Acts 14:8-17

Paul and Barnabas in Lystra Acts 14:8-17: At Lystra the apostles healed a lame man. He had never walked. This miracle was very much like the one in Acts 3:1-26. The man listened to the preaching. As Paul looked at him he observed his faith. With a loud voice Paul told the man to stand on his feet. He sprung up directly from his seat, leaped for joy, and walked as well as any man could.

Instead of giving honor to God for the miracle the people said, "the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men." Their concept of God was very wrong. They believed that there were more gods than one. They also believed that the gods sometimes descended to earth in human form. They gave Barnabas the name Jupiter. Paul was called Mercurius because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Jupiter brought oxen and garlands with the people to do sacrifice to the apostles.

This caused Paul and Barnabas to (1) rent their clothes, (2) cry "why do ye these things?" (3) remind them that they were just men, and (4) challenge them to turn from the vanities of false gods to the living God. The living God gives "us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." The other "gods" did nothing and can do nothing.