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Tag: signs

Signs of Release from the Bondage of Culture
The Bondage of Culture and Corruption
The Shaking of Earthquakes
σεισμός – seismos
Signs by the One God of Power!
Acts 16:
Sorry, my public judgment was a mistake
Returning to the Jailer
The Bondage of Culture and Corruption

.. that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

This is only reference to ‘bondage’ in the English Standard Bible — BONDAGE is not a very popular word of cultural correctness — and “bondage of culture” does NOT occur in any version of the Bible (though the NKJV mentions bondage more than two dozen times).

The Shaking of Earthquakes

IF you will examine the events of ACTS of the Apostles carefully as has Luke, then you will see what some would call ‘natural events,’ such as the Philippi earthquake in Acts 16 by which Paul and Silas had the bondage of their shakles released, as one of many signs of power over nature, the idolatrous ‘mother‘ of many proclaiming the bondage of culture.

The Keeper of the Philippian Prison

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.

And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. – ACTS 16:25-26 ESV

Wooden bonds shackled to their feet – a chain bondage to a stone floor or base of the wall of their deep prison cell. THEN AN EARTHQUAKE!

Just then? (What a coincidence of ‘mother nature.’)

Just when the witness of Paul and Silas heard by the prisoners had been singing to God?

σεισμός – seismos

Even the idolaters of the bondage of culture know this, yet minimize God’s power.

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes G4578.

Signs by the One God of Power!

and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
Gospel of Luke 21:11 LSB –

“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.
Gospel of Luke 21:12

Isn’t this what has just happened to the apostles Paul and Silas in a Philippian prison?

Acts 16:
- .. a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.
- Paul .. said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
A spiritual bondage to the darkness of evil forbidden by Almighty God. And a bondage of culture to profit from knowledge unavailable to others.
- ..her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
- The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison
These magistrates were Roman leaders. The slave girl’s owners may also have been Roman OR these evil masters of the girl may have been Hellenist (Greek) men of Philippi clinging to the bondage of culture, not only theirs but that of their Roman overseers.

If you missed it previously READ more about the Culture of Philippi

The slave girl of spiritual bondage AND the local bondage of culture of her Philippian owners had proclaimed prophetically:

“These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”

Yet the local Philippian owners of this girl bound to sin and under the bondage of culture – the slavery of differences:

“These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. ²¹They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”

Is it customary for culture to beat its prisoners without a trial?

Yes, if the loudest of crowds can rule over their rulers with impunity.

It is our own bondage of culture which refuses the Savior Jesus Christ who sent his apostles and Gospel into all the world to free sinners from death.

Sorry, my public judgment was a mistake

So just go quitely away from our culture of bondage (to what we insist on doing).

35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”

(We are moving down the cultural commanding chain of command here.)

36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.”

But Paul said to them,

“They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly?

No! Let them come themselves and take us out.”
Acts of the apostle Paul 16:37, sending out his reply to Philippian Roman magistrates through their jailer

The Legacy Standard Version [below] may be more helpful in understanding the cultural connection of this injustice.

But Paul said to them, “Having beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, they have thrown us into prison. And now are they sending us away secretly?

No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.”

Paul now draws a line in the sand by his refusal to go away quietly.

He challenges a Roman bondage of culture claiming public justice of their Pax Romana.

(Working back up the Roman chain of command ruling Philippi.)

38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.

³⁹So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

The political leaders of this leading Roman city have publically punished men for crimes and having served an overnight sentence in the stocks they ordered their punished prisoners to go away and don’t come back.

But Paul’s witness of righteousness in Christ demands that these apostles remain in town after this public incident.

⁴⁰So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia.

Paul and Silas then visit Lydia and their NEW church in the place where Christ’s apostles were first sent and welcomed — Philippi at the eastern edge of Europe and in the very heart of the Roman Mediterranean Empire.

What’s just happened?

FAITH of two apostles singing at midnight in a prison in Philippi and THEN an earthquake!

They might have been killed in a collapsing cell in the lowest part of this jail!

BUT it’s more than just a shaking of the ground — this pivotal sign from the All-powerful God of heaven to whom Paul and Silas had prayed and praised. The prison doors are also opened yet no prison trys to escape. They wait in the darkness for the light of the hope of Paul and Silas.

Returning to the Jailer

²⁷When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped..

..the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself..

“Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

²⁹And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said,

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹And they said,

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Acts of the Apostles 16:31b – Paul’s reply to his jailer in Philippi who asked, “What must I do to be saved?”

And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.

³⁴Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
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We have already examined the cultural bondage of the public court and its magistrates, who later attenpted to apologize and send them away quietly.
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The faith of the apostles had been public before prison, public in prison, public at the house of Lydia and the house of their Philippian Jailer.

FAITH in the Lord Jesus is a matter of PUBLIC witness every day and in every place.

And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.
Acts of the apostles 16:40b

To be continued…
March 22, 2023
The Lame Walk a Sign from God
A Sign of Faith in Capernaum

~A.D. 27 – Jesus in Galilee

“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
Gospel of Luke 5:43 LSB

“But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—

“I say to you, get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home.”
Good News of Luke 5:44

Of course, a paralyzed man obeying Jesus’ command to ‘get up and walk’ is a miracle to the man who can now stand up and walk AND a sign of God to those who witness it!

