“And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch.”
Good morning world! I awoke this morning earlier than usual, thinking about, of all things, GEOGRAPHY. My daughter was doing a geography lesson the other day (pandemics don’t close homeschool classes), and I thought about how that had always been one of my favorite subjects in school. Geography, believe it or not, can shed great light upon the Scriptures and can even speak to us today as we seek the LORD on how to conduct our Christian duties while navigating IT, you know, the madness that has engulfed our nation.
On Paul’s FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY, he and Barnabas labored in Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, and Lystra in Central Turkey (Acts 13-14). Those sowings would give rise to the Galatian churches and would prove very important in shaping Paul for his later work. He boldly declared this to Timothy not long before his death (II Timothy 3:10-12). In each of these places, the preaching of the Gospel brought persecution and unlawful decrees from local authorities and magistrates, forbidding them to assemble or teach and demanding that they leave and not return. At Lystra, Paul was even stoned and left for dead. Strangely, he was not seriously injured, and in an act of Acts 5:42 DEFIANCE of local authorities, he went back into the city. The next day, after a stoning, he was well enough to continue on to Derbe (Acts 14:20-21). At the end of Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch of Syria, from whence they had been sent out by the local church. And, this is where the geography of the region sheds some light on matters Christians are facing in America today.
From Derbe, about 30 miles SE of Lystra where Paul had been stoned and the farthest point reached on this missionary journey, there was a popular and well-traveled overland route back to Tarsus (Paul’s hometown) and then on to Antioch of Syria, an easy straight shot. It crossed a mountain pass, the Cilician Gate, and dropped right down to the coast—a much easier and quicker way to get home than the one that brought them to Derbe through places they had been ordered not to return. In fact, Paul would take Silas and use this route at the beginning of his second missionary journey to revisit the Galatian churches (Acts 15:41-16:1). Instead, and here is the lesson for us as we seek to navigate and understand the line between Romans 13:1 and Acts 5:29 . . . Paul and Barnabas “returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch” (Acts 14:21) and there assembled with believers (something they had been forbidden to do) to confirm and exhort them to continue in their faith and Christian duties despite the tribulation and unlawful decrees of local authorities (unlawful banishment according to Roman law which allowed Roman citizens to travel freely throughout the empire). Geography teaches us, not only that this return route was much longer and far more difficult and expensive (would involve a long boat ride), but that it was an act of defiance and civil disobedience in the work of the Gospel ministry. Romans 13 cannot mean that we are to blindly obey every whim of a governor, mayor, or local health department when it comes to Gospel preaching, discipleship, Christian assembly, or plain old mobility. The route of Paul’s first missionary journey teaches us otherwise. And this greatest of all Christian missionaries reminded Timothy at the end of his life, and long after he had written Romans 13, that his position and ministry concerning such things had been consistent from the beginning (II Timothy 3:10-11).
May you find this helpful and a bit enlightening as we seek answers to difficult questions in difficult days. I don’t have the answers for you, but they can be found in the Word of God and in the lives and examples recorded therein of those faithful saints who have gone before.
And hey, a good old-fashioned geography lesson never hurt anyone. One of the fruits of my elementary geography classes is an “amazing skill” that serves no practical purpose whatsoever and would never help me solve a real problem. It sheds light on nothing, but it’s fun to showcase. I can name all 50 United States in alphabetical order in less than 30 seconds. In a minute, I can also include their capitals and their points of highest elevation. Pretty pointless, huh?
