‘TO THE GENTILES’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 18, 2023 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: October 18, 2023 from Acts 28:17-31

Theme: The Book of Acts illustrates to us how blindness to the gospel in part has happened to Israel so that the gospel may be offered to the Gentiles.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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Seven-and-a-half centuries before the apostle Paul’s day, another great Jewish preacher named Isaiah was given a remarkable vision. He spoke of it in Isaiah 6.

At the very beginning of his prophetic ministry, Isaiah was given a vision of the Lord ‘high and lifted up’. He was allowed to have a glimpse of the Lord in His majesty in the heavens; and it was used by God to prepare Isaiah for the ministry to which God called him. And in issuing that call, God told him;

“Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
“Make the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10).

Isaiah was to fulfill this frustrating mission—preaching to those who would reject the message—until the judgment of God came upon the people to whom it was preached. God said that this would go on until the people were nearly destroyed, and until all that was left was a mere ‘stump’ of the tree. But He said, “So the holy seed shall be its stump” (v. 13b).

That promise from God was fulfilled. Isaiah—and other prophets that God raised up—preached to a people who were dull of hearing, and who would not heed. Finally, God brought judgment upon them through the Babylonian captivity. And from among ‘the holy seed’ who returned after the captivity was over was born our Lord and Savior Jesus.

But now that Jesus has come, that same principle seems to be repeated again and again in the pages of the New Testament. The disciples once asked Jesus why He spoke to the crowds in seemingly perplexing parables; and Jesus told them;

“Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them’” (Matthew 13:11-15).

The apostle John also cited it to explain why it was that—after seeing Him perform so many miracles—the Jewish people refused to believe Him. John wrote;

Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,So that I should heal them” (John 12:39-40).

The apostle Paul even cited this same principle in the Book of Romans. He wanted to explain how the people of Israel had sought to earn God’s favor by the works of the law; and loosely quoting from a couple of other Old Testament passages (Isaiah 29:10-13; Deuteronomy 29:3-4 and Psalm 69:22-23), he wrote,

What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written:

“God has given them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear,
To this very day.”

And David says:

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
A stumbling block and a recompense to them.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see,
And bow down their back always” (Romans 11:7-10).

And now; as we come to the closing section of the Book of Acts, we find this principle once again. It not only shows us how Paul laid great emphasis on preaching the gospel first to the Jews; but also how Paul then turned to the Gentiles after the Jews first rejected the gospel. In fact, this closing section seems to suggest to us that this principle was unfolded to us in the story of the Book of Acts.

But this closing section also highlights another principle; and that is why it was that God allowed this temporary blindness. He closed the eyes of the Jewish people for a time, so that the gospel could then be preached to the Gentile world. To some degree, the Book of Acts illustrates to us how blindness to the gospel in part has happened to Israel so that the gospel may be offered to the Gentiles.

* * * * * * * * * *

These closing verses can be divided into two main acts on the part of Paul; and they correspond with this long-running theme in the Scriptures. First, we see …

1. PAUL CONFERRING ABOUT THE GOSPEL WITH THE JEWS (vv. 17-24).

The story begins after Paul had been delivered—as a prisoner—to the imperial guard in Rome in order to stand trial before Caesar. But as we found in Acts 28:16, Paul had been given a great deal of freedom. And so, we’re told in verse 17,

And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together (17a).

Paul exercised a great deal of wisdom in this immediate action. Part of it sprung from the fact that—as it says in Romans 1:16—the policy was to bring the gospel to the Jews first whenever he could. But there was also wisdom in meeting with them first in order to explain his situation to them himself—before those who had so vigorously opposed his ministry could arrive and distort the reason for his having come to Rome in the first place.

And so; as verses 17-20 go on to tell us;

So when they had come together, he said to them: “Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death. But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation. For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain” (vv. 17b-20).

Notice that the first part of his defense was regarding himself. As he had affirmed earlier—in Acts 25:8; “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all.” He wanted to make sure that the Jewish people in Rome knew that he was innocent of any of the charges that might be brought against him.

