After being commissioned by the church at Antioch (Acts 13), Barnabas and Saul went first to Cyprus, the birthplace of Barnabas. There they began their ministry with a practice that would become a pattern for Saul (Paul); namely, proclaiming the word of God first in the synagogues of the Jews. They were finally summoned by a government official, the proconsul Sergius Paulus, who wanted to hear the word of God. But the proconsul was accompanied by a man described as a Jewish false prophet who opposed Barnabas and Paul, “seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith” (v. 8). But Paul proceeded to sharply rebuke the false prophet, and even pronounced him blind for a time. When indeed the man became blind…
Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord (v. 12).
Paul’s pronouncement-come-true served as a sign that authenticated Barnabas and Paul’s message in the eyes of the proconsul. But what really caught my eyes in this account was the work of the Holy Spirit. It was He who initially called out Barnabas and Paul for this work (v. 2) and who sent them out (v. 4). Then it was the filling of the Holy Spirit (v. 9) that empowered Paul for the difficult task of exposing the sin, fraud, and evil of the Jewish false prophet; and enabled the pronouncement and execution of anti-healing upon him. If God the Holy Spirit calls us to a work, no matter how difficult, He is able to empower us for the task.