Acts 12:24-13:3--Barnabas and Saul Sent Off

Acts 12:24-13:1-3
English Standard Version

​
​24 But the word of God increased and multiplied.

25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.
​

Barnabas and Saul Sent Off
13 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

---

I'm including the last couple of verses from chapter 12 today as they flow into this passage at the beginning of chapter 13.  God is going to remove the threat to the Church that was King Herod Agrippa I and we see the church increase and multiply much like we did after God removed the threat of Saul of Tarsus by his conversion on the Road to Damascus.

Luke then tells us that Paul and Barnabas were able to return from Jerusalem (to the church in Antioch) because they had completed their service (see Acts 11:27-30--they were sent on a relief mission for the Church in Antioch was told by a prophet that there was going to be famine in Jerusalem, and the brothers in Antioch wanted to make sure that they provided for their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem).  Luke also tells us that Paul and Barnabas returned with Barnabas's nephew John Mark (the one who penned the gospel of Mark and who accompanied Paul, Barnabas, and Peter on several missionary journeys and while he does not write a significant portion of the New Testament, he is still a significant figure for the support that he gave to all these apostles).

We now are going to return our focus to the church in Antioch that Luke told us about at the end of chapter 11.  God had given special equipping and giftedness to particular men of that congregation to lead it.  In fact, there were exactly five such men named here--Barnabas (the Encourager), Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul who we will later know as Paul the apostle.  These men didn't just lead through their preaching and teaching of the Word of God, but through their worship and their fasting (which is almost certainly accompanied by prayer).  What did God want them to do next?

God answers that question by telling the church in Antioch that He wants them to set aside Saul and Barnabas for the work He has called them to.  It would be the church in Antioch that would send and support the missionary journeys of Paul, Barnabas, and Silas (and probably others).  We already see a diverse group of Christians in what we might call the leadership team giving us just a glimpse of what things might look like in heaven one day when a remnant from every tribe, tongue and nation gather together to worship the Lord together.  However, that is not the primary theme here.  Look how quickly the church in Antioch is to be completely and totally obedient to this request which must have been difficult.  Barnabas and Saul would have been important leaders there as there were only five such leaders mentioned.  It probably was hard enough to send the two of them away for some time to Jerusalem to carry the offering to the church there, but now they are going to be sent away on an undisclosed mission that sounds very much like the call given to Abram--"Go to the land that I will show you."  God doesn't give all the details up front, and yet expects us to be completely obedient to what He does tell us now and to trust Him to take care of what we don't know.  They didn't know where they were going or when they were coming back, or what provisions they would need to take with them, but they were willing to set aside those that God had called to this important work that we will see in the rest of the book of Acts.

Why was John Mark mentioned in the end of chapter 12?  Because he is also going to join them (much like how Lot joined Abram on his journey).  Like Lot, it was not part of God's instructions for John Mark to be a part of the group, but Barnabas is always about encouraging others to come alongside them in the Lord's work.  However, this is going to lead to come conflict later as John Mark is going to get homesick and Paul is not going to be willing to deal with that (Paul will apologize for this later, but will realize that God used this conflict for His good purposes as Silas would accompany Paul and Barnabas and John Mark would minister together in a different region, and the gospel would be spread in even more places).  We also assume that Luke is going to join them as they would need a physician to accompany them on this journey.  With no other instruction on where to go first, they head towards the island of Cyprus where Barnabas (and probably John Mark) were from and was the furthest that the Christians from Jerusalem had been known to disperse (see Acts 11:19).  We'll look more at their being sent out next time.