Tag: Isaiah

Acts 28:21-31 — Preaching And Teaching In Rome

~ mikethemissionary

Dear Friends,

Greetings in Christ!

In our last post, Paul told the chief of the Jews in Rome how he was arrested in Jerusalem, how he was constrained to appeal to Caesar Nero, and how it was because of the hope of Israel — Jesus the Messiah — that he was bound in chains while awaiting his trial before Nero. As we pick back up in verse 21, the chief among the Jews in Rome reply to Paul. Father, fill us with your Holy Spirit and give us understanding as we read thy word, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Acts 28:21-31
21 And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judæa concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee.
22 But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.

To their credit, Paul’s audience is open-minded enough to hear Paul out. Proverbs 18:13 says He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. It is always a good idea to study a matter and look at it from all sides before making up your mind about it.

So they set a date for Paul to make his case. This may have been Paul’s idea. This would give them time to warm up to the subject, emphasise the importance of the topic, and when the time comes, Paul would have their undivided attention.

23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.

Paul preached Christ to them. That is what the Bible is all about. Paul used the Old Testament to preach Jesus to them, and he spent the entire day doing it.

24 And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.

That is how it goes. Whenever you give out the gospel, some respond, but some don’t.

25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Jesus quoted this same passage from Isaiah to explain to his disciples why He spoke in parables. (Luke 8) Like Paul, John applied these verses to Israel. (John 12) Paul cited the passage again in Romans 11, but in the same chapter Paul went on to say And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: (Rom 11:26) We are starting to see that prophecy fulfilled. Even by modest estimates, more Jews have become Christians since the beginning of the 19th century than in the previous 1800 years, but the real sea change will happen after the rapture.

28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

That seems to have been Paul’s standard line to the Jews who rejected the gospel: ‘Okay, I’ll go to the Gentiles then’. As Acts ends, we are at a turning point. The church is shifting from a Jewish church to a Gentile church. When the church age ends, the Jews will take the leadership role. The times of the Gentiles will end with the second coming seven years later, and Jesus the Jew will rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem.

29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.

If nothing else, Paul got them thinking about the gospel.

30 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,
31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
Acts 28:21-31

As Acts comes to a close, Paul is dwelling in his own house, working on his Letters (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and probably Hebrews), and receiving all who come to him for teaching. This period lasted from AD 62 – 64, the year of the Great Fire of Rome. Nero is believed to have been responsible for the fire to make way for his building projects, but he blamed it on the Christians. This was the beginning of Nero’s persecution of the church.

As we travelled through Acts, we have learned a lot about both the history of the early church and the operation of the Holy Spirit. The absence of an ‘amen’ at the end of Dr Luke’s second Letter to Theophilus is a subtle reminder that the history of the church is still being written, nudging us to be diligent in writing our own personal Letter.

Dr Luke finished his Letter long ago, or not so long ago depending on your perspective. Harrison Ruffin Tyler, who died in 2025, was the grandson of President John Tyler, who died in 1862. President Tyler was born in 1790, just one year after the Constitution was ratified, but his grandson lived to see the age of artificial intelligence.

From God’s perspective, 1000 years is as a day, and we are fast approaching the seventh ‘day’ of God’s plan, the millennium when Jesus will return to reign. I think that should provoke us to make good use of what precious little time we have left. After Paul was acquitted, he could have taken it easy and retired, but he didn’t. He continued to spread the gospel, which eventually got him arrested again and ultimately beheaded circa 68 AD. By the end of Paul’s life, persecution had scared away all of his friends in Rome except for Dr Luke. (II Tim 4:10–11)

According to some of the so-called church fathers, Paul fulfilled his vision of going to Spain (Rom 15:24, 28), but he did not stay long. He went back to Greece and Asia Minor before he was arrested again.


Statue of Paul outside the Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena in Madrid

According to tradition, when Paul was in Rome for his second trial before Nero, he was held in the Mamertine prison. Prisoners were lowered into the cell through a hole in the ceiling.

Paul’s cell in Rome, according to tradition

The hole in the ceiling of Paul’s cell in Rome

One book I read while working on this study in Acts was Last Words by Greg Kelley. In the book, Kelley talks about the many unreached people groups who still have not heard the gospel. He reminds the reader that the last thing Jesus said before his ascension was But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

According to Kelley:

• The largest unreached people group in the world are the Shaikh, living in the country of Bangladesh. The Shaikh of Bangladesh are approximately 135 million people who are 0.0 percent Christian. [Citing figures from the Joshua Project] If they were a country, they would be the tenth largest in the world.

