'Philip, Simon Magus & Paul'
- Philip's focus on Isaiah
- Simon Magus as the Counterfeit Priesthood
- Paul as Alma the Younger
Come Follow Me
LDS Mormon New Testament Acts Bible
so in this episode we're going to talk
about three characters Philip Simon
magus and Paul here we go
all right so Stephen has gone down as
the first Christian martyr in history
remember what he was doing in front of
the council in front of the Sanhedrin
there was he was bringing up both
Abraham and Moses the two greatest
Jewish prophets Israelite prophets but
the way he was using them was to fill in
gaps to talk about the higher law that
was lacking at the time and we often
think of Jesus as only being here to
teach the parables and then to fulfill
his mission as the Redeemer of the world
but one additional title one additional
mission that he has that oftentimes gets
overshadowed reasonably so is that he is
the head of a dispensation so he is
coming also to restore the Melchizedek
Priesthood the temple ordinances and the
fullness of the gospel just as Abraham
did and just as Moses did and so Abraham
and Moses are kind of these head figures
for a restoration because of the
Abrahamic covenant the patriarchal
priesthood and all fulfillment of the
higher law for Israel well where else do
we get Abraham and Moses as focuses in a
restoration well of course it's in our
time it's with Joseph Smith what are the
two books that Joseph Smith revealed as
additional Scripture not his revelations
through Doctrine and Covenants not his
personal revelations but the two books
that he revealed were the books of
Abraham and the book of Moses
so very interesting here he is also
looking at Abraham and Moses as filling
in these gaps and as head figures of the
restoration of the fullness of times or
the restoration of the fullness of the
gospel and the fullness of the
priesthood that goes hand-in-hand with
what Stephen is doing here
they did the same thing
in other words the early Christians as
they were bringing to pass the
fulfillment of the dispensation that
they were at the head of so Abraham and
Moses two key figures in any restoration
now in chapter 8 here of Acts we're
gonna cover chapters 8 and 9 we start
off with a little mention of Saul here
remember that he was present at the
council probably that Stephen has just
gone through and it says here in verse 1
we're gonna get a picture painted about
Saul here and Saul was consenting unto
his death this is Stephens death so he's
fine with it maybe he's even rooting it
on and at that time there was a great
persecution against the church which was
at Jerusalem and they were all scattered
abroad throughout the regions of Judea
and Samaria except the Apostles so the
there is a Jewish Diaspora which is the
scattering and now here we're starting
to get a Christian diaspora right a
scattering of the Christians they have
to get out of Dodge because of the
persecution that's happening
we'll see what Saul is doing here and
give us a better idea of just how bad it
was and then in verse 2 it says in
devout men carried Stephen to his burial
and made great lamentation over him so
Saul has given to us as a very negative
figure here to start off verse 3 as for
Saul he made havoc of the church
entering into every house and hailing
men and women committing committed them
to prison so you can imagine the scene
here he's going around to homes
where he has heard about someone who has
converted and converted to Christianity
or who has taken an interest in the
gospel so if you are a Christian or you
are sympathetic to the Christians at any
point they could be knocking down your
door and coming and pulling you in your
family or a portion of your family your
spouse your kids to prison
because of your beliefs so they've got
to leave so they're leaving quickly here
because the circumstances are getting
very very bad in Jerusalem and so one of
the seven that were called along with
Stephen was Philip and Philip gets sent
out to Samaria remember Samaria is the
city of the capital of the Samaritans
this is the group of people that the
Jews did not like at this time they them
and the Samaritans did not get along the
Samaritans are the descendants of the
northern tribes right the tribes of
northern Kingdom of Israel also
called Ephraim the ten scattered tribes
well not everyone was scattered there
were still some of them that were left
behind that were not taken away and sent
out into their own diaspora and then
there were others that the Assyrians who
had conquered them brought in to the
lands of Samaria to the Northern Kingdom
and then mixed and they continued on
with a religion that was very similar
they kept a lot of the same texts a lot
of the same priesthood they did have
their own temple but their religion went
forward very similar to what to what the
the Jews had here at this point and
Jesus in his teachings and in his life
as his ministry is very sympathetic to
the Samaritans remember the
Samaritan woman at the well remember the
parable of the Good Samaritan he puts
them in a very good light because they
