Like other great cities of the past and of the present, Antioch was a place where godlessness prevailed. The secular records of the time leave us in no uncertainty as to the wickedness, idolatry, superstition, uncleanness, and general ungodliness of the vast majority of its teeming multitudes. Many Jews had settled there; they built their synagogue, they worshipped the God of their fathers, they observed their ancient customs. Yet, as in so many other cases, their lives were spent in worldliness and pleasure too. Riches and prosperity abounded, side by side with abject poverty. Events in Judaea and Galilee had had little, if any, effect upon the minds and hearts of the vast majority of the citizens of Antioch. They may just have heard, possibly, of one Jesus, put to death upon a cross, outside Jerusalem, but what did that mean to them? Yet God had purposes of mercy for some of those poor benighted citizens of Antioch and, in His own way, and at His own appointed time, the precious word of grace was to be declared in Antioch and the name of Jesus to be heard declared in all its saving power, and a church of believing disciples to arise, to whose members would be first given the name, whereby they were ever after to be designated — “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts xi 26).
How, then, did the good news from a far country first reach this great city? Let us listen to the words of the inspired historian and wonder at the steps of majesty of our God and our mighty King in the Divine and gracious Providence — “Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.” (Acts xi, 19-21).
The steps of majesty are these — let it suffice, for the moment, to mark them and leave them for your own consideration —
Stephen’s death; the subsequent persecution; the disciples scattered about; their way directed to Antioch; some preach to the Jews only; others, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, venture further and preach Jesus to the Grecians.
Truly, there is often, in Providence, a wheel within a wheel.
The crucial matter would appear to be the preaching of the Lord Jesus to the Grecians. There is a point of controversy here, arising out of different readings of the Text, which we shall refrain from entering into, namely, the reading, “Grecians”, i.e. Greek-speaking Jews, is found in the Revised Text, but some other copies of the text have “Greeks”, i.e. Gentiles proper. To preach to the former would not have been unprecedented, whereas to preach to the latter would have been, if the news contained in the earlier portion of this chapter, consequent upon Peter’s vision, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles (i.e. Greeks) granted repentance unto life” (verse 18), had not as yet reached these brethren in Antioch.
The reception of the news of these brethren preaching thus, by the church at Jerusalem (verse 22), need not, of itself, be inferred to mean that they regarded the work as unprecedented. Whatever feelings the men of Cyprus and Cyrene may have had, in going out to their fellow-Grecians, would soon have been put at ease, by the obvious blessing of the Lord upon their efforts. “And the hand of the Lord was with them” (verse 21); a phrase, so reminiscent of the Old Testament, is here used to signify that the Word was with power. Well might these brethren rejoice to see the right hand of the mighty Lord doing valiantly (as of old in other ways) as “a great number believed and turned unto the Lord”. The seal of Jehovah upon their work was there. What better sign could they ask for, that the venture was of the Lord, that the work was His, and all was done for His glory and the furtherance of His cause on earth?
Beloved, what better sign can His servants ask than this? As they go forth, sowing the good seed beside all waters, venturing into new fields, breaking up virgin soil, or toiling in the long-established manner in appointed means, what more do any consecrated servants of the Master long for, than this — that the hand of the Lord might be with them? And when any one of them has reason to believe that this is true, O, what a humbling effect this ought to have upon them, as they realise how unworthy they are that He should acknowledge their efforts thus.
Dear child of God, you too, in your own private life, (or public life, for that matter of it also) will want to know the same blessedness — the hand of the Lord with you, for good. Seek it ever earnestly and pray lest you ever be left to rest satisfied without this blessing. Remember the example and blessing of Ezra.
