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Tag: samaria

Returning to seven servants in the Spirit
Acts of the Apostles 21:

7 We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

8 Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.

Returning to the Church in order to serve

Paul had first embarked on three missions TEN YEARS AGO from Antioch, with Jerusalem being little more than a stop on his way back to Syria along the roads of a distant mission skirting Galatia once more and bypassing Asia Minor to sail the Aegean to Macedonian and Greek cities.

~ AD 57

His FIVE YEAR THIRD MISSION now complete, the Apostle to the Gentiles now returns to Jerusalem.

Although the Lord Jesus Himself had taught in Tyre and Sidon (and also presumably the great Maccabean port of Ptolemais between them) Paul now lands in Caesarea, Herod’s great Hasmonaean port named for the Emperors they served.

1st c. Roman Cities

ROME ruled with a westward wave that had included all of the Aegean by the time its dual citizen, Saul of Tarsus, had preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to much of Syria and Hellenist cities of a former Macedonian Empire.

~ A.D. 40 – a Judean history Before Christ
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NOTE: Earlier in ACTS of the APOSTLES 12 I may have slighted the historical significance of this coastal area in our transition between ACTS of the Apostle Peter and the ACTS and missions of the Apostle Paul.
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Now that Paul is returning home in the year of our Lord 57, let’s take a brief look at another map in the minds of Paul and historical context of Judeans born about the time of Christ Jesus.

~ AD 37

Saul had encountered the risen Christ along a road to Damascus. At the same time the Apostle Peter had taken the Gospel to Samaria and even to the gentiles.

And Saul [Paul], who had been received the the Apostles, then fled to Tarsus from Caesarea. – Acts 9:26-30

Paul is returning to brothers and sisters in Christ in Caesarea all these years later.
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Dr. Luke, who knew a gentile history of his Aegean homeland, must have been taking Paul's account of these days as they sailed toward Judea and Jerusalem.

Here is even more history familiar to the Judeans.
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a Strategic Coastline even Before Christ

The Romans eventually affirmed an alliance with the Maccabean leaders and encouraged other nations in the region to do the same.

The map shown here displays this complex political world of the Near East around 90 B.C., shortly before the Romans absorbed the Seleucid Empire and the Maccabean Kingdom in 63 B.C.
Source: Bible Mapper Atlas

~ 90 B.C.
- After Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C., his empire was divided among his generals, including Ptolemy and Seleucus.
  - Seleucid Empire led Antiochus IV Epiphanes
- open rebellion by faithful Jews under the leadership of Mattathias Maccabeus and his sons in 167 B.C.
- The Romans eventually affirmed an alliance with the Maccabean leaders and encouraged other nations in the region to do the same. The map shown [above] displays this complex political world of the Near East ~90 B.C.,
- the Romans absorbed the Seleucid Empire and the Maccabean Kingdom in 63 B.C.
  - source
Antiochus IV Epiphanes sought to unify his diverse domain by forcing Greek religious and political practices upon all his subjects (1 Maccabees 1; 2 Maccabees 6-7) – source

Division

Before Christ, the GREAT Hellenist ALEXANDER had died in the BABYLON he conquered in a world to the EAST from where Judeans had earlier returned home to Jerusalem under Nehemiah.

Alexander’s thrice-divided Kingdom would eventually leave Jerusalem divided between Maccabean and Hellenist. The ruthless and GREAT builder King Herod also left legacy of a thrice-divided Kingdom to sons upon his death [~4 BC].

The JUDEA (and Jerusalem) prominent in the times of JESUS and Paul does NOT include a separate Samaria (home of the Maccabean revolt) OR Galilee.

Herod had not only named his great harbor and fortress CAESAREA (a clear concession to a Hellenist Rome) but had built a town and fortress to the north also named for the Hellenist father of Alexander, CAESAREA PHILLIPI.

SAUL (Paulos) in Caesarea
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Arriving before Saul - Philip
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- Jerusalem:
Now in those days, while the disciples were multiplying in number, there was grumbling from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.
Acts of the Apostles 6:1 LSB

.. and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.

Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and began proclaiming the [Messiah] Christ to them.
ACTS of the Apostles 8:5 NASB20
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This had been at about the same time Saul was persecuting the church.
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What hinders me from being baptized?
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Philip the Evangelist and deacon from Jerusalem had travelled to Gaza, then was miraculously taken up to take the Gospel north to Caesarea where he would reside.
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But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.
Acts 8:40 NASB

PAUL Returning 20 years later to Philip in Caesarea

we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.

9 He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

ACTS of the Apostles 21 – Paul’s return from his third missionary journey – To be continued…

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
April 19, 2024
Philip: Preaching to Good and Bad Samaritans
ACTS of Philip the Evangelist

Φίλιππος Philip who?
Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod [Antipas] was tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis ..