seem to be at least in Jewish areas they
seem to be oppressed and hated and so
since he's going around mostly these
areas he is talking about the Samaritans
as being more of an oppressed people and
a good people and a lot of them do
convert apparently the other thing is
remember that Jesus in Galilee is a
minority as a Jew we've discussed that
previously and so he is used to having a
lot of these other types of people
around and if you think of north to
south here you have Galilee up top you
have Samaria down
low that and then you have Judea down
below that so Samaria was actually
between Galilee where Jesus and many of
the Apostles come from and Jerusalem so
he's used to this kind of an environment
and Philip goes off to Samaria so not
quite as far as Galilee but goes up
north to Samaria and it says here in
verse five that he preached Christ unto
them and the people with one Accord gave
heed unto those things which Philip
spake hearing and seeing the miracles
which he did so again the Samaritans
seemed to be very receptive of these
things but it says in verse 9 but there
was a certain man called Simon this is
in Samaria which before time in the same
city used sorcery and bewitched the
people of Samaria giving out that
himself was some great one ok so he's
he's very full of himself
he's very proud of who he is and what he
can do and what he can accomplish I
always wonder about what goes on here
when they're talking about magic or
sorcery and we think of these things as
being so evil and how you're able to
conjure up these things we don't see
anything like that in today's modern
scientific world where we can usually
explain things so perhaps he can get
these things done
I the bottom line is what we're gonna
get here is a story about Authority
about true Authority and fake Authority
it says here to whom they all gave heed
this is the Samaritans giving heed to
Simon Magus here from the least to the
greatest saying this man is the great
power of God so he's got him swindled he
is the man here in Samaria and to him
they have regard because that of a long
time he had bewitched them with
sorceries but when they believed Philip
preaching the things concerning the
kingdom of God remember that and the
name of Jesus Christ they were baptized
both men and women so trouble in
paradise here for Simon Magus right
you've got
that comes out here they mostly had been
staying in the Jerusalem Land lands of
Jerusalem preaching now they're starting
to move out a little bit because they're
forced to and so they get to Samaria
Simon Magus here has is though is the
man of God to them and Philip stirs the
pot as he starts preaching to them
performing miracles and convincing them
of Jesus the Christ as the Son of God
well he's so convincing and powerful
about this that Simon Magus ends up
converting as well he may be thinking to
himself hey this is a pretty good gig
this thing looks pretty good I want to
be a part of this and not as a follower
perhaps maybe he wants a little bit more
than that but he could see that the
people are starting to sway over to
Christianity to this new Jewish sect and
so 13 then Simon himself believed also
and when he was baptized he continued
with Philip and wondered beholding the
miracles and signs which were done so we
had these two sides here a man of
sorceries and bewitching whatever that
means and a man with a priesthood and
teaching the truth about Jesus Christ
that's the scenario Simon Magus converts
becomes baptized and is now amazed at
what he is seeing here and probably what
he is hearing and so when the Apostles
hear about this they end up sending
Peter and John out to Samaria as well so
we're told here that when they were come
down they prayed for them that they
might receive the Holy Ghost so in a
sense these seven that were called
including Stephen and Philip they may
have been with the Aaronic priesthood they may
have had the ironic priesthood given to
them in fact some biblical scholars say
that they were deacons
they were actually given the name Deacon
I don't know about if that's certain or
not but I've read that a few times
and so you could see them going out as
we've talked about before with the
ironic pre
they're coming out like a kind of a John
the Baptist type of a role where they're
coming out with the ironic priesthood
they are preparing the way they are
preparing the people and then those were
the Melchizedek Priesthood are coming in
and after the people have been converted
and they've been baptized then the
Apostles come in and they lay their
hands on their heads and they give them
the gift of the Holy Ghost that's how it
works
and so Simon sees this the Apostles come
in it's like okay now here's the big
wigs they've come into Samaria here and
he sees them laying their hands on these
converts heads and giving them this
incredible gift and here you're
still at a time when there's just this
outpouring of the Spirit so many things
could have been happening as they were
giving this ordinance of the gift of the
Holy Ghost
so Simon Magus is just in awe of what is
