PERSEVERING FAITH: HONOR YOUR FATHER, HONORING YOUR SONS
ACTS 14:19-28
In the Western church we cultivate and value people with vision, futuristic, trend-setters who direct where the church can move in the coming decades. Little value however, is given to people who have visions, a God-given dream, trance or ecstasy. Yet visions were a regular means of divine communication in all the biblical times. In the Old Testament visions were a familiar medium by which God let it be known what he was going to do. They are also common in the New Testament. In fact, the outpouring of the Spirit in the latter days is associated with sons and daughters prophesying, young men seeing visions and old men dreaming dreams, in the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams (Acts 2:17), tying the Old and New Covenant together. Typical examples are the vision Peter had of heaven opening and something like a large sheet being let down by its four corners, (Peter) became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat (Acts 10:9–15),” and the vision Paul had of a man standing and begging him to come over to Macedonia, During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us (Acts 16:9).” The value that the early church placed on such experiences can be seen from the fact that Paul in his boasting turns last to visions and revelations, I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord (2 Corinthians 12:1). God does the impossible when we prepare the Field for Him to work. Our passage today is about God as Father honoring Paul as a son supernaturally by giving him a heavenly vision.
I) GOD HONORING ACTIONS
19-20 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. After a considerable time had passed, their enemies finally divided the Demos, the town council, and decided to do what they never would have attempted if Roman rule had been stronger in this region—they stoned Paul. This led to Paul and company pulling up their stakes and leaving the region temporarily. John Wesley once encountered a village bully when their carriages met upon a narrow road. The bully knew Wesley and disliked him so he stayed in the middle of the road. Wesley cheerfully gave the man the entire road, even though he had to turn into the ditch. As they passed, the bully said, “I never turn out for fools.” Wesley—all five foot two of him—retorted, “I always do.”
Let’s ask the Perseverance question: do you think they stuck it out or bailed out? In 2 Corinthians 4:8–9 Paul wrote about himself and those who are like him: We are hard-pressed on all sides, but we are never frustrated; we are puzzled, but never in despair. We are persecuted, but we are never deserted; we may be knocked down but we are never knocked out! (Phillips)
You would think that Lystra would have been receptive to Paul and not the Jews, given its Gentile population and the fact that they had taken the apostles for gods. Crowds can be fickle, especially when their expectations are not fulfilled. These same people had wanted to put Paul on a throne, now they were willing to stone him. Isn’t it amazing how quickly people can change? One day they cry, “Hosanna,” the next day it’s, “Crucify Him!” Good starts don’t guarantee happy endings.
God Honored Paul (2 Corinthians 12:1–6) In 2 Corinthians 3:1-3 Paul speaks about the Judaizers who were anxious to receive honors, and how they boasted about their “letters of recommendation,” are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Paul did not look for honor from men; he let God honor him and God honored Paul with visions and revelations. Think about this part of Paul’s relationship with his Heavenly Father: Paul saw the glorified Christ on the day he converted, as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him…About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me (Acts 9:3; 22:6); Ananias coming to minister to him, in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight (Acts 9:12), and he also had a vision when he was called to minister to the Gentiles, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a tranceand saw the Lord speaking. ‘Quick!’ he said to me. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ (Acts 22:17-18).
Paul had visions from God to both guide and to encourage, when he was called to Macedonia, During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9), and when the ministry was difficult in Corinth, God encouraged Paul by a vision, One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city (Acts 18:9–10).”
After his arrest in Jerusalem, Paul was again encouraged by a vision from God, the following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome (Acts 23:11).” An angel appeared to him in the midst of the storm and assured him that he and the passengers would be saved, last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me (Acts 27:23). Along with these special visions that related to his call and ministry, spiritual revelations of divine truth were also communicated to Paul, for this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:1–6).
God gave him a profound understanding of the plan of God for this present age. Certainly Paul understood the mysteries of God, and this understanding helped him resolve the main question about Jesus. These events helped Paul as he answered The Jesus question: Was Jesus “THE” Messiah or “A” messiah? If Jesus isn’t God, He’s not a great teacher either. He’s a fraud! But as long as He is, we are most blessed indeed! Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. 23No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 24See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is what he promised us—even eternal life. 26I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray… The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form… Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?… I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”[ For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time (1 John 2:22-26; Hebrews 1:3 and Colossians 2:9; John 14:6-9; Galatians 2:21 and 1 Timothy 2:5-6).
II) GOD HONORING MAN’S ACTIONS
Difference makers will give the praise and glory to GOD. Opposition always comes when God works through us. The world screams in opposition instead of giving God the glory. Logic does not always explain God or what He is doing, We are called to simply stay the course. Luke’s record of Paul’s stoning has led many many scholars to believe that Paul was describing this near death experience in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.
I believe God honored Paul by taking him to heaven, and then sending him back to the earth again. This experience had taken place fourteen years before the writing of this letter to the church at Corinth, which would place the experience about 42-44 AD, the period in Paul’s life around his departure for Tarsus (Acts 9:30) and his trip with Barnabas (Acts 13-14). Luke says that Paul was raptured, as the term caught up is from the same verb harpazō used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 of the saints at the Rapture, after that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Paul was caught up to the third heaven. We could say it was like “God received him for a time” or “God transferred him.” It is possible that when Paul rose up and went into the city, he was actually raised from the dead. At the very least, he was miraculously healed, because the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
God honored Paul by granting him visions and revelations, and by taking him to heaven; but He honored him further by permitting him to hear “unspeakable words” while he was in heaven. He overheard the divine secrets that are shared only in heaven. These things could be spoken by God and by beings in heaven, but they could not be spoken by men (Warren Wiersby, Bible Exposition Commentary). Paul was permitted not only to “hear” the things of Paradise, but to see the things of the third heaven (compare “visions,” 2 Corinthians 12:1), I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. The first heaven was considered to be the clouds and was confined to the atmosphere, the second heaven was the arena of the stars and was seen as the sky; the third heaven as the spiritual heaven, the home of Jesus, He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe (Ephesians 4:10).
