ACTS 21. JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM At Tyre To take up a cross daily and follow the Lord Jesus Christ is part of what it means to be a Christian. It is expected that there will be obstacles and opposition as believers who are strangers and pilgrims pass through a foreign country. The world we are passing through is controlled by Satan and all the powers of darkness. The Christian life was not intended to be a casual and pleasure-filled stroll through life into heaven. Our pleasure and joy as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ is in our fellowship with Him. He gives us the great privilege to speak for Him where we are and represent Him to those around us.
When Paul was saved, the Lord told Ananias that He would show Paul how much he would suffer for the Lord’s sake. He had already experienced a lot of suffering, but not very long as a prisoner. He knew what would happen to him at Jerusalem but was quite confident the Holy Spirit was leading him to go there. Other people didn’t want him to go there because the same Holy Spirit had told them what was going to happen to him, and they didn’t want that to take place. Their interpretation of the warnings they had to give Paul was that he should not go, but the Holy Spirit did not forbid him. He just plainly said what was going to happen. The result would be suffering and imprisonment. His conviction by the Spirit was that he must go in the bonds of obedience to the Holy Spirit, to be bound physically by those who opposed the work of God.
To be guided by the Holy Spirit is a personal matter many people will not understand or accept. Our fellowship with, and service for, divine Persons does not always follow an easy path because the independent will of natural human beings resents grace. By our sinful nature, we want to do things in our own way. Not every believer can experience nor is called upon to go through the same things. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are able (can bear).”
The journey by boat is recounted in this passage of scripture to assure us that God controls every aspect of our lives. He knows and can direct us to go by a slow coastal boat that stops at every port or to take a different boat that will get us closer to our goal much quicker. It is right when we are sure what our Lord wants from us, to get on with the work He has put before us. To linger on a sight-seeing journey was not what Paul had in mind. He was not looking for scenery but for saints. He didn’t just happen to find disciples in Tyre by accident. He deliberately looked and “found the disciples” by searching for them. They were not the fruit of his labor, but they were the Lord’s people, and he wanted to see them and be with them.
When we are away from home on a journey, it is a highlight of the time away to have fellowship with the Lord’s people in different places. We may never have met them before, but only a short time passes, and we find ourselves enjoying the Lord Jesus Christ together and finding out how much we have in common because we all know Him. Sharing the pathway of Christian experience with others and hearing about their journey of faith is a delightful way to strengthen one's faith with each other. Christians are a family, and we find family joy when we meet family members for the first time. We may even shed tears when we part because we know we will not likely see each other again on this side of heaven. But those wonderful times with God’s wonderful people remain in our memories and can even feed our souls when we need the uplifting work of the Holy Spirit.
Despite Paul’s anxiety about getting to Jerusalem, he and those with him stayed at Tyre for seven days and met with the saints in the local assembly at the Lord’s Supper. There is a unique blessing from being at the Lord’s Supper in other places because we hear the words of worship expressed by brothers who live in different cultures, and they may use different phraseology that opens our minds wider as to how we express ourselves when we give God thanks. There were those who warned Paul of what would happen in Jerusalem. Even though it seems like their words contradicted Paul’s, neither made a mistake in discerning the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Through the people of Tyre, the Holy Spirit warned Paul of the physical danger and harm that would come upon him at Jerusalem. Paul’s conviction of the “rightness” of his actions had a larger purpose than preserving his life. He had been entrusted with a financial gift from various churches to deliver to the church leaders in Jerusalem. He had the responsibility to be accountable to those who trusted him and to see it placed in the hands of those who would distribute it where the need was. Those who had been supporting him also needed to have a first-hand report of what was happening in the new churches of Gentiles and Jews mixed in places where he had taken the Gospel. Accountability to the people covers many different areas of service.
