak in a local assembly and he doesn't know what he says, he says, "I shall be unto him as one that speaks a barbarian, and he that speaks shall be a barbarian unto me."

You see what he's saying. If I speak, you see in the case of the Corinthians, some of them were claiming that they speak a special gift of tongue with 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 3. Just turn to Colossians for a moment. Just one more verse there, chapter 3. 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 Scythians, they are coming on the same ground. They're part of the body of Messiah. Whether you are bond or free, whether you're a slave in the Roman Empire or free man in the Roman Empire, you're 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 2. 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.

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 3. Now something have happened. In verse 3, 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 Sha'ul.

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 is cold and shivering, and everybody is 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 pick up sticks, 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." No, notice that he's 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 is being 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 4, 5, and 6. The reaction of the barbarians, of the people of the island of Melita, they had two kind of reactions.

The first reaction, it's found in verse 4. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hanging on his hand, they said among themselves, "No doubt this man is a murderer, who, 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 it 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's 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 hands, putting him down back into the fire, and he's standing there, continue to do what he have to do. No harm. The Bible tells us nothing happened to the Apostle Paul.

Well, so then the barbarian, these people of Melitus, 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 deserved 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 6, 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's going to happen to him. And believe me, they have an experience with these kind of things. In fact, in some of my reading and listening, apparently in Malta, Melita, there is known to be viper that is dangerous for the human being. And when somebody's bitten by that viper, they lose their lives.

And they're waiting to see if that's what's going to happen to the Apostle Paul. And since it didn't happen in verse 6, after they had looked down and they looked a great while and they saw no harm come to him, they changed their mind. And now they said he was a god. You see, they change their mind now.

Okay, if that viper bit the Apostle Paul, this man, and he did not die, well, if he died, he may have deserved it because he have escaped the sea as a murderer, but now they change their mind because really it was abnormal for a person to receive such a bite from a viper and to remain alive.

So they said it's not possible. Well, then if he's not a murderer and he didn't die, then he must be a god. And you can see, beloved brothers and sisters, that around the Gentile world, in contrast to the Jewish world, the people of Israel believe in the true and living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the Gentile world, the nations of the world, the Goyim, did not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And they have introduced all sort of idols and gods that have been introduced by the nations of the world. And here these barbarian, the local people who belong to the island of Melita, have come and acknowledge now the Apostle Paul because nothing happened to him through the biting of the viper, that he is a god with a small G.

And obviously they have now assumed that he was some divine person or some kind of an idol that they ought to worship. And that's the way that they were looking at things. And you know from history we know many nations have had all sorts of gods, small G, that is, and they claim that this one was God and the Zeus is God and all those names that they have given to various gods of their own.

And Paul, by the way, it was not the first time that Paul was acknowledged as God. If you remember in chapter 14, in verse 11 and 12, we read that when the people saw that Paul, what he have done, they lifted up their voices and they said in the speech of Lycaonia, "The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men." That was when the Apostle Paul was in Iconium and Lystra. They also were assuming that he was divine, that God came down to us in the likeness of men. In fact, they call him Mercurius in chapter 14 and verse 12 of the book of Acts. So Paul already have these experiences of people taking him as being God because of certain things that he have done through the help of the Holy Spirit of God.

Now, just to elaborate on this a little bit, do you remember before Yeshua left this scene and went back to heaven? At the end of the Gospel of Mark, he gave a command to the early apostles, to the disciples. And he said to them in Mark chapter 16, he said those words to them.

In verse 15 he said, "Go ye into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out demons. They shall speak in new languages, new tongues. They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

Before Yeshua the Messiah, after His death, His burial, and resurrection, before His ascension, he spoke to His disciples and he gave them instruction concerning the future day. He says, "Go to all the world. You preach the message of the Gospel, the love of God through the person of Yeshua the Messiah. And alongside of your preaching, there will be a special gifts that you will receive to the signs that you will be able to do during the time of your preaching in order to validate the truth of the message of the Gospel."

