Holy Scriptures and Israel

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat Shalom everyone. Let's turn, please, to the book of Acts. Today, we are going to continue in the study of the book of Acts, and we are going to look at the eight chapter. At least the first part of Acts chapter 8.

We have been studying so far in the book of Acts, and we have enjoyed to see the beginning of the proclamation of the Gospel by the early Hebrew Messianic believers, who came to faith in Yeshua the Messiah. And we have seen how beautiful they have been presenting the message of the Gospel to their own brethren. And many have come to faith in Yeshua.

And when we begin now in Acts chapter 8, we can see that they had to go through some persecutions, and they had to experience things that we have to admit, many of us do not even know who live outside of the land of Israel, don't have even the realization what does it mean to be persecuted by those who oppose the message of the Gospel.

And so, we begin today with the reading in Acts chapter 8, and please follow up with me as I'm reading some of the first verses there.

Verse 1, we read, "And Shaul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was great persecutions against the church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Shaul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hauling men and women, committed them to prison.

Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached the Messiah unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spoke, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them. And many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city.

Verse 9, "But there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one. To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

But when they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and the name of Yeshua the Messiah, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and he wondered, beholding the miracles and the signs which were done.

Now, when the apostles which were in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet, He was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Yeshua.

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that through the laying of the apostles' hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou has thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

Thou has neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in a gall of bitterness, and in a bond of iniquity.

Then answered Simon and said, pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. And they, then they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returning to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. And I'm going to stop here in verse 25 for the portion of today.

I know it is a long portion, but I just have to bring it together here in chapter 8 in order not to lose something here, especially as the Gospel moved on now from Jerusalem, from Yerushalayim, to the location of Samaria.

Now, I would like to remind you, dear brothers and sisters, that we are now taking ourselves back in the studying of the book of Acts about 2,000 years back. We are looking at the time where the foundation of the body of Messiah had begun, where the first early believers in the city of Jerusalem proclaimed the message of the Gospel to their own brethren, and they have experienced misunderstanding and much persecution by their own people.

And especially in the end of chapter 7, we have seen what happened to this man by the name of Stephen. Stephen was one of these Jewish people who have immigrated to the land of Israel, became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah. He was one of those Grecian Hebrews, and he became one of these servants among the believers in Jerusalem. And he testified concerning the Messiahship of Yeshua, and his whole testimony to the Sanhedrin is described to us in chapter 7 of the book of Acts.

And what happened to him at the end of his testimony? If you remember, they took Stephen and they stoned him. And as they stoned him, he was crying to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."

Stephen believed in Yeshua the Messiah, and his love for his brethren, even at the time of the stoning of this man, he was crying to his Lord, to the Messiah, and asking Him not to lay this sin to the charge of the Sanhedrin there. And if you remember, when those who testified against Stephen were there testifying against him, they laid their clothes in chapter 7 and verse 58 to ease themselves so they can stone Stephen easily, they have laid their clothes beside a man by the name of Shaul.

It is the first time in the Scripture that we have been exposed to this man by the name of Shaul. His Hebrew name is Shaul. His diaspora name is Paul. We're going to talk about him much more as we are studying the book of Acts. But here we see Shaul in chapter 8 and verses 1 to 3, beginning with the persecution of the believers in the city of Jerusalem.

Notice those verses in the first three verses here. We see, first of all, it says here in verse 1, "And Shaul was consenting unto his death." And at the same time there was great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem. You notice that word, by the way, in the Greek, the word "consenting," it's not only agreeing with the persecution of Stephen, it is much more, he found pleasure in the persecution of Stephen even unto death.

Now, can you imagine, here is this young man by the name of Shaul, who was a real devoted man to the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When he saw that there were many who became believers in Jesus the Messiah, in Yeshua HaMashiach, he was not happy with this, and he sought to oppose that message of the Messiahship of Yeshua.

So what does he do? He does that which is seemingly pleasing his God, but obviously not. What does he do? He began to persecute those Hebrew believers. It says there that in verse 1, there was a great persecution of the church which was in Jerusalem. I want to highlight that word "church" here because the word "church" we understand it from the Scripture simply means "called out ones." It's not the building, it is the people. He couldn't persecute the building, but he persecuted the believers that were in the city of Jerusalem.

He began to persecute them, and he began to be that leader who motivated others to persecute those early Hebrew believers. And so what happened? They were scattered in verse 1 throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Now, do you remember that when Yeshua, before he went to glory, in Acts chapter 1, he said to the disciples, "You shall be My witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem, then Judea, and then Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the Earth." And perhaps it seemed to be that Yeshua used the persecution of the early believers in order to scatter them abroad beyond the borders of Jerusalem so the message of the Gospel is going to move on to Judea, Samaria, and then ultimately to the uttermost parts of this Earth.