The Holy Spirit had told Paul he would suffer and be imprisoned. The works and words of God are never contradictory nor inconsistent with His divine and revealed will. Paul was not instructed to avoid the inevitable path of suffering. It was simply made plain to him what was ahead of him in his service for the Lord. The love of the saints for Paul is very touching, as the tears of men, women, and children were shed as they watched Paul go aboard the boat after the remarkable prayer meeting where they all were kneeling on the beach in earnest prayer. Loyalty to the Lord and obedience to His will take precedence over anything else that comes into our lives. The beauty of fellowship and love between believers doesn’t stop when one is out of sight. In our fellowship, “Out of sight, out of mind” does not have to be a fact for believers. We can meet over and over again at the throne of grace when we pray for one another.
At Ptolemais When the boat arrived at Ptolemais, Paul and those with him made a connection with the believers there. Even though it was only for one day, it was likely remembered with fondness by those who met and talked with Paul and the brothers with him. For the rest of their lives, they would remember that the apostles thought enough about them to look them up and have a short visit with them. When we travel from place to place, it is a comfort and encouragement to believers to know they are thought about enough for fellow saints to drop by for a visit. Sometimes, a few minutes of meaningful conversation with a lonely or suffering child of God has a long-lasting effect. It is far more important to visit with isolated believers than to rush ahead to visit a local tourist attraction before it closes.
At Caesarea We see remarkable evidence of God’s grace in Paul's visit to Caesarea. The next time Paul entered Caesarea, he was a prisoner guarded by 470 soldiers. Philip, the evangelist, had gone from Jerusalem to Samaria years before because of Saul of Tarsus, who was imprisoning and arranging for the death of Christians. As a result of that persecution, many Samaritans were saved when Philip preached the Gospel there. The Holy Spirit guided the evangelist to Gaza, where he met the Ethiopian, and God saved him. Through him, it is likely that the Gospel went to various parts of Africa.
Both Philip and Paul were now fellow laborers in the great harvest field of the Lord that spread from Africa to Europe through their labors for the Lord. Those men must have had a wonderful time of fellowship during their time together. Likely, they would tell each other how God had been working in various places and how different people had been saved. How marvelous and thorough are the instructions and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Sovereign Lord had His own way of working His will through those ready and willing to obey Him. Philip's unmarried daughters were also involved in spiritual work for the Lord. God gifted them to speak words of truth and were not saying, “What can a woman do? She can’t speak in meetings as a spokesperson for the assembly!”
Those four women must have been exercised before God as to how they were to prophesy. Some lessons we learn are best taught without words. I have read that around 85% of communication is non-verbal. In public meetings, the visible demonstration of modesty is evident in how a woman dresses. Her submission to divine authority is evident when her head is covered in public gatherings of the assembly. Her attitude toward God is evident in her facial expressions and body language. Her caring concern for others has a lot of opportunities to be expressed when the Lord’s people are assembling or departing.
Prophesying is not limited to public speeches as a leader of the gatherings in arranged meetings. It is to express in words edification, exhortation, and comfort the truth of God when a brother speaks on behalf of the whole church in an open forum. These same responses can be given to individuals in specific ways and can be given in private. Many people have been strengthened and built up in their faith by the written words of godly sisters in Christ. The written words of Fanny Crosby, Amy Carmichael, and Martha Snell Nicolson still resonate in the hearts of the Lord’s people worldwide. Mrs. Charles Cowan wrote the volumes of “Streams in the Desert,” that daily minister to the Lord’s people years after she had gone home. There is scope for every person’s gift when they do not try to copy someone else, or do what someone else does. The Holy Spirit opens doors for everyone willing to yield their own will to the will of God.
When Agabus came to Caesarea and prophesied about Paul’s imprisonment, his words did not forbid him to go to Jerusalem. They told openly and reaffirmed what had already been told by the Holy Spirit. When Paul got to the city, he would be taken captive and bound by those who opposed the Gospel. After Agabus’ prophesy was given, those who were with Paul stopped trying to dissuade him from going up to Jerusalem, but they, too, submitted to the will of God. They packed their bags and determined to go with him to Jerusalem, but they did not know what was going to happen to them there. Those men of faith were willing to stay the course with Paul until something different was told them.
