In about 46 AD, Paul, along with Barnabas sailed from Paphos on the island of Cyprus to the Anatolian coast (modern day Turkey) arriving at Perga in Pamphylia. They then traveled through the Jewish communities up to Antioch of Pisidia. (1) At Antioch, Paul rose to speak in the synagogue on the Sabbath, the 7th day. As recorded in Acts 13, he rehearsed a brief history outlining the lineage of Christ through David’s seed, and then issued a warning.
16 And Paul having risen, and having beckoned with the hand, said, `Men, Israelites, and those fearing God, hearken:
17 the God of this people Israel did choose our fathers, and the people He did exalt in their sojourning in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm did He bring them out of it;
18 and about a period of forty years He did suffer their manners in the wilderness,
19 and having destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He did divide by lot to them their land.
20 `And after these things, about four hundred and fifty years, He gave judges — till Samuel the prophet;
21 and thereafter they asked for a king, and God did give to them Saul, son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years;
22 and having removed him, He did raise up to them David for king, to whom also having testified, he said, I found David, the [son] of Jesse, a man according to My heart, who shall do all My will.
23 `Of this one’s seed God, according to promise, did raise to Israel a Saviour — Jesus,
24 John having first preached, before his coming, a baptism of reformation to all the people of Israel;
25 and as John was fulfilling the course, he said, Whom me do ye suppose to be? I am not [he], but, lo, he doth come after me, of whom I am not worthy to loose the sandal of [his] feet.
26 `Men, brethren, sons of the race of Abraham, and those among you fearing God, to you was the word of this salvation sent,
27 for those dwelling in Jerusalem, and their chiefs, this one not having known, also the voices of the prophets, which every sabbath are being read — having judged [him] — did fulfill,
28 and no cause of death having found, they did ask of Pilate that he should be slain,
29 and when they did complete all the things written about him, having taken [him] down from the tree, they laid him in a tomb;
30 and God did raise him out of the dead,
31 and he was seen for many days of those who did come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
32 `And we to you do proclaim good news — that the promise made unto the fathers,
33 God hath in full completed this to us their children, having raised up Jesus, as also in the second Psalm it hath been written, My Son thou art — I to-day have begotten thee.
34 `And that He did raise him up out of the dead, no more to return to corruption, he hath said thus — I will give to you the faithful kindnesses of David;
35 wherefore also in another [place] he saith, Thou shalt not give Thy kind One to see corruption,
36 for David, indeed, his own generation having served by the will of God, did fall asleep, and was added unto his fathers, and saw corruption,
37 but he whom God did raise up, did not see corruption.
38 `Let it therefore be known to you, men, brethren, that through this one to you is the forgiveness of sins declared,
39 and from all things from which ye were not able in the law of Moses to be declared righteous, in this one every one who is believing is declared righteous;
40 see, therefore, it may not come upon you that hath been spoken in the prophets:
41 See, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish, because a work I — I do work in your days, a work in which ye may not believe, though any one may declare [it] to you.’ (Acts 13:16-41, YLT)
Paul was speaking to the Jews in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. The “you” in this record of Paul’s warning were the Jews, and those believing proselytes who were listening to him in the synagogue in about 46 AD, about 15 years after Jesus’ death on the cross. Then what work was Paul warning them from which they would perish?
Acts 13:41 is a quote from Habbakuk 1:5.
5 Look ye on nations, and behold and marvel greatly. For a work He is working in your days, Ye do not believe though it is declared.
6 For, lo, I am raising up the Chaldeans, The bitter and hasty nation, That is going to the broad places of earth, To occupy tabernacles not its own.
7 Terrible and fearful it [is], From itself its judgment and its excellency go forth.
8 Swifter than leopards have been its horses, And sharper than evening wolves, And increased have its horsemen, Even its horsemen from afar come in, They fly as an eagle, hasting to consume.
9 Wholly for violence it doth come in, Their faces swallowing up the east wind, And it doth gather as the sand a captivity.
10 And at kings it doth scoff, And princes [are] a laughter to it, At every fenced place it doth laugh, And it heapeth up dust, and captureth it. (Hab. 1:5-10, YLT)
Benson Commentary (Biblehub):
“For a punishment of such exorbitant practices, behold, God is about to make the heathen the instruments of his vengeance. Ye among the heathen, and regard — Consider and weigh it well, in its nature and consequences; for it is intended as a warning to you, and assures you that judgment will overtake you also. And wonder marvellously — As astonished at judgments too great to be described, and so strange that they will appear to many, even of God’s professing people, to be incredible. For I will work a work, &c., which ye will not believe — The judgment shall be such, as you despisers of God’s word will not believe to be coming upon you. These words are referred to, and indeed quoted, by St. Paul, Acts 13:41; not, however, according to the Hebrew text, but the translation of the LXX., who, instead of בגוים, begoim, among the heathen, seem to have read בגדום, begadim, despisers, or perfidious persons. This reading of the LXX. is preferred by Grotius, because, he observes, “God addresses the Jews who were despisers of his deity.”
Habakkuk prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and Judea by the Chaldeans (the Babylonians), a heathen people, which happened about 586 BC because the people of God had fallen into idol worship, false judgment, and wicked, unrighteous behavior.
Paul repeated this same prophecy for the second destruction of Jerusalem to the disbelieving Jews who had despised the Word of God (John 1:1) and crucified His Son. Just as He had prophesied in Habakkuk, YHVH used another pagan heathen nation, the Romans, to deliver His judgment upon the wicked, unrighteous, and disbelieving Jews in Jerusalem and throughout Judea and the Roman empire in the first century AD.
This second judgment was completed during the Roman-Jewish war of AD 66-70 when that earthly temple was torn down (Matt. 24-25). All of the prophecies of this destruction throughout the books of the New Testament, including the book of Revelation completed and fulfilled the prophecy of Deu. 32.20-24.
“20 And He saith: I hide My face from them, I see what [is] their latter end; For a froward generation [are] they, Sons in whom is no stedfastness.
21 They have made Me zealous by `no-god,’ They made Me angry by their vanities; And I make them zealous by `no-people,’ By a foolish nation I make them angry.
22 For a fire hath been kindled in Mine anger, And it burneth unto Sheol — the lowest, And consumeth earth and its increase, And setteth on fire foundations of mountains.
23 I gather upon them evils, Mine arrows I consume upon them.
24 Exhausted by famine, And consumed by heat, and bitter destruction. And the teeth of beasts I send upon them, With poison of fearful things of the dust.” (YLT)
A “no-god,” an idol. This was the end of the tribes of Israel, the end of the Mosaic covenant, the end of the sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. It had been prophesied throughout the ages before. The people were fairly warned, and it was declared unto them.
They did not want to believe it. Today, they still do not want to believe it. It has been almost 2,000 years since that destruction, and they are still falsely calling themselves God’s people.
Only those who are in Christ are God’s people. Only those who have been immersed into Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are counted for Abraham’s seed (Gal. 3:26-29). As Jesus’ death on the cross was the last blood sacrifice that YHVH would ever again accept for forgiveness of sins, then only those in Christ have forgiveness of their sins.
It is a marvel to me that so many people in the generations since that destruction in AD 70 continue to kick against the goads (Acts 26:14).
Notes:
1 Paul’s first missionary journey – https://www.thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney1/9-pauls-journey-to-cyprus-pamphylia-galatia-/paul-starts-his-1st-missionary-journey/
Shredding The Veil 
Thank you again for your wonderful updates. May God bless you all this Happy New Year!
Ptr. Tim Meagher in the Philippines
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