God’s Providence Makes the Arrangements

Transcript

GR1632
3-4-12
God’s Providence Makes the Arrangements
Acts 23:12-35
Gil Rugh

The book of Acts in your Bibles and we are in the 23rd chapter. As we move through the book of Acts remember we are moving through the first 30 years of the churches history; so to give us a foundation for understanding the beginning of the church and how God moved through those early years. The Spirit of God directed Luke to write this history of the church selecting events that would give us an appreciation of how God moved to develop the church from its inception in Acts chapter 2. It is important to us because the history of the church obviously has continued down through the centuries to our present day. But we look back to those early years of the church and the Scriptures that were recorded in those early years of the church which formed the foundation for our ministry today.

Basic to the churches ministry and the church could not begin without this event was the coming of the Holy Spirit from heaven following the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ and the account in Acts began with the ascension of Christ in Acts chapter 1 and that prepared the way for the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2.

I want to take you back in you would to the Gospel of John again. We have been here before to look at these verses but come back to John chapter 14, John’s Gospel, just before the book of Acts, the Gospel of John. The coming of the Holy Spirit would be a tremendously significant event and Jesus gave His disciples specific instructions on that night before His betrayal and crucifixion about the importance of the coming of the Holy Spirit. In John 14, verse 16: “I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper, another comforter [the paraclete, that one that comes along side of to comfort, to aid, to act on behalf of another] that He may be with you forever.” And the identification of this comforter, another one like Christ is the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of truth, called the Spirit of truth because He is the One who ministers truth. God bought the revelation of God in a fuller and clearer way than it had been given before and the Spirit of truth will continue by guiding and unfolding that truth so that it could be recorded and the truth that further elaborates and explains God’s purposes in light of the coming of Christ, be part of the ministry that the Holy Spirit has. “The Spirit of truth is the One that the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you,” and so that unique ministry of the Holy Spirit, of His permanent indwelling ministry that comes in Acts chapter 2.

Turn over to chapter 15 of John, verse 26: “When the helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father [again who is this helper, this paraclete? Compound, we call it the paraclete, para to be alongside of, cleto to call, the ones called alongside of to give help, to give aid, to act on behalf of] when the helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father.” You see the Spirit coming in this special and unique way was dependent upon the ascension of Christ to heaven, His return to heaven following His completion of the work of redemption with His death and resurrection. “The Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father He will testify about Me.” That will be the role of the Holy Spirit. So I say, it will be an ongoing, unfolding to give further explanation and clarity about the work that Christ accomplished “and you will testify also because you have been with Me from the beginning.” So you see here God’s plan. The Holy Spirit will come, the Spirit of truth and he will bear witness to Christ, testify concerning Him and these, His disciples gathered with Him on that last night. They will be testifying and the Spirit of God now indwelling them as He said in chapter 14 will enable them to bear testimony of Him. They can testify as eyewitnesses. They have been with Him from the beginning and it is the Spirit who will guide them in this testimony.

Chapter 16, verse 7: “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away the Helper shall not come to you.” You see the finished work of Christ and His return to the Father is essential to the coming of the Spirit and it moves us along in the purpose and plan of God. We don’t want to stop with Christ being here. The finished work and His return to be seated at the right hand of the Father is crucial in the Spirit’s coming to testify of that work and to bring the message of God’s salvation through faith in Him. “When He comes, [the helper, the Spirit of truth] He will convict the world sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me: and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you but you cannot bear them now.”

At this point they were not ready to receive additional truth from Christ. They wouldn’t have been able to handle it. But, verse 13: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, [that emphasis on that special role of the Spirit in clarifying revelation from God and bringing additional revelation, the truth of God] when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak.” In other words, the point of the Spirit’s coming is not to give new revelation separated from what has been revealed in Christ. The Spirit’s ministry is to give further revelation and clarity to the work of Christ. “He will disclose to you what is to come.” He is the one who is going to guide them into all truth. That’s why we have a sure Word in our New Testament because the Spirit of truth has unfolded these things, clarified these things and given greater understanding concerning the truth that God has chosen to make known, revealed in His Son but further clarified through the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit.