At Jerusalem: Mnason’s house The effects of the grace of God are seen in many different ways in the book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles. At one time, Paul was viewed with suspicion by the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. This time, he and those with him were welcomed by Mnason, a disciple from Cyprus living in Jerusalem. Not too often are the ones who showed hospitality to Paul, and those with him are actually named. This disciple was not hesitant to have all of those men accompanying Paul to stay with him, as well as the apostle himself. He may have been one of the early believers who knew first-hand all that had happened at the beginning of the church in Jerusalem. I think I can see Luke listening with fascination to the account of the early days from a man who had seen and participated in the whole remarkable beginning of the church.
When God saves people, their whole life changes, not just their destiny. People who opposed each other when one was a Christian and the other an unbeliever often become close friends as they share the blessings of the “common salvation” and “the faith once delivered to the saints.” To be able to have important things in common and to be willing to share our lives, hopes, aspirations, and difficulties is part of the beauty of the fellowship believers have with each other.
Fellowship means more than chatting while having coffee and cookies or sharing a potluck supper. Christian fellowship means that we share in the joy and sorrow of other believers with an empathetic heart and willingness to assist them in any way we can. Fellowship extends beyond geographical borders, class distinctions, national cultures, racial colors, and gender differences to include the whole body of believers. We rejoice together and reach out our hands to help meet the needs of others, and we are glad for the privilege of doing it.
At Jerusalem: James’ house and the elders Paul had a warm welcome at the home of Mnason, which would have gladdened his heart. In general, his four previous visits to Jerusalem would likely have saddened his heart. He seemed to have been nervously accepted by the elders of Jerusalem because controversy seemed to be around Paul, who was so zealous in the Gospel. On this occasion, a similar, and perhaps a more serious skepticism was brought up when he went to the house of James, and only the elders were there to hear his report of the work he was engaged in on his last missionary journey.
After he had recounted “one by one” the things that God had done through the labors of Paul and those with him over the last few years, “They glorified God.” To rehearse the work of God in which a servant of God is involved lets the Lord’s people know and hear of victories that God has won in various places and ways. Those reports encourage the saints, strengthening their faith in their own role and responsibility in the work of the Lord. We all have our work to do in reaching out to the lost souls around us. Paul did not exalt himself, nor would he allow any vestige of personal glory and praise to be given to him as he recounted the work of God among the Gentiles. He told in detail all that had happened as he went from place-to-place teaching and preaching, so that would mean he talked about the difficulties and disappointments as well as the good things that happened. Such reports in local assemblies of God’s people stimulate interest in prayer, financial support, and personal exercise on the part of those who hear what God is doing in other parts of the world.
Until this point, the “missionary meeting” seemed to go well. This meeting, however, was a private one in the house of James, and only the elders were there to hear what the Lord was doing in other places. There was more involved in this meeting than the mere recounting in detail all God had been doing among the Gentiles. The victories of the Gospel and the presenting of the financial gift from the various churches of the Gentiles were not even mentioned when it was given to the elders. Even this time, when Paul got to Jerusalem, there was an undercurrent of uneasiness among the Jewish leaders.
Prejudice can be a serious problem among Christians if we do not choose to see people as God sees them. He has no respect for persons, and neither should we. An “us and them” attitude among believers should be addressed and corrected as soon as possible when it arises in the house of God. We are all one in Christ and are neither Jew nor Gentile, but church of God. There are times when personal prejudices against people have nothing to do with culture, race, gender, or any of the common things that divide people. Still, it is just that one person doesn’t like another because of their different personalities. When that happens, wise leaders look for any area of common ground that they can emphasize and seek to engage people with differing personalities in some common goal, even if it means they are separate physically. When a goal is reached, usually, they come together to rejoice over the conclusion of the matter.