(No, not that Philip, whose wife Herodias his brother Herod Antipas took as his own wife.)
Jesus chose Twelve Apostles at the beginning His ministry in Galilee. The Apostle Philip was one of the Twelve.
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Philip has been an Apostle for about five years now.
The year c. A.D. 32 or 33.
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- (But it’s not that Philip, either. Don’t get confused like I did.)
When Simon Peter healed a lame man and spoke at Solomon’s Portico just two years ago, Philip would have observed the entire miracle. (Actually, two men named Philip may have been present.)

Our other brother Philip

As we learned in An Apostolic Model: Administration of a Growing Church from Acts 6:

As the church grew rapidly, the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples, asking them to choose seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to lead in ministering to the Church: Steven, Philip and five others.
- (Yes, this other brother Philip, a leading deacon of the Church, second in the list of seven, is known as Philip the Evangelist.)
So now after Stephen’s trial, the Church in Jerusalem faces imminent persecution.

Philip heads back north through the mountains of Judea, traveling one of their usual routes to Galilee through Samaria.

Samaria was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, and again by the Hasmonean king John Hyrcanus in 108 B.C. The city was rebuilt by Herod the Great between the years 30–27 B.C. According to Josephus, Herod expanded and renovated the city, bringing in 6,000 new inhabitants, and renamed it “Sebastia” in the emperor’s honor (translating the Latin epithet Augustus to Greek Sebastos, “venerable”). – Source: Wikipedia

Acts 8:
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We will return to Luke's chronology shortly, but lets begin with a parallel timeline from his account of events in *Sebastia from the perspective of its people.
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The ‘not so good’ *Samaritan

..there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery [μαγεύω] in the city and astonished the people of *Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.”

μάγος – magus
- the name given by the Babylonians (Chaldeans), Medes, Persians, and others, to the wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augers, soothsayers, sorcerers etc.
- the oriental wise men (astrologers) who, having discovered by the rising of a remarkable star that the Messiah had just been born, came to Jerusalem to worship him
- a false prophet and sorcerer
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Luke had begun his account with Philip's departure from Jerusalem following the execution of Stephen.
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Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and began proclaiming the [Messiah] Christ to them.
ACTS of the Apostles 8:5 NASB20
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Philip leaves for *Samaria fully aware its reputation. He's been there before and passed through the town many times. And Jesus had illustrated general Jewish thought about this city and these northern tribes in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
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Miracles and Signs by Philip

6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed;

Philip, along with the Apostles and many other disciples following the Lord had witnessed Jesus’ power to command evil spirits. Peter healed a lame man in Jerusalem, just one of several Apostolic signs of power. Now we learn of Philip’s miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit.

and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.
ACTS (of the Apostle philip) 8:7b – NKJV

GOOD vs. EVIL!

Scripture records several contests similar to Philip’s opposition. Some of these contests between God (good) and evil have taken place on this very mountain where Philip encounters Simon Magus.

False prophets and idolaters deceive others by spirits (i.e. demons, devils, angels) from all that is evil.

Our 21st century Christian minds easily dismiss powers we cannot explain.
- Do you really believe in such powers of the spiritual realms?
Acts reveals the Power of the Holy Spirit [πνεῦμα].
- “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit G4151; you are doing just as your fathers did. – Acts 7:51
- But he, being full of the Holy Spirit G4151, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God – Acts 7:55
- They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit G4151!” – Acts 7:59
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The HOLY SPIRIT of the ONE GOD, WHO IS One with God the Father and the One begotten Son Christ Jesus, works for good in the hearts and lives of sinful men and women like us once we turn to Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
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- Acts of the Apostles is a first century account of a continuing battle between Good and Evil.
- The Good News (Gospel) of the Lord’s death and resurrection is that JESUS will win this war.
Simon Covets Philip’s Power
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Of course this power is not from Philip, but from the Holy Spirit.
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11 They [the Samaritans] were attentive to him {Simon] because he had amazed them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

13 Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.
- Philip’s signs are more powerful than the power of Simon Magus, who the Samaritans called, ‘the great power of God!’
  - Was Simon’s baptism a complete turning from evil and a permanent cleansing?
  - Did Simon receive the Holy Spirit
    
    (even as Ananias and Saphira had claimed, yet sought to deceive the Holy Spirit and other believers)?
  - Luke tell us: 16 ‘They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
    
    Baptism alone does not make you any more faithful to Jesus than Ananias and Saphira OR Judas.
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Philip continues teaching of new believers in Samaria with great success.
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Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem..

14 When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

Why Peter and John?

About eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter, John, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
Luke 9:28 NASB20

Peter, James and John know the Person of Jesus more intimately than the other nine Apostles.
1. These three comprised an inner-circle of leadership for the Lord Jesus.
2. The Twelve in turn lead other disciples (hundreds of them at times), so that now these Apostles lead a growing Church.
The Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven! (At the conclusion of Luke’s Gospel and opening of ACTS of the Apostles, leadership passes to them.)