So “bearing witness to the truth.” That’s the responsibility of these initial disciples, Peter, John and the others. We see that in the early chapters of Acts, really through the first 12 chapters of Acts focuses on Peter primarily, John with him, the other apostles. They are testifying to the truth. They will lay the foundation because the church, according to Ephesians 2:20 is to be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. The truth that the Spirit revealed to them, the truth that the Spirit directed them to record and write so that is proclaimed. The apostle Paul will be called to join this apostolic band, a unique privilege given to him and he records that in I Corinthians chapter 15 that he was the last of the apostles called in a unique way, later than the others and he is used for the same ministry as the others.

In fact, we have just discussed and examined in our study of Acts, the third missionary journey of Paul. He wrote great letters on that. He wrote the first letter to the Corinthians on that third missionary journey. The second letter to the Corinthians on that third missionary journey, the letter to the Romans, these large letters that are so foundational for us as a church and we are familiar with the other writings of the apostle Peter and his letters, the apostle John who wrote the Gospel of John and the epistles of John, the book of Revelation under the guidance of the Spirit of truth “so that the Spirit can convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and judgment as those called to testify of Him, give forth the truth.” Nothing has changed in 2000 years. We are not getting new revelation but the Spirit of God is using us as the church today to what? To continually testify about Christ, bear witness to Him to present the truth that God has revealed by His Spirit and passed on to us in the written record of those called by God to write the truth.

So we come over to the book of Acts, the book of Acts and this unfolding history as we talked about God’s sovereignty over all creation, what we call the universal kingdom. We noted that God works providentially most often through secondary sources in the world today and has been through history. Sometimes He intervenes in direct, super natural ways and in the book of Acts we’ve seen this mixture. The Spirit of God has intervened directly at times, Acts chapter 2 with the coming of the Spirit God intervened directly and super naturally; the salvation of the apostle Paul in Acts chapter 9. That didn’t happen by natural means, Christ appeared to him in a direct and clearly super natural way down the Damascus road. Paul said in I Corinthians 15: “Last of all, He appeared to me as one untimely born.” This was a unique situation. You have a direct intervention of God but usually God is working what we call providentially through the book of Acts.

Come to Acts chapter 8 just as a reminder to you because this is foundational to where Paul is as we pick up our study in chapter 23. In Acts chapter 8 you have and in chapter 7 you have had the death of Stephen, obviously unjustly arrested and stoned for his testimony for Christ but it is in the sovereign plan of God and persecution breaks out as you come into chapter 8 against the young church. We are told in verse 1, the second statement: “On that day a great persecution began against the church at Jerusalem” and they are scattered out of Jerusalem out of Judea and Samaria except the apostles remain centered in Jerusalem. There you have, if you will, the mother church, the church that was established in Acts 2.

So Paul, Saul as he is known then, begins ravishing the church. Verse 4: “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the Word.” And then you go on to talk about Philip. You see what God is doing now, working providentially. The death of Stephen, the persecution of the church that breaks out in an intense way is used by God to what? To fulfill what Jesus said in Acts chapter 1 before His ascension to heaven. “After the Spirit comes you will be My witnesses” and you go to Judea and you go to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world. God worked to carry out His will by using even the sinful actions of men in persecuting believers to spread believers to other parts of the world so that the Gospel would be carried there and often it’s suffering and persecution that God is using.

Come over to Acts chapter 23. We say this because as we noted, a change occurs in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul after his third missionary journey because when he arrives at Jerusalem events there result in his being arrested by the Roman authorities and Paul will remain a prisoner of Rome through the rest of the book of Acts. When the book of Acts closes its record of the early church Paul is under house arrest under Roman authority, in effect a prisoner of Rome and that is where we will leave him in this account of the early church but we see God working providentially.