What came out in the open in Jerusalem was that the elders had been listening to some accusations from Jewish believers they didn’t know or who came from distant places. They charged that Paul had openly been teaching people to reject the law. They knew Paul well enough that such a charge was not true, but apparently, some were intimidated by such people. It is significant that James didn’t have a word to say on this occasion. Paul had written the book of Romans before this meeting, so what he taught concerning law-keeping was that it was not necessary as an addition to salvation by God’s grace. True, this was a transitional period in the church’s history, and there was a tendency on the part of legalists to carry some “grave clothes” with them. There were those who were seeking some personal virtue by doing what the law said and so could “feel good about themselves,” even though they had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation.
For whatever reason, the elders had succumbed to the pressure of the Jews who were presently there for the Passover and believed that Paul should do something to assure the dissenters that he was still a faithful Jew. To be a Jew is one thing. Practicing Judaism is quite a different matter, but apparently, they had not fully learned that distinction then. The Passover, as a feast of Jehovah, was over. Christ is our Passover Lamb. He has died and risen again, negating anything the Passover was, as regards pleasing God. It had become an annual tradition from the past that they felt committed to, and it gave them a reason to come together and have a celebration.
Unbelieving Jews were there to keep the Passover as a means of acceptance with God and to show their own commitment to their religion. Believing Jews would have come to meet with others and to maintain a cultural tie with their ancient heritage, except for the fact that some were still trying to mix faith in Christ with Jewish religious practices. Consequently, the elders saw it as a potential danger that the Jewish “apostle to the Gentiles” was there and the “myriads” of Jews who believed never knew Paul, although they had heard of him and his work among the Gentiles in other nations.
Reports that come to the ears of the Lord’s people from unknown sources need to be carefully checked for truth. There needs to be assurance that what they hear is all the truth or that salient points of the report have been left out. Also, the motive behind the report, especially if it is a challenge, needs to be found out because often jealousy, envy, animosity, or a desire to see a person fall is behind charges that are made.
Both believing and unbelieving Jews from Asia would have come to Jerusalem, and the elders seemed to fear a conflict would erupt. So, the matters to be considered when we form opinions about Paul’s actions are: Was Paul wrong to do what the elders asked him to do? Were they wrong in asking him to do it? Why would he have done it if he thought it was wrong? What would the outcome have been if he didn’t do what they asked?
There are often a wide variety of opinions about most things. Very seldom is there ever 100% agreement with the outcome of any matter, so we have to face the fact that our opinions are not the criteria to judge a matter. A general consensus of the people involved can usually be discerned, and from that information, those who lead God’s people come up with an action to take. There will likely be those who feel their input was not taken into due consideration because their opinion was not taken in its entirety. Some things cannot be helped when dealing with a congregation of people.
Years before, in Jerusalem, the council of brethren had agreed and come to a conclusion regarding whether Gentiles had to become Jewish proselytes or not before they could be saved. At that time, they came to understand and accept that people do not have to become Jews to be saved. They also made it a point of declaring to the Gentiles that they were to turn away from idolatry and everything that had to do with that or was associated with idolatry in any way. There was no mixing of faith in Christ with idolatry. That would be evidence of the reality of their profession of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
Some opinions of well-taught men today are that Paul committed the greatest mistake of his years of ministry by associating himself with four Jewish believers who had taken the ancient vow of the Nazarites for some reason. Other people charged the elders of Jerusalem of being men without conviction and so were willing to compromise the truth to please the people. There are other variations of opinions relating to what they consider to be Paul’s great failure. We need to take into consideration, in this instance, the same as we do in others in which we might become involved: who has laid the charges and why, and do those charges come from reliable people who have the glory of God and the good of his people at heart?
Paul had always been true to his Jewish background. He had Timothy circumcised so as not to offend those who knew Timothy was half-Jewish. He had taken a Nazarite vow himself before. He made a rushed and urgent journey to get to Jerusalem in time to be at the Passover. There was no reason to question his commitment to his Jewish heritage. The problem was that Paul publicly associated with Gentile Christians and was without prejudice. That bothered his Jewish enemies, who were from away, and they wanted to see him fall.
