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Uttermost parts of the world

Peter on the way to Caesarea

Keeping to the subject of Caesarea, we are going to skip the first half of Acts 9 until later. In 9:32 we find Peter moving from Jerusalem on a journey to Caesarea, which was and is still a city on the eastern Mediterranean coast. As he headed toward the coast, he passed through the city of Lydda, where he met a man who had been bed-fast for 8 years with palsy.

Peter told this man something that he had heard Jesus say to a man who was sick of the palsy (Mark 2:9).

Peter said:

Acts 9:34 And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately.

Seeing this miracle caused people in the city to turn to the Lord (v. 35).

Peter then  moved on to the coast, and arrived at the ancient city of Joppa, the same location from which Jonah caught a ship as he fled from the Lord hundreds of years before. Peter was called to Joppa by some disciples there because a woman named Tabitha Dorcas had died.

Peter again copied something he had seen and heard Jesus say and do as He ministered to Jairus’ dead daughter in Luke 8:54:

Acts 9:40-41
40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
41 And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.

Again following this miracle, “many believed in the Lord.” (8:42)

After baptizing the Ethiopian, Philip had what we may call a “transportation miracle.”  Elijah, Ezekiel, Jesus, and John, also experienced such a miraculous and immediately transport to another location (1 Kings 18:12, Ezekiel 37:1, Luke 24:26, John 20:26, Revelation 4:1).

Acts 8:39-40
39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

Because this is all the detail that Luke provided about this miraculous transport, we cannot enlarge much on it except to say that God used this miracle for the furtherance of the gospel. That is the purpose behind most miracles of the Bible, namely, to demonstrate the power of God in a faith “object lesson” to lead people into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. Miracles were never about the person or their convenience, but for the glory of God.

It is important to remember that, like Stephen, Philip was one originally one of the servants who helped serve food to the widows. That background in service to the kingdom drove (or flew) Philip to preach the Word everywhere he went, until he ended up in Caesarea, the Roman military command post for the region. He seems to make a home there as we find him still there in Acts 21, where in verse 8 he is referred to as “Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven”. There, Philip’s four unmarried daughters were also involved in the preaching or prophetic ministry as well. (Acts 21:9)

Caesarea is going to be our next stop, not with Philip, but with Peter, as we move to Acts 10.

The second conflict

Signs and wonders

It is obvious when you look into chapter 5 of Acts that the disciples did not obey the command of silence given to them by the Jewish elders.

Acts 5:12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.

As a result of them continuing the ministry of miracles and the Word, the church continued to grow:

Acts 5:14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)

Much like the crowds that gathered around Jesus during His ministry, with many seeking healing, similar crowds gathered around the church:

Acts 5:15-16
15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
16 There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

We have no record of the shadow of Jesus causing miracles to happen—although a touch of His garment did produce a healing miracle. However, Jesus had told His disciples that they would do greater things:

John 1:50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.

And

Matt 21:21-22
21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

And once again, because the disciples were doing what Jesus told them to do—minister and do miracles—they caught the attention of the Jewish elders who had commanded them to stop.

The first conflict

Lame man healed

After being filled with the Holy Ghost and baptizing 3000 people in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2), Peter and John continued the practice of daily visiting the temple for prayer. Although a new church had been born, at that time the church was made up of mostly Jewish people. Peter and John went to the temple at the prescribed hour of prayer. But with this new found power of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:4) and the gospel message (Acts 2:38) now referred to as the “Apostles’ Doctrine” (Acts 2:42), they were equipped to take this message of Jesus to the temple (Acts 5:21).

The new church was still very much tied to the Jewish practices of worship, yet something happened at prayer meeting that day that had never happened before. The Holy Ghost has a way of transforming religious rituals into relationship.

Sitting in front of the temple that morning was a crippled beggar. The Law forbid such a man from entering the place of worship (Lev 21:17-20), but Peter had something more powerful than the law:

Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

Immediately the man leaped up and went into the temple—the place that up until that moment he had been forbidden to enter. The old plan forbade the man from going into God’s presence because he was deformed. But the new plan provided for wholeness and transformation from sin and deformities so that he could now enter into God’s presence.

Because of the excitement of the very obvious miracle a crowd gathered and Peter and John took advantage of the moment to presented Jesus to them.

Acts 3:16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Peter then spoke of the death and resurrection of Jesus which was still a recent event and was not far from the minds of the residents of Jerusalem. He used the attention gained from the miracle to turn people to the Miracle worker, Jesus.

We are talking about how the miracles of Jesus pointed to the kingdom by requiring a demonstration of faith by the recipient. Unbelief, which is the lack of faith, hindered the miraculous from happening in Jesus’ home town (Mark 6:5-6). And even when unbelievers witnessed Jesus performing miracles, their hardness of heart and lack of faith caused them give the credit to the power of the devil:

Matthew 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

As we learned from the parables (the prodigal son) how that repentance was necessary to enter the kingdom, we learn from the miracles that faith in Jesus plays an essential role in the kingdom as well. Miracles are a faith-based initiative. Mary Magdeline demonstrated this kind of faith:

Luke 8:1-2
1 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,
2 And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,

Mary didn’t demonstrate just a quick-fix moment-of-desperation faith solely to get her miracle. Hers was a kind of faith that held like an anchor as she stayed with Jesus through the worst of times:

John 19:25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene .

