The Book of Acts
Providential Protection
Acts 23:12–35
When we think of the life and ministry of Paul, it's easy to believe to think that he didn't care whether he lived or died, and in some ways that was true. We hear him say things like he said, in particular to the Philippians like, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain", or "I'm in the difficult position of desiring to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, and needing to stay here."
I think if there was any desire to not die, it wasn't a selfish desire, but rather the desire of a man who wanted to serve the Lord to the fullest. He didn't want to leave anything undone or unfinished that God had for him to do.
So when we come to Acts 23, where we'll be tonight, we hear some of that desire. Remember, Paul is in prison in Jerusalem. Everything he has tried to do since he came to Jerusalem has ended in a riot. He tried to pacify the Jewish Christians, and that ended in a riot. He tried to give his testimony of what God had done in his life to the Jewish crowd in the temple court, and that ended in a riot.
He tried to give testimony before the Sanhedrin and that ended in a riot. And now he is a prisoner. everyone wants to kill him, and yet, deep down inside, he doesn’t feel it’s time yet. He doesn’t feel his course is done. He doesn’t feel that he’s fought the good fight and it’s over yet. That comes later.
In his heart, he feels that he needs to go to Rome, and He’s expressed that to the Lord. And as we saw last time, the Lord comes to him in that Roman stock hold in Jerusalem during the night and says, “Cheer up, Paul! You're finished in Jerusalem and you're going to Rome.”
Now, it will be two years from the time of the promise, in verse 11, to the time that he actually gets to Rome. That's a long time for a man with the kind of eagerness that Paul had. But, all through that two years he never waivers. He never begins to doubt. He never begins to distrust God. God made a promise and he believed the promise.
So what was it that gave Paul such confidence in the promise of God? Well, as we'll see in verses 12-35, God did something to seal that promise and that's what enabled Paul to keep trusting God.
By the way, it's interesting that in these verses, there is no mention of God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, yet it is, without questions, one of the greatest illustrations in the entire New Testament of the providence of God.
I point that out because there are times in your life and mine when we don't see God, it seems like Jesus is far away and we sense nothing of the Holy Spirit, but that does not mean God isn't at work. God is always at work!
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here is Paul, being held by the Romans, and he has nothing but the promise of God. God has told him he is going to Rome to preach the gospel. What he does not know, however, is a plot to murder him is being hatched by the Jews.
There are four scenes in the text as this plan to murder Paul unfolds. It begins with
1. The Plot Unfolds
verses 12-15
Verse 12 tells us we are in the day following the nigh time visit Jesus made to Paul. And we find this group of Jews who have determined they are going to kill him. So far, everything they've tried through the legal system has failed. So they are now going to step outside of the law and take matters into their own hands.
And they are serious about it. They make this unholy pact to not eat or drink, and they do it under oath. They placed themselves under a divine judgment, as it were, if they did not do what they said they would.
And according to verse 13 there are about 40 men involved. So they bound themselves by a blood oath, swearing to God that they would either assassinate Paul or stand under the judgment of God if they didn't.
To add some weight, verse 14 says they enlisted the support of the chief priests and elders. Now, the chief priests of the Sanhedrin were the Sadducees. The Sadducees party was the most antagonistic to Paul because he believed and taught resurrection, and they didn't believe that.
So these conspirators go to the leaders of the Sanhedrin and tell them about their plot to kill Paul. Why would they do that? Why not keep it under wraps and quiet?
Two reasons, first, they knew the Sanhedrin was sympathetic, so legally, they would have protection. And secondly, the Sanhedrin was also the spiritual leaders, so they could be vindicated spiritually.
So in verse 15, they lay out the plan. The Sanhedrin will request the Romans bring Paul back before them for further inquiries, and these 40 men will be laying in wait to attack and kill him. It was nothing more than an ambush. And according to verse 20, the Jewish leaders agreed to the plan.
But, then we begin to see the hand of God as the plot is
2. The Plot is Found Out
verse 16
Now that's interesting, isn't it? Paul’s nephew hears about the plan and goes to tell Paul.
Paul's family is one of the mysteries of the Bible. We have very few details about his family. We know his father was a Pharisee because he told us, but we don't know anything else.
Because of his testimony to the Philippians that he had "lost all things", some speculate that his family had disowned him because of his conversion to Christianity, but that's not for sure.
So we know nothing about them, but all of a sudden, this nephew show's up to save his life. What's he doing in Jerusalem? Did he live there? Was he there studying to be a rabbi, as Paul had been when he was a boy? Was Paul’s sister really one who cared about Paul even though he had been disinherited? Had Paul’s sister become a believer?
Interesting to think about. I can’t imagine the apostle Paul not trying to convert his family, but we have more questions than we do answers.
And there is an interesting little detail in verse 16. Notice, when this nephew hears about the plot, "he went and entered the barracks". That phrase could be translated, “having been present in the barracks”, which means there is a possibility that he was there when the plan was put together.
It makes sense that he was there when they put together the plan, otherwise, how would he have known about it? By the way, we don't know how old this son was. He could have been a young child or a teenager or a grown man.
Is this God's way of telling us he arranged the circumstances so that this nephew was in the right place at the right time to hear what was going on and let Paul know?
That's what happened, and we know there are not circumstances. It wasn't luck or fortune! This was nothing less than the supernatural intervention of God! Remember, God promised Paul he was going to Rome! And a part of God's involvement in that happening is this nephew revealing the plan.