He did not compromise his faith by not associating with Jewish believers or by being only with Gentile believers. He took seriously his accountability to the desire of the Jerusalem elders, who he had reason to believe had the good of the Lord’s people at heart. He was not leading people astray because he paid, on behalf of others, the expenses of the Jewish traditional practice of concluding a vow. Nor was he compromising Christianity by participating in a traditional practice that was not condemned.
The higher purpose behind Paul shaving his head and going with those four men to the temple seems to have been to confirm that just as the Gentile Christians can continue to live as Gentiles, Jewish Christians can continue to live as Jews. The Gentiles were not to mix the immoral and demonic practices of idolatry with Christianity, but were, in fact, to reject them completely and have nothing to do with them. Jewish Christians can still continue to live as Jews but did not turn to animal sacrifices for their salvation. They carried out a Jewish practice of ritual purification after taking a vow. When new believers are first saved, it takes time for them to learn from the scriptures, and by observing older Christians, what is inappropriate and what is most appropriate.
From a Gentile perspective, I find it hard to accept that Paul went into the temple with a shaved head, a male lamb, an ewe lamb, a ram, grain, drink offering, and unleavened bread. Paul paid for all those expenses, and then he went with those men into the temple for purification. Such rituals seemed strange to Gentiles, but they were accepted practice by Jews. At first, it seems so wrong to undergo that ritual cleansing when we know we can go to the Lord and confess our sins and He is faithful and to forgive us our sins, and “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” But then, by thinking, as best I can, as a first-century Jewish believer, I think Paul could have looked at the law in two ways.
Paul rejected one way and accepted the other. He rejected the idea publicly and in written words that the Old Testament laws bring salvation to those people who keep them. First of all, they didn’t keep them, and he knew “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” Salvation is a free gift from God offered by His grace alone. It becomes ours when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The law has no value in saving us except to make us more conscious of our sins and aware of our helplessness to save ourselves. “By the law is the knowledge of sin.”
The other view that Paul accepted was that Old Testament laws convict us of our sins and thus prepare sinners for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone can put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The types and foreshadowing of our Lord are seen in the law. Christ fulfilled the law, and by His substitutionary sacrifice, He released us from the burden of guilt sin puts on us, and the law reveals that. There are principles and guidelines in the law that can help us to believe and live in the way God intends.
Paul was not observing the law to be saved but was following a custom he did not believe was inconsistent with salvation by grace. He wanted to avoid offending the elders, who wanted to avoid unnecessarily offending the large crowd of Jews. Paul also wanted to be able to reach the Jews with the Gospel so they might be saved from hell. Romans nine affirmed that fact when he wrote, “I have great heaviness and continued sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh; who are Israelites.”
At the temple The meekness of the apostle Paul was very obvious as we read in this chapter. He was willing to submit to the elders’ desire, take the financial responsibility of others, and even go as far as he could to demonstrate his love for his own people by taking a vow. He was willing to be “made all things to all men, that I might by all means save come.” The humility of such a great man led him to associate with those who still hadn’t broken entirely away from some of the practices of Judaism. To those who were weak, he became as weak.
Years earlier, Herod tried to increase the grandeur of the temple and make himself more acceptable to the Jews by increasing the size of the area around the temple and building a wall around it. Inside that wall was an area that functioned as a place of trade and business, and also there were rooms built there that were for teaching by different rabbis and scribes. Between the inner court, which was for sacred purposes and Jews only, and the outer court was a partition high enough for people to look over, but they were not allowed to climb over it. No foreigners or Gentiles were allowed to cross the threshold to that inner court. It was there a false charge was provoked by Jews from Asia Minor when the feast was almost over. The charge was openly laid against Paul that he had brought a Gentile (Trophimus) into the area for Jews only.
