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ACTS - In the Triumphal Procession of Christ
Studies in the Acts of the Apostles
PART 2 - Reports About Preaching Among the Gentiles and the Foundation of Churches From Antioch to Rome - Through the Ministry of Paul the Apostle, Commissioned by the Holy Spirit (Acts 13 - 28)
E - Paul's Imprisonment in Jerusalem and in Caesarea (Acts 21:15 - 26:32)

12. Paul Before Agrippa II and His Royal Retinue (Acts 25:13 - 26:32)


ACTS 25:23-27
23 So on the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and they had entered into the place of hearing with the commanding officers and principal men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. 24 Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all men who are here present with us, you see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying that he ought not to live any longer. 25 But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and as he himself appealed to the emperor I determined to send him. 26 Of whom I have no certain thing to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him forth before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, that, after examination, I may have something to write. 27 For it seems to me unreasonable, in sending a prisoner, not to also specify the charges against him.”

Agrippa II had aspired for some time to see Paul, the mainspring of Christianity. Festus paved the way for him to meet him. So the last king of the Jews came with his sister and retinue, accompanied by the sounds of trumpets, music, and acclamations, into the royal reception room. After him came Festus, the governor, in magnificent glory, followed by his powerful officers, having asked the prominent men at Caesarea to attend this official meeting. At last he asked Paul, the weak prisoner, to present himself before this dazzling display of grandiosity. He had been unjustly imprisoned for two years. Christ had, however, prepared Paul for this crowded throng of nobility, a site which no other apostle or preacher had ever seen.

The governor introduced this meeting by delineating the Jews’ demand for him to immediately sentence Paul to death. He gave addition to his previous reports, stating that the highest council at Jerusalem, through a clamorous demonstration, had supported this demand. But the Roman governor, in the first trial, did not find that he had done anything for which he deserved the death sentence. As he was preparing to send Paul to Jerusalem for the second trial by the Jews, in accordance with their request, Paul had seized the opportunity, saying he wanted to appear for trial before Caesar himself. Here the problem began with Festus, who could not justify keeping Paul imprisoned for two years. He did not understand the reasons for the violation of the Jewish law, the offence with which Paul was charged. A certain man named Jesus had died and been raised. He did not want to write this to Caesar, in case the latter might mock him or suppose that he believed in reincarnation and ghosts.

How astonishing! Festus, in verse 26, before the great council, called Caesar not only master, but lord, as we read in the original Greek text, which indicates that at that time they had begun to deify Caesar. This fact afterwards caused great persecution, torture, pain, and barbarous death for many Christians, who did not render worship to Caesar, but gave themselves up to their Lord Jesus. Those who believed in Caesar called him lord with the full sense of the word. They regarded him greater than Caesars, and called him god himself. This title, which the governor in adulation gave to Caesar, made evident the great problem of all times: no one is worthy to be called Lord except Jesus. So who is your Lord? To whom do you belong? Whom do you serve at all times?

PRAYER: O Lord Jesus Christ, we praise You, magnify You, and worship You, for You are not dead, but living. You are the Lord of glory, who has defeated death, the evil one and sin. Establish us in your kingdom, and may many of those who seek you enter into everlasting life.

ACTS 26:1-15
1 Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense. 2 “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you this day concerning all the things that I am accused by the Jews, 3 especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. 4 Indeed, all the Jews know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Jerusalem; 5 having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 6 Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa! 8 Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead? 9 I myself most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 This I also did in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them. 11 Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. 12 Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests, 13 at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me. 14 When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Paul confidently stood before the prominent men of his people and the officers of the colonial forces with no personal complex or lack of self-confidence. He was filled with his message, and stretched out his hand, as if he expected their attention, while he answered for himself. He defended himself gladly, knowing that King Agrippa II had knowledge of the measure and depth of the religious things of the Jews. Therefore, Paul hoped that the king would be understanding of the problem.

Paul did not introduce his defense by reporting on principles, questions, and notions, but instead sketched before his hearers the history of his life. The apostle was spiritually realistic, avoiding empty opinions and laughter over deceptive imaginations. He structured his case on the fact of God´s interference in the history of men.

The Jews, wanting to know exact information about Paul’s past, had been told that he was a strict Pharisee, who did not philosophize by keeping the law, but loved God with all the power of his will, spirit, soul, and body. The glorious Holy One was the goal and longing of all his thought, and to literally keep the law had appeared to him the only way to God. In addition to his religious bigotry, Paul had awaited, together with all the Jewish lawyers, the fulfillment of the divine promises to the fathers of the faith. The great hope would soon be realized. Christ would come in wisdom, power, and peace to earth. For this expectation of Christ Paul was standing before the court.