The events have been unjust and unfair. Paul has been accused by the Jews of things that he did not do, speaking against the Mosaic Law, speaking against the temple, bringing a Gentile into the inner courts of the temple. He hasn’t really been guilty of any of that. He’s suffered physically at the hands of the mob. He was on the border of being scourged by the Romans when his declaration of Roman citizenship spared him from that. He’s presented his case again before the Sanhedrin. You might think this is the way God is working but it’s not.

So Paul is arrested, verse 10 so he wouldn’t be torn to pieces by the mob. Now he is a Roman citizen, he’s under Roman authority protection and in verse 11 you have direct intervention, super natural intervention in Paul’s life. “On the night immediately following the Lord stood at his side and said, ‘take courage, for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.’” Here God intervenes super naturally to give a direct revelation to Paul. You know what He tells him. You are going to witness to Me at Rome. Don’t be discouraged. But you know how Paul is going to Rome. He is going as a Roman prisoner. So God is going to work providentially. He’s going to use the Roman authorities to give Paul protection over the next five years and Paul will end up in Rome as we find him when the account in Acts concludes. So how God chooses to work and the record here is to that we understand how God works but we are also reminded how God works and with the completion of our New Testament we do not find the clear, direct super natural intervention of God like we did in these early days of the church. We say why not, because now we have a completed revelation. Paul is being used of God to write the New Testament. He does not have that to turn to and receive comfort and direction and encouragement.

So God is going to take Paul to Rome. Now you see the hand of God working, using the Jews and their animosity and hatred of the Gospel and of Paul as the focal representative of the Gospel in Jerusalem at this time to carry out His work.

So verse 12 picks up the account. “When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.” You know the contrast here is striking. Verse 11: “On the night following, the Lord stood at his side and said, ‘take courage for as you have solemnly witnessed to my cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.’” That’s what happened at night. When it was day [next day] the Jews form a conspiracy to kill Paul. It was a clear contrast. God says you are going to Rome to witness for Me. The Jews plan is you are going to die. You will never get out of Jerusalem alive. Who do you think wins? We know, don’t we? Not just because we’ve read the last chapter but because God’s will is always accomplished. But how He works here is amazing.

You have 40 men, in verse 13. “There were more than 40 who formed this plot. They will not eat or drink. They have taken a solemn vow to abstain from food and drink until they have murdered Paul.” This is a strong oath that says that they had bound themselves under an oath. They have put themselves under the curse of God if they don’t fulfill this. Now we know that they don’t so I guess that they starved to death. No, you know the Jews made all kinds of provisions. Here is an example: the rabbi is allowed four types of vows to be broken: vows of incitement, vows of exaggeration, vows made in error and vows that cannot be fulfilled by reason of constraint. In other words, you could find almost any reason to get out of a vow. They made so many exceptions and so many loop holes that making a vow like people saying, “I swear this is going to happen” but you know they have no possibility of fulfilling this because the Romans are going to prevent it so that is an allowance to be excused from your vow.

In case you are wondering what happened to these men, these are minor things. The unbeliever is a liar at heart. The unbeliever is a murderer a heart as we are going to see and so these things are just actions.

The amazing thing here is these more than 40, how many, 42, 44, 48, we are not told but 40 plus men bind themselves and form a plot to murder Paul. That’s what it would be. It would be murder because he is under the protection of the Roman authorities so they are going to go against Roman law here.

Then verse 14: “They came to the chief priest and elders” and told them of their plan and get their support in the carrying out of the plan. They are the religious leaders supposedly defending the temple, defending the law against this terrible man, Paul. They join in the conspiracy. “They came to the chief priest and elders and said we have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.” You would think the religious leaders of Israel say, “No, you can’t do that as that would be murder. We will present our case to the Roman authorities and we trust God will handle it,” no, not at all. Here these 40 some would be murderers tell the religious leaders the part you will play in this. “Now therefore, you and the council [the council is the Sanhedrin, the governing body of the nation Israel. The leaders of Israel are to be part of this murderous plan] you notify the commander to bring him down to you as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation and we, for our part, are ready to slay him before he comes near.”

