Acts 13:1-13
We have here the beginning of foreign missions. It was at Antioch, the church which had been built up by Barnabas and Paul, which proved a center of holy influence, reaching out widely. This church was blessed with an unusual number of earnest and efficient workers. Being so strong it became its duty to spare some of its valuable helpers to carry the gospel elsewhere.
It is interesting to study the names here recorded. Some of them are mentioned only here. Manaen was an active Christian worker, foster brother of Herod. There could not have been a much worse man than Herod. Yet the boys were nursed by the same foster mother, growing up amid the same influences, and Herod became a wicked, unscrupulous, degraded man, while Manaen grew into saintly character. There is encouragement here for those who find themselves living in unfavourable conditions. No boy need decide that, because his home influence is not wholesome, therefore he is doomed to be a bad man.
It is probable that the meeting referred to in the second verse had been called by the ministers to pray for the heathen world, and to ask for guidance regarding their own duty. When God wants to have a good work done he puts the thought into one or more of his people. Then they begin to pray, and the blessing comes.
Page 1