Come Follow Me LDS- Jul 15-21 Part 2: Acts 12-14

'Owls, Scowls & Glad Tidings'
- King Herod Agrippa's owls
- The Jews and some Gentiles are angry with Paul & Barnabas
- Paul talks of the Glad Tidings of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice

 

 

Come Follow Me

LDS Mormon New Testament Acts Bible

 

in this episode we're talking about owls

scowls and good tidings here we go okay

so this episode covers acts 12 13 14 so

what I'm going to do because of time

restriction here is I'm just going to

kind of run through some of these

chapters and just every once in a while

we're gonna dip down a little bit into

some of the words in the verses here and

maybe see what we can pull out of some

of them so let's start with chapter 12

and here with verse one we have now

about that time Herod the King stretched

forth his hands to vex certain of the

church so Herod here this is Herod

Agrippa

he's usually referred to as Agrippa not

Herod but this is the grandson of Herod

the Great now Herod the Great is the one

that was in Jerusalem and ruler over

Jerusalem at the time that Christ was

born and so you remember that the wise

men came to Herod the Great Agrippa's

grandfather and talked to him before

they went out to Bethlehem to visit the

baby Jesus and this is Herod the Great

that had all of the young males in that

area killed under the year the age of

two years old just like happening Jeep

in Egypt during the time of Moses and

Agrippa here is very much a friend of

the Jews he has a very cozy relationship

with a Jewish leadership but he also has

a very spotty past so he had spent time

in Rome he made friends with very

powerful people there he was put into

prison a couple of times

for sedition and for other issues he

doesn't have a whole lot of character

one time he was in prison in the

territory of Galilee in Tiberius and he

saw an owl outside of the prison and

this was an omen to him that he was

going to soon be freed and that he would

be king eventually and so those things

ended up becoming true owls are in

mythology and in superstition here in

anciently they were bringers of omens

and so this is a parentless as how the

story goes right this is that he saw

this owl and he was freed from prison

but with the caveat that if he ever saw

an owl again that it would be an omen of

his death and oftentimes that omen the

the appearance of an owl did

represent death to people so with this

cozy relationship that he has with the

Jews in Jerusalem Herod has James the

brother of John killed with a sword so

he sends someone to kill James and the

Jews are happy about it they're very

happy about the leadership and this

emboldened Agrippa Herod Agrippa even

more and so he goes and he has Peter

imprisoned so I believe this is the

third time now that Peter has been

arrested twice now he's been put into

prison the last time he was let out by

an angel happens again here and you can

imagine in this time early in the church

this is kind of like Joseph Smith we've

spoken about this before but it's kind

of like when Joseph Smith would be put

in jail you can imagine what would be

happening with the this brand-new

organization in this church with their

leader put into jail you think of the

early Saints and how they felt and how

much they would have been praying and

hoping and fasting for Joseph Smith I

think that's exactly what would have

been happening here with Peter the same

type of a thing

it says here in verse 6 and when Herod

would have brought him forth the same

night Peter was sleeping between two

soldiers why does look mention this it's

it's symbolic bound with two chains and

the keepers before the door kept the

prison and behold the angel of the Lord

came upon him and a light shined in the

prison and he smote Peter on the side

and raised him up saying arise up

quickly and his chains fell off from his

hands so he is freed again out of prison

and so the angel says hey get up put

your sandals on and follow me out of

here and so he makes his escape and he

ends up going to Mary's house this is

Mary the mother of John Mark who I

believe is a relative to Barnabas and

this might be actually the house where

the Last Supper took place and Herod

Agrippa is not very happy about this so

he has the soldiers and those on the

watch killed for their negligence with

Peter and then Herod goes to Caesarea up

north and it says here in verse 20 and

Herod was highly displeased with them of

tyre and Sidon tyre and Sidon are two

port cities that are on the coast here

of what we would now call I believe

they're both sitting in Lebanon okay

back then it would have been Phoenicia

in the area of Phoenicia and Sidon is

the same name as what we have in the

Book of Mormon you know the main river

Sidon that goes by Zarahemla it's the

same name Sidon but those in charge

there and tyre and Sidon want to make

him happy

and so they resolve their issues they

praise Him and Herod goes to sit on his

throne and he is dressed with a

brilliant silver as we're told by

Josephus

silver robe that he has on and it's just

glistening and the people are in awe and

they think that he looks like a God and

he gives this speech and the people say

it is the voice of God and here in verse

23 it says and immediately the angel of

the Lord smote him because he gave not