This is a simple plan. The Sanhedrin say to the Roman commander, “You know, we need to know more about what Paul is saying.” Well the Roman commander, remember, he doesn’t have any idea what is going on here. What is the real problem with the Jews and Paul? He’s had them appear before the Sanhedrin hoping to get an answer. Now the Sanhedrin is going to sound rather reasonable. You know, we need more understanding of where Paul is. Well this seems like this could resolve it for the commander because what is he going to do? He has to protect a Roman citizen and he has to keep peace in Jerusalem. Well here the leaders of the Jews are saying, “Just give us a chance to talk more to him, send him down to us.” That would mean simply having a Roman soldier or two bring him over to the Sanhedrin. But you have 40 some men that are going to lie in wait and he will never arrive at the Sanhedrin because they can overpower a small contingent of soldiers that are only transporting him. No problem here. The Sanhedrin has asked him to come so we can talk to him so we don’t have to… so will murder him before he ever gets here. So the Sanhedrin can look clean because he wasn’t murdered at the meeting of the Sanhedrin. It wasn’t their fault that he got, you know, some people get out of hand you know – we can’t control everyone and Paul got murdered and the leadership is rid of Paul and all taken care of. That is the plot. This reveals the true character, doesn’t it of where the leaders of Israel are?

Come back to John’s Gospel, chapter 8. These are passages that many of you have probably memorized and we come to often. In John 8 Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, verse 40: “As it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.” Verse 42 He said to them, “If God were your Father you would love me.” Verse 43: “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My Word. You are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.” Remember the Spirit of truth? How can they have any response except opposition, rejection of the Spirit of truth? There is no truth in them. There is no truth in the devil who is their spiritual father. “Whenever he [referring to the devil] speaks a lie he speaks of his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies and because I speak the truth you do not believe Me.” Verse 47: “He who is of God hears the Words of God for this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God.”

As you see, they are liars. What are they going to do? They are going to lie to the commander and say, “We just want to talk to Paul. Send him over. The Sanhedrin is going to meet.” They are murderers, why are they lying, so that they have opportunity to be complacent in the murder of Paul. This is the truth spiritual condition of men masked by being so religious. We are ready to create a riot in defense of our temple, in the defense of the Law summarized in the Ten Commandments that say what, Thou shalt not kill. It is a reference to murder but they are willing to take this in their own hands and lie to get it done. How confused and twisted sin makes us. The children of the devil are the children of the devil and they manifest his character. He is a liar, he is a murderer.

Turn over to John 15. We have been in John 15, verse 18: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you are of the world the world would love its own. Because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world because of this the world hates you.” He goes on to tell them that they can expect persecution. “A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me they will also persecute you.” Paul is experiencing this. You know, any supposed agreement with the world and meeting of minds with the world is allowing the believer to be deluded. It doesn’t mean that we don’t get along in a sense in the general flow of things but you understand there is no spiritual agreement. There can be no love lost between the world and the believer. The world cannot love the believer. Underneath the surface it’s like the world’s attitude toward the Jews because God has chosen them as a nation even though they are in unbelief. They are still the object of Satan’s hatred. We saw that in our study of Revelation 12. What happens in the Tribulation when Satan is cast out of heaven? He makes his goal to destroy the Jews. Why, because God has chosen them ultimately to belong to Him as a nation. So our relationship to Christ puts us in this position. Puts Paul in this position.

Come back to Acts 23. It’s not because Paul wasn’t, you know, discreet enough in how he handled his testimony. Perhaps he could have been more careful in not doing things that provoked the people. We have already noted in verse 11that God puts His stamp of approval on the testimony that Paul has borne and it will be the same kind of testimony you bear for Me in Jerusalem. A certain amount of self-examination is healthy. We are to examine ourselves. We don’t want to become so introspective that we are always thinking we must have done something wrong or people would have been more receptive to what we had to say. Maybe we should have said it differently and then it would have. Our biggest concern ought to be is to be as clear as we can with the truth, in love, in kindness. We want to manifest the character of God. But the clearer we are with truth and the bolder we are with the truth is what we are called to be and called to do.