The Church at Jerusalem send Barnabas to Antioch
The news of the good work at Antioch soon reached Jerusalem, and was received there with great interest by the disciples. “Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go forth as far as Antioch.” (Acts xi 22). The brethren at Jerusalem, when they heard of these things, felt that it would only be right for one of their own number to proceed to Antioch, to see for himself what had been done. Although we are not expressly told that Barnabas, upon whom the choice of the church fell for that mission, was to report back, in word, if not in person, to them, we may safely assume that such would be the natural outcome of the mission. The disciples would be anxious to know how matters stood. Many questions might arise in their minds, to which they would like some definite answers. Whatever be the case, the fact that they took upon themselves to send Barnabas out to investigate the situation, shows clearly that they were still regarded as the mother church, the centre from which the Gospel had first gone forth, (“beginning at Jerusalem”) and that they were therefore interested in every form of advancement of the Gospel, “among all nations”, upon which the evident seal and blessing of God had rested. As to this work at Antioch, whether preceded or unprecedented, the fact was, that there brethren, without specific Apostolic authority from Jerusalem, had gone forth and brought the Word of Life to many in their city, and ‘the church’ at Jerusalem was anxious to establish that the work was indeed of God. The fulness of the Gentiles had not yet properly begun, we must remember, and many in the church then were slow to understand that the precious Word of saving grace was to be carried beyond the borders of Judaism, even to the uttermost ends of the earth.
So Barnabas left for Antioch. The choice fell upon the right man indeed. Not everyone would have performed the task as well as he did. Truly, the hand of the Lord was with them too, in their choice.
Thus we read of him, “who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” (verse 23).
In a few words, the Holy Ghost declares to us what Barnabas saw when he reached Antioch — the grace of God. Nothing else could account for it: the presence of a great number who believed, where once there were none, could only be accounted for upon the one basis. What a commentary here on the words above! “The hand of the Lord was with them.” Where that mighty hand had worked, in saving power, in mercy and in lovingkindness, there indeed was the grace of God.
Again, the Spirit tells us how Barnabas felt — he was glad. No greater testimony could have been given of grace in living exercise, in Barnabas himself. He had had no part in the work; no apostle either had been there; the work was done by comparatively unknown brethren, especially some from Cyprus and Cyrene. Yet Barnabas can rejoice in spirit, can welcome this refreshing sign of the Lord’s purposes to extend His own Kingdom, and can hail it, without any spirit of jealousy or ill-will, as the Lord’s work. This, surely, is of grace.
Finally, the penman of the Holy Ghost tells us what Barnabas did — he encouraged them to stand firm in that grace, to go on in strength of God the Lord alone, to persevere unto the end — “to cleave unto the Lord”, as Ruth did unto Naomi.
Ah yes, Barnabas was capable of all this, because, as we are immediately told, “he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith” (verse 24).
Dear friends, are we not ashamed of ourselves, you that love the Lord, when we read thus of Barnabas? Have we never grudged a brother in the Lord, the honour of doing God service in a better or more successful way than we ourselves have done? Instead of rejoicing always, when we hear of a work of grace performed by means of someone else, on whose labours has rested God’s own blessing, have there not been times when we have been jealous, or even worse, sceptical about it? The only remedy is to be found in the words above quoted. Let us seek to be filled with that same spirit, as we serve the Lord, in much weakness and unworthiness.
What now was Barnabas to do? We do not hear of him going back to Jerusalem, although the church there would be waiting to hear from him. He weighs up the situation — possibly, he gave himself, for a time, to this gracious work, only to feel that he was not the right man to take charge of such a task.
Whatever he did, we read of him in the very next verse, leaving the work, setting his face to the road again, but not for Jerusalem, whence he had come, but rather, for Tarsus — “Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch.” (verses 25, 26).
Barnabas goes to Tarsus in search of Saul
These words bring us, at last, back to Saul, the subject proper of these meditations. Although we may have taken rather a long time and travelled rather a long way, we trust it has not been unprofitable. These remarks above were necessary to show how the Lord’s call to Saul came to sound in his ears, and how, after spending some time in the comparative seclusion of Tarsus, he was brought forth to take his place in the very fore-front of the battlements of the Kingdom to fight the good fight of faith, and to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, from this time forth, until he finished his course, outside Rome, and received the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, had laid up for him.
Barnabas had not forgotten Saul. How could he? Had it not been he who had first espoused Saul’s cause and brought him to the apostles? Had he not persuaded them to accept Saul then? Had he not been present when the brethren escorted Saul to safety in Tarsus? Now Barnabas remembers the young man again. In his opinion, there is no one more suited for the work of the oversight of the young church at Antioch. The question for Barnabas is — where to find Saul. It would seem that all he knew for certain was that Saul was in Tarsus: but Tarsus was a large city and communications were not then what they are today — even postal communications. All this is implied in the use of the special Greek word for “to seek” Saul. It would seem to indicate that he only found him after much difficulty in locating him.