God the glory and he was eaten of worms

and gave up the go so pretty bad ending

here for herod Agrippa but to bring

things back around to the owl Josephus

says that he actually looks up and he

sees an owl and so just as he was told

before the omen was that he was going to

be let free from the prison and he was

going to be king that if he ever saw an

owl again that he would then that would

be a sign of his death

and sure enough he sees the owl and he

is struck dead so kind of an interesting

little story there more than likely

based on the words of Josephus what

probably happened here with him they may

have resolved things but someone slipped

in some poison to him and he ended up

ended up with chest and heart pain and

abdomen pain and died a few days after

probably this this oration is after he

said was sitting on his throne and so

the Jews aren't real happy about this

because they're very close to him in

fact they used to have him come in even

to the temple and they had a wood thrown

for him in the temple and they would

have him come in and sit down and that

would throne and so again some strange

things that were happening there he'd

point you know one thing I forgot to

mention from the last episode with the

those from Antioch as you recall that

had taken over Jerusalem a couple

hundred years before this they actually

for a couple of years they had dedicated

the temple of Herod wasn't yet the

temple of Herod but it was the second

temple that Herod had not yet built out

to what it became but they had dedicated

the temple to Zeus so for a couple of

years you had the temple at Jerusalem

dedicated to Zeus and here they were

having

King Herod come in outside of having any

kind of priesthood authority and sit on

his throne inside of inside of the

temple so some strange goings-on here

with this second temple now here in

chapter 13 in verse 1 it says that

at Antioch there were certain prophets

and teachers and that they'd been

brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and

Saul so this is a different Herod

this is Herod Antipas so these are all

part of the Herodian dynasty and as they

ministered to the Lord and fasted the

Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and

Saul for the work one and two I have

called them so that's basically being

set apart he's setting them apart as

basically a missionary companionship and

when they had fasted and prayed and laid

their hands on them they sent them

away and so as they travel around they

go to Seleucia which is another seaport

in Turkey in Asia Minor they go to

Cyprus they sell out to Cyprus and

they're teaching a lot in the synagogue

still so there's their Jews and so

they're going in and they're teaching in

these synagogues where they might be

able to have some influence and

perspective on their version of the

fullness of the gospel as compared to

what they believe the Jews have which is

only a partial portion of the gospel and

of course preaching about the atonement

and Jesus Christ and it mentions that

they have john mark with him also and

they get to an island called paphos and

there there's a certain sorcerer again

there's that word again

sorcerer it's not like a Harry Potter it

is someone who is more than likely using

pagan authority and Pagan priesthoods

and we're getting another version here

of what was happening with Simon Magus

and Peter and here there's a little bit

of a rivalry and Paul ends up basically

cursing the sorcerer whose name is bar

Jesus and bar Jesus basically means son

of Jesus and Aramaic which is the

language that they spoke and this is a

good place to talk to submitted about

this named Jesus Jesus was a very

popular name at this time in Palestine

and we get it this is the Roman version

the previous you know before that we

pull that Roman version from the Greek

version and the Greek version from the

Hebrew version

well the Hebrew name many of you I'm

sure know this is Joshua so for us

Jesus is the Greco-Roman eventually

Roman version of what of Joshua that we

have in the Old Testament that's the

same name and if we actually go to the

Hebrew of this because Joshua isn't the

Hebrew the Hebrew is actually Yeshua so

I remember once my wife said to me well

wait a minute so what did Mary call her

son and the answer is Yeshua right that

that's what his name was

but Paul ends up cursing this sorcerer

in blinding him for a season so Paul

knows very well what this is like right

he was blind for three days but this is

again Luke showing the proper authority

that Paul and Barnabas have and having

it win over the false authority the

counterfeit priesthood and John Mark now

makes his exit and he heads back to

Jerusalem we don't know exactly why

there may have very well have been a

dispute at this time remember if

Barnabas and John Mark are family there

may you know there may have been an

issue between Paul and John mark Paul

seems to be a pretty tough dude and he's

very driven and might just be you

know has his objective laid out and he's

going after it no matter what and

nothing's gonna get in his way

he seems to me kind of like that kind of

a guy so Paul which is what he's being

called now and Barnabas tracked back

their journey and they get back to

Antioch and here they teach in the