happening so what does he do well he
offered them money why he says give me
also this power that on whomsoever I lay
hands he may receive the Holy Ghost but
Peter said unto Him thy money perish
with thee because thou hast that thou
has thought that the gift of God may be
purchased with money very interesting
here right so you've got these two sides
you've got Peter now on one side you've
got Simon magus on the other remember
they're both named Simon by the way
right Simon Peter Simon Magus and one
has the true authority and one does not
so let's think back a little bit on some
of these examples where we may have seen
this before because this is a pattern
this is a pattern that happens
continually with humanity and something
that we need to learn about true
Authority so as members of the church we
know that from the very beginning with
Adam and Eve that this has been a plan
that the priesthood might be purchased
with money and that's why we have such a
strong theme of priestcraft
in the Book of Mormon
because there are those that go out and
they want to buy Authority they
want to have money and gain by
exercising their priesthood and we are
told in the Book of Mormon that if that
is ever takes over then amen to that
people right and so that's what Simon
Magus is doing here we know this has
happened right from the very beginning
or how about with Moses right remember
when Moses comes back into Egypt he's
there with a pharaoh he lays down the
rod of Aaron and the magician's or the
Magus the Magi would lay down their
staffs and you have one snake you have
their snake and the snake from the staff
of Aaron
consumes the other snake right from
Egypt this is the exact same scenario
this is the same thing that's happening
you have a restoration or the beginning
of a dispensation with Adam and Eve so
what happens there with Satan or there
is a temptation to give up the priest
into somebody for money and then you
have this happen again we see it here
with Moses where there are two different
types of authority here one is done
through magic or sorcery or whatever it
is and one and is false and then there
is a true priesthood right and then you
can go back up and between those two
I skipped Abraham again right where
there is a we had just had Stephen
talked about Abraham and Moses and their
priesthood and their prophecies and the
covenants that they made and we can back
up to Abraham where we learn directly
that through the lineage of ham that
though Pharaoh was a righteous man the
original Pharaoh was a righteous man
when they settled Egypt they did not
have their true Authority going into
Egypt they did not have the Melchizedek
priesthood and so they built a false
system based on the same thing and in
fact if you ever look at their temple
it's very familiar but the priesthood is
counterfeit it is not the Lord's
priesthood and Simon here represents
that there must be a true Authority we
keep going through this name of Jesus
Christ and having the name of the
priesthood right from the get-go of
Jesus's resurrection is starting off
here with acts you've got to have the
proper authority and Luke is
establishing that that you can't just
start something up you can't just begin
something because you want to buy it or
because you want to have you have a good
idea about how to preach something that
has to be done through the laying on of
hands and has to be done through the
Lord's servants so this is critical to
Luke and he's making sure that we
understand that and so Peter tells Simon
Magus to repent because he says for I
perceive that thou art in the gall of
bitterness and in the bond of iniquity
now we're going to get a few different
hmm a few different references to Alma
the younger here we get the gall of
bitterness in what I believe well what I
believe what is my favorite Scripture
was I at 27 with Alma the account of
Alma being shaken up by the angel to say
the least and then coming out of this
coma comatose type state and how he
recounts what he has gone through and
part of what he says that he was in the
darkest abyss and in the gall of
bitterness so this is a common term it
seems that was used and basically what a
represents is judgment and this is what
he sees FRA purse I perceive that thou
art in the gall of bitterness and the
bond of iniquity
very similar to what Elma says Alma the
younger says which also often times this
phrase oftentimes is related to those
that are serving other gods and again we
can look at that in a lot of different
ways what we're basically saying is
we are elevating values of certain
things not just an idol that we're
looking at
but values can be moved up and the
proper values in the proper view of
Christ and higher values are dropped
down and that's how we are serving other
gods or other values so that's what's
happening here
and we get these references back to not
from Alma the younger but they parallel
Alma the younger so Simon Says pray ye
to the Lord for me that none of these
things which ye have spoken to come upon
me so it sounds like he softens his