So, they have this plan to slay Paul but it just so happens Paul has relatives in Jerusalem. I didn’t know that. Did you know that? No, you didn’t because we couldn’t because God hadn’t revealed it before. He’s got a sister and her family living in Jerusalem. Wonder why I didn’t hear any more about that. Verse 16: “But the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush.” We are not given any detail here. When it says, “the son,” and the word for son here would indicate teenager, could be up to his early twenties. How does he have access in this kind of environment to hear about this? We are not told. We don’t know anything about the situation but he has become aware of what is going on. He’s obviously in a position to be hanging around to be hearing. “So the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush.” That is the providence of God. God could have revealed this to Paul directly in a vision or a dream. He did that in verse 11, gave revelation but He chooses not to here. He chooses to use an instrument, Paul’s nephew and he came and entered the barracks and told Paul. He has access to Paul. Paul is an uncondemned Roman prisoner. Charges have been made but he has not been found guilty of anything so it’s not out of line that this relative of Paul would have access to Paul. Remember he has to be treated with respect. He is a Roman citizen. He is not just a Roman citizen but a born Roman citizen. So he has not been shown guilty of any crime so it’s not like well, boy that would be unusual that he could go in and see Paul. No, it wouldn’t. So, he has access to Paul. No more detail.

Can you think how large our Bible would be and how many volumes if we got all the detail. We think I would like to know more but we have our hands full, don’t we, just trying to master this book but there are things we come to and we say, “I would like to know… I wonder what kind of family Paul has…did his sister and her family become believers through the testimony of Paul?

At any rate, we have to move on. “And he came and entered the barracks and told Paul, so Paul calls one of the Centurions.” Remember the Centurion is in command of 100. He would be there given responsibility for Paul and said, “Lead this young man to the commander for he has something to report to him.” So Paul doesn’t ask to be taken to the commander he just says, “Take this young man to the commander for he has something to report to him.” Paul is a Roman citizen. They have already realized they have to deal carefully with Paul. They almost made a terrible mistake in scourging him. They have already crossed the line by putting him in chains so now they are ready to go out of their way. Again, God’s providence in giving Paul a voice here and when he says, “Take this young man to the commander for he has something important to say,” the Centurion has no reluctance at all. “He took him and led him to the commander and said, ‘Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since he has something to tell you.’” So the commander realizes that this is a message just for his ears so he takes him aside, takes him by the hand which indicates maybe he is younger in his teenage years and leads him aside over here where nobody else can hear and asks him, “What is it that you have to report to me?” And you see that God has given this commander an openness here, because it’s not like well, I don’t have time to be bothered with messengers from a prison. No, God’s plan is that the commander is open and wants to hear what this young man has to say. He said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the council as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him. So do not listen to them for more than 40 of them are lying in wait for him who have bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him. Now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you.” “So the commander let the young man instructing him, “Tell no one that you have notified me of these things.” The young man has great details here. Don’t know how this happens. Remember Paul was a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisees so he may have well-placed connections here, whatever, the young man knows the whole story. Maybe someone sympathetic to Paul among the Pharisees have passed word. We just don’t know but he has the story straight, tells the commander. The commander takes it very seriously and he simply tells the nephew, “Alright, go on your way but don’t tell anyone,” because the commander here is charged now with two things. He is charged to keep peace in Jerusalem and his position depends upon his ability to do that. He has a large contingent of Roman soldiers available to him for this as a commander of 1000. He also has the serious responsibility of giving protection to a Roman citizen whose life is in danger but has not been found guilty of anything. So he is in a difficult position. He is not in a position here where he just wants to challenge the Jews, go to them and say, “I’ve found out about your plan and if you try to carry it out you will pay a stiff price” because that would create unrest in Jerusalem because the Romans don’t care about the Jews. All they care about is peace in this portion of their realm so the commander wants to do whatever he can to keep things from getting out of hand so here is his plan.

