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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.
Festus said: “King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome. But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write. For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”
Acts 25:23-27
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Paul had appealed to a power higher than the Roman governor Festus and so Festus granted his request, promising that he would send the apostle to Rome to meet with Caesar.
And then, he broke his promise.
For as we saw in yesterday’s message, the second of this eight devotion series, a visit by King Agrippa, the last king in the Herodian line of rule, paid Festus a visit and remained in Caesarea for several days. You’ll recall that Festus’ wife, Drusilla, was Agrippa’s sister as was his wife, Bernice. It was quite a family affair.
Well, we saw in the scriptures where Festus went on to tell Agrippa about Paul, detailing the events that had taken place over the past several days before the king’s visit. Included in the briefing was Festus’ intent to send Paul to Caesar but we found Agrippa intervene and cause a change of plans as he expressed the desire to hear from Paul personally, a request that Festus promised to grant.
So Paul wasn’t heading to Rome after all, at least not yet anyways. And as we look at the closing verses of Acts 25, we find the stage being set for Paul to talk with the king.
First, we know that Festus did make good on the assurance he made to Agrippa, that the king would get to meet with Paul the next day.
Second, we read where there was great pomp and circumstance surrounding the king’s arrival in the “audience room” as he and Bernice were joined by “high-ranking military officers” and “prominent men of the city.”
Third, Paul was brought into this environment which was markedly different than before. This time around, he wasn’t surrounded by Jewish religious leaders who mocked him and made death threats. Rather, he was there to testify about his life and work which was dedicated to Jesus.
Finally, we find Festus take center stage and explain to those gathered why the arranged meeting was happening. Look again at his words here:
“King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome. But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write. For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.” Acts 25:24-27
The opening remarks were basically a recap, a sort of “this is why we’re here” message. But note there was a confession by the Roman governor, one he had not voiced until now in the audience of the king.
For we find Festus admitting reservation in sending Paul to Rome.
Why?
Because Paul had done no wrong. He hadn’t broken Jewish law and he certainly hadn’t violated Roman law. In fact, Paul was a Roman citizen. And so this is how Festus explained his decision to not send Paul to Caesar just yet but to allow Agrippa to investigate Paul and all he had done. Festus’ hope was that the questioning would yield “something to write” as he saw it “unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”
So Paul was back in a hearing with a lot of people interested in what he had to say, especially King Agrippa. What would the apostle say?
We’ll begin looking at his comments tomorrow as we begin looking at Acts 26.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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