And that man by the name of Shaul was the ring leader. He was so devoted to the Lord that in other passages in the Scripture, he tells us of himself. He says, "I was circumcised," if you remember in Philippians chapter 3, "on the eighth day. I was of the stock of Israel. I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrew. I'm from the tribe of Benjamin. I'm a Pharisee. I was committed to the truth of the God of Israel."

He was so devoted to the things of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that for him faith in Yeshua the Messiah was dishonoring to God, and therefore he began to be that one that was persecuting his own Jewish brethren who believe in Jesus the Messiah.

So, what does he do? The Bible shows us here that he persecuted, he was consenting to his death. There was a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem. They were scattered abroad in verse 1. And then in verse 2, "Devout men were carrying Stephen to his burial and made a great lamentation over him."

Now, we do not know who were those devout men. Luke usually used this expression "devout men." Some suggest that they may have not even been believers, but they simply did not agree with what the Sanhedrin have done by accusing Stephen and by stoning him, because Stephen was a man that was not supposed to be a criminal. He didn't do anything wrong. He simply believed that Yeshua was the Messiah.

And so those devout men carried Stephen, and apparently they lamented over him. If he was a criminal, there was no need to lament over him, but he was a man of God, a man that was pleasing God, and therefore they lamented over him. There was a great lamentation over Stephen.

But then we read a little bit more about Saul. Look what we read. "Saul had made havoc of the church." He entered into every house, and he hauled men and women and he committed them to prison. Can you imagine, going from house to house, from place to place and bringing those believers out of the houses in Jerusalem, hauling them out and taking them to prison.

Look at this great persecution that happened in Jerusalem. You will hear a little bit more about what's going on today in Israel, but I personally, just two weeks ago, stood in Israel in the city of Arad, in the middle of a demonstration of orthodox people who believe strongly in the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, opposing those who believe in Yeshua the Messiah.

Obviously, they didn't go from door to door and haul the believers from house to house, but nevertheless, there is an opposition to faith in Yeshua the Messiah by our own people. Even today as we are here finding ourselves today in these days of age. And so, he went, Shaul, from house to house, hauling men and women. Notice it's not only men, but also women. We can see that it's not only the leaders of a household, but also their wives. They're taking them all, bringing them into prison.

And if you read in Acts chapter 22, he will say later on in his testimony that he was also gone beyond merely taking them to prison. In Acts chapter 22, and in verse 4, it says that "I persecuted this way unto death." Paul said, Shaul said in Acts 22 and verse 4. Literally, he was bringing Jewish believers, and not only putting them in prison, but also seeking their death.

And that's the kind of man this man by the name of Shaul have been. But you see, it had been said that the seed of the martyrs is the development of that which caused the church, the assembly to grow. The more they sought to persecute the believers, they were scattered abroad, they were gone from one place to another place. But what do you think they did? They began to preach beyond the borders of the city of Jerusalem. They shared the message of the Gospel.

So what we learn here from these verses, that persecution did not hinder the believers from sharing the message of the Gospel beyond the area where they were living before. And that's what really happened here, dear brothers and sisters. In verses 4 to 8, of Acts chapter 8, we see that the preaching of the message of the Gospel have gone beyond the city of Jerusalem, to a place that is called Shomron, Samaritan.

And look at this, it says in verse 4, "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." The word for "scattered abroad" come from the word like we have earlier, it's come from the word "diaspora." In the Greek word it's "Diaspeiro," it means to be scattered. That's where we get the word, "the Jews of the diaspora." Here it is the Jewish believers who have been dispersed, have gone to the diaspora, have been scattered abroad.

But they preached the message. Wherever they have gone, they have preached the person of the message of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. It may have been publicly, it may have been on a personal level, but they have preached the Word of God faithfully wherever they have been. They were preaching the word, sharing the message of the Gospel. Why? Because they understood the truth that faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the preaching of the message of the Word of God.

And that's why we are on a regular basis preach the word here. We teach the Bible. We share the message of the Word of God. We don't deviate. We simply teach the message of the Word of God verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book because through preaching of the word, sinners can be saved and saints can be encouraged in the things of the Lord.

And so look, they have gone, they were preaching the word wherever they have gone, wherever they have been scattered to. And then we read in verses 5, 6, and 7 and 8, the preaching of Philip in the location that is called Shomron, Samaria.

Now, just pause here for a moment about the Samaritan. You notice it says in verse 5, "Philip went down to the city of Samaria." We call it in Hebrew, Shomron. Shomron is what is known today as the West Bank. It's occupied by the Palestinian today, much of it, and it is the area that is being really discussed today. Does it belong to Israel or not? Should we give it to the Palestinian or not?

But this area of Shomron, remember that was part of the nation of Israel when God had given the land to the Israelites who came from Egypt, entered to the promised land, and it was given to the tribes of Israel. But what happened? The nation of Israel had been divided into these two nations, the northern tribes, Israel, the southern tribe, Judah. And then there was constant friction between those two nations. And because of unbelief and because of disobedience to God, He had carried the northern kingdom.