heart and hopefully he wants to follow
through and repent and do the right
thing here and so they returned back to
Jerusalem and they've also are preaching
in many many villages in Samaria so
they've got a lot of converts of
Samaritans that are part of the early
church now again coming from a slightly
different religion where before it's all
been Jewish and so then an angel of the
Lord speaks to Philip and he says arise
and go toward the south unto the way
that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza
which is desert so he heads down and he
beholds a man of Ethiopia he's a eunuch
of great authority under Candace queen
of the Ethiopians who had the charge of
all her treasure and had come to
Jerusalem for to worship okay a couple
things here I love this story because
it's Lucas again giving us something
very important here about the
restoration but this eunuch is who is
under the authority of Candace Candace
is not the name of the queen of Ethiopia
Candace is the title that's what she is
she is the Kendake that's the Greek
word for the I think it's usually
referred to as the Queen Mother of the
land of Ethiopia or of what is also
referred previously as Nubia or even
before as Cush the land
Cush and so he's a very important man
that he runs into here at Jerusalem and
he's sitting in his chariot and he's
reading Isaiah of course he's reading
Isaiah and so Philip comes up to him and
he hears him reading Isaiah and he asks
him do you understand what you were
reading and he said how can i except
some man should guide me that's a really
interesting statement remember what
Nephi says about the words of Isaiah
early on in the Book of Mormon he says
that his people cannot understand
Isaiah because they don't understand the
ways of the Jews and so here the
Ethiopian man here Jewish or not
probably Jewish doesn't understand what
Isaiah is saying he doesn't know the
ways of this he doesn't understand
what's being said what's being said well
he's in the place of the scripture says
which reads he was led as a sheep to the
slaughter and like a lamb dumb before
his Shearer so opened he not his mouth
in his humiliation his judgment was
taken away and who shall declare his
generation for his life is taken from
the earth and so the eunuch says the
Philip I pray thee of whom speaketh the
Prophet this of himself or of some other
man it's kind of like just teed up for
Philip here right and so it says simply
here in verse 35 then Philip opened his
mouth and began at the same Scripture
and preached unto Him Jesus and so he
basically says look Isaiah when he's
going through these things here the
suffering servant the lamb etc this is
Jesus who was just crucified and was
resurrected this was him and so the
eunuch says hey there's some water here
I want to be baptized and so Philip
takes him down into the water and he
baptizes him I don't know if there's
actually any real connection between
this event
and what happens later with a Christian
Church in Ethiopia but there is a very
strong to this day a strong Christian
Church the Ethiopian Church of the
Eastern Orthodox Church we don't hear a
lot about the Eastern Christians but
there's well over 200 million Christians
maybe even as much as a quarter of a
billion Christians in the East with the
Orthodox Church that's not the Catholic
Church that's the Western Catholic
Western Church the Eastern Church has
about a quarter of a billion people in
it I believe and the Ethiopian Church
would be a part of that okay then we're
gonna jump back here in chapter 9 we go
back to Saul and we get even more of a
bitter view picture of who Saul is says
right here in verse one and salt yet
breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord went
into the high priest so he's a guy
that's actually out there taking
initiative to try and go after these new
Christians and he desired of him letters
to Damascus to the synagogue's that if
he found any of this way whether they
were men or women he might bring them
bound unto Jerusalem so he wants
permission from the high priest to say
look I'm going into all these homes
maybe he's had some problems with being
able to actually have the authority to
drag them out of their homes but he
wants something in writing so that if he
goes through there he can show people
know I can take you out of here and put
you into prison so that's where his mind
is here he's glad it sounds to me like
what happened to Stephen and he may be
moving toward having more of this happen
now it does say something interesting
here in verse two or it says that if he
found any of this way what way well it's
the way of the Christians right and then
in fact the way or way was an early
title that the Jews called the Christian
probably because of Jesus being the way
they were following a specific the
correct path and so Saul is on his own
path toward Damascus in Syria it is he's
on this road suddenly it says in verse 3
there shined round about him a light
from heaven uh-oh
something's gonna happen here with Paul
and he fell to the earth and heard a