And notice that the second part of his defense was regarding those potential accusers. The Jewish leaders in Rome would certainly learn that he had been delivered into the hands of the Romans in Jerusalem; but when the Roman authorities examined him, he was officially found to be innocent of any crime worthy of death. And when the Jews from Jerusalem had insisted that he be put to death anyway, he was forced to appeal to Caesar. He wanted to make sure the Jewish people in Rome knew that his defense was not because he had any accusation against his own people.

But notice the third part of his defense. He said that he had called the Jewish leaders of Rome together in order to speak to them, “for the hope of Israel” he was bound with chains. What was that hope? It was the very thing that Isaiah spoke of long ago—that in the surviving ‘stump’ of Israel would come the Redeemer. He was proclaiming that Redeemer—Jesus—first to his own people, and then to the world.

Paul’s decision proved to be a truly wise one; because, as it turned out, the Jewish leaders in Rome had not heard about the matter. Verses 21-22 tell us;

Then they said to him, “We neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you. But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere” (vv. 21-22).

And so; the policy of making sure the gospel came to the Jewish people first was protected—and any efforts on the part of the opponents to the gospel were staved off. There’s an important principle to learn from this. Whenever possible, we should seek to protect the gospel’s integrity by being the first to declare it—before those who hate it can come and poison the minds of others against it.

So then; we can see that, in the first half of this passage, Paul sought to bring the gospel to his people. But as it turned out, that ancient promise showed itself; and the hearts of his people became hard. This leads to how …

2. PAUL TURNED TO GIVE THE GOSPEL TO THE GENTILES (vv. 23-31).

It began with a receptiveness on the part of some. Verse 24 tells us;

So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening (v. 23).

This shows us two things about Paul’s presentation of the gospel of Jesus. First, it was thoroughly biblical. He showed them from the very Scriptures that they held dear that Jesus was promised long ago. And his presentation was also persistent and diligent. As they came to his private dwelling, he welcomed them and spoke to them all day long.

And for many, it was making a positive impression. We’re told in verse 24;

And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken … (v. 24a).

We may take from this that some of the Jewish people in Rome believed. God had graciously opened their eyes—just as He had opened Paul’s. But just as we are also warned in those ancient prophetic promises, some others were hardened in heart and didn’t receive the message;

and some disbelieved (v. 24b).

Apparently, the unbelieving portion of Paul’s Jewish listeners even began to argue and debate among themselves—perhaps much like what we read about in Acts 23:7-8, as the Pharisees and Sadducees began to experience dissension because of the things Paul said. Sadly, Paul had been down this road before. And this led him to then declare that ancient principle that we find repeated in Scripture—even to the point of quoting the words of Isaiah 6 to his own unbelieving Jewish kinsmen:

So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying,

‘Go to this people and say:

“Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand;
And seeing you will see, and not perceive;
For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”’

“Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves (vv. 25-29).

It’s important to understand from this that Paul had hidden nothing from them. If their hearts were hardened, it wasn’t him who hardened them. And notice also why those hearts were hardened. It was so that the gospel could then go to the Gentiles. This, as Paul would later write in Romans 11:25-26, was only for a time:

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved … (Romans 11:25-26).

What a merciful God we serve! He not only loves His people Israel, but He has extended that love to include those who were not His people!

* * * * * * * * * *

Verses 30-31 give us the closing words of this remarkable story:

Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him (vv. 30-31).

It almost seems as if the story of Acts is left unfinished. We aren’t given a record in the Scriptures of Paul’s appearance before Caesar. Apparently, there was a time of release and further ministry. The commentary on the book of Acts contained in the Muratorian Canon states that Paul went from Rome to Spain (see also Romans 15:28). And the early church historian Eusebius confirms that Paul was sent out in ministry again after having pleaded his case in Rome; and was martyred during his second visit to the city (see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, ch. 22). Jerome has it that Paul, “then, in the fourteenth year of Nero on the same day with Peter, was beheaded at Rome for Christ’s sake and was buried in the Ostian Way, the twenty-seventh year after our Lord’s passion” (cited in William Steuart McBirnie, The Search for The Twelve Apostles [Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1973], p. 220).

But could it be that—as far as the sacred record itself is concerned—the story only ‘seems’ unfinished because we are to be carrying it forward by our faithfulness to proclaim the message?

AE