Now we have to be careful today that not every Joe go and say, "Listen, don't start to look now for serpents to play with them and to drink all kind of poison and to do all kind of things and to say, 'Well, the Lord told me to do that.'" Listen, he doesn't say that they're going to search for those things. He said that those kind of things will accompany the preaching of the early disciples when they would go to preach the message of the Gospel.

And you can see this, beloved brothers and sisters, the Apostle Paul didn't look for any viper and play in a den of some vipers and serpents. It was something that happened to him and in a supernatural way God have preserved him that nothing would happen unto the Apostle Paul.

This is not for everyone to do, that was for the first century, early believers, the apostles and their legates whom they have before the canon of Scripture was completed, that the Lord used signs and wonders in the first century, in the early century of the church age.

We don't limit God. God can do miracles at any time when he want. He can use whomsoever he will, but it is not something that we play with. This is something that if should something like that happen and the Lord would wish to preserve a person, here is an example how this thing have happened.

Let me make another application here that I believe is appropriate. There are two verses in the Bible that speak to us about Satan, who is number one, 1 Peter 5:8, "He is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5 and verse 8. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, he's called the angel of light. In other words, he's called as one that coming to appear, he's appearing as an angel of light. He's a deceitful as a serpent, beguiling the people of God.

In these two chapters, chapter 27, we see Satan as a roaring lion seeking to destroy the Apostle Paul's testimony and his arrival to Rome to give a testimony concerning Yeshua the Messiah. In chapter 28, we see Satan seeking to destroy the testimony of the Apostle Paul by coming as a serpent, seeking to kill Paul and stop him from having his testimony to Yeshua the Messiah in the city of Rome.

In the storm, he's as the roaring lion. In the serpent, he's as we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. He's appearing as an angel of light, beguiling as a serpent, sneaky, seeking to appear as an angel of light. And we are, you and I today as believers, you know, there are two areas, avenues that Satan want to hurt our testimony.

He's coming to us sometimes as an angel of light in a sneaky way and tell you, "You know what? This is not going to happen. You carry on go this way," or, "Carry on, everything is going to be fine." He's ultimately seeking to sneakily draw us away from our testimony to Yeshua the Messiah.

And if this doesn't work, he's acting as a roaring lion. He's bringing problems and storms and all kind of things into our life in order for us to be discouraged in our life in following Yeshua the Messiah. And so you see, beloved brothers and sisters, the way that the enemy work, and yet God in His goodness, in His grace, preserving His servant to give a testimony to Yeshua the Messiah in the city of Rome.

And how precious it is here. They call him first of all a murderer and when he shook the serpent and nothing happened to him, they call him a god. And if Paul would have not been a true servant of the living God, he would expect some worship for himself. But Paul was not that kind of a man. He was a true humble servant of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

And instead of expecting some honor and glory to himself, he ended up bringing blessing on the people of Melita. And so in the next verses, verse 7, 8, 9, and 10, there is the miraculous healing of Publius' father and others that have been healed by God who had used the Apostle Paul in his service.

And so two things. First of all we find in verses 7 and 8, the same quarters, in other words, in the same island, the same area, there were possessions of the chief men of the island. In other words, there was a man who was one of the chief men of the island and he was living in this area. His name was Publius, who received us and he lodged us for three days courteously.

Now he use the word "us" and "us" is including Luke and it's including all the 276 people who came from the sea and escaped the storm and landed in Melita. So can you imagine, here's a gracious man? I don't know when was the last time you have hosted 276 people who were wet, soaking wet, and the rain coming upon them, and they are much fear and in destitute. 276 people he hosted.

And you can see the graciousness of this man. He hosted them. He brought them into a home, tents, huts that they have had. He have hosted them and he provided for them and he took care of them. What an amazing thing to experience here by this man by the name of Publius. He received, he lodged them for three days courteously, graciously.

He hosted them. You know, when we go sometimes to visit our homeland in Israel and we take groups of tourists to visit the land of Israel, sometimes we go to visit the Bedouins. And you know, we sit in Sinai or the Negev, wherever we are in the desert area, they're inviting us into their tent and we sit for a cup of coffee and we drink and they are hosting us, the gracious hospitality that you have, the Middle Eastern hospitality.

