Confrontation and Consolation

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2018 · 18 February 2018

In Acts 23, the Apostle Paul is facing the second phase of his trial. He has been captured and this is the beginning of his life as a prisoner. It doesn't hinder his ministry. It just gives it a new dimension. But in this particular situation, we find the Apostle Paul, as so often in his life, under stress, but maybe this is most severe stress he has ever known. He knew that he was in the last phase of his life, but he did not know when.

Even though he said in Philippians 1:21, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain," he did have plans to go to Rome. He wanted to confirm the Christians there. He had just been through a terrible ordeal, a riot in which his life was at stake, but rescued by the Romans. He faced being scourged. Rescued from that, he now is brought to face the high court of Israel, the Sanhedrin.

Here is a great illustration of how the Lord ministers to one of His children in need. Here is the Apostle Paul, conscious of the potential of death in his own life, and aware of the tremendous trial that he was going through. And in the midst of this, we see a God who comforts him, particularly as we will come to verse 11. We Christians have a God who is not to be feared but, rather a God who comforts us.

There are times when we wonder where God went. Or if we don't wonder, the question enters our mind, “Does He care? Master, do You care if we perish?” What kind of a God do we have? Listen to Isaiah 49:14, the people of Israel said, “The Lord has forsaken and forgotten me.” Listen to God's answer, “Can a woman forget her nursing child? I have engraved you on the palms of My hands. I see you before Me all the time.”

I can see Paul in this situation when he becomes pensive and thoughtful after this phase of his trial is over, and he is alone in a cell. And maybe he is thinking, “Does God really know that this could be the end for me?" Remember what Jesus did in Mark 4:39, “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” Does He care? Yes, it is proven He cares.

Yes, our God is gracious, and He is forgiving. You say, "But is that true at the times when we fail?" Yes, because grace and mercy and forgiveness can only happen in times of failure. Do you understand that? If there is no failure, there is no grace. If there is no failure, there is no forgiveness. Now we see Paul, and he might think he failed and look at God's response to that error.

Now look what happened to the Apostle Paul. The Sanhedrin is hastily convened in Fort Antonia by Claudius Lysias, the commander-in-chief, and they try to make sure what this man has done. The Romans saw the crowd trying to murder Paul, and they didn't know what the accusation was. Claudius assumed there must be a crime, or they wouldn't have been trying to kill him in the temple court.

So, in Acts 23 the session of the Sanhedrin is called together. And we see three major points in this text: the confrontation, the conflict, and the consolation. Paul says, "I stand here convicted of nothing. Everything that I've done, I've done conscientiously toward God, and that hasn't changed since becoming a Christian. I'm still being obedient to what I believe is the voice of God.

Actually no Jew ever had a clear conscience. Why? Because the Old Testament system never purged the conscience, right? That's why Hebrews 9 and 10 say that only Christ, in His perfect sacrifice, purged the conscience of a believer. What a Christian has that a Jew does not have, is the absolute freedom from the guilt, because all sins are forgiven; and so those Jews didn't understand that statement.

Well, the confrontation then led to conflict. Verse 2, “And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.” It either means a blow with a club or with a fist. Verse 3, “Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?”

The high priest had violated the law. Jewish law safeguarded the rights of a man on trial. He had not even been accused of a crime, let alone proven to be guilty. Paul was calling on the vengeance of God. You are a hypocrite. You have brought me to be tried by the law, and you are in violation it yourself. You whitewashed wall is a term for a hypocrite. Paul was somewhat angry, and that was a sin.

Some say that maybe he was not angry, but saw this as an opportunity to gain a legal advantage. But in a legal situation, you don't have to call somebody a whitewashed wall to make your point. Verbal abuse is unnecessary even if the high priest was a whited wall. Verse 4, “And those who stood by said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” Was he really? The high priest was in a God-ordained position but he was Satan-motivated.

Here is the key word, to revile in anger. It can be translated to abuse, to slander, to insult, to curse, and to blaspheme, and they all mean the same thing. The crowd said, "Paul, you have blasphemed the high priest. They read Paul's attitude as anger, as mockery, not as just a calculated legal move. When God set up His theocracy in Deuteronomy 17, there has to be authority.

God ordains authority and submission, and God knows that there will be bad leaders but God still said to Israel, "You submit," because submission is the principle that keeps the government together; and that judge or that priest will pay for his own failure. He is accountable to God. You're accountable to be submissive to him unless he makes you do something in direct violation to God’s word.

So when Paul spoke that way to the high priest, he did violate the law. The high priest had no right to inflict punishment on him, but Paul had no right to react that way. Because he was taking an action that violated the principle that God had ordained, the principle that goes with that office. So a man in that position was not to be desecrated, because it was a God-ordained place, even though the man was satanic.

Now, Paul was right when he said God was going to smite him, because he had violated the role of the high priest. But look what Paul's attitude was. What is your attitude when somebody comes to you and says, "You did such and such wrong." What's your reaction? Paul did not retaliate in defense. He submitted to the Word of God and apologized. That was the spiritual right thing to do, because he had violated the law.