TEV is correct in saying “the highest heaven” the place where God lives. Paul was raptured (caught up is from the same verb harpazō used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 of saints at the Rapture to the third heaven, the dwelling place of Christ and the saints, which Jesus called paradise, Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (compare Luke 23:43; Revelation 2:7). The term Luke uses Was caught up, is interesting, as it is the passive form that is used here. The same passive form is also found in Acts 8:39 and Revelation 12:5, When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing… 5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne, to describe the experience of someone being transported into the supernatural realm. If it has to be made active in the receptor language, the most likely agent is God himself as the initiator of the transference. It has nothing to do with human agents in the transference. In other words, people do not initiate the ability to travel to the levels of heaven that are outside of the natural realms of the air and space.
One may consider saying something like “God received him for a time” or “God transferred him (Handbook on 2 Corinthians Omanson, Ellington).” Was caught up. The Greek uses the proper term for removal from one place to another without the agency of the subject. Paul was entirely passive in the translation he speaks about here. Compare Acts 8:39 (KJV) and 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing… Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (Hodges). I bring this into our conversation in order to clarify an error some people have fallen into in the recent past concerning the ability of humans journeying into the realms of heaven and observing various activities in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh heavens. This is an erroneous teaching, and it is important to bring a measure of correction to this error, as the teaching that we can be guided into these various realms is striking close to the mystical assumptions of astral projection by people who are adherents of New Age philosophies.
The Greeks believed that those who truly represented the gods would experience mystical visions, which some tried to induce through drunken orgies (MacArthur). MacArthur’s perspective on the Corinthian letters needs to be summarily rejected. I say this due to his extreme bias against Charismatic expressions. His prejudicial stance has clouded his judgment when it comes to interpreting these books, which is unfortunate, as his scholastic works are usually quiet helpful. When Paul was found to be in this altered state of existence, he was devoid of temporal and spatial sensations, as they were absent. We see this in Paul’s confession concerning whether he was in the body or apart from the body he did not know.
What he heard he was forbidden to communicate, possibly as it may have applied to him alone, or it was related to things that were restricted to a unknown period in the future ala Daniel and John the Revelator, I will show him how much he must suffer for my name (Acts 9:16). The experience, however, contributed to Paul’s conviction that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17) (Walvoord, Zuck, Bible Knowledge Commentary). The third heaven: addresses the concept of various strata or layers of heaven. This was a common understanding in the first century, He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe… Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess (see Ephesians 4:10; Hebrews 4:14). In Jewish writings, particularly in the mystical writings such as Kabala, the number of heavens was most commonly considered to be seven, but other numbers, including three, were also mentioned. Paul probably was thinking of three heavens only rather than seven, since he later equates the third heaven with Paradise, and I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows (2 Corinthians 12:3). It does not seem likely that Paul would boast about being caught up only to the third heaven if he thought that more levels existed. TEV is therefore probably correct in saying “the highest heaven” that is, where God lived.
The prayer of faith can do mighty things, just look at what happened to Paul. When we hear about the apostles doing similar things like this, we tend to say, “Yeah, but they were apostles,” but the people who prayed for Paul were new converts.
III) GOD HONORING FAITH FOR THE FUTURE
It was a common practice for Jewish rabbis to speak about themselves in the third person. Paul adopted that approach as he unfolded his experience to his friends (and enemies) at Corinth. Paul was not quite sure whether God had taken him bodily to heaven following a death experience, or whether this was a vision induced in the middle of trauma. Let me take a moment and comment on the integrity of the Scriptural account and the Apostle: Paul refused to claim a resurrection experience without the pronouncement of death being certain. Regardless, Paul affirmed the reality of heaven and the ability of God to take people there. Thanks to modern science, men today have visited the heaven of the clouds (we fly above the clouds) and the heaven of the planets (men have walked on the moon), but man cannot get to God’s heaven without God’s help.
The interesting thing is that Paul kept quiet about this experience for fourteen years! During those years, he was buffeted by his “thorn in the flesh.” People probably wondered why he had a affliction. The Judaizers may have adopted the views of Job’s comforters and said, “This affliction is a punishment from God.” Some of Paul’s good friends may have tried to encourage him by saying, “Cheer up, Paul. One day you’ll be in heaven!” Paul could have replied, “That’s why I have this thorn—I went to heaven!” Paul was permitted not only to “hear” the things of Paradise, but to see also in some degree the things of the third heaven, I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord (compare “visions,” 2 Corinthians 12:1). The occurrence TWICE of “whether in the body … I do not know, God knows,” and of “lest I should be exalted above measure,” marks two stages in the revelation “Ignorance of the mode does not set aside the certain knowledge of the fact.
Conclusion
Let me comment on the heavenly vision Paul received and Paul the man. The true measure of a man of God does not lie in his claims of visions and experiences with God, or the force of his personality, the size of his ministry, his educational degrees, or any other human criteria. A true man of God is marked by how much he has suffered in the war against the kingdom of darkness, how concerned he is for people, how humble he is, and how accurately he handles the supernatural revelation found in God’s Word (2 Tim. 2:15). Like Paul, such men patiently endure the suffering and humiliation of this life, knowing that such “momentary, light affliction is producing … an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).
