GENTILES SEEK THE WORD OF GOD

Acts 13:44-47 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things, which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

Paul had just completed a lengthy, compelling sermon, which revealed that the gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ was, by God's design, to be extended first to the Jewish nation, and then to the rest of the world. It was evident that, like the majority of the Jews did on the Day of Pentecost, most of the Jewish people here in Antioch of Pisidia rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the promised Savior of the world. And, in doing so, they rejected the New Testament doctrine containing the gospel of Christ, which Paul had presented to those assembled in the synagogue on that sabbath day.

We find in the two verses preceding the lesson text, that Paul and Barnabas had convinced some of these Jews to believe and accept God's word and they encouraged them to continue in the grace of God. We also find that when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. It is doubtful that these Gentiles had been in the synagogue assembly when Paul preached his sermon on salvation in Christ Jesus. This seems to be the thought of many bible scholars regarding this passage. However, it is possible that news of Gentile conversions had reached them and they had assembled outside this place of Jewish worship. This being true, they would have known the theme of his message, and it would have been probable that they desired the opportunity to hear Paul's teaching of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, and the opportunity to inherit God's plan of eternal salvation for them also.

The lesson text tells us that, on the following Sabbath day, a great number, almost the whole city came together to hear Paul preach to them the word of God. No doubt, this audience was made up of many Jews and proselytes, but the majority was probably the Gentiles that lived in this city. Therefore, it is doubtful that this extremely large number of people assembled themselves together in the Jewish synagogue. The mere number of Gentiles that had assembled here caused the Jewish population of this city to be filled with envy. Nothing seemed to stir up more hatred of Jesus' apostles and disciples in Palestine, as well as in Gentile nations, as the preaching of Jesus Christ as the Savior, and especially the fact that it was being preached to both Jews and Gentiles alike. This is exactly what happened on that day in Antioch of Pisidia. They contradicted the fact that Jesus Christ was being taught as the fulfillment of the Jewish prophets of old. And by their contemptuous denial, they blasphemed the name of the Son of God.

No doubt Paul and Barnabas assured these unbelieving Jews that on the Day of Pentecost God's message of salvation through Christ Jesus was preached only to the Jewish people. No doubt they told them the same message delivered by Paul to those assembled in Rome, that the gospel of Christ, which contains the hope of salvation, was to be extended to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Rom. 1:16). And here in Antioch of Pisidia, most of the Jews, by their rejection of God's word and His plan of salvation, were judged by Paul and Barnabas to be unworthy of everlasting life. And because of their rejection, they turned to those having open and receptive hearts - they turned to the Gentiles because, by their actions, they truly desired to hear God's will and seek the hope of eternal salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. The result of their preaching was that many Gentiles heard, believed, and obeyed God's universal call of salvation, and the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. Because of the overwhelming acceptance of the preaching of Paul and Barnabas, the Jews stirred up the ...(people) of the city, ...raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts, ...(and they) came unto Iconium. But salvation had been brought to all those residing in Antioch of Pisidia, and the disciples, that is, those that were converted to Christ, were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.