Acts 12-13 Study Notes

Acts 12 Who is the real sovereign King, Herod Agrippa I, or Jesus?

Notice the contrast of Jesus and Herod in the chapter by Luke

Herod Agrippa I is the grandson of Herod the Great, reign 37-44 AD

Use a Herod chart when reading the NT

What did Herod the great build? The temple courts and platform, Cesarean by the sea with a sea wall, Masada, Herodium in Bethlehem, Palace is Jericho (nothing remaining)

He was a great engineer, but a paranoid murderer and died a long protracted death from worms, probably from undercooked pork (Edomite) [It was said of Herod: It is safer to be his pig than to be his son]

Two types of police forces, Temple guard (Jewish bouncers), Roman soldiers

The difference between miracles, magic, and myths

Gary Aitken, SC

Peter in the garden with at the arrest of Jesus with Jewish temple guards with torches and swords

What did he do with the Sword? Responded with courage, knowing he had to fight all the armed men one at a time

Next, he ran away

Next, he went to outside the high priest’s house, his courage returned

Then he denied Jesus 3 times in the courtyard during the trial

Then he ran away

Matthew mentions the other apostles watched Jesus dying on the cross at a distance, only John was near the cross with Mary the mother of Jesus

First Jewish arrest with John by Peter’s side, one night in prison, ordered to not preach in Jesus name

Second Jewish arrest with other apostles, beaten 39 times and released. (3 strikes, and you’re out)

The apostle James is killed with a sword by Herod Agrippa I, just like John the Baptist was killed with a sword by Herod Antipas, his dad, and like the babies in Bethlehem were killed by the sword by the order of Herod the great, his granddad.

The persecution of the church has moved from the Jewish leaders to Romans, the pagan government, the same Romans that crucified the Lord Jesus

Because of Peter’s history, if the church in Jerusalem  was praying all night that Peter all alone this time, would not deny the Lord Jesus again and agree to stop preaching to save his life, but that he would stand firm and die as a martyr like Stephen and the apostle James, because of his track record, the church would be surprised if he was knocking on the door of John Mark’s mother’s house where they were praying. Their prayer would be indirectly answered at this time and this prayer was fully answered about 18 years later when Peter was crucified in Rome, upside down.

Herod has been attaching the church of King Jesus. Herod’s treasurer arranged for a meeting with Tyre and Sidon at Caesarea by the sea. He made s speech to the delegation

Herod sucked up the glory from men, like sponge sucks up water

Josephus says his robe made of Silver and was glimmering in the sun light

The context: the man had James killed. What did Stephen say as he was dying that he saw in heaven? Jesus, got off the throne, and stood to receive His martyr Stephen

He had done the same for the son of thunder, James the apostle of Christ

Herod had murdered James for being a Christian and had attempted to murder Peter,

But King Jesus sent and angel and prevented that murder

Now Herod, direct descendant of Herod the Great on one side, and John Hyrcanus the high priest that was the nephew of Judas Maccabeus, who overthrew the Greeks and cleansed the temple, knew better.

The sovereign of heaven said no to the second murder. And before he ended his speech, he doubled over with intestinal pain. And he died 5 days later at Caesarea by the sea in intense pain being eaten from the inside out by worms, like his grandfather

The King of heaven called him to recon for all the deeds done in the body, all the evil thoughts, and all the evil words he had spoken from birth

Who is the real sovereign here? Did Jesus stand for the heavenly arrival of Charlie Kirk? It is possible.

Warreb Wiersbe writes that only the Apostle Judas was replaced. Great insight. There are only 12 apostles of Christ and there were a few apostles of the church.

Apostles are the foundation stones of the church, Eph.2, 4, Christ is the cornerstone. The one make -believer was replaced, Judas, but no other apostles of Christ were added after the deaths of the remaining 12 apostles.

The words they wrote or sanctioned, allow these 12 apostles to continue to minister to us today

12 is all needed. No apostolic personal succession. No modern apostles. No new books of the Bible.

The heavenly Jerusalem has 12 foundations.  Rev 21:12 – 14, There are 24 elders in heaven, possibly the 12 sons of Jacob (tribes), and 12 Apostles as both groups make up the New Jerusalem that descends from heaven

The book of Acts switches from Peter’s story to Paul’s in chapter 13

The plan of the book of Acts

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8 CSB)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. (Acts 2:42 CSB) 

Antioch is the model Gentile Church and is part of the ends of earth section that focuses on Paul

Acts 13 The Model Gentile Church and Paul’s Missionary Methods

Warren Wiersbe: “Until now, Jerusalem had been the center of ministry, and Peter had been the key apostle. But from this point on, Antioch in Syria would become the new center (Acts 11:19ff.), and Paul the new leader. The gospel was on the move!”

