Acts 13:13-24

the Savior according to Promise

Acts 13:13-24

It was very natural that the missionary party should sail for Cyprus, partly because it was the first and nearest outpost of the great heathen world that lay to the west, and partly because Barnabas was a native of the island and had owned land there, which he had sold for the benefit of his poorer brethren in the church, Acts 4:36.

In visiting a new city, it was the custom of the Apostles to go first to the Jewish synagogue, where such was to be found. “To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile,” was the divine order, Romans 2:10. The journey from Cyprus to the mainland was easily made; but the journey up to this inland city of Antioch was very perilous, 2 Corinthians 11:26.

Acts 13:16 gives us the Apostle's favorite attitude, Acts 21:40; Acts 26:1. Ye that fear God, referred to the Gentile proselytes. This first address contained the seed-thoughts of the Apostle's ministry.

He loved to show that the gospel was the white flower that grew on the ancient stock of Judaism. Whatever his starting point, he was sure to come, by a direct path, to Jesus Christ. Observe throughout how Paul attributes all of the great events and movements of history to the direction and agency of God. God chose the fathers; God gave Saul; God brought unto Israel a Savior.