Barnabas

Barnabas

And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. – Acts 9.26,27

I cannot even imagine what it was like to be a part of the church in those days and find out that Saul was coming to preach. The Saul they knew was out to do all he could to wipe out the church, but now he wanted to join with the disciples. Imagine just for a moment what it must have been like to be a Christian and to hear that Saul was coming to meet your church. Since most of us are not nunder persecution I dont know if we can even draw an illustration that might helpus understand how it felt. The Bible tells us that the church was afraid when Saul tried to join them. They did not believe that he was truly a disciple.

Saul certainly needed someone to come alongside and stand for him. That man was Barnanbas

In this passage we get our first hint of the kind of man Barnabas was. His name means 'comforter' (Son of Consolation or Encouragement) and from the very start we see that his name matches his character.

Barnabas appeared earlier in Acts when the couple had lied to the Holy Spirit about the profit they had made from the sale of some land. In that case he was dealing with sin, but now he appears and shows his encouragement to someone who needed it.

When the time came to stand up for Saul Barnabas proved he had great faith and courage. He had the faith to trust that God would take care of him and the believers. He trusted God’s working in Saul’s heart, He told the believers about the Damascus Road experience and about Saul’s faithful preaching of the gospel.

As a result of Barnabas’ act of faith Saul joined with the church and boldly proclaimed the gospel.

And the church?

Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

And it was all because Barnabas was willing to take a stand alongside his new Brother Saul.