The Jerusalem Church models for the local church today:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. (Acts 2:42 HCSB)

The Jewish Jerusalem believers were deeply committed to, and we should be as well:

1.      The teaching of the Apostles of Christ is in the Bible

2.      Gathering regularly for fellowship with other believers

3.      Eating meals together and the church participating together in the Lord’s Supper

4.      Praying together

Luke focus in the book now has the Gentile Church in Antioch Syria as the center of ministry. What does this church model for us today?

1.        They had a plurality of leaders and not just one single pastor by himself. The word chosen for “service” is always the activity of office holders as they lead in corporate worship of God and provide ministry to humans. Prophets and Teachers. The NT was not yet complete, so among the elders was a need for NT Prophets as well as those who could teach the OT, the books of Matthew, Mark, and James.

2.        The leaders were committed to praying together

3.        They fasted at times for greater discernment of the Lord’s will. One of the prophets received a message from the Holy Spirit.

As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to." (Acts 13:2 HCSB)

Being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they came down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. (Acts 13:4 HCSB)

A.     Can water or electricity speak in a language? Can a force call people to service? 63% of American Evangelicals recently denied the personhood of God the Holy Spirit. This is a first level doctrine. You need to get this one right. There are three real persons in the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They have different roles in the works of Creation and Redemption, but each one is equal in all attributes, power, and glory.

B.     Don’t refer to the Holy Spirit as “it” like the heretics’ in the cults. The New Testament call Him a “He” not an “it,” because only persons can speak and send and make choices (Acts 15:28). He can be lied to by a human (Acts 5:3). Remember the Baptism of Jesus. One person speaks, one person descends, and one person is standing in the water. The Bible teaches God is one in essence, attributes, characteristics yet three in persons. Only Jesus has two natures, human and divine and a human body since the virgin conception. Both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are spirits and do not have a human body (John 4:23-24)

4.        The leadership of the church commissions, ordains, and sends missionaries. The model church had people who were praying for missions, giving to missions, sending missionaries, and going as missionaries. The mission team leaves with Barnabas as the leader and returns to the Antioch Church to report on the work with Paul as the leader.

Missionary Methods

1.        Barnabas lead the team to the Island of Cyprus where he was from and had no known gospel witness

2.        To the Jew first and also to the Greeks. The missionaries started with the Jews in the synagogue which also contained Gentile God-fearers (people who worshiped Yahweh but had not yet received the sign of circumcision and in some cases were not yet following the Ceremonial law and food restrictions). But they had embraced the moral law of God (including the Ten Commandments) and that there is only one God. One practical reason to start with the Jews is they were already closer to the truth than anyone else in the country. They believed in a 6-day creation week by the God of the Bible, that God was holy, and embraced His law which reveals that man is sinful and needs a Savior. They knew there was a judgment day and a future resurrection of the dead.  The Greeks believed in evolution, many unholy gods, and included cult prostitution and drunkenness in their worship. Plato taught that the body was the prison house of the soul, and the goal was to get the soul released from the evil body. A resurrection would be a return to a worse state in Greek thinking. Some of the Jews were people of faith awaiting the coming Messiah and embraced Him immediately upon hearing the gospel. Some of these men had great knowledge of the Old Testament and would become model elders when the missionary team returned.

3.        Once several individuals embraced the gospel and the rest of the Jews rejected the gospel, they switched to primarily witnessing to Gentiles. The Jews were first, but when they proved themselves unworthy of it by rejecting their Messiah, the target moved to the Gentiles.

4.        The missionary team sought to plant churches in cities that could be the hub to reach out into the rural parts of the land

5.        After the persecution started, the missions team would move to a new area that was not resistant to the gospel

6.        They took the gospel to places where Jesus was not known and established churches to continue to the gospel ministry. Planting a church is like planting a fruit tree rather than giving out a few apples one time

7.        When the missionary team returned to the churches years later, they appointed elders and strengthened the existing churches rather than preaching to the Jews or pagans. The term ‘strengthened’ is also translated as ‘established.’ The missionary team would train, equip, edify, encourage, strengthen, establish the new local church members to continue the work of ministry. They did not seek to just reach random individuals unconnected to local bodies of believers to try to survive as lone ranger Christians. Notice in God’s design, the same female person that is able to give birth to a baby is also designed to feed and care for that baby. All are designed together in one body. The baby does not raise, clean, or feed itself.

8.        The missionary team returns to the sending church and reports on the great work that God has done to the glory of God. The people who sent others, prayed, and invested their resources hear the results of their investment in global missions Matt 28:19-20