Trophimus was a believer from Ephesus who had come to Jerusalem with Paul and others, so he was likely recognized by some Jews from Ephesus. They had seen him with Paul in the city previously and, with false supposition, charged him with bringing Trophimus into the part of the temple that was forbidden to Gentiles. Also, one of the corner chambers that was connected to the outer court that was reserved for women was called the House of the Nazarites. That was where those who had taken the vow of a Nazarite boiled their peace offerings, shaved their heads, and burned their hair. In these two scenes, a false charge was made, and a riot was initiated.
When dealing with any matter, it is important to make sure there are reliable witnesses and that the source of any accusation is reliable. Human speculation without facts leads to things being added to the original statement until that which was not even true at the start is not only passed on as facts, but false speculations soon are added to the whole narrative, and it is all accepted as being true. Things can very easily get out of hand when spiritual or religious opinions are opposed. People are extremely sensitive about these matters.
Many thousands of Jews had believed, but it seemed like they hadn’t been taught or hadn’t understood that the temple and the covenant God had with the Jews now went beyond that to the new covenant with the church of God. Consequently, a riot was caused when the false charge against “this man” stirred up the whole crowd of people as Paul entered the temple courtyard. Paul became the focus of the attention of the Jews, “This is the man that teaches all men everywhere…,” so that instead of having been blessed by being seven days at the Passover and focusing on God, they were just the same as when they came to the Passover for a holy purpose. Now, they were worse off than when they came.
It is a sad but true commentary on human beings that people are far more ready to believe a lie than the truth. People will accept lies by faith and even more quickly accept the lie if it condemns something or someone they don’t agree with or simply don’t like. Then, the next step is to pass on the lie and seek ways to bring one who differs from what they accept down in failure, defeat, and disgrace. Prejudice comes from a false view of one’s own self instead of seeing ourselves as God sees us. Pride is viewing ourselves in a good light and thinking that we are better in some way than others.
The pride of the Jews in themselves and their prejudice against Gentiles and Paul, because he considered Gentiles as important in God’s eyes as Jews, moved them to riot with the intent to kill Paul right on the spot. The concern of the elders, and it seems like the whole Jerusalem church, was to compromise truth to keep the peace. None of the other apostles are mentioned as being there at that time. So, the church wasn’t ready or able to fulfill the responsibility God had given to it. We have a similar movement going on today.
“Lifestyle evangelism” has taken the place of heralding the Gospel in many churches today. Because it is less confrontational as to how the message of the Gospel is delivered, to those who claim to be Christians, it is more acceptable. In that way, they think people will like them better, and they can become friends and “win them to Jesus.” The problem is that throughout Christendom today, including some evangelical groups, sinners are not called upon to take personal responsibility for their own sins against God. When there is no real conviction of sin or repentance of their sins to God, they have not faced the fundamental problem between them and God. A person must take ownership and accountability for their own guilt. When they face the problems that their sin has brought upon them and face the fact that God is just in punishing the sinner to the full extent of divine justice, then they will call upon the Lord for mercy. It is then repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is quickly and urgently taken.
People must be taught that sin will not be allowed in heaven. If they want to be a Christian and still continue in sin, grace has no effect. When a person faces the fact that God is fair when he lets those who choose to follow Satan in this life follow him in the next, then hopefully, they will accept the free offer of grace and forgiveness to be saved from their sins. Those who choose the world, the flesh, and the devil in this life will go into a lost eternity. Then, they will understand the reality of hell that they would not believe when they could have been saved by grace through faith.
The riot The wild scene of an Oriental riot is being replicated in this country lately, as people resist the law and justice is not carried out. For very little reason, the wicked who have no peace themselves don’t want other people to have peace but rather want peaceful people to join them in resistance against that which is tried and proven to be true and replace it with vague, featureless ideas. When God and truth are substituted by that which is evil and false, sinful people with varying opinions will join in rioting against righteousness. Prejudice and pride against biblical Christianity abound worldwide and it will continue as “Evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Paul did not reject His Jewish heritage and he was not an agitator, but was a peaceful man who was faithful to his Lord and Savior. The radicals who stirred up the mob tried to stamp out the only hope for Israel when they tried to stop the Gospel. Those who deliberately oppose the Gospel, oppose God. To be misguided does not mean you are exempt from the consequences of doing what is wrong. Those who oppose the law, the Bible, the people of God, and who had the opportunity to receive the message of the Gospel and, through it, the Savior, are lost.