Verse 23: “He called to him two of the centurions [these are two men who have a command of 100 each of Roman soldiers] and said ‘get 200 soldiers ready by the third hour of the night [by 9 o’clock], you are going to Caesarea.’” He didn’t have to give long notice. This has to be done quickly and discreetly. You get 200 soldiers ready to travel to Caesarea. Caesarea is about 60 miles away, remember and also you have 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen. That is a contingent of 470 Roman soldiers. He was told there were 40 plus men who have agreed to kill Paul. He is not going to allow for any room here for things to get out of control. He has ten soldiers for every one of the conspirators that he has been told about because you know now he is in a position. He can’t say, “Well, I’ll send a dozen Roman soldiers and take them to Caesarea.” What happens if this gets out and these 40 some are lying in wait there? He could then lose soldiers and now he is really in trouble because it could end up with the death of a Roman citizen and he lost Roman soldiers. Was he fit to be a commander?

So it’s amazing, the providence of God. He is going to protect Paul. I mean, can you imagine here is Paul. He’d been traveling the world, presenting the Gospel. It is God’s intention that he go to Rome and the first step on that stage he is going with 470 Roman soldiers to protect him. I mean does God control everything? Paul is going as a prisoner, true, but he is going as a prisoner with about as much protection as anyone could get – 470 Roman soldiers. I mean we have regular soldiers, we have a contingent of 200 of those regular soldiers; 200 spearmen and 70 cavalry men all for one little shriveled up Jewish preacher. That’s great. I love the way God works in providence.

Verse 24 – Paul doesn’t even have to walk. They were to provide mounts, plural. Evidently you are going to travel 60 miles you bring extra horses because whatever happens Paul has to get to Caesarea safely. If this commander has to give an account of why there was a battle and Jews had to be killed and you may have lost some soldiers, it’s because this Roman citizen had to be protected. That would be a good explanation so they have extra horses for Paul. If they have to get into this, the horse can’t run if you are trying to outrun attacker for 60 miles so they bring extra mounts so he can travel. He is going to get to Caesarea. They are going to travel that overnight here.

Alright, he has a letter to accompany Paul “To the most excellent governor, Felix” and it is written by Claudius Lysias and here we find out that the commander’s name for the first time because he’s got to explain to the Roman governor of all this region really who has authority over Claudius Lysias, the Roman commander here, the governor is in control of this area, a large area in this Roman province. He has to explain to him what is going on here and why he sent the prisoner there. Why it was necessary. So, he writes a letter, he alters things a little bit to put himself in a good light.

“When this man was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them, I came up to them with the troops and rescued him having learned that he was a Roman.” Well, that’s not exactly how it happened. He didn’t find he was a Roman until he was ready to scourge him but he puts it in the context, “I went down to rescue him because he is a Roman. When I learned he was a Roman I knew my responsibility was to rescue him.” So he got a good word in for himself with the governor here. “And wanting to ascertain the charge for which they were accusing him I brought him down to their council and I found him to be accused over questions about their law but under no accusation deserving death.” So this begins a series of statements given by governing authorities that declare Paul’s innocence. This man hasn’t rendered the final verdict but he says the Jews are accusing him about things pertaining to their law but I didn’t find any accusations that deserved his being executed or his being imprisoned.

Turn over to chapter 24, verse 22. This is going to happens with his appearance before Felix. “Felix having a more excellent knowledge about the Way, put them off, saying, ‘When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.’”

