Paul before Agrippa
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2018 · 13 May 2018
This again, is historical narrative, and we are studying the apostle Paul, and the pattern of his life. The Holy Spirit has, for an explicit reason, given us this historical narrative, so that we might emulate the man, as the man was. We need to remember two things; the pattern that Paul used in evangelizing, and the boldness of his person. This is the example of a man who knew what we have to do in presenting the gospel.
Christians are definitely trying to convert you. This is the goal for which we go into the world, to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ, that they might be redeemed. And some Rabbis have argued that the Jews don't try to convert the Christians; so why do the Christians try to convert the Jews? Because our Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 28, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, making them My disciples."
But look at the response here. Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuaded me to become a Christian." There are a lot of sermons where many people are almost ready to be saved, on the verge of coming to Christ. But that is not what this is saying. The Greek statement is “Are you trying to convert me?” It's mockery. We know what Paul says is right. Yes, that is absolutely what we are trying to do.
The Apostle Paul wants to gain the heart and soul of Agrippa. The goal in this passage, is to get Agrippa clearly into a position where he understands the gospel and can make the right decision for Christ. At this moment the Apostle Paul has already been proven innocent, in four different hearing situations - before the mob, before the Sanhedrin, before Felix and before Festus.
Paul has not blasphemed God by desecrating the Temple, as he was accused of. He has not defied Israel by disobeying the Mosaic Law. He has not defied Rome, by being an insurrectionist and creating riots against the government. He has not done any of those things, and all of those courts, both Jewish and Roman, have attested to the fact that he has not done those things.
He has been kept a prisoner, because the Roman Governors don't have the courage to release him because they know the Jews want him dead, and they are afraid of the Jews. They are afraid that there will be riots, and they will have a hard time coping with them, so by acquiescing to the Jews they delay it. So this is just blackmail. That is an old story with Roman Governors. The Jews treated them all the same way.
Paul should have been released; he has been proven innocent on four occasions. But they still have him in prison in Caesarea. Paul, realizing that this just can't go on like this, realizes that his life is in danger, he knows he is not going to get justice in Caesarea. So the only recourse left to him is that as a Roman citizen, who was brought before a court anywhere in the world, he can appeal to Caesar.
And in Acts 25: 10-12, Paul makes this appeal to Caesar. In verse 12, Festus says, all right, "To Caesar shall you go." Now, that was a bold move because, as I mentioned before, Nero was crazy, and submitting himself to the judgment of Nero wasn't necessarily a good way out. But Paul did it, because he knew that the Lord, in Acts 23: 11, had promised that he would make it to Rome.
Paul was obedient to God's will, to go to the place God had designed for him, and he really wanted to go to Rome. Deep down in his heart, he had a desperate desire to go there. When he wrote the letter to the Roman's earlier, at Corinth, he said to them, "That I desire to come to you. I long to see you, to impart some spiritual gift." Romans 15:24 says, "On my way to Spain."
Now, there is a big problem here. In the appeal that Paul makes to Rome, Festus must acquiesce and send him there. But, along with the prisoner, there had to be a report, and the report had to contain the accusations against the prisoner on which the trial and the case were based. But there were no accusations that had proof, so there was nothing to write down. There was nothing of which he is accused of worthy of bringing up.
There were no witnesses to attest to anything. All they had was a desire, on the part of those Jewish leaders, to have that man killed. They knew he was innocent. It was the same with Jesus, it didn't matter that He was innocent. They hated what Jesus stood for. They hated the fact that He rebuked their sin. They hated the fact that He unmasked their hypocrisy, and they hated Paul the same way.
But, fortunately for Festus, a man named Agrippa happened to arrive on the scene, making a courtesy call on this new procurator. Festus had just been inducted into the governorship of Judea, and his neighboring vassal King was a man named Agrippa. And Agrippa just happened to arrive, to cement relationships. And Agrippa was perfect to help Festus in trying to find an accusation.
Festus knew that the reason he couldn't really figure this thing out, was because it was a Jewish thing. And when Agrippa, the Jewish King, arrived, he figured here is a guy who is able to solve this mess. Verse 13, “And after some days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus.” Agrippa and Festus then have this brainstorming session to determine what they are going to do with Paul.
Now, this was purely a courtesy call. Festus was the superior to Agrippa. Even though he was the King, he was only a vassal King. He was what Queen Elizabeth is to England. The Roman Government had subjugated all of Israel's own authority. So, he was really Roman oriented with Roman allegiance, though he was Jewish. But, as a King, he was in charge of appointing Priests and Jewish worship. So, he knew all this.
Now, Agrippa was one the Herod's. The Herodian family was a family of Kings, and they ruled in the New Testament Era. You can go all the way to Herod the Great, and extend all the way to this Herod Agrippa II, he was the last of the Herod’s. Now, Herod Agrippa II was the brother of Bernice, and this is one of the most infamous relationships because they lived in incest. Bernice was also the sister of Drusilla, who was the wife of Felix.
Herod Agrippa II was the son Herod Agrippa I, who beheaded James and imprisoned Peter. He is the man, in Acts 12 who decided one day that it would be Agrippa Day in Caesarea. He invited everybody to come and he made a proclamation. And all the people said, oh what a man, this is the voice of a God and not of a man. And he loved it. And an Angel of God right away punished him and he was eaten by worms and died.