Now of course that is not in the Middle East, this is in Milta, but the gracious hospitality, beloved brothers and sisters, is something to emulate, something to desire to have a heart for hospitality. And here's a man, not a Christian, not a Messiah follower, yet hospitable.

And you know we are exalted in the book of Hebrews to have hospitality. It is important for hospitality for the people of God that we are exalted to be hospitable. What an example we have here by this man by the name of Publius, who hosted those who came from sea to the island.

And so, but he had a problem. According to verse 8 that his father, the father of Publius, was laying sick of fever and of bloody flux. Apparently he was in a poor state. He had fever, bloody flux. And so what does Paul do? Paul enter in to the house or to the place, the tent, wherever, to the hut where he was, and he prayed.

He prayed. Number two, laid hand on him. Number three, he healed him. Look at the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul, the first thing he does, he committed the need of the father of Publius to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah in prayer.

We learned about it earlier on ship. Remember before the ship broke and the Apostle Paul took the bread and he prayed and he gave thanks and then he gave it to the disciples and then they all ate together and the Lord made the need. Here we can see that there's sickness in the place in the island of Melita. They needed help and here the Apostle Paul does the thing that is natural to a believer. He committed the need to our Lord Yeshua the Messiah in prayer.

And so remember the very command that Yeshua the Messiah gave to the early disciples, Hebrew disciples when he sent them away. He said to them those that will be preaching the message of the Gospel, not only that they're going to take up serpents and nothing will harm them, but he said they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. This is in Mark chapter 16 and verse 18.

Well, look at the reality of the promise that had been given to the early apostles and disciples of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Here what does he do? He pray and as he mentioned here in Mark 16:18, he laid his hand on him. By the way, it's not the hand of the Apostle Paul that does anything. It's not the hand, it's simply identifying with the person.

The hand itself has no value. The hand is a Jewish biblical expression of identification, the way it had been done in the history of Israel by the laying of the hand. We identify with the person and the laying of the hand is the care for that individual who was sick. Praying to God, laying his hand in identification with the need and God in His mercy as it says here have healed him.

Now again, that might give a reason to the people of Melita to say, "Wow, here is a god again." The Apostle Paul does not take glory for himself. He's a servant. He's a minister of the Gospel. And he's simply doing the ministry that Yeshua, his Messiah, gave him to do.

And so, after doing that in verses 9 and 10, other people in the island of Melita came, as it says in verse 9. "So when this was done, others also which had diseases in the island came and were healed." Again, Paul prayed, laid his hand on them, and the Lord, the God of creation, have healed them.

By the way, God may choose to heal one and he may choose not to heal others. By the way, Paul himself, the very fact that he didn't see the serpent, the viper there, could very well suggest because of his eye problem that he didn't see it.

And you know, beloved brothers and sisters, he besought three times the Lord to take this thorn that he had in his flesh. And the Lord said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient." In other words, I don't have to answer your prayer in the way that you want, I'll answer your prayer in the way that I want.

I may heal you and I may not. We don't command God to heal. If he wishes, he allow us to be the way we are. If he wishes, he totally restore us. It is His will that will ultimately come to pass. In this case, he chose to heal the father of Publius and to heal those that were on that island of Melita.

And so we read about these people that they have been healed, many of them. In verse 10 it says, "Who also honored us with many honors. And when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary."

I want to one more time emphasize the word the barbarians. Don't ever for a moment think that when we say barbarian or when the Bible say barbarian, that it speaks about people who are evil and bad. Well, they have behaved so kind, so gracious to people that they never knew, so hospitable.

Long before Publius' father was healed, long before the many were healed, they were gracious enough to host those that had a need. And so barbarians simply mean that they were not part of the culture of the day. They were foreigners to the Greek culture. They did not speak the language and therefore they are called barbarian.

And they need the Messiah just the same like the cultured individual who knows the language and who is a pretty decent, you might say, cultured individual. So, brothers and sisters, with those 10 verses we really covered the experience of the Apostle Paul on the island of Melita.