Always Another Reason

Acts 14:8 "And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked:
9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
13 Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
16 Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways...

18 And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them."

In the city of Lystra Paul and Barnabas had conflicting welcomes. Neither was what they were after! To summarize, a deformed man had faith great enough to be healed, Paul commanded him to stand, but the man did even more! He leaped and walked! Perhaps that is where the expression "leap of faith" originates!

Paul was there to spread the gospel of Jesus.  As such, it was faith in Jesus which was the power to heal. In this case, as always, those with that great faith, are made whole. Not only did this man walk, but he became a new person because of faith in Jesus! Imagine if you will, this pitiful person whose legs were likely quite deformed and atrophied. He would seem to have little happiness in life. Because people are mean-spirited, it's likely that this man was ridiculed throughout life. He was likely a well-known beggar totally dependent on the generosity of others!

When this poor man leaped up and walked, the Gentiles around were astounded! Gentiles are people of reason, but Jews of miracles. Two races of people responded two totally different ways!

1 Corinthians 1:22 "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom..."

But here we have the Gentiles who believed in "a sign" (miracle), but in later verses,  (read the rest of the chapter), it was the Jews who, even with this great sign, still failed to believe!

The Gentiles, although recognizing the miracle, failed to recognize the source of the miracle. They looked for somebody of "flesh and blood" who could get the credit. Their gods were those of the Romans. They were merely powerful, but imaginary humans.

Mercury was the god of commerce whose function was to guide souls to the underworld, a place beneath the surface of the earth where the dead reside. And Barnabas was thought to be Jupiter, the god of the skies and the symbol of power. He was the chief Roman god. Those are gods of mythology. However, for the Gentiles, they were real, but false gods. People always look to the sky or to the earth for a reason for everything. They fail to consider God of everything and look to a pantheon of gods, each having their own purpose.

Most people today deny the gods of myth. However, at one time, they were worshiped instead of God. The Gentiles had "other gods before" God; or "in his face" if you prefer. Theirs were gods of flesh who they believed had great power. In this case, the power of regeneration. The Gentiles saw that the body was regenerated, but apparently missed the point of the miracle:

Just as the woman whose faith was great and touched Jesus robe, he said " thy faith hath made thee whole", this deformed man was re-formed, but his soul was regenerated. Wholeness is regeneration and that is salvation! The old creature depended on the earth on which he sat, but the new person, in a leap of faith saw regeneration in the sky!

Look at the difference. The Gentiles saw Mercury and looked toward the earth, and saw Jupiter and looked toward the sky, but the truth was in heaven, the kingdom of God! It was Mercury from whom the man leaped, but not to Jupiter as he leaped. It was to his Father in heaven!

Mythological gods were gods of the flesh. They're not unlike the gods most still worship today. The government is the economic God. Weak people depend on it to satisfy themselves! Mercury is the military god.  Again, it's the government on whose military might we depend to keep us safe. The armed forces are our Jupiter. These two government gods provide for us and protect us. We believe in the myth just as the Romans did! It's God who provides and protects! It's our own flesh that we beg for these things!

Romans 8:11 "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."

By faith the crippled man looked to the spirit for healing. As such he was "raised up" not only from the ground, but from death as well, in congruence with Jesus' resurrection. The man's virtually dead body was restored and at the same time he became a new creation! This is symbolic of Jesus Christ when he was resurrected and glorified!   The Gentiles looked to the flesh (gods) for an explanation and there they stood: Barnabas and Paul, but the healed man looked well beyond that; he looked to the One True God. His faith was in Jesus!

You see it was "wisdom" the Gentiles used even when looking at the sign. They saw the miracle, but looked for an explanation that they understood. They turned to Barnabas and Paul who stood there. That made sense, but to heal, they must be gods!  It was the flesh toward which the Gentiles looked. Only that made sense to them in their wisdom. They still failed to understand what Jesus is all about. It's not the things of the flesh, but of the Spirit.

People still turn to the flesh for regeneration. Some believe that their self can save them, science will someday prevent death, or that somehow those in power can save. In the meantime, people turn to the government for answers and to provide: Mercury and Jupiter. They look to the flesh, but the meek turn to God! It is vanity to have faith in the flesh. It has no power to save us from anything! The truly wise will humble themselves by laying flat on their face in the presence of even the powerful and let God lift them up just as the crippled man did!

James 4:10 "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."

The crippled man was born that way. We are born that way too! He was born a cripple and a sinner. That's who he was. We are born crippled as well. We are all born in sin! It was meekness through faith which restored him and made him a new person. If we humble our "self" we can be restored just as he was!

What was the deformed man? Humble! Who lifted him up? The Lord! So simple yet the wise entirely missed the point. When people are healed, they thank the doctor, but in actuality, it's the power is in the Lord! You see, we still look for healing from the world and hope from the sky, but Jesus is our only hope! To understand that is wisdom because the flesh has not the power to save!