He had to ask, perhaps, many questions before finally he found him; to go up and down the streets of Tarsus, to search him out. It is implied that he did not know Saul’s exact address in Tarsus. Think, then, of this good man, trekking up and down, asking if any knew of Saul, or heard where he might be found: think of his earnest search for the young friend, whom he was so anxious to trace: then, think of the joy which would be his, after all his difficulties, when at last, as it is written, “he found him“! O what a wonderful re-union that must have been! What a day for Barnabas! He, more than Saul, would have joy in his heart that day, as he poured out all his pent-up emotions in regard to Saul and the work at Antioch, to which, by the guidance of God, he had now come to call him. O yes, never fear! Though we say that Barnabas searched carefully and diligently, yea long, before he found Saul, yet Barnabas was nevertheless guided by Him, whose “way is in the sea, and His path in the great waters”, so that he did not search in vain.
This word to “seek”, is one which is only used once more in the New Testament, in the narrative in Luke (the author of Acts) concerning Mary and Joseph looking for the child Jesus, who had disappeared in the crowd, on the return from the Passover at Jerusalem. We read there, “And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him” (Luke ii 45). He tarried behind in Jerusalem, but Mary and Joseph did not know of it: a day passed, while they thought he was somewhere in the company: then they sought Him there (the same Greek verb) not sure if they would find Him, but hoping that they would. No, He was not there: so then, they turn back to Jerusalem, seeking Him. After three days (this too may well come into shade of meaning in the Greek verb) they found Him in the Temple. Would that have been their first place of call. I wonder? See now the sequel to it all in His own answer, part of which was “wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” Mary had put a question and made a statement, but in her statement and in the first part of Jesus’ answer, the word used in the text for seeking is just the ordinary simple verb — as if Mary had now forgotten all the difficulty, save for this, that she adds to the verb the fact that it was with sorrow they had done it. Jesus’ answer, too, makes no mention of the sorrow or the difficulty, as if He too, wished to pass it by.
Mary and Joseph ‘seeking’ the child Jesus — Barnabas ‘seeking’ Saul: in the same spirit, in much the same way. Is there no parallelism in thought?
To some of us, at least, this affords sweet food for thought.
And when he had found him — yes, somewhere in Tarsus; somewhere, amidst much spiritual joy and with much spiritual conversation.
What then did he do? “He brought him to Antioch.” Saul was to leave his place of retirement, no doubt much strengthened and refreshed, to begin a wonderful year of ministry in the great city of Antioch, a companion and friend to the gracious Barnabas, who had felt that this was the will of God, both for Saul and for himself.
Truly, God prepares his own man for the work. Saul had been secretly prepared in Tarsus. Barnabas was chosen to lead him forth once more; Barnabas was willing to step down and give over the work to the man, whom he knew, in his spirit, could perform it far better than he himself ever could.
And so we leave them meantime, journeying back together, from Tarsus to Antioch — fellow-pilgrims and soldiers in Christ. How different the return journey must have been for Barnabas — he had found his young friend, and now he could look forward to his oversight of the young church at Antioch, rejoicing to leave the issue with him, under God, assured that as the hand of the Lord had been already with the disciples at Antioch, so now that same precious hand would be with Saul, in the great work to which he had been called. Like Ezra of old, he could rest assured that Saul would be strengthened as the hand of the Lord his God was upon him (cf. Ezra vii 28).
No doubt the subject-matter of this last section of our meditation is of a specific and official nature, and so one which does not lend itself readily to general application. Nevertheless, if we consider the principles involved, we might do well to learn, from Barnabas’ reaction to the situation at Antioch, ever to be ready ‘in lowliness of mind’ to ‘esteem other better than ourselves’; while, from Saul’s ready response to the call presented to him, we ought also to learn every to be ready to close in with such a call, in what ever sphere of action it might come, when we are also assured of the truth of that word which says, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it’. (Isaiah xxx 21). May the Holy Spirit lead us all, then, into the truth as it is in Jesus — into the sweet land of uprightness, where the Sun of Righteousness continues to rise with healing in His wings upon such as dwell therein.