Come Follow Me LDS- Acts 6-9 Pt 2

'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

Close

50% Complete

Two Step

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.