• More than 400,000 villages in India do not have a single gospel witness. [Joshua Project] (1)

In the notes on Acts 27, I likened Christians to the poor lepers in II Kings 7, who were saved from death and found immeasurable riches. As they were carrying away their loot to hide it, they said among themselves, ‘This isn’t right. We ought to go and tell everybody what we found’. We Christians have likewise been saved and have found immeasurable riches. We ought to tell everyone as well, but just as in II Kings 7, to get the riches, you have to believe it will happen. The king’s advisor did not believe Elisha when he said deliverance was coming. So when the spoils that the lepers found were brought into the city, the same advisor was trampled in the stampede. You can believe Paul’s gospel of grace and be saved, and receive immeasurable riches. Or, you can choose not to believe, and perish. It falls to us who believe to tell everyone.

1 Greg Kelley, Last Words (Comstock Park, MI: Unknown Nations Press, 2023), p 103.

Acts 8:25-40 — Revival in Samaria (and a Special Mission)!

~ mikethemissionary

Dear Friends,

Greetings in Christ!

As we continue in Chapter 8, the Holy Spirit is directing Peter and John to preach in the villages of Samaria as they make their way back to Jerusalem. The Spirit has different plans for Philip, however.

Father, fill us with your Holy Spirit and give us understanding as we read your word. Direct our paths, the same way you did for your people in the early church. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Acts 8:25-40
25 And they [Peter and John], when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

With the revival that was taking place in Samaria, was Philip having a hard time believing God wanted him to go out to the desert? Could this be why it says the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, and not simply the Holy Spirit? I don’t know, but oftentimes the leading of the Holy Spirit is contrary to our own understanding. (Pr 3:5f)

27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

According to Wiersbe, this was not exactly what we know as Ethiopia, but Nubia, which was just south of Egypt. Being in charge of the queen’s treasure, the Ethiopian was obviously an important man, a high official.

28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

The recurring theme in Acts is being led of the Spirit, something I am endeavoring to do more and more, the further into this study I get. (1)

30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

The section of Scripture that the Ethiopian has his scroll rolled open to is what we know as Isaiah 53, one of the clearest pictures in the Tanakh of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross; yet he could not understand it without Philip’s help. As Spirit-filled believers, we can make the Scriptures understood to people who need our help too.

34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Just as Isaiah 53 has been removed in some Hebrew Bibles sold in Jewish bookstores, Acts 8:37 has been removed in some modern Bibles. Verse 37 is important. Not only does it show that he needed to believe before he could be baptized, verse 37 shows what he needed to believe. (2)

38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
39 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 [cf v 8].
40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.
Acts 8:25-40

Earlier in Chapter 8, we saw that there is visual evidence of the Holy Spirit (v 18). One of the ways this can be seen is by the joy the Holy Spirit brings (v 8). In some churches, they teach that speaking in tongues is required to prove the presence of the Holy Spirit, but this teaching is not biblical. For the Ethiopian eunuch, the visible change was joy. He was rejoicing after being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

Isaiah points out that eunuchs could be saved under the Old Covenant (Isa 56:3-5), but the law was limited in what it could offer the Ethiopian. As a eunuch, he could be saved as a ‘witness at the gate’, but he would not be entered into the Temple registry. (Deut 23:1) Under grace, however, everyone is welcome (Luke 14:21), and we are all equals. Someone said the ground is all level at the foot of the cross, and it’s true. (Gal 3:28) Not only that, but in Christ, we are each a new creation. (II Cor 5:17) No wonder he was rejoicing. That is something to rejoice about! The seeds of the gospel are spreading to the uttermost part of the earth as he heads back to Ethiopia. There has been an active church in that region since the first century. As we continue through Acts, we will continue to see how the Holy Spirit leads one step at a time. First, Philip was told to go out into the desert. Then when he saw the chariot, he was told to approach it. Then there was a church in Ethiopia. I’m sure the Ethiopian eunuch was well-positioned to spread the gospel, the same as the Roman official, Theophilus.

Now that Philip’s work in the desert is done, he makes his way back up the coast, preaching in all the cities along the way to Caesarea. For Philip, the visual change was his evangelism. You know you are filled with the Spirit when you cannot stop telling people about Jesus.

In Caesarea, Philip will meet a nice girl and settle down. We will find Philip still in Caesarea when we get to Acts 21.

Father please fill us each with your Holy Spirit and direct our paths day by day, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

1 Researchers have long known that the heart has its own ‘mini brain’ connected to the central nervous system. I recently read about research that shows the gut has its own ‘mini brain’ as well. The Bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and it seems to me that these features may be conduits that link the consciousness to the spiritual dimension. Researchers found that these ‘mini brains’ react to stimuli before they are detected by the five senses. This agrees with Watchman Nee’s use of the term ‘intuition’ to describe the leading of the Holy Spirit.

