A Blinded Jew

Acts chapter 13, verses five through twelve:

In Acts chapter thirteen, as Paul is on the island of Cypress, a Jew gets blinded and a Gentile gets saved. This event is typical, that is to say, it is a TYPE OF Paul's ministry during the time period of the book of Acts. Some refer to it as "Paul's provoking ministry," a phrase which evidently comes from something Paul said in Romans:

Romans 11:14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

During this period of time Paul preached the gospel of Christ to the JEW FIRST. He clearly says that the Jew had an advantage during that period of time:

Romans 3:1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?

Romans 3:2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

So on the island of Cypress, Saul, who is also called Paul, (never again after this point is he referred to as Saul but only as Paul) goes through the island and FINDS A JEW. Paul was not looking for "deputies" of the Roman government, but looking for Jews, and he found one.

He was of the seed of Abraham, a "bad seed" but a seed nonetheless, and he was WITH the deputy of the country, a man named Sergius Paulus. Remember that God had said to Abraham back in Genesis 12:3 "I will bless them that bless thee." So God's promise worked out, that although the descendent of Abraham, the Jew, was an unbeliever, it did not stop God's promise from being fulfilled to the Gentile.

Acts 13:6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:

Acts 13:7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.

Now the prefix on the name means "son of." Peter was called "Simon Barjona" by Christ in Matthew 16:17. It means "son of Jonas" or "Jonah." So this man's name would mean "son of Jesus." The name "Jesus" literally means "Jehovah-Saviour." Notice in:

Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Back in the book of Exodus, the nation of Israel is referred to as the son of God:

Exodus 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

So this man, Barjesus, in Acts chapter thirteen is a TYPE OF the nation of Israel. Paul goes out and he preaches the gospel of Christ to the JEW FIRST, and also to the Greek. At a point in time, as in Romans 15:19 and 29, Paul says that he has "fully preached the gospel of Christ." The Jews, generally, rejected Paul's message, the Gentiles received it, and the nation Israel is being cast away, to be scattered among the nations until a future day.

Romans 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

So in Acts 13, the Jew is blinded because of unbelief and the Gentile gets saved. That was typical of Paul's ministry all the way up to Acts chapter twenty. After that, never again do you see Paul going into the synagogues of the Jews and preaching to the Jew first. Instead, Paul tells the elders of the church at Ephesus:

Acts 20:22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:

Acts 20:23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.

Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

It was at that time that Paul went to Jerusalem, was bound in prison for over two years and ultimately wound up in Rome, the "prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles," as in Ephesians 3:1-9.

The grace of God that "bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men" (Titus 1:11) and God "would have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).

So today all Jewish things are gone, Israel is "loammi," or "not God's people" and the people of God today are those who have been "sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" into the church, the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:13)

When you trust Jesus Christ, believing that he died on the cross for your sins, and was raised again for your justification, then you are baptized by the Spirit and sealed in the Body unto the day of redemption which is the rapture of the church. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Romans 4:25 and Philippians 3:10-21)

God would have anybody, anywhere, at anytime, to trust Jesus Christ alone for salvation, believing that ALL that needed to be done to save you was done by Jesus Christ alone. Are you trusting Christ alone?