Down in verse 26 we are told that he used to call for Paul. We will get to this. After two years he left Paul in prison because he couldn’t find any reason to charge Paul but he wanted to do the Jews a favor. This will go on in chapter 25, verse 20 where he is going to be brought before Agrippa. Festus says, “You know, I don’t know what to make of this. I can’t find any issue here so maybe you, Agrippa, who are more familiar with Jewish things can find something. Verse 26: “I don’t know what to write about him up to further Roman authorities.” This just goes on through the rest of Acts.

So Luke is concerned to make clear that every time Paul has to be evaluated by governing authorities they can’t find anything wrong with Paul but they are not willing to let him go because they want to stay in good graces with the Jews because the Jews are a troublesome people. And we know how this is going to end. We are about 58 A.D. here with Paul. Well you know what happens in 70 A.D., the Romans come to the end of their rope so to speak, with the Jews and we have that massive destruction of the Jews in Jerusalem that is going to take place.

So you have the Romans here doing what they can to pacify the Jews who were always ready to revolt about something going on. But Paul’s innocence is declared again. We find some things about this Felix. We will talk more about him when we come into chapter 24 but there is record of him in Josephus, the Jewish historian and in Roman records so we know a little bit about him and his third wife becomes an interesting person. We will talk about that when we get to chapter 24 and Paul is going to appear before Felix and we will have an unfolding of his situation.

So verse 30, the Commander to complete Claudius Lysias’ letter: “When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing his accusers to bring charges against him before you.” In other words, I had to get him out of Jerusalem and Felix could understand and appreciate that because when you are in Jerusalem you are in the center of Judaism and it is difficult enough to keep the lid on things there. I mean you see how the riot starts and the Roman commander had to send soldiers in to rescue Paul. You just have that kind of volatile situation so he is going to get him out of Jerusalem to Caesarea.

We are over here, here is Jerusalem and here is Caesarea. Now you see we are 60 miles. In between here there is going to be a stop about 35 miles outside Jerusalem and we will talk about that and then they go on to Caesarea. So when Paul was coming down at the end of his third missionary journey, he came to Caesarea here and then on down to Jerusalem. Now they are transporting him out. So you get 60 miles out of Jerusalem and you are out of that hot bed of Judaism and you are at the center of Roman authority for this region so you are out of that place where the Jews are in a position to stir up riots and create trouble.

Verse 31: “The soldiers, in accordance with their orders…” We know the letter now that the commander of this contingent will be carrying. We know something of the make-up of it. “In accordance with their orders, they took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.” So that is 35 miles out of Jerusalem on the way to Caesarea. So you are 35 miles out. That deals with if word got out that Paul was going to be transported however and these conspirators had adjusted and were laying wait for him. Well, you have a powerful enough Roman contingent to deal with anything that the Jews are going to bring up because these soldiers would have to put their lives on the line for Paul because they are responsible for the prisoner and they can’t allow Paul to be killed. So to travel 35 miles outside Jerusalem you’re pretty sure now that you are outside the each of these conspirators. They are not going to be able to overtake you or to get ahead of you or anything like that. So they “bring him to Antipatris and then the next day, leaving the horsemen.” So they make it there, 35 miles. I mean you’ve got 70 cavalry men but you’ve got Roman soldiers that really have to travel here. Some have said they don’t think that they could make that but it pretty clear that Roman soldiers could travel that. They had to make it just overnight here and they are not going to leave until the next day, the horsemen but they are moving. This is a serious thing. They’ve got to get Paul safely there. “But the next day, leaving the horsemen to go on with him, they returned to the barracks.” So now you just have the 70 cavalry men with Paul. We have already been told he has been provided with horses. They will go on now, the last 25 miles to Caesarea. They are out of danger, so to speak, 70 cavalry men are enough to protect Paul here. We are outside the Jewish realm where you could get a large number of people involved in an action. “When these had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. And when he had read it, he asked from what province he was; and when he learned that he was from Cilicia, [up in Tarsus, up north and that region and Antioch, the region we come around you can see Cilicia on the map here and Tarsus here and Paul, remember, he ministered in Antioch but this is his region where he is from. This Roman province, his authority as governor extends all the way up here. So he has authority here. So he finds out that he is in a realm I serve authority over. So that’s why he asks, where is he from, determining whether he is going to hear this case or it has to be transferred further.] “He said I will give you a hearing after your accusers arrive also.” So he has already been told in the letter in verse 30, the commander from Jerusalem had told him that he is going to instruct his accusers to present their charges between Felix at the center of Roman authority in Caesarea. Interesting enough, Felix’ headquarters and the Roman headquarters were now in a palace that had been built by Herod the Great and the Romans had taken over and now used as their center of governing authority for that whole region. So he tells Paul, “I will give you a hearing after your accusers arrive also, giving orders for him to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.” It was a palace that Herod had built and now it is the official governors’ residence and there is a place to keep certain prisoners there and Paul is an accused, he’s an accused but he’s an untried Roman citizen so he will be kept here and it will take five days for Ananias as chapter 24 opens up to come prepared to bring their charges.

