A Picture of this age -- Part 3
Acts 28:28 And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.
The name means "honey" which is interesting since God promised to bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey.
2 And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
It is cold, rainy, winter is coming, and all these ones were just saved from the sea. A nice picture of salvation.
3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
I find this interesting. At the end of Mark we are told that snakes will not hurt us. A lot of Bible teachers have wondered if that portion even belongs in the Bible. However, Chuck Missler had some astounding analysis of the word of God which pretty much conclusively proved it must. For example, all four of the gospels have words that are unique to that particular gospel. What is amazing is that all four have exactly the same number of unique words that are unique to that book in the Bible.
Matthew 42 words (7 x 6), and those 42 words have 126 letters (7 x 18)
Mark -- same thing, the words unique to this gospel are a multiple of 7 and some of those unique words occur in this last section about snakes.
Luke -- same thing, the words unique in this book are also a multiple of 7
John -- same thing, the unique words are also a multiple of 7
Same is true of the epistles of James, Peter, Jude and Paul. Each of these writers has the collective vocabulary unique to them as a multiple of 7.
4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
Seems timely, sorcerers are likened to snakes, and the people who made this mRNA vaccine for Covid are definitely sorcerers. They have certainly bit many people in the world with their vaccine and already at this point it is becoming apparent that something is definitely not right about that vaccine.
Notice how Paul is slandered, being bit by the snake is proof that he is a murderer. Think of the people like Djokovic that didn't want to be vaccinated, they also were slandered, accused, and made into outcasts.
5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
That is what Mark says. I think Mark is the gospel to those that go through the tribulation and they will need to be healed from the snake bite by looking to Jesus on the Cross.
6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
What the enemy means for evil God turns it around for good. Being bit by that snake was a great benefit for the gospel. In the same way I believe God will use the tribulation to save many.
7 In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously. 8 And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.
The prayers of a righteous man availeth much. In the last chapter we learned to ignore all the proud, arrogant people with their good opinions and justification. Instead we need to find the true prophets of God and hear what they have to say. This is not "majority rules" rather it is God's word rules.
9 So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:
God was sending Paul to speak to Caesar in Rome, but on the way He wants Paul to stop here and heal these people.
10 Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.