More happened that same day, in the same place, that was very significant. The doors to the temple were shut. It had always been a place for people to admire and appreciate. Likely, those who closed the doors that day were guarding the temple and wanted to prevent the rioters and any violence from coming inside. But the “KEEP OUT” that took place that day, is almost like a direct response to the words of the Lord in the last book of the Old Testament. God wanted the temple door shut and useless sacrifices to cease because it was all meaningless activity by those who had dishonored God,
The physical temple has no significance if God is not there, and it has no significance to the church of God. God does not dwell in temples made with hands. There is no “KEEP OUT” sign for those who want to come to God in sincerity and truth, no matter who they are. “The door is open wide, to my Father’s house.” Those who were near to God, as were the Jews, and those who were far away, as Gentiles, have been “brought near by the blood of Christ.” Peace has been made between the two groups by making them one in Christ, one body in the Lord. In one body we have been reconciled to God by the work of Christ on the cross for us all. Hostility between Jews and Gentiles who are believers in Christ has been put to death. Christ has died for the ungodly no matter who they are. All are able to be saved when they come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith.
The many people who cried, “Away with him!” rejected Paul in the same way they rejected his Lord and Savior. They would have killed him right there if the Romans hadn’t come and rescued him physically. The Romans thought they had captured a wanted Egyptian revolutionary, and were perhaps a little disappointed that they wouldn’t be recognized as the cohort that stopped a rebellion against Rome. When Paul spoke in Greek as a cultured, highly educated man, that changed the whole perspective of the Romans, who were usually rough soldiers who spoke simple, crude language.
A Jew from Cilicia, a citizen of Tarsus, which was a well-known area of the empire, could not be ignored. There were people higher than the local commander who would be suddenly involved if Paul was wrongfully treated. When he requested permission to speak to the furious Jews, Paul took command of the situation with authority. By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was guided to control the event. He could have spoken in Hebrew, but many Jews from other areas wouldn’t have known all the words. He could have spoken Greek, and only the educated would know what he said. He could have spoken Latin, but mainly, it would have been the soldiers who would know what he said. The gift of tongues enabled him to speak to everyone in a language they all would have known. Aramaic was the common business language of Jews in Jerusalem, and the Spirit of God directed him to speak that language.
We learn from this event, that when certain situations arise over which we have no control, we do not have to have time to prepare a message to deliver. The Holy Spirit within us will give us the right words to say. He will also give us the ability to say what needs to be said appropriately to the situation. When our Lord allows unexpected events to come upon us, we can have confidence that He will not leave us alone like a kitten on a rock in the middle of a pond of water.
The life of Paul is an exhibit of the grace of God. In the middle of a riot in which he is in danger of being killed, he keeps his soul in patience and faith. He also kept his dignity and courtesy. “May I speak unto thee?” is evidence of one who has both wisdom and courage when under pressure. Under the scrutiny of a man of authority, he was appropriately deferential and yet ready to defend himself in a way that he knew would be effective. When child-like simplicity is blended with moral and spiritual strength, there are doors that can be opened a bit and appear to be shut at first. Some doors will be slammed shut if one is openly forceful and demanding attention and a hearing.
Even the place where he stopped and called attention to the facts about him that had been overlooked, was by divine guidance. He had mounted the steps that went up to the wall surrounding the courtyard and was nearing the barracks of the soldiers when he spoke out to the commander. He had everyone’s attention. Those below in the courtyard would have been following the soldiers and the prisoner who was bound with two chains, likely each chain attached to a soldier on each side of him.
When the whole entourage stopped, and a conversation was held in view of everyone, and then when permission was given to Paul to speak by the superior person in the group, there would have been a curious interest as to what was happening. A crowd of rioters became an audience of listeners.
A GUIDE FOR WITNESSING