Jesus rewarded that kind of sticking faith by being the first person He appeared to after His resurrection:

John 20:11, 16
11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

Have you got that kind of faith? God is interested in not just words, but demonstration.

In our next lessons we will look into the gospels, the writers, when they were written, and their sources.

The challenge of the kingdom

As we have been looking at the meaning of the miracles, we observed first that they announced the arrival of the kingdom. And second, that they showed the scope of the kingdom. The scope reaches out to all people of all ranks to deliver them as well as their environment all the way into the future.

The third point that we learn about the kingdom from the miracles is similar to a point made in the parables—personal and individual responsibility and accountability is required. We mentioned that repentance featured largely in the introduction to the kingdom. Similarly, to receive a miracle, the individual must exercise faith and that often involves repentance as well.

• The woman with the issue of blood:
  Mark 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
• Blind Bartimaeus:
  Mark 10:52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
• A thankful Samaritan leper:
  Luke 17:19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

If we want to receive something from God, our point of connection with God’s amazing miraculous power is our faith.

The kingdom and the future

Two miracles of Jesus also had the future kingdom in mind. He had taught in the parables how the kingdom could be compared to a banquet meal (Matt 8:11). On two occasions, He sat multitudes down and miraculously fed them all with a small lunch. (Matt 14:13-21 and 15:32-39) Some who got the free lunch thought that future kingdom was being established right then and there:

John 6:14-15
14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

The prophet “that should come into the world” is a reference to their expectation of the arrival of a prophet like Moses, in other words, a prophet who would feed the multitudes like Moses had done with manna. Moses had prophesied of such a prophet:

Deuteronomy 18:15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

So like the parables, even the miracles pointed to a future element of the kingdom where we will sit down and dine with Jesus at a great feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb.

The kingdom and the world

We are looking at how the miracles demonstrate the scope of the kingdom of God. It reaches not only to the individual but to his environment. Not only did Jesus release individuals from the power of sin, but He even exercised power over evil effects on nature. Jesus went from rebuking demons to rebuking the wind and waves:

Mark 4:39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Jesus made it clear that He came to deliver a man and even transform His environment. I have heard and read testimonies of how individuals, through prayer spoke against tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, and famines, and God performed miraculously to redirect a storm, or send needed rain, or even sent a storm that dumped fish onto starving people.

It does not always work out so that if we do not like the weather we simply pray for something different and God sends the answer as if He were a vending machine with buttons to push. A farmer may be praying for rain while a camper may be praying for sun. God in His wisdom directs all things according to a plan that we may or may not ever comprehend.

The scope of the kingdom

The last time we saw how the miracles demonstrated the arrival of the kingdom. Today we consider how miracles reveal the scope of the kingdom. When we were studying the parables, we looked at how the parables demonstrated the influence or reach of the kingdom of God. The parables showed how a citizen of the kingdom was to live as a repentant individual; they showed how the kingdom citizen reacted with his neighbors; and finally, how the kingdom would have a broader future impact. There is a similar and parallel three-fold impact of the miracles.

(1)        The kingdom and the Individual

In the devil’s temptation of Jesus, he offered to give Jesus the kingdoms of the world. Jesus did not deny that the devil had the power over the kingdoms of the world, but in fact, Jesus called the devil the “prince of the world” (John 12:31 and others). But that was the very reason there was so much sickness and suffering—the prince was a destroyer.

Jesus did not intend to win the kingdoms of the world by bowing and worshipping the devil, but by conquering him and his works.

1 John 3:8 … For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

One of the reasons Jesus demonstrated miracles was to set individuals free from the dominance and oppression of the devil. It was a necessity at the introduction of the kingdom on earth to set the record straight that the King was about life and life more abundantly.

And to whom did Jesus most often minister? Those who were considered undeserving or outcasts were often the focus of Jesus’ healing ministry because, according to Jesus:

Matt 9:12 .. They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

He touched the untouchable lepers:

Matthew 8:3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Jesus healed a servant of a Roman centurion whom many Jews must have hated:

Matthew 8:13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

And even to those who could not help themselves, He offered help:

John 5:7-8
7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

The miracles deliver individuals from bondage—then and now.

The arrival of the kingdom

We have already pointed out that Jesus sent a message to John the Baptist that His miracles were a fulfillment of Isaiah 35:5-6 announcing the arrival of the Messiah and the kingdom. Jesus announced the arrival of the kingdom at the beginning of His ministry:

Mark 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

The kingdom had arrived and so had the King. We see this clearly in the effect of Jesus’ miracle of changing water into wine at a wedding:

John 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

Jesus was and is a miracle worker, miracles manifest His glory, and miracles cause people to believe on Jesus. Miracles bring glory to Jesus, as in the raising of Lazarus from the dead:

John 11:4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Jesus performed miracles to demonstrate that the kingdom of God had arrived on planet Earth and that the King was now actively involved in spreading His righteous influence and in defeating the devil and his destructive influence.