Son of Jesus. Son of Satan.

Captain Eo and his ragtag crew of badly CGI’d puppet-creatures fly his spaceship but are captured by the Supreme Leader. She sentences Captain Eo and his crew to 100 years of torture. And then Captain Eo saves them all with the power of “dance”.

Looking without the glasses… absolute confusion. Slip the glasses back on and it all snaps into focus.

Off. On. Off. On.

I wish I had those glasses for real life!

Have you had those moments of total confusion? Life is chaos, things are crazy, people are confusing, the future is uncertain...

Slip on the glasses and everything becomes clear.

First Missionary Journey

Acts 13:1–3 ESV

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. 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.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

The Holy Spirit called them. The church responded by setting them apart and sending them off. Where to?

On a missionary journey, a tour de force that would last 2 years. First stop: Cypress. An island just off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Acts 13:4 ESV

So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

Again, we see that they are “sent by the Holy Spirit.” Who is the main star in the book of Acts? It is the Holy Spirit, over and over again.

Cypress

Lots of great reasons to head to Cyprus. There is evidence of Jewish community there for hundreds of years prior. And Barnabus is from there. Great place to start!

Acts 13:5 ESV

When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.

This is the pattern they will use throughout their mission trips. As Paul later puts it in Romans 1, “first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles.”

Acts 13:6 ESV

When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.

Paphos

Center of the Cult of Venus / Aphrodite, the Goddess of sexual love and beauty.

She was allegedly born on the foam of the sea, and floated on a shell to the shore of Cyprus near Paphos. So, closely tied to her origin story, the temple to Aphrodite was famous.

I will leave it to your imagination how the goddess of sex and fertility was worshipped. This is a heathen place. And into that heathen place walks Jesus.

Oh, wait. Bar-Jesus.

Jewish sorcerer - Bar-Jesus

Oxymoron.

More then just that, it is clear he is a false prophet. Doubly doomed.

Now we are used to “Judaism” so we don’t think of it as something exotic, but that isn’t how it would appear to a Roman. The Romans are used to many gods and deities, they adopted the Greek pantheon which itself was famous for adopting or co-opting the “gods” of whatever cultures they conquered.

Judaism was, to them, a somewhat obscure Near-Eastern cult, its monotheism a novelty act. And here comes a man who fuses Jewish beliefs with sorcerous power, either real and demonic or a convincing fake. His prophetic utterances and, presumably, his demonstrations of power get him a seat next to power.

And he calls himself “Bar-Jesus.” Literally Son-of-Jesus. (Or Son of Yeshua/Joshua).

It is entirely possible that is his name, though it would be uncommon. He could have a Dad named Joshua, though unless his dad was famous it would be odd to go by that name.

Calling yourself “Son of” someone is also a way of claiming the authority or mantle of someone. As “Bar-nabus” is the Son-of-Encouragement, I think it likely that this “Bar-Jesus” is grabbing onto the hottest new trend from Judaism - the new cult around a man named “Jesus”.

Wherever his name comes from, he has obtained a position of influence next to the man in power.

Acts 13:7 ESV

He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

Sergius Paulus is the heathen here. A heathen in charge of a truly ungodly city (or a very godly city chasing after the god of sex). This is head of the playboy mansion, here. (almost literally).

Yet he is “a man of intelligence”. Open-minded… and he wants to hear what Barnabas and Saul have to say.

What an incredible opportunity! To step into the seat of political power and influence, this is a mission opportunity of a lifetime.

Acts 13:8 ESV

But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

Elymas means “wise” in Aramaic.

What his name was taken to mean?

Elymas sees his cushy position next to power threatened. I am the mysterious Jewish sorcerer, back off guys! Or even, I am the expert on this “Jesus” guy as far as Paulus is concerned.

Acts 13:9 ESV

But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

But Saul, who was also called Paul.

And right here, in a side-note, we see the identity and focus of Paul’s focus and mission change.

Saul vs. Paul.

