Acts #103 (chapter 27:27-44)
The Book of Acts
Paul's Journey to Rome, Part 2
Acts 27:27–44
 
Just to catch us up on where we are in Acts 27, the Apostle Paul is being sent to Rome as a prisoner. He is going there to have his case heard before the court of Caesar. He has left Caesarea where he’s been a prisoner for two years for Rome, and he is now traveling by ship and they've encountered a storm.
 
Last week, we looked at the way the trip started, and that was verses 1-8. They had one ship available which was a coastal vessel and they took it to a place called Myra. There they changed to a ship bound for Rome, most likely an Alexandrian grain ship that was delivering grain around the Mediterranean.
 
After they changed ships, they experienced some difficulty with the winds and had to land at a place called Fair Havens, which was one of the harbors of Crete. And they had to stay harbored for a while. So we moved from stage one, the start, to stage two, they stay, which was verses 9-13.
 
This was during the fall of the year when sailing became dangerous, and that is pointed out in the text as well. And Paul, who at this point has no standing at all with the crew, points out they shouldn't be sailing. But he is ignored, and they sail anyway.
 
 
And
They didn’t want to get stuck in Fair Havens for three or four months, so they sail.
 
And sure enough, stage three, they encounter, stage three, the storm. And it is a humdinger, as we saw in verses 13-26.
 
The storm is marked by this strong northeastern hurricane wind called Euroclydon, that threatens to destroy the ship. But they take shelter near the island of Clauda where they are able to secure the ship, by lowering the sails and banding the ship together, and then set sail again.
 
And basically, they are at the mercy of the storm. They do what they can to lighten the ship, but they are adrift with the benefit of the stars or sun to guide, and basically, according to verse 20, they gave up hope of surviving.
 
And it is at this point that Paul speaks up to say, "You should have listened to me when I told you not to sail!" Then he continues by saying, "I have some good news and some bad news." And he goes on to tell them that he has been assured by an angel sent from God that no one is going to die. They're going to run aground on a certain island, but there will be no loss of life.
 
And sure enough, the next thing we see in the text is
 
4. The Shipwreck
 
verse 27
 
 
Notice, they are fourteen days into this journey, and they are still in the middle of a storm. Now verse 16 tells us the sheltered near an island called Clauda, and the first verse of chapter 28 tells us they shipwrecked on the island of Malta.
 
The distance from Clauda to Malta is 476.6 miles. Mediterranean navigators tells us that a ship like theirs, traveling in a gale wind of hurricane would be expected to drift about 36 miles every 24 hours which means, if they were fighting the wind to try and compensate for the drift, it would take them exactly 13 days, one hour and 21 minutes to be driven from Clauda to Malta.
 
Add one day from Fair Havens where they began the trip to Clauda and you have the sum of fourteen which is exactly what Luke records for the days of their journey.
 
Now none of that is very important. I just like it when the historical and scientific and mathematical information corroborates the specific information the Bible provides! So here they are, two weeks into this storm, with no idea where they are! And suddenly, these seasoned sailors sense they are near land. Most likely, they hear the pounding of the surf on the shore.
 
Now if you look at a map, Malta is nothing more than a dot in the Mediterranean. And yet, exactly as God promised Paul, even though they have been driven by the wind for 14 days, God directs the ship to this very spot! There’s no other explanation!
 
verse 28
 
A fathom is approximately six feet, so at the first check, they are in water about 120 feet deep, and the second one shows they are 90 feet deep which indicates they are approaching shore because the water is becoming more shallow.
 
Remember, the storm is still going on and they are quickly being pushed toward shore so this isn't cause for rejoicing. It's time to panic because in the blackness of midnight in the middle of a hurricane, you don't really want to approach shore too quickly!
 
verse 29
 
Their only hope is to cast the anchors and wait it out until daylight. Then, they could tell where they were and try to get pointed in the right direction and hit land and beach the ship. That was their intention, but then, something interesting occurred.
 
Panic sets in! How do we know?
 
verse 30
 
The crew panics and some of them decide to abandon the ship and try to make it to shore in the little life boat. They are going to pretend to drop the anchors, instead drop the boat and make a run for it.
 
You know, fear will make you do some stupid stuff! They are so panicked that they were going to abandon the ship in the pitch-black night of midnight in a hurricane and try to make it to shore in a rowboat! They didn’t even know where the shore was and they didn’t even know what was on the shore.
 
But Paul caught on to their plan.
 
verse 31
 
Paul rats them out and tells the commander, "God wants everybody in this ship or nobody’s going to make it."
 
Well, by this time the centurion has become a believer in what Paul had to say. Everything else that Paul had said had come to pass, so he wasn't taking any chances!
 
verse 32
 
I'm not sure that was the best thing to do! They could have used that boat to get to shore and they wound up swimming. But again, this centurion is not taking any chances!
 
It's interesting to me that at first, they didn't want to listen to Paul and now, he sees to be in control! He is calling all the shots and making all the decisions and everybody is doing what he tells them to do!
 
verses 33-37
 
In other words, they needed strength for what was about to happen. They're going to have to get back to work and they will need energy, so Paul says, "Let's eat!" And so he prayed and they ate. By the way, that's a good balance which includes the physical and the spiritual.
 
 
 
By the way, notice the statement he makes about not losing a hair from anyone's head. That seems like a dumb thing to say, doesn't it? After all they'd been through, were any of them really worried about their hairdos? Who cares if you lose a hair from your head?
 
That doesn't mean much to us, but that's an old Jewish proverb that means you’re going to be secure and enjoy complete security from harm. It was Paul's way of saying, “All 276 of you are going to make it."
 
Then, according to verse 38 they lighten the ship by removing the ballasts and get ready to head for shore.
 
verses 39-41
 
Things seem to go from bad to worse as the storm is still raging, and here they are, stuck far from shore, while the ship disintegrates.
 
Which brings us to the fifth stage and that is
 
5. The Safety
 
verse 42
 
It's interesting that the soldiers were not afraid of losing their own lives as much as they fear losing their prisoners, because when a Roman soldier lost his prisoner he had to assume his prisoner’s sentence.
 
So again, these soldier panic and decide to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from escaping.
verses 43-44
 
Once again, the centurion moves in and saves Paul’s life. And once again, all the other prisoners have Paul to thank for saving their lives also.
 
And nothing short of a miracle, they all survive! 276 people jumped in the water and 276 people met on the shore in a hurricane after surviving a hurricane!
 
And I would hope that the first thought those people is, “You know, that God that Paul worships, He’s right. His word is true. He said this would happen and here we stand!"
 
One of the greatest supports we have as witness of Christ is that things happen just as God said that would in His Word!
 
In the time we have left, let me share a quick outline for how to have victory in the storm:
 
First, I notice that Paul
 
  • Shared God's Message (verses 23-26)
 
  • Warned those who would listen (vvs. 27-32)
 
  • Lived what he preached (verses 33-38)
 
  • Trusted God for salvation (verses 39-44)
 
Let's pray.