Can you imagine what that message does for Paul? Just a few hours before, the Lord had stood beside him and said, “You’re going to go to Rome,” and now, all of a sudden this boy comes and tells him the Jews have put together a plan to murder him, he begins to realize that God this is God's warning. This is step number one in the fulfillment of that promise.
verses 17-19
I think there is an indication in verse 19 that this nephew was a young child or teenager. Why would a chief captain in the Roman army take a grown man by the hand? I think it is a grown man and a little boy and he does it to calm him down and reassure him.
verses 20-21
So here is this little kid, young man, giving orders to the Roman commander. You can see how God is in charge!
verse 22
So the plot unfolds, it is found out, and thirdly,
3. The Plot is Foiled
By the this time, the Roman commander has had enough of dealing with Paul the trouble that seems to surround him, so he decides to push his case up the ladder and send him to the governor, a mand named Felix.
Now Felix is in Caesarea, which is a Gentile town in a Gentile territory 60 miles away.
So, he calls his forces
verses 23-24
Each man would take the 100 troops of heavily armed infantry that were under him, along with 70 horsemen from the cavalry, and 200 spearmen, who would have been armed with javelins.
So altogether, there were 470 soldiers armed to the gills to escort one apostle out of town. After all, God did say he was going to Rome, right?
The orders are to leave town with Paul at 9 o'clock at night. That’s how he left Jerusalem. Also, according to verse 25, the Roman commander sent a letter to Felix, and this letter is very must be very important because Luke records the contents of that letter verbatim.
One has to wonder, how did Luke know what it said? He certainly didn't have opportunity to read it! It goes from Claudius Lysias to Felix, and I doubt if either of those men asked Luke to do a spell-check on it! So how did Luke know what it said?
He knew it by divine inspiration. Through the miracle of revelation, the Holy Spirit of God told Luke the exact words of that letter, and he wrote them down with his own hand. That’s inspiration in the Bible. That’s how the whole Bible was written. The verbal, plenary inspiration of God moved holy men who recorded what God told them.
By the way, the letter was probably written in Latin, so the Spirit of God had to translate it into Greek so Luke could understand and record it. Apparently the Holy Spirit can speak both languages!
So what did it say?
verses 26-30
Very similar to the accusations made against Jesus, he says, “I have no accusations to bring against this man", and as verse 30 says, "I am sending him to you for his protection."
So, Claudius says in his letter, “I’ve moved the whole thing to you; I sent him to you because there was a plot to take his life, and I told his accusers to go to Caesarea and they would have a chance to accuse him there. So, I’m moving the whole case to you.”
Paul, then, is taken to be brought before the governor; to be accused by the Jews; to be tried. That brings us to the last scene, which we'll call
4. The Farewell
verses 31
The first day they travel about 35 miles to a place called Antipatris. The next day,
verse 32
So the soldiers, as commanded, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. They must have moved at a pretty good clip.
They say an army, when moving at its fastest, can move about 3.5 miles an hour, so they traveled for 10 hard hours through the night to get to Antipatris.
The next day, they left the horsemen to go on with him to Caesarea, and the rest returned to the barracks.
verse 33
So, the 70 cavalrymen deposited Paul along with the letter explaining the case to Felix.
verse 34
He determines jurisdiction, and decides to hear the case. We will learn later that Felix had a personal interest in hearing the case, and next time we'll see what happens.
But before we close, notice the end of verse 35
“He commanded him to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium."
The praetorium is the residence of the governor. Isn't it interesting the Felix says, "Put him in my house."
His house, the residence of Felix in Caesarea, was the palace of Herod. Herod had built a magnificent palace there, and of course, Herod didn't really get to enjoy it because he decided he wanted to be worshipped as a god, and God struck him and worms ate him because he didn’t give glory to God.
So his palace was taken over by the Romans and turned into the house of the governor. Now remember God's promise: Paul, you're going to Rome. You talk about first class arrangements! He traveled with 470 personal body guards and winds up staying in a palace! God is taking care of him.
You can just imagine how Paul, living int he lap of luxury, must have been praising the Lord for a promise given only a night before, and fulfilled already. That's how the Lord takes care of His children!
By the way, did you see any miracles bringing all of that to pass? I saw now miracles, no signs, no wonders, and no mighty deeds. Instead, I saw God at work, through His power and providence, arranging the circumstances, at work in the lives of people, moving all the scenes and the characters on the stage to accomplish His will.
Just like He does in your life and mine! Without using the words and sentences directly, this passage tells us several things about God. First, there is a reminder that
- God is faithful
He makes a promise one night, and the very next morning, He is at work to carry it out. By the next evening, Paul is 60 miles closer to Rome than he was yesterday. God is faithful.
Second,
- God is caring
Did you see the care of God scattered through these verses? Did you see how He takes care of His servant? He knows how much Paul can handle. He knew that it wasn’t time now for Paul to sneak out of town, or to be dragged out of town. He knew what Paul had already endured, and He knew it was time for Paul to go first class, so he sent horses and guards and provisions and a written explanation and a soft bed in a comfortable palace.
People always think God wants everybody to be poor, destitute, and barely scraping by. No. Not always. God knows sometimes, you need first class.
God is faithful and God cares.
Let's pray.