He “looks intently” at this pretender. This man. And “filled with the Holy Spirit” he hugs him? He turns the other cheek?

When faced with a pretender to the name of Jesus, when faced with a false prophet, when faced with either a pretender to spiritual power or someone pretending to spiritual power to manipulate others...

When faced with this bar-Jesus, son-of-Jesus… Paul smotes him:

Acts 13:10 ESV

and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

Son of the Devil

If this conversation was in Hebrew it would be “Bar-Satan”.

Son of diabolos, a devil, or the devil. Satan (Hebrew) or Devil (Greek) means adversary or slanderer. So Paul could be saying “You aren’t a Son of Jesus, you are an enemy of him, and adversary.”

Or he could be making a reference to exactly what we think of when we hear “Son of Satan” or Son of the Devil”, that this Elymas is connected to, empowered by powers of evil.

Either way, he is an “enemy of all righteousness” with the effect of “making crooked the straight paths of the Lord.”

Pastor Rod used to talk about two types of encounters in spiritual warfare.

Truth Encounter. Power Encounter.

And this moment is kind of both.

If Bar-Jesus is a fraud, a charlatan peddling Jewish sounding prophetic nonsense… Paul calls him on it. You are making the straight things of God crooked! This is some Biblical imagery. God has made the way to him straight, clear, it may be narrow… but it isn’t complicated! At the least you are twisting the things of God for your own gain. Truth encounter.

But if Bar-Jesus is a real sorcerer and there is real spiritual/demonic activity going on here, Paul confronts him full of the superior power of the Holy Spirit. You are the Son of the Devil but I am a child of Jesus. and he’s about to smite again.

Acts 13:11 ESV

And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

How many of my problems would go away if I had the power to make people go blind for a time whenever I wanted?

But this isn’t Paul’s super power. He never does this again, it doesn’t say he did it this time. Full of the Holy Spirit, Paul speaks prophetically, the power of the Holy Spirit blinds Elymas physically, even as he is blind spiritually and blinding others.

Church tradition also holds that Elymas, Bar-Jesus, was blind only for a time in both senses and that, when he came to true faith in Jesus, his sight was restored.

Acts 13:12 ESV

Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

The Holy Spirit removes the obstacle to faith (the sorcerer) and authenticates the message of faith - a sign.

Even in Acts, these kinds of demonstrations of divine power to remove obstacles to faith and enable conversions are rare, and usually related to the gospel taking root in a new area.

What is not rare is the result.

God Sees. God Wins.

Paul has his part to play, for sure.

He is a willing servant of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives the gift of discernment, Paul uses it to discern… he sees truly. He sees to the heart of Paulus, the proconsul, and knows that this is a true seeker.

He sees to the heart of Bar-Jesus and knows that this is a Son-of-the-Devil! He cannot be persuaded, he must be rebuked. That is love to him too, that is the ministry he needed to receive. If church tradition is correct and he later came to faith, his temporary blindness saved him!

Paul had eyes to see… God give us those eyes to see!

May God give us the eyes to "look intently" and see the truth of both human hearts and spiritual forces... and may the Holy Spirit work in us and through us to victory.

We need that snap into focus moment where everything becomes clear. Putting on the 3-d glasses.

I have this experience, I pray for this experience every week as I work on sermons. God give me clarity what you want to say, what you want to do here.

And then let me see your victory!

See A Victory

God let us see the spiritual forces at work behind and within the human conflicts we see.

Not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities.

In this story, the victory reads as nearly instantaneous. It isn’t always. It isn’t always even in the book of Acts. Some of the journeys are hard and filled with setbacks and disaster and even death.

And yet the book of Acts is a record of victories for the Kingdom of God. The Word advances. God wins. May God give us clarity to see to the heart, to discern the spiritual landscape...

But may He also gives us eyes to see His victory. His present victory, His coming victory.

Especially when we are in the middle of it. and it’s blurry or unclear or completely hidden. When we can’t imagine what Victory might look like or how we could possibly get there… God give us Vision. Give us Hope.