synagogue and Paul stands up and at this

point by the way it looks like Lucas

kind of now raised Paul up over Barnabas

he seems to be the senior companion at

this point but they go into a synagogue

and they start to preach and Paul

does something similar to remember what

even did in front of the Sanhedrin in

front of the council and he starts to

talk about the history to try and bring

together remember these are Jews again

in the synagogue so they're going down

through history to try and explain what

is missing in their current religion and

to try and bring everything together

with Jesus as the king and the Son of

God and Messiah and so he recounts

Israel being in Egypt being freed being

with Joshua and the battles and then

coming back into the land of promise and

then going through the time of the

judges and then eventually they want a

king it's always interesting that the

people want a king we had an interesting

discussion last week in priesthood about

this why do people want a king someone

in our quorum brought up the fact that

even with the United States here we were

fighting to get away from King George

and the tyranny of royalty and yet so

many people not enough fortunately but

so many people wanted a king in the

United States they were gonna make we

were gonna have a new king George George

Washington but of course he didn't want

anything to do with that but we seem to

want a king it happens in the Book of

Mormon also they want a king because

maybe we want to absolve ourselves of

some responsibility we want somebody to

run things for us just kind of something

that seems to happen over and over and

over again and so then he talks about

Saul becoming King and then here in

verse 22 and when he had removed him

this is Saul he raised up unto them

David to be their king to whom also he

gave testimony and said I have found

David the son of Jesse a man after my

own heart

which shall fulfill all my will of this

man's seed hath God according to his

promise raised unto Israel a savior

Jesus

so Paul is going through history and

then he's showing how he wants to tie in

the prophecies about David and then

having the Savior the Messiah coming

from that line and he talks about Jesus

coming and John the Baptist and we get

to come back to this higher and lower

law being brought together he talks

about John the Baptist fulfilling his

course which was the baptism of Jesus

and the Aaronic priesthood and then

Jesus coming in who John is not worthy

to unlatch his shoes because not only is

he the Savior but John has the Aaronic

priesthood and Jesus has the Melchizedek

priesthood so Paul shows that Jesus is

the Messiah and then tells how he was

crucified and laid into a Sepulcher and

then he rose the third day and was

resurrected and that there were many

witnesses that saw him remember this is

you know maybe 15 plus years after the

time of Jesus's death and resurrection

and then here in verse 32 he says and we

declare unto you glad tidings so we hear

this a lot we hear this at Christmas

right about good tidings or glad tidings

this is the good news or the god the

good spells or the god spell which is

actually Old English for good news and

that is Jesus Christ and the sacrifice

that he made that's the good tidings a

lot of times we'll see here in the New

Testament as the Paul and the leaders of

the church are trying to distinguish the

law of Moses and the ironic law from the

higher law will see that the gospel or

the glad tidings are set on one side and

the law of Moses or the ironic law or is

on another so even though you have still

the ironic law and the Melchizedek law

when they say the gospel many times

they're referring to the higher law you

can have even the guy

of Moses and the gospel of Jesus Christ

so we usually use the term the gospel of

Jesus Christ in terms of everything that

is true and all of the teachings but

oftentimes in here just keep in mind

they're speaking about the higher law of

what they're filling in for the Jews and

what they're trying to change from the

history of their theology over the last

several hundred years and so Paul then

brings up more scriptures to show that

Jesus is the Son of God he says here in

verse 33 God hath fulfilled the

same unto us they're children in that he

hath raised up Jesus again as it is also

written in the second Psalm thou art my

son this day have I begotten thee

remember the temple imagery here this is

what Paul is going toward he's going

back to this temple drama and to what

the King would have done and/or the high

priest would have done in going into the

temple coming out of the Holy of Holies

going into the holy Holies coming out of

the Holy of Holies through the veil and

being born and becoming the son of God

so the king and/or the high priest are

representing Jehovah coming out of the

Holy of Holies coming out of the place

of God and being born into a mortal body

and into the mortal world that's what

the Son of God means and even though

that temple drama may not have existed

for several hundred years the tradition

of it in pockets of the land of

Jerusalem probably still existed things

don't just completely go away and so

there may have been many discussions

about this and different sets of Jews

that may have held on to these older

traditions and the older ways of the