voice saying unto Him Saul why
persecutest thou me so we can think
again here of Alma the younger remember
Alma the younger was out even though his
father was the high priest and the judge
of the land the high judge of the land
the chief judge Alan will the younger is
out and about hurting the church maybe
serving other gods so to speak may not
be idolatry but he may be out he's
definitely out trying to hurt the church
and an angel of the Lord comes to him
and maybe it is the angel of the Lord I
don't know but it says an angel of the
Lord in the Book of Mormon comes to him
and he falls to the earth something
very similar happens here and he hears
Saul hears a voice singing him Saul Saul
why persecutest thou me and he said who
art thou Lord so he recognizes him this
is how Luke is writing this he
recognizes him as Lord when we say Lord
here in the New Testament and in the Old
Testament typically what that means
directly is Jehovah so he is recognizing
him as Jehovah and he says who are thou
Jehovah who art thou he sees him
differently right he can see him he's
not used to being able to how can I see
God and the Lord said I am Jesus whom
thou persecutest it is hard for thee to
kick against
so again they're not supposed to be able
to see God that's what they believe the
the Jews at the time and here Jesus is
saying you know he's showing up with a
body he has a resurrected body that
he's showing up with and Paul maybe
recognizes that probably does he says
who art thou and Jesus says I'm Jesus in
other words I am Jehovah and I am Jesus
who was just crucified Wow and in verse
six and he trembling and astonished said
Lord what wilt thou have me to do so he
is immediately humbled by this
experience I pretty hard to think that
someone wouldn't be but he immediately
says Lord what wilt thou have me to do
and the Lord said unto Him arise and go
into the city and it shall be told thee
what thou must do so hey there's a plan
in place here but just follow this
step-by-step right now all I want you to
do is get up and get going and so Saul
arises from the earth but when he arises
he can't see so he's blind and so the
men that are with him that saw a light
but did not hear a voice or see anything
else as Joseph Smith says have to guide
him away from there and they take him to
Damascus on where he was plenty on going
and he was three days without sight and
neither did eat nor drink again just
like Alma the younger and there was a
certain disciple at Damascus named
Ananias and to him said the Lord in a
vision Ananias and he said Behold I am
here Lord and the Lord said unto Him
arise and go into the street which is
called straight and inquire the house of
Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for
behold he prays so we now have another
plan here that's getting put into place
with another character that gets into
the scene and that's an Ananias it's the
same thing that happens with Alma the
younger
later on when he goes to Ammonihah the
city of Ammonihah remember where he goes
he's rejected he has to come out an
angel of the Lord comes to him again and
in fact it's the same guy it's the same
angel that's why I wonder if it's the
angel of the Lord but it's the same
angel that appears to Alma the younger
the second time outside of the city of
Ammonihah and he says look go back in
and he ends up going back in a different
direction runs into Amulek and Amulek
offers some food but it's amulet who has
the vision and is told that somebody is
going to be coming to him here Ananias
another character on the scene here is
also given a vision to help solve and so
Ananias speaks for the lord here who
wants him to go into the city and he
says lord I have heard by many of this
man how much evil he have done to thy
Saints at Jerusalem need to see the
caricature here of Saul that the
Christians would have of him that this
perception of this evil man who is
destroying family is destroying their
lives persecuting them and taking a lead
in doing who-knows-what to them and he
says here the sounds like he got those
letters that he wanted it says here
Ananias says and he hath authority from
the chief priests to bind all that call
on my name so anyone that is praying or
preaching about Jesus Christ is gonna be
bound a sent to prison but the Lord said
him unto him go thy way for he is a
chosen vessel unto me to bear my name
before the Gentiles and kings and the
children of Israel he'll be able to do
all of that throughout his lifetime and
so Ananias finds Saul he gives him his
sight back which is also symbolic of
being pulled away from evil ways and
from the lower law and he's given this
new sight this new vision that he will
have for the rest of his life and he
arrives
and he is baptized and so then Saul
stays there we don't learn of where
these other disciples are in Damascus
but they're there and so we stayed
several days with some other disciples
in Damascus and then I love this again
it's a theme that we talk a lot about
here but in verse 20 he says in
straightway he preached Christ in the
synagogue's so Paul is a missionary
