ACTS 11. LIGHT IN ANTIOCH In a brief review of the outreach of the Gospel; Luke, the beloved physician, the writer of the book of Acts, tells how the Gospel spread out from Judea to other parts of the Roman empire because of persecution. Persecution may be difficult to accept while it is happening, but looking back later, we are often able to see God’s purpose in allowing it to happen. Phoenicia was an area about fifteen miles wide and one hundred-twenty miles long, which is the shoreline of Lebanon today. The island of Cyprus was the home of Barnabas. Cyrene was a city in Libya on the Mediterranean shoreline of North Africa. Antioch was a major center of the activities of the Roman empire, third in importance to Rome and Alexandria. The population of Antioch would have been composed of Greeks, Turks, and other Middle Eastern groups, including Jews, and also some from India and even China.
It was obviously a work of God, through scattered believers, to further the kingdom of God in Antioch the same as in many other places. What better place for the mighty “hand of the Lord,” to reach out with the Gospel to the world! The work of God is the light of the Gospel shining light in the darkness of the world of sin. Hellenism and paganism were the darkness that permeated Antioch like the “valley of the shadow of death.” Then came the light of truth and salvation.
The Origin of the Work, v.19. “The persecution that arose about Stephen.” The wrath of man was made to praise the Lord in Antioch. Nameless disciples moved to Antioch from Judea to get away from the enemies of the Gospel and of God’s people. Saul of Tarsus and others had campaigned against them, and now in Antioch, though they had escaped the pressures of Jewish leaders opposing them, they lived and preached the word of the Lord. The Lord used what evil men thought would stop His work, to be good for both Jews and Gentiles in Antioch and other places. The things that happened to them “fell out to the furtherance of the Gospel.”
The Means of the Work, v.19-21. “Preaching the word… preaching the Lord Jesus… the hand of the Lord was with them.” The word of God preached in the work of the Gospel, is like a weapon of power used by the Holy Spirit of God. It convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. Preaching the Lord Jesus is the life-changing subject of the Gospel to those who believe it. The hand of the Lord is the wonder-working power that turns people from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.
The Results of the Work, v.21. “A great number believed, and turned to the Lord.” The Gospel was preached where there were idol worshippers as well as religious Jews. The Hellenistic Greeks wouldn’t have had any interest in a Jewish “Messiah,” but they understood what is meant by “Lord.” The “Lord’s hand,” using believers to tell others about the “Lord Jesus,” resulted in people turning to “the Lord.” When people turn to the Lord, that is evidence of them believing in Him. That is the objective behind the preaching of the Gospel. Sinners being converted and the reality of their changed lives and witness to the grace of God, is what motivated the Lord’s people to labor hard in the work of the Lord.