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Sketches from the Life of Paul
when the ministers of Antioch laid their hands upon the apostles, they,
by that action, asked God to bestow his blessing upon them, in their
devotion to the specific work which God had chosen them to do.
The apostles started out upon their mission, taking with them Mark.
They went into Seleucia, and from thence sailed to Cyprus. At Salamis
they preached in the synagogues of the Jews. “And when they had
gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a
false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus; 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. But Elymas
the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them,
seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.”
The deputy being a man of repute and influence, the sorcerer
Elymas, who was under the control of Satan, sought by false reports
and various specious deceptions to turn him against the apostles and
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destroy their influence over him. As the magicians in Pharaoh’s court
withstood Moses and Aaron, so did this sorcerer withstand the apostles.
When the deputy sent for the apostles, that he might be instructed in
the truth, Satan was on hand with his servant, seeking to thwart the
purpose of God, and prevent this influential man from embracing the
faith of Christ. This agent of Satan greatly hindered the work of the
apostles. Thus does the fallen foe ever work in a special manner to
prevent persons of influence, who could be of great service to the
cause, from embracing the truth of God.
But Paul, in the power of the Holy Ghost, rebuked the wicked
deceiver. He “set his eyes on him, and said, O full of all subtilty and
all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness,
wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now,
behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not
seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist
and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the
hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being
astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.”
The sorcerer had closed his eyes to the evidences of truth, and the
light of the gospel, therefore the Lord, in his righteous anger, caused
his natural eyes to be closed, shutting out from him the light of day.
This blindness was not permanent, but only for a season, to warn him
to repent, and to seek pardon of God whom he had so offended. The