After the disciple Stephen was martyred, a great persecution arose and many Jewish believers in the Lord Iesus had to flee to faraway places like Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch (Acts 11:19). There they continued to speak the Gospel of the Anointed One to the Jews.
One day something different happened.
Some men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and preached the Gospel of the Lord Iesus to the Greeks there for the first time. A large number of the Greeks believed in the Lord.
20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus.
21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
Acts 11:20 – 21 World English Bible
We can make at least three observations about these Jewish men from Cyprus and Cyrene:
Firstly, they went with a Deliberate Purpose.
The men from Cyprus and Cyrene had made up their minds purposefully to preach the Gospel of the Anointed Iesus. They did not just go to the city of Antioch merely to trade, or to buy supplies, or perhaps to settle down in that new land. Instead, they preached the Gospel of Iesus when they reached Antioch.
It was not by chance nor by accident that the Greeks in Antioch heard the Gospel. It was by the deliberate purpose of the Cypriot and Cyrenean believers that resulted in a large number of Greeks turning to the Lord.
Secondly, they went to a Distant Place.
The city of Antioch (present Antakya) was a long way from Cyprus, more than 270 km by sea. It was even further away from the city of Cyrene (present day Shahat, Libya), a distance of more than 1,000 km on the North African coast. In those days it took much time and patience to travel such long distances.
The believers from Cyprus and Cyrene did not merely go out to a nearby village to spend a few days. They went to a city far from home, on a journey that was hazardous and fraught with great danger along the way. Perhaps they could not ascertain when exactly they would be able to make their way back to Cyprus and Cyrene.
They had to sacrifice much to bring the Gospel to the Greeks at Antioch.
Thirdly, they went among a Different People
Those men from Cyprus and Cyrene were Jews. Despite having believed in the Lord Iesus as their Christos, their promised Messiah of God, nobody among them had preached the Gospel of Iesus to any Gentile friends. In those days, many continued to hold fast the belief that only the Jewish race were the chosen people of God, that only Jewish people were called into the Kingdom of God.
It would have taken them much courage and conviction to preach the Gospel to Gentile "outcasts", to bring them into the Kingdom of God in the Name of Iesus His Anointed King.
Without them, the Gentile people in the city of Antioch would not have had the opportunity to enter the Kingdom and become part of the children of God our Father.
Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed Iesus. Let us learn from the examples of the believers from Cyprus and Cyrene. As many among us as are called, let us go out to preach the Word of the Lord with a deliberate purpose, even to a distant land, among a different people
May God help us. Amen