probably the greatest missionary of all
time and this drive that he has which
used to be used for evil is now being
used to preach about Jesus Christ and
the New Covenant and the fullness of the
gospel and the atonement and he says
this right here is the first thing look
Luke puts in his mouth here as he's
going out and preaching it says and
Christ he was preaching Christ in the
synagogue's that he is the son of God so
again that's the focus here Jesus is not
just the Messiah that you guys have all
been looking for but he is Jehovah and
he came down he was born he took on a
physical body took on the sins of the
world was crucified and was resurrected
that is key that is the center of the
doctrine of Christ which is very
confusing to those that are listening to
it because they don't believe this to
begin with but he's preaching that he is
the son of God it's interesting
sometimes you'll drive by churches
Christian churches and you will see and
we'll see this throughout the New
Testament as we go through it but you'll
see something like Jesus is Lord and if
you look in the language most of the
time when that is written down in the
New Testament if you back it out what
you get is Jesus is Jehovah that's what
they're saying Jesus is Jehovah and the
Son of God and so the people that are
being preached to by Paul can't believe
what's going on because they're saying
the same that they would have been
saying with Alma the younger isn't this
the man that destroyed them which called
on his this name in Jerusalem and came
hither for that intent that he might
bring them bound under the chief priests
so is he just doing this to try and
entrap people that's what people are
thinking at this point but regardless
Saul is determined and it says that Saul
increased the more in strength and
confounded the Jews which dwelt at
Damascus proving that this is very
crushing and this is truly Christ
so Paul at our saw here Napoleon but
Saul is an amazing missionary and he
overcomes his own history his own past
and this is something that I think is
really important to understand have you
been in a position where you want to
change and you feel like you can't
because you've already sent a persona of
yourself out to the world to your
current environment this kind of goes
along with the thought of no one is a
prophet in their own land because they
all know your mistakes they all know
your weaknesses but to truly change
means that you have to change your
interaction with everybody else and it
also means that you pretty much have
to be able to change the perception that
others have of you that's part of that
process because otherwise you need a lot
to say you're gonna change or you
internally say you want to change and
you have an experience a personal
experience that makes you want to change
but if you go out to your friends and
family members and others that already
know who you are you're not going to get
treated differently at that point and so
when you really want to change you have
to be willing to do that and change that
as well
you have to be willing to change your
persona which is what you present in
front of other people and be willing to
change the perception that others have
of you and go through and go through
that process
that's what Saul does and he just
increases and increases in strength so
he's having all the success there in
Damascus and the Jews the local Jews
there
that are in charge are not going to have
any of it and they counsel to kill him
and so Saul gets wind of this and the
disciples going help him and they lower
him over a wall actually in a basket and
it said it is said that Saul Paul was
pretty small guy and so you can see this
probably happening in a basket in fact
that's what Paul means it's miss small
and so Saul heads back to Jerusalem at
first the disciples there are the same
way that they were in Damascus they're
worried about him but he changed and
everybody around him eventually changed
Barnabas takes him in is one that does
believe in him and knows of the stories
of what he was doing in Damascus and
that they were about to kill him and so
eventually he changes the hearts of
those around him those that would be
important to him the disciples
themselves there in Jerusalem so that is
a long road it can be a long road to
make change but we can all do that and
then in verse 31 it says something
really interesting that it you may as
well be in the Book of Mormon on this it
says then had the churches rest
throughout all Judea and Galilee and
Samaria and were edified and walking in
the fear of the Lord and in the comfort
of the Holy Ghost were multiplied and so
we just heard about all this tumultuous
persecution that was going on and even
against Paul against Saul and now all of
a sudden Luke says and then the church
was edified and walking in the fear of
the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy
Ghost so this is a lot a lot like what
we hear in the Book of Mormon right you
have these problems that arise they're
solved and then all of a sudden in the
