God’s Protection
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2018 · 25 February 2018
We are studying Acts 23 as we look again at the life of the Apostle Paul as he is now a prisoner. There are some who desire to take his life. Paul had just been through three riots, all directed at him. He escaped death three times. And now, he is alone in his cell, and the Lord Jesus comes to him in person in verse 11, and says, “Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also in Rome.”
The Lord comes in the middle of the night to a lonely, forsaken and discouraged apostle to strengthen his heart. All the world, it seems is plotting against him. The Gentile world is antagonistic just from a pagan standpoint, and the Jewish world was very antagonistic because he preached the Messiah they rejected. Perhaps he felt a bit like David, who wrote these words in Psalm 56.
Psalm 56:1-4, “Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; fighting all day he oppresses me. 2 My enemies would hound me all day, for there are many who fight against me, O Most High. 3 Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. 4 In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?”
In verse 12, there is an incident that happens that allows Paul to know for sure that his confidence is well-placed in the God who will deliver him. It took two long years from the time of the promise, in verse 11, to the time that he gets to Rome. But all through that time, he never waivers. God made a promise and he believed the promise. God immediately, in verses 12-35, sealed that promise.
In these verses nothing about the Lord is mentioned, nothing about the Holy Spirit, nothing about salvation, nothing about redemption, nothing about the Messiah, nothing about any Christian doctrine that is described anywhere else in Scripture. There is nothing about anything practical for the Christian life, and there is nothing here in terms of actual doctrinal instruction.
But this has to be one of the greatest illustrations in the entire New Testament of the providence of God. God does things in two ways, through miracles and through providence, and they are different. A miracle happens when God breaks the natural process to invade it in a supernatural way. Providence is when God gets His will by using the natural circumstances to accomplish what He wants.
How many times have you read in the Bible, "God came and did this," and that's a miracle. How many other times have you read, "So-and-so did this, so-and-so did that and all of a sudden, it all worked out the way God wanted it." That is the difference between miracles and providence. A miracle is God invading the natural world supernaturally; providence is God supernaturally using the natural to accomplish His will.
So in Acts 23 we see the same thing: the providence of God. It is the use of the natural events rather than the miraculous. For example these are miracles: the Apostle Paul being stoned at Lystra and the Lord raising him from the dead. The Apostle Paul being in jail and the Lord used a local earthquake that only opens the jail doors and chains. But through providence all of the circumstances are woven together to accomplish God's purpose.
So this is a beautiful illustration of the providence of God. Of course, some people have a difficult time trusting providence. There are today a lot of people who always want a miracle. But providence is really an even greater miracle. Because God can accomplish whatever He wants to accomplish through the ordering of things exactly in the way that He desires to accomplish His will.
God is saying to Paul, “I'm going to take care of you. I know your needs. You are sitting in a cell, you are upset, and then Jesus came and comforted you. There is a murder plot against your life. Leave it to Me, I will take care of everything. And as we see this murder plot unfold, we see the providence of God as He weaves together all the circumstances to accomplish the protection of His child.
The murder plot was formulated in verses 12-15, and the plan in the life of Paul is very much like the life of Jesus. Both were Jews, both were preachers of God, both were rejected by their own people, both had murder plots against them, both stood before a confused Sanhedrin, both were prisoners of Rome. Paul knew the fellowship of the sufferings of Jesus (Philippians 3:10) like no man that ever lived.
Verse 12, “And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.” Now here is the plot. Disappointed at not being able to kill Paul, a group of these zealots planned another way to kill him. They were very determined as indicated by the phrase, "They bound themselves under a curse."
They invoked the vengeance of God if they didn't accomplish it. Of course that is dumb. That is why Jesus said, "Swear not at all neither by Heaven or Earth." But they wanted to include God’s name in it so they appear very holy. "We will kill him or God strike us dead," They wanted God in on the murder plot. It's interesting to note that the rabbis provided absolution for those who just couldn't come through with their vow.
The reason they were so violent is that they were influenced by Satan. Satan wanted Jesus and the Gospel destroyed. The rebellion began in Heaven, and it continued on earth. Even when God began the plan of redemption to send the Messiah, Satan still fought against it. He tried to have Herod kill Jesus by killing all the babies, he tried by tempting Christ, by killing Christ, by sealing Christ in the tomb. But Satan cannot win.
Verse 13-14, “Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy. 14 They came to the chief priests and elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul.” They didn't want Paul in front of the people making another speech or he might wind up persuading too many of them.