Simon Peter leads this inner circle of the Apostles, all of the Twelve (including Mathias), Jerusalem’s seven deacons (including Stephen and Philip); and NOW [c. A.D. 33] many disciples of Jesus beyond Jerusalem as they, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel.’

Peter and John join Philip in Samaria

ACTS 8:15 After they went down there, they prayed for them so that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them..

Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
- Apparently Simon is not of one accord with these new believers in Samaria. So the magician has missed out on the blessings of the Holy Spirit;
  - But the powerful always covet more power.
18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying,
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“Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
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If Simon’s story had ended here
- Would you recognize this false prophet, a teacher with power?
  - Do you realize that such a man must bow down to the LORD God or face judgment with eternal consequence?
- Does Scripture not warn us how to handle such sheep in the designer clothing of wolves?
ACTS of the First Century Church

Stephen had just called out such false leaders in Jerusalem! For two years now the Apostles have demonstrated signs from God to Jerusalem’s leaders. Revenge and persecution fill its political streets.

These leaders of the Great City of religion misused Scripture. AND false accusation meant to silence opposition to the Truth of the Gospel, resulted in their false leadership condemning Stephen to death!

The Lord Jesus Christ had warned of others to come. Simon Magnus could have been one of the first.

“And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people.

Gospel of Matthew 24:11 NASB20

Peter’s Reaction to Simon

YOU want such power, right? To make a lame man stand? Heal someone’s cancer? Help someone paralyzed with pain to get up and walk once more? Even to save a young man or woman from death? (Stephen was just thirty years old)

So did Simon, who like so many just offered to pay Peter for such POWER.

“Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
ACTS 8:19 NIV – Simon’s request to Peter

PETER would have none of it.

20 But Peter replied,

“May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God.
Acts of the Apostles 8:20-21 NLT

Is YOUR heart right with God?

8:21 οὐκ ἔστιν σοι μερὶς οὐδὲ κλῆρος ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ ἡ γὰρ καρδία σου οὐκ ἔστιν εὐθεῖα ἔναντι τοῦ θεοῦ

²¹وَلَيْسَ لَكَ حِصَّةٌ أوْ نَصِيبٌ فِي هَذَا الأمْرِ، لِأنَّ قَلْبَكَ لَيْسَ سَلِيمًا أمَامَ اللهِ. ²²فَتُبْ عَنْ شَرِّكَ هَذَا وَصَلِّ إلَى الرَّبِّ، لَعَلَّهُ يُسَامِحُكَ عَلَى الفِكرَةِ الآثِمَةِ الَّتِي فِي قَلْبِكَ. ²³فَأنَا أرَاكَ مُمتَلِئًا مَرَارَةً وَعَبدًا لِلخَطِيَّةِ.»

ACTS of Repentance

“Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours,
and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart will be forgiven you.
Acts of the Apostles 8:22 NASB20 – Peter’s admonition to Simon Magnus

23 for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”

24 “Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”

Returning to the scene of the crimes against Christ and His Church:

25 After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.
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ACTS of Philip (the Deacon Evangelist): TO BE CONTINUED...
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February 1, 2022
for it was not the season for figs – 3
You will break the oppressor’s rod,
just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.
Isaiah 9:4b NLT

the Oppressor’s Rod

We expect a powerful King to save us, not a loving, all-powerful King.

“..and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:3
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We will return to the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree. If you have missed Mark's telling, just go back to our prologue. But first let's look back to the time of the Judges of Israel just after Moses.
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God Commissions Joshua

Mt. Gerizim [Israel, Samaria]

[circa 13th. c. Before Christ]:

Joshua 1 (ESV)

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.

2:7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

Joshua 24:

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel.

Shechem – near Mt. Gerizim

And they presented themselves before God.

²And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,

‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.

³Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many.

The LORD Leads. He Empowers Judges.

Conquest of Canaan

Judges 1

After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2 The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.”

Judges 2:11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.

16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them.

17 They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so.”

– Do the people not remain rebellious against God?

The Rod of Midian

Is it not the Lord who does punish? Will the suppression of Jacob by Rome centuries after Gideon not accomplish the Lord’s purpose?

Though we have forgotten the former days, Israel had hoped for a messiah to remove the rod of Rome. Those who followed Jesus wanted a King, not a Judge. Israel sought Gideon’s redemption, not a Savior of souls.

We remember and laud our heroes, while forgetting the causes of God’s punishment.

“How suddenly in success do we forget the Lord.”

Judges 6:

The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.

Judges 7:

2 The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

… 9 That same night the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand…

And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled.

To be continued…
June 28, 2017