Verse 5, “Then Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’” He condemned himself in front of that whole court. He said, "I've sinned. I'm sorry." Paul admitted he did wrong. But the next best thing to not sinning is to confess it the moment you've done it and submit to the authority of the Word of God and turn from it. That's what Paul did.

We see his humanity when he answered. We see his spirituality when immediately he caught himself and publicly confessed that sin and turned from it. If you deal with sin in your life that way, you would save yourself a lot of chastisement. 1 Corinthians 11:31 says, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” If we would take care of our own sin, we wouldn't have to be chastened by God.

That is a humble man. God help me to be so and you. The thief on the cross looked over, and said, "We indeed, suffer justly." And that's the one that went to be with Jesus. God is honored when we acknowledge sin and turn from it. Your sin is not to be compared to someone else’s sin, because there is always a worse sin. It is only to be seen in comparison to the holiness of God.

Now we come to the issue of conflict. In verses 6 to 10 this conflict turns into a victory. Watch what he does. The Spirit of God has given this man such wisdom. Verse 6, “But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”

In Jewish theology, there were basically three sects: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. Essenes were the ones that lived down near the Dead Sea in Qumran, the esthetics and the monastics; but the Pharisees and the Sadducees were in the middle. The Pharisees were the super-legalists who believed in miracles, and the literal interpretation of Scripture. The Sadducees were the liberals of the day, they threw out the miracles.

The Pharisees were the majority. The Sadducees, the minority; but they had the control, because they were the priestly family. So Paul looks at the Sanhedrin, a group he knows well, because he was a member; and he perceives that the groups are there. Now, these people got along only when they met together in the Sanhedrin. The rest of the time, they always argued.

So Paul just caused the whole Sanhedrin to have a civil war. He's just calmly stood there while they started the fight. You see, the real issue at stake was Paul had given his testimony; and Paul declared in his testimony that he was going down the Damascus Road and who spoke to Jesus of Nazareth. Well, that meant that Jesus of Nazareth was alive, right? So that was saying that there is resurrection!

The Pharisees were like Calvinists. They believe in absolute sovereignty. The Sadducees were like Armenians. The Sadducees believed in free will, and so they used to always argue about predestination and free will. They were at the opposite ends constantly. Paul preached the resurrection. That's what people got upset about. He preached that Jesus was alive, that Jesus had talked with him twice, and this is what infuriated everybody.

The Sadducees say there is no resurrection nor angels nor spirit. They denied that the soul lived after the body. They said, "The body dies. The soul dies. There's no heaven. There's no hell." Sadducees started as a reaction to the Pharisees' concept of rewards for service, and that reaction went all the way to the extreme of denying any kind of rewards. So no afterlife, no miracles and no supernatural works.

Verse 9, “Then there arose a loud outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees’ party arose and protested, saying, “We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.” Paul is just standing there. They were willing to let Paul off the hook in order to make their theological point against the Sadducees. The last phrase about “an angel or spirit” doesn't appear in the best manuscripts.

Paul did not say it was a spirit or an angel that had spoken to him. It was Jesus Christ. But they wouldn't accept that. You see how they changed the testimony to fit their theology? But they wanted to include that part of their theology, so they said, "What if an angel or a spirit spoke to him?" And the Sadducees would say, "There are any no angels or spirits?" And away they would go.

Verse 10, “Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.” Every time the commander tried to get an accusation against Paul, he couldn't get it. Now the whole Jewish court is fighting each other, and Paul's still standing there with no accusation.

Probably, they closed in around him, and the Sadducees were yanking one way, and the Pharisees were yanking the other way. So the Romans had to rescue Paul again. Wow, God has planned for everything. The leaders of the nation of Israel are thrown into confusion, and Claudius has got the whole Roman army on the side of Paul. When God has justified somebody, it is difficult to charge him.

So Claudius Lysias says, "I still don't know what this guy has done.” So Paul is put in the barracks for the night. And now we come to the consolation. Verse 11, “But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.”

It wasn't enough for the Lord to just remind him of a few principles. Jesus actually came to him. Jesus came and stood by him and He gave him three things, “Consolation and commendation and confidence." Consolation. "The Lord stood by him and said, 'Cheer up, Paul." Can you imagine you are sitting there and, all of a sudden, you hear Jesus say, "Cheer up, Paul." What would the voice of Jesus be like?

Do you believe the Lord is that close to us? The Bible says the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Jesus said, "I may be going away from earth, but I'll never leave you forsaken. Lo, I'm with you always." 2 Corinthians 7:4 says, “Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.”

And Jesus came personally into that little cell that night and calmed Paul’s heart. “Cheer up, Paul.” Not a lot of theology in that, is there? He just said, "Cheer up. I'm here with you." Paul said in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing.” Why? "The Lord is at hand." Isn't that good? That is real consolation. We are never alone.

Jesus said, “Paul, you have testified for Me in Jerusalem." He said, "Paul, you finished your work here. You did what I wanted." Then He gives him confidence. "And so you must you also bear witness at Rome.” The Lord just promised that. God came personally, and He gave him thanks for the past, comfort for the present, assurance for the future. Cast all your care on Him. And He will be with you forever. Let us pray.