Verse 15, “Now you, therefore, together with the council, suggest to the commander that he be brought down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him; but we are ready to kill him before he comes near.” It was an ambush and the plot was formulated. “Did the Sanhedrin agree?” According to verse 20, they did agree. Even though some agreed with Paul, they were probably outvoted.
But here we see the wheels of providence move as the plot is found out. Verse 16-17, “So when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.” Paul's nephew found out about the plot somehow.
God worked the circumstances to have that boy hanging around the conspirators to get the right message. Then this boy had the presence of mind to go and warn his uncle Paul. This is step one in the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus. Verse 18, “So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you.”
Verse 19-21, “Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside, and asked privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” 20 “And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more about him. 21 But do not yield to them, for more than forty of them lie in wait for him, men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him; and now they are ready, waiting for you.”
Here is a youth asking the Roman commander not to give in! You can see how God is superintending all this. So the whole plot was found out. Verse 22, “So the commander let the young man depart, and commanded him, “Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me.” The commander did not want another argument with those Jews. He was wise.
Claudius Lysias, the commander, doesn't want to take sides. He wants Paul out of town, to protect his life and Claudius' position; and he wants to turn him over to Felix and let him deal with it. To get him to Caesarea, over at the coast, was smart because that was a Gentile-dominated territory. There was less likelihood of a revolution, or assassination. So he calls his forces in.
Verse 23, “And he called for two centurions, saying, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night.” So each man would take the 100 troops that were under him, and this is the heavily armed infantry. Verse 24, “and provide mounts to set Paul on, and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”
Verse 25, “He also wrote a letter in the following manner.” Luke records for us this letter verbatim, but he never read it. This is a good illustration of divine inspiration. That's how the whole Bible has been written, by inspiration of God. The letter was probably written in Latin, so the Spirit of God had to give it to Luke in Greek. But the Spirit does well at translation!
Here is the letter, starting in verse 26 till verse 30. It is a typical letter where the guy is writing to his superior and he pads his case. Verse 26-27, “Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings. 27 This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. Coming with the troops I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman.” He summarizes the events that have brought him to this place of sending Paul.
No, he didn't know Paul was a Roman until he had already rescued him and strapped him on the frame to be scourged. Only then did he find out that Paul was a Roman and panicked. After he found out Paul was a Roman he quickly halted everything. But, instead he says, "So I came to the rescue with the army, having understood that he was a Roman," protecting his rights as a Roman.
Verse 28-29, “And when I wanted to know the reason they accused him, I brought him before their council. 29 I found out that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains.” I followed due procedure, I took him to the council. And he concluded, the whole issue is Jewish; it has nothing to do with Roman law.
He is stating in verse 29, the innocence of Paul. If you go back in the history of Israel, you'll find that the leadership of Israel has been corrupted through the centuries. They lifted up evil men and murdered good ones. They did it to the Messiah, they did it with Stephen, and they're trying to do it again with Paul. Israel's history is filled with the killing of those that God has sent with His message.
Verse 30 is really the key; Paul would never have been able to go from Jerusalem to Caesarea unless there was a reason. The normal reason would be because there was an accusation against him. Since there was no accusation, Claudius says, "I'm sending him for protection," and that's legitimate. Verse 30, “And when it was told me that the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him immediately to you, and also commanded his accusers to state before you the charges against him.”
It was a smart thing to do; he saved his neck and his reputation, with both the Romans and the Jews, by acting wisely and cautiously. Verse 31-32, “Then the soldiers, as they were commanded, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. 32 The next day they left the horsemen to go on with him, and returned to the barracks.” The distance from Jerusalem to Caesarea is almost 60 miles.
Once they entered Antipatris, they were in Gentile territory. Verse 33-35, “When they came to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. 34 And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, “I will hear you when your accusers also have come.” And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.”
The governor said, "Keep him in my house." Do you know that it used to be the palace of Herod? He wasn't able to enjoy it since he declared a day in which he was going to honor himself and God struck him and worms ate him because he didn't give glory to God in Acts 12. So his palace was taken over by the Romans and turned into the house of the governor.
Paul had been escorted by 470 soldiers and now, he was going to stay in the palace. God is taking care of him. This passage tells me things about God even though the name God isn't mentioned. First, it tells me God is faithful. He makes a promise in verse 11, and right in the morning He carries out the fulfillment of it. Paul is 60 miles closer to the promised destination in the first day.
Second, God is caring. He knows how much Paul can handle. He knew how much Paul had endured, and He knew it was time for Paul to go first class. People always think God wants everybody to be poor, destitute, and barely scrape by. No, God knows when He needs to carry you. The Lord knows those things. It is His delight; fear not little flock, yes that means all of you. Let us pray.