One of the things to consider about being led of the Holy Spirit is that the little ‘coincidences’ that happen as we go through our day are not coincidental. The Holy Spirit is orchestrating things. For example, the other day, a young man from Afghanistan started talking to me in broken English at the Airport. I ‘happened’ to have an Urdu gospel tract handy and before long, he and his family were reading it. The next day, I was walking through St Peter’s Basilica in Rome with my coat folded over my arm when a grip of Chick tracts ‘happened’ to fall out of the pocket and splatter on the floor as everyone looked. (Catholics know that Chick tracts command them to repent.) I left ‘He Never Told Us’ on a ledge as someone stared at me. Two days later, a Muslim street vendor started chatting me up. I just ‘happened’ to have a good tract for Muslims. I then remembered how the Spirit nudged me to take my tracts with me when I prayed before leaving my flat that morning.

2 Acts 8:37 is included in Uncial E, and at least 27 cursives. It is in 7 different Old Latin MSS (which predate the Vulgate). It’s in the Syriac (Harclean), the Middle Egyptian Coptic (!), and the Armenian. It was cited by Irenaeus (178), Tertullian (220), and Cyprian (258). As cited in Moorman, Early Manuscripts and the Authorized Version, p 113. As for Isaiah 53, it is in the oldest manuscript there is, on display for all to see in the Dome of the Scroll in Jerusalem.

PS: Endofdays.press will expire in January. Notes on Acts will continue to be posted at: MichaelJamesHarvey.substack.com

Isaiah 61:4-11 – Everlasting Joy

~ mikethemissionary

pune-matrimony.jpg

Dear Friends,

This week as we continue in Chapter 61, Isaiah describes the thousand years of peace in the kingdom to come, when Jesus will be on the throne and Jerusalem will be the capital of the world.

Father, give us understanding as we continue in Isaiah, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Isaiah 61:4-11
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

We have been seeing the initial preparations for the fulfillment of this prophecy taking place in Israel for quite some time now. For example, in 2019 after six years of excavations they opened the Pilgrim’s Road, the path that Jesus walked on, which extended from Herod’s Temple to the Pool of Siloam.

5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

In our day, many Israelis are farmers. The Jews do not farm when they leave Israel but they do when they go back there. In that day, however, they will let the Gentiles attend to the farming while they attend to the priesthood. This was God’s plan for Israel from the beginning. (Ex 19:6) Just as Solomon’s kingdom grew rich from the wealth of their Gentile neighbors, in that day the Jews will grow rich from Gentiles the world over.

7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

Many think of America this way, the nation the Lord has blessed. In some ways that has been true, but in that day it will be true of Israel in every way.

10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

They say all brides are beautiful and that is true, but the way brides deck themselves out in the East is something else. When I lived in India and saw how the brides dressed up on their wedding day it really brought this verse to life for me. The groom dresses in a very ornate manner as well. Isaiah uses the metaphor of the bride and the groom in their wedding attire to help us understand the beauty of Messiah; yea, he is altogether lovely. His glory will extend throughout the earth:

11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
Isaiah 61:4-11

Passover began earlier this week on Wednesday evening. That makes Easter Sunday fit perfectly with the Hebrew calendar for Resurrection Day this year, ie three days and three nights after Passover. Although the Hebrew calendar is based on the lunar cycle and Easter is based on the spring equinox, this alignment happens every now and then. While no man knows the day or the hour, there is nothing in Scripture that says we are not allowed to hope.

What do I mean by that. We have only witnessed the full life cycle of a human being once in history. When Jesus rose from the dead in his glorified body, we saw what is in store for all of us who have received Him as our personal Saviour. (Those who have not received Him will be separated from Him for eternity; what good does it do to have a glorified body if you are locked away in exile?) Jesus was the firstfruits, the first begotten of the dead. The rest of us are still waiting for his trumpet call. What if, in a fortuitous occurrence of providential circumstances, just when God has gotten everyone’s attention with the world on lock down, He decided to execute the first resurrection of believers (Rev 20:6) on Resurrection Day 2020, three days after Passover, just like it happened on the first Resurrection Day? Again, Jesus said of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. What we do know is it going to be glorious. Take the best day you have ever had, make it a lot better, too good to even describe, and that will be every day for all eternity. (Ps 84:10) When Jesus tabernacled among us He loved children, lepers, and sinners. He cast seven devils out of Mary Magdalene. He healed the lame and gave sight to the blind. He raised Lazarus from the dead. Despite all that and more He was betrayed into the hands of sinners. After they crucified Him He rose again on the third day in fulfillment of the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven. He is coming back again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

Whatever you have done, regardless of how terrible it may seem in your eyes or however many times you may have failed Him before, the invitation is open to all who will believe. His mercy endures forever.

….And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
….And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luke 24:46-47

….And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Acts 16:31

Who is you favorite world leader? If you had to pick some figure from history as the model statesman whom you admire above all others, who might that be? Compared to Jesus, that person would look like Barney Fife. Jesus’ glory will be beyond anything we can imagine. Come quickly Lord Jesus.

Happy Resurrection Day friends. May God richly bless you.

25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
John 5:25

41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
Acts 13:41

36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Luke 21:36