first temple before it was destroyed in

the time of Lehi and in verse 38 here

this becomes a very important part of

the spiritual economy that the gospel of

Jesus Christ teaches it says Paul says

be it known unto you there

for men and brethren that through this

man is preached unto you the forgiveness

of sins so if you have an atonement that

takes place it changes the entire

spiritual economy it changes your

relationship with God when something has

been paid for and you can lean on it and

that love and mercy has already been

offered by God for you it's a major

major change in theology and he

clarifies this in verse 39 and says and

by him all that believe are justified or

saved or made whole from all things from

which he could not be justified by the

law of Moses so the law of Moses

remember is think of it as the law it

doesn't have to be just the law of Moses

just think of it as a law are you gonna

be perfect your whole life in following

the law the law of God and the answer is

no therefore you cannot be justified or

saved that is what Paul is saying here

again as I've said previously think of

the two trees in the Garden of Eden in

many ways I believe the tree of

knowledge of good and evil is the law

once you've partaken of that fruit and you

are born into mortality and you have a

knowledge of what is right by the law

being given to you are now subject

to it and you're going to be in a fallen

state but there is the other tree the

Tree of Life which is Jesus Christ and

that is what Paul is inserting here that

your sins have been paid for and

therefore the spiritual economy is

completely different and you now can be

justified through believing on the name

of Jesus Christ and so a lot of the

people there are Jews and

apparently there are Gentiles there as

well maybe inside the synagogue it

sounds like a lot of them follow Paul

and Barnabas they believe then the

following Sabbath there is

the whole city practically is gathered

to listen to them but a lot of the

leaders there they stir up persecution

and they end up kicking them out of

their cities and that's the way it is

right if you're not following the proper

orthodoxy of the land who wants to be

open to something else it's so

interesting how we each have in many

cases I certainly have found myself

falling into this trap a lot it's easy

to want to be right more than wanting to

have the truth and I think that is the

route so many times of these

disputations between people between

politics in religion so much of it is

you've invested yourself so much

emotionally and mentally into something

especially if you are ideologically

possessed with it that how do you now

say oh okay I'm open to something else

you want to protect yourself by being

right and I think that's what's

happening here

and usually unfortunately in the long

run it's going to lose and eventually

the church does lose in a sense because

of you know it falls to apostasy doesn't

completely lose a form of Christianity

is born eventually out of this and

creates an environment eventually over

1,800 years for the gospel to be

restored in its fullness at the time of

Joseph Smith but goodness is going to be

fought against by the world and it's

very very tough to keep it going I think

it's interesting here in verse 2 in

chapter 14 it says but the unbelieving

Jews stirred up the Gentiles think of

the language that we have here and made

their minds evil effected against the

Brethren this sounds to me like so these

are the Jews so think of them as from

the same group that Paul and Barnabas

and the others that are out preaching

the gospel are think of the Nephites

right who is always the most vitriolic

against the Nephites

it's the Nephites it's the group of

Nephites that have a problem with the

leadership

with the righteous leadership they're

the most vitriolic and they actually

oftentimes go off to the Lamanites and

align with them right the enemy of my

enemy is my friend

and end up fighting against the Nephites

and this is very similar to what's

happening here

the Jews see Paul and Barnabas and

others as apostates as heretics and so

they're aligning with some of the

Gentiles to try and fight against them

in their cities a lot of played these

places the Jews are minorities and so

they come to a place called Lystra and

here there is a crippled man and Paul

heals him and they speak great things

and the people end up looking at Paul

and Barnabas as Jupiter and Mercury two

of the pagan gods there in the Roman

world and this is a theme that carries

out throughout all of Paul's letters

later on right it's very difficult with

the Gentiles this is maybe why they

couldn't do it before it's very

difficult to go outside of jewelry and

convert people from a completely

different religion and keep them strong

in the gospel they're so set in their

ways but the persecution follows them

especially from Antioch this reminds me

of the history of the church where even

though the Saints had fled to Nabu

it was a lot of the mob from Missouri

that actually had come up and caused the

problems at the end of Joseph Smith's

life and here from Antioch they come and

they stir everybody up and they stone

Paul and leave him for dead he doesn't

die but they leave him for death I'll

talk to you next time