Who can say such a thing to one born handicapped?

And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. And astonishment seized them all and they began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying,

“We have seen remarkable things today.”

But this was a sign to the Jews.

Luke records [5:17]:
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And it happened that one day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.
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After having healed others as well Jesus answered the Prophet John who had been baptizing in the wilderness of Judea with Good News sent by his messengers:
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“Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. 

Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” - Gospel of Luke 7:22b-23, LSB
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But of course, these signs from the LORD God to the Jews were done by JESUS the Messiah.

These signs for the Jews where witnessed in regions of Roman Syria AND that had been years ago.

It’s about two decades later that Paul and Barnabas will enter Lystra.

A.D. 30’s – The Apostle Peter

We are Beggars in the House of God

But when Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him, he said, “Look at us!” – Acts 3:4

And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. And leaping up, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were recognizing him, that he was the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. – Acts of the Apostles 3:

More recent signs from God
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Keep in mind that Luke's two-part account of these events is recorded for a Roman-Hellenist world after A.D. 60, 
+ some thirty years after Jesus' resurrection [~A.D. 30],
+ perhaps twenty-five years after Saul's encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus,
+ about seven years [~A.D. 40] after the Apostle Peter baptizes a Roman Centurion in Caesarea Syria.
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No Longer Paralyzed: Walking in Lydda

And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise up and make your bed.” Immediately he rose up. – Acts 9:

And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
Acts of the Apostles 9:35 LSB

The Gospel of an Angel to Cornelius

Roman Caesarea [pictured] where Peter baptized Roman believers who received the Holy Spirit!

And what had Peter heard from the angel of God?

“Get up..”

ἀνίστημι – anistēmi

It’s a command of some significance — a command by faith also used by Peter and the Lord Jesus. And it is part of what the Apostle Paul is about to say to the lame man in Lystra.
- to rise, stand up
  1. of persons lying down, of persons lying on the ground
  2. of persons seated
  3. of those who leave a place to go elsewhere [of those who prepare themselves for a journey]
  4. of the dead
GOD’S signs have many witnesses among the gentiles by the time Barnabas and Saul enter Lystra.

~A.D. 48 –

In Lystra The Lame Walk!

Acts of Faith in Lystra 14:

And at Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.

This man listened to Paul as he spoke, who, when he fixed his gaze on him and saw that he had faith to be [made well] said with a loud voice,

“Stand upright on your feet.”
Acts 14:10 of Paul commanding a lame man in Lystra

And he leaped up and began to walk.

And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language,

“The gods have become like men and have come down to us.”
Acts of the Apostles 14:11b – LSB

In fact, these Lycaonian pagans were partially right.

For the Gospel of Paul and Barnabas would reveal that the One God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ sent his only Son down to us for redemption of sins for those who have faith to believe — even pagan gentiles.

“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
Gospel of Luke 5:43 LSB

Acts of the Apostles in Lystra — To be continued…
November 17, 2022
A Church Seized by Signs and Wonders
Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
ACTS of signs and wonders by the Apostles 5:11 NIV

ACTS of Signs and Wonders

What has just happened?
- Ananias and Saphira – followers of the Apostles struck dead at Peter’s feet!
At this point in Luke’s account of the ACTS of the church we encounter an unexpected sign and wonder which struck great fear into the church.

Two believers lied to the Holy Spirit, after which each immediately met withthe judgment of God – death.

Don’t miss this:

Peter Replied: Signs Preached from Solomon’s Porch

.. God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
Acts of the Apostles 3:26 ESV

In addition to the tongues of fire, a lame man made to walk and the Apostles walking out of a locked prison without explanation, EVERYONE begins to see signs of the power of GOD at work though them. When reports of the deaths of two disciples of the Apostles reach the ears of Jerusalem, MANY fear what could happen as these signs and wonders continue.

Acts 5:

12 Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

Signs and Wonders since Pentecost have already caused a stir in Jerusalem

Speaking the Word of God with Boldness

parrēsia -all out-spokenness, i.e. frankness, bluntness, publicity; by implication, assurance:—bold confidence, × freely, × openly, × plainly

Jerusalem’s officials also fear the Apostles, not only because of their own wickedness, but since undeniable signs and wonders already performed in their midst in Herod’s temple threaten their tenuous political leadership of the temple..

Arrested AND Released

from ACTS 5 – AFTER GOD STRUCK DOWN ANANIAS AND SAPHIRA

“Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

[Peter has convicted them of their complicity in Jesus’ Sacrifice on the Cross; however the Apostle had also stated that God the Father had allowed it AND that JESUS had been raised from the grave!]

But Peter and the apostles answered,

“We must obey God rather than men.

Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.
ACTS 4:30 NIV + Prayer of the Apostles

Signs and Wonders from GOD!

And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
ACTS 4:31 NKJV
- ACTS 5:14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
  - 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.
- 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem,
  - bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits,
  - and all of them were healed.
- 17 Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy, arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out..
  - Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.
- 42 And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.
- ACTS 6: Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number..
- 7 The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem,
- and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
To be continued…
December 15, 2021