Herod Agrippa's uncle had beheaded John the Baptist, and his great grandfather, killed all the babies at Bethlehem. So, it was really a bad family. He was really eager to help Rome. He lived in Rome, until his father died in 44 A.D. Claudius, the Emperor of Rome wanted to appoint him to the Kingdom that his father had, but he was too young - only 17. So, they waited till he was 23, and then they gave him a part of the territory.
Now, in the Jewish War, which really brought about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. he tried to prevent the Jews from revolting. He tried to keep the peace. And in fact, when Vespasian moved his troops against Jerusalem, he joined the Roman army and fought against Jerusalem. So, he really was a traitor to Judaism. He died in Rome, the last of Herodian Dynasty.
Now, Bernice was his sister. Historian Josephus, tells us that they lived in incest. And Bernice fooled around, and once in a while she had a lover, but would always comeback because the lover would dump her. In fact, the son Vespasian, Titus, the one who really caused the destruction of Jerusalem, took Bernice as his lover. But when he got her back to Rome he dumped her, and she went right back into the incest with Agrippa.
Agrippa had a very good reputation in Jewish matters. The Apostle Paul acknowledges him as "an expert" in Acts 26:3. Verse 14-15, “When they had been there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying: “There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix, 15 about whom the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, when I was in Jerusalem, asking for a judgment against him.”
They did not want a trial. The implication is, they just wanted an execution. Verse 16, “To them I answered, ‘It is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has opportunity to answer for himself concerning the charge against him.” He said to Agrippa, "I told them that Roman law prohibits executing a man without a trial.”
They tried to blackmail him, but he didn't let them do it. And so he said, "You come down and we will have an official trial." Verse 17, “Therefore when they had come together, without any delay, the next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in.” Verse 18, “When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed.”
Festus had probably some idea of what the man had done. Claudius Lysias did; remember he thought Paul was that Egyptian rebel. But when he got in there he says, "I found out that there was no accusation of anything that I had imagined." Fetus said, "I've got a problem now. This guy here was innocent of the whole matter. I inherited him from Felix. I know the Jews want him dead, but I can't figure out what he did.”
"Now, the guy is appealing to Caesar, and I have to send him to Rome, but I don't have anything to report. Will you please help me out of this mess?" He finally concludes, in verse 19, "The only thing I know is, they had some questions against him about their own religion." He didn't understand Judaism. He said further, "And about a certain Jesus, who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.”
Could you believe that? This guy is out of his mind. Why do they bother with him? I don't understand this thing. Any intelligent Roman knows you don't rise from the dead. But he goes around affirming, 'Jesus is alive.'" So what? He didn't understand the implications of the resurrection because he did not understand the implications of the execution of the Messiah. He didn't understand the life and work of Jesus Christ.
And the issue is always the resurrection. Verse 20, “And because I was uncertain of such questions, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters.” Actually the Jews pressured him into trying to get him to Jerusalem, because they wanted to ambush him on the way. But here he says, "I determined to take him to Jerusalem, so there is a solution."
Verse 21, “But when Paul appealed to be reserved for the decision of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I could send him to Caesar.” Now, let me say a word about Augustus. Augustus is not a proper name. Augustus really is an adjective. The word in Greek is ‘sabastas’, which literally comes from the root, to worship. And who was the Revered One? The Augustus Caesar of this day was Nero.
Verse 22, "Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow, he said, “you shall hear him.” This was probably one of the most dramatic scenes in all of the New Testament. Verse 23, “So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and had entered the auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at Festus’ command Paul was brought in.”
Verse 24, “And Festus said: “King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer.” Verse 25, “But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him.”
Verse 26 -27, “I have nothing certain to write to my lord concerning him. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I may have something to write. 27 For it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him.” This is an honest man; he says, “I have nothing certain to write to my lord."
The stage is all set for Paul to preach. Everything that ever happened in that man's life, he turned around to evangelization. And whole place is jammed with people who do not know Christ. In the New Testament when you read about church meetings, they pray and eat together, have fellowship and study the word of God. But they never meets to evangelize, it goes out into the world to do that.
Next you will see how dramatic and dynamic Paul’s presentation was. He just unmasks the sin of those people and he tears Agrippa apart. In Acts 26:1, we see the beginning of Paul's testimony. We have seen the consultation and circumstances, and now here is the commencement. We ought to have the knowledge of the Word of God to be ready to give an answer to the man who asks us for the reason of the hope that's within us.
The Lord Jesus was the master of taking every opportunity and turning it to himself. A woman at a well needs water and she finds out that Jesus is the water of life. She can have a well of water springing up into eternal life. A lot of people need food, and Jesus feeds them bread and then turns around and says, "I am the bread of life." A candelabra, sits in the middle of Temple; Jesus walks in and says, "I am the light of the world."
The High Priest takes the pitcher of water and pours out the water and they're all thanking God for the water and Jesus says, "I am the water of life. If any man thirsts, let him come unto to Me and drink." And so, the Apostle Paul speaks. Two years he was in a Caesarean prison, and all he could ever talk about is Jesus Christ. Can we be like him? Come back next week to hear what Paul has to say about Jesus. Let us pray.