It is probable that the king raised his brows at that moment, as if wanting to say to Paul: “It is not because of the expectation of the coming of Christ that you are standing here, but because of your claiming that He had come, had been crucified and buried, and that he had been raised. This is the essence of this serious problem.

Paul, reading the thoughts of the king, answered before he could speak, saying: “Then why do you not believe that God can raise the dead?” The question about Christ always centered on the empty tomb and the triumph of the Lord over death. The sign of Jonah remains either a stumbling block or a foundation for the church. So what do you personally think? Do you think that Jesus’ body rotted away in the grave? Do you believe that the Man Jesus is living in glory, reigning with his Father, and coming again to us soon? This faith is not easy. It comes through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and grows in the one who continually reads the word of God.

Paul hated this message in the past. He angrily rejected the thought that the crucified and despised Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and the Son of God himself, and considered this faith to be blasphemy. Acting in the name of the Jewish Council, he began a comprehensive persecution against Christians, closed prison doors on imprisoned believers, and brought charge against Holy Spirit- filled saints before the national courts, with the result that many were sentenced to death. During the interrogation in the councils of Jerusalem and Judea he forced believers to abjure their faith, and to testify falsely that Jesus was not the Christ, thus denying his divinity. So Saul (Paul) became a cause for the weak and harmless to blaspheme. This legal expert compelled them, against the experience and witness of their consciences, to reject salvation through Jesus. Saul was also empowered by the highest council to make raids even in foreign cities, so that this dangerous heresy might be pulled up by the roots. He had trained himself in practicing this aggression with zeal, hatred, and foolishness.

Then Jesus came. He stood in the way of this young, proud man, and struck him with His shining light, so that he fell down dazzled from his horse. The glory of Christ’s appearance was above the brightness of the sun. Paul’s innermost heart was burnt and shaken, and he thought frightfully that the judgment of God had all of a sudden come upon him and on the whole world.

Luke, the evangelist, reported three times in his book the meeting between Christ and Paul on the road to Damascus (chapters 9, 22, and 26), that we might recognize this experience as the center as well as the mystery behind the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. It manifested the true motive in his Gospel.

The glorious Lord did not, in accordance with His justice and truth, destroy Saul, the murderer of His saints, but compassionately revealed to him that, in spite of his zeal for God, he was, in reality, an enemy. He persecuted Christians in vain, who were united and one their Lord forever. Paul supposed he would be in harmony with God´s will if he tortured and destroyed the Christians. Now Christ revealed to him that those who are persecuted, and not Paul, are in harmony with God. Saul was the servant of the evil one; flowing out of him was hatred, blasphemy, murder, and spite.

At that moment all pride and forms of pride in Paul were broken, and his belief in his legal righteousness melted away. He hated what he had become, and was ashamed for all the evil he had done. At the same time, he probably wondered in his innermost heart why the great Lord had not destroyed him. So he dared to ask him about his name and his identity, seeking grace and knowledge. He expected an answer from heaven, knowing that he himself was a murderer and an enemy of God at heart.

Jesus did not reject the seeker, but spoke to him in clear language, as if to say to him: “I am Jesus. You suppose that I am crucified, dead, corrupt, and crumbled. No, I am living, glorious, and one with God. Poor Saul, you thought that the cross was My punishment. No! No! I died for you, and bore the punishment of all mankind. I, the Righteous One, gave my life for unjust you. I am innocent, but you are reprobate. So repent soon, and turn to me. Be converted, for I am living, and my being is the cornerstone of life. You will either build yourself on me, or be crushed by me.”

Dear brother, did you recognize Jesus indeed? Did you see him before you alive? Have you given up your life to him completely? Do you live in harmony with the Spirit of God? Do not forget that the triumphant Christ is living, existent, and present at all times, and all places. He brings every believer into His triumphal procession.

PRAYER: O Lord Jesus Christ, You are living, present, and come to us through Your Gospel. You do not destroy us because of our sins, but You save us with Your everlasting love. Uncover our sins with Your light, and crucify our stubbornness, that we may love the drawing of Your Spirit, commit ourselves to you completely, and receive your grace, so that You may dwell in our hearts. Come O Lord Jesus to my heart, and to the hearts of all those who wait for You. Thank you, for You are living, and You dwell in me. Amen.

QUESTION:

  1. Why do we find in Christ’s encounter with Paul on the road to Damascus the center of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles?

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