next following year you'll hear on the
next year was great and the year after
that was great and then the year after
that there was a little bit of trouble
with this it's the exact same kind of
writing that we get here from Luke and
so then as the church has calmed down
here Peter takes off and he goes to
toward the coast to litter or leta
and that's modern-day load right now and
there he finds a man named Aeneas and as
you'll see actually in the King James
Version there the a and the e combined
together that is what you call an ash
that is from the Old English Roman or
Latinized or the Middle English
Latinized alphabet it's just an A and
any combined there which had kept his
bed eight years and was sick of the
palsy so he's crippled he is paralyzed
for eight years and so Peter simply says
to him Aeneas Jesus Christ and maketh
the whole so he's acting as Jesus he's
acting in his name he's using his name
he's using that correct proper authority
from Jesus Christ and he says to him
arise and make thy bed and he arose
immediately kind of like Christ saying
to the man at the fountain of Bethesda
to rise up and carry your bed I wonder
if it was the Sabbath here and all that
dwelt Athleta and such it's sure own
here this is the plaintiff sharone saw
him and turns to the Lord so a lot of
times you'll see where you have a
miracle that happens but there's not a
lot of conversion from it there's a lot
of interest and Wow and but here there
is a there it seems to be that there is
a lot that had converted a lot turn to
the Lord here and then close by there
and Leda is Joppa which is right on the
coast
this is modern-day Jaffa and there's a
certain disciple this is the only time
by the way or a woman in the New
Testament is actually called a disciple
might be followers and others that are
close to Christ and whatnot but here are
the actually using referring to the
woman as a disciple is the only time
this happens in the New Testament for
some reason there was a certain disciple
named Tabitha which by interpretation is
called Dorcas which means that Tabitha
is either he
or Aramaic Dorcas is Greek and it means
literally means gazelle but it's more
than likely what is meant by that is
graceful you think of a gazelle is how
they run it's they're graceful so it
probably means something like grace and
this woman was full of good works and
alms deeds which she did so she seems to
be pretty well-off and it came to pass
in those days that she was sick and died
whom when they had washed they laid her
in an upper chamber and for as much as
Leda was nigh to Joppa and the disciples
had heard that Peter was there they sent
unto him two men desiring him that he
would not delay to come to them and so
Peter goes to Joppa goes to the woman
goes up to the upper chamber the upper
room and there all the widows stood by
him weeping and shooing the coats and
garments which Dorcas made while she was
with him so again she's this is probably
something that she's made that she's
going to be giving away so she's a
really good person but here again we
have what we have the women weeping at
death and of course they would be they
probably are close to her they love her
maybe this was something sudden but it's
always represented this way because
that's the way it is in the culture they
women represent the passing on from one
step to another in eternity so here they
are weeping at the death of Tabitha 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 and he gave her his hand and
lifted her up and when he had called the
Saints and wind widows presented her
alive and it was known throughout all
Joppa and many believed in the Lord and
he came to pass that he tarried many
days in Joppa with one Simon a Tanner so
here we have again as much as things
change they stay the same
in other words Peter here is acting like
the Savior he is healing those that are
with the palsy with that are paralyzed
he is raising a woman from the dead just
like Elijah did just like Elijah did and
just like Jesus did with Lazarus he has
the authority to do these things and
Luke wants us to know that that
authority does not go away with Jesus he
can delegate that and that his church is
run by his authority and without that
authority it is nothing it falls apart
the temple falls apart which is where
the keys of the priesthood really lie
and everything about it starts to
unravel doctrine will start to unravel
and this is what happens in the great
apostasy not too long after this another
hundred hundred and fifty years after
this the authority is lost and
everything unravels so it is so
interesting that Luke here writing many
decades later it's focusing in so
strongly on the priesthood and focusing
in so strongly on the authority of God
that is needed to run the church and
today we have that priesthood we have
the authority given directly from Peter
James and John in John the Baptist to
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and then
to many others
even someone like me will talk to you
next time
50% Complete
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