Now they are in a different kind of system here now. Now they are going to be tried in a Roman court and Paul is a Jew but he has Roman rights as a Roman citizen so the Lord has seen fit to put Paul in a different situation and yet Paul, he is going to sit as a prisoner for two years in Caesarea and then take a year journey to Rome and then we will see in two years in Rome when we leave it there, the way God works is not the way we would sometimes think. You know, it is easy to read this history and it moves along quickly but you can see why the Spirit of God graciously said to Paul, “Take courage, you have been a faithful testimony for Me in Jerusalem and you are going to testify the same way in Rome.”

This was to remind Paul that God is with him here and that he is on track. He is not just languishing in a prison in Caesarea railing against unjust treatment by Romans and Jews alike. You don’t find that at all. It is just another opportunity. You know what is going to happen to Felix? He is going to hear the Gospel. How else would Paul get it to give the Gospel to Felix and then to Festus and then to Agrippa and then to those in the court of the Caesar as he will say in a letter he will write when he gets to Rome and as a prisoner there he will write to the Philippians and “My imprisonment for the cause of Christ has turned out and here are people who would not have heard.”

We call that the providence of God. We appreciate it when we see it in the life of someone like Paul. We appreciate it a little less when the Lord sends us to the hospital; when the Lord puts us in unpleasant situations we say, “O Lord, what is wrong? I have tried to be faithful. Why has this happened to me? What is wrong?” And you know, the Spirit of God has recorded this not only so we find out the early history of the church in that sense but we see something of the hand of God at work so that we who live out the ongoing history of the church appreciate the hand of God in using us, in placing us where He determines He want us, where He desires us to be so that we can bare testimony for Him in places otherwise that it might not be possible that He might use us in ways that we couldn’t understand. It is important for us to understand that God is sovereign. We are in His hand and He is directing, using what we might call the strangest of circumstances. God could have given Paul wealthy friends who could have provided adequate transportation for him and protection for him to travel in comfort to Rome but that’s not the way God chose to do it. His ways are always right so remember that in the days of this week wherever He places us. God has put me here for a purpose. There are unpleasant circumstances that we will find ourselves in. Lord, you have put me here for purpose. I may not understand it all but I know you are in charge and I rest confident. We take courage in that.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for Your grace in dealing with the Apostle Paul. Lord your grace in directing Luke to write this account under the guidance of Your Spirit so that we might learn of Your gracious work in using the Apostle Paul as Your instrument in bearing testimony for You. Lord in what we might consider strange circumstances might seem that You have abandoned him but Lord You were working. He is a prisoner of Rome but he is really Your prisoner, Your slave, serving You and Your plan. Lord, each one of us belong to You as Paul belonged to You and we are just as much under Your care, Your protection and Your direction in every circumstance and in every situation of our lives. So Lord we too can take courage, be encouraged and rest confident that everything is under control and we are exactly where You have placed us, where You have determined to use us for Your sovereign purposes. We give You praise, in Christ’s name, Amen.