Can I pray for you in any way?
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.
The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship.
In this way, everyone reached land safely.
Acts 27:39-44
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The people onboard the Alexandrian ship destined for Italy had lost hope for survival as a vicious storm enveloped them while at sea. Terrified at the impending doom of death, they weren’t even able to eat. All were in need of a miracle, an act of divine intervention, and that’s exactly what God delivered.
For you’ll recall in yesterday’s message how the apostle Paul had received a saving revelation from God, a blessed assurance from God that he and the other 276 people onboard would live through the danger, even though the ship they were on would run aground on an island.
Then just before dawn the next day, as the ship started to sail through shallower depths measured by the sailors onboard via regular soundings, Paul encouraged all the people to eat for strength as they had not eaten for two weeks and were going to need nourishment to get through what was ahead. And so the people ate, all of them, before the grain was thrown over the side to lighten the load of the ship. For good measure, Paul reminded them that no one would lose a single hair from their head, which simply meant that no one would lose their life.
And that’s where we start as we look at the closing verses of Acts 27, a passage that reveals how Paul’s saving revelation was fulfilled. Look again at the account here:
When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.
The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship.
In this way, everyone reached land safely. Acts 27:39-44
With a lighter ship, a greater distance could be traveled before the ship would bottom out and as daylight came the next day, all onboard the ship could see land, land they didn’t recognize but land nonetheless, land with a bay and sandy beach. We don’t learn the identity of the island, Malta, until the beginning of chapter 28, but for now, I’m sure the passengers and crew of the Alexandrian ship were just happy to see solid ground up ahead.
We read where the crew quickly cut “loose the anchors” and “left them in the sea”. They also “untied the ropes that held the rudders” and “hoisted the foresail to the wind” so they could make sail “for the beach”. Everyone had to be excited as the ship moved closer to the shore but then we read where “the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground” with the “bow stuck fast” to the point where it “would not move”. As for the stern, the back end of the ship, it was “broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf”.
The ship had run aground just as Paul had predicted but the scriptures tell us that the prisoners onboard were in immediate peril as “the soldiers planned to kill” them so to “prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping”. Keep in mind that Paul was counted in the number of the prisoners.
Well, the centurion no doubt knew that Paul was an innocent man who had appealed to Caesar so it wouldn’t be received well if he was killed before he reached Rome. Further, Paul was a Roman citizen just as much as he was a Jew and then Christian. So the centurion thwarted the soldiers’ plan and “ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land”. He instructed the rest to get to shore “on planks or on other pieces of the ship”.
And that’s what happened. Leaving the destroyed ship behind, everyone either swam or floated to shore and we read the ultimate good news in the chapter’s final verse for not one person perished after the shipwreck and “everyone reached land safely”.
God had come through in a big way and showed all the people that He perfectly keeps His promises. Yes, it was God’s will for Paul to make it to Rome and testify before Caesar but it was also His will that no one onboard the capsized ship would die and we know His will was done for all got to land safely.
We’ll start to look at the final chapter of Acts tomorrow but we shouldn’t turn the page without remembering the key point of our scripture passage for today.
For our Lord makes countless assurances to us through His Holy Word and He never fails to keep them. If God says He’ll do something, He will do it in His perfect time and for His perfect purposes. His revelations are always fulfilled.
I pray you, like me, will be encouraged by this truth today and forever more.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a
comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment