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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”
So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense:
“King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.”
“The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?”
Acts 26:1-8
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Paul had hoped to be sent to Rome so he could testify before Caesar. I’m sure his thought process was based on his encounter with the Lord while under Roman captivity in Jerusalem. There, the Lord said this to His faithful servant and apostle:
“Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” Acts 23:11
As usual, Paul was ready to carry out the Lord’s will but as he had experienced during his lengthy stay in Caesarea, often times the Lord has different purposes for us as we wait for the final fulfillment of His plan play out.
Since God’s announcement of Paul’s future Rome testimony, the scriptures have had us travel with him to Caesarea after an assassination plot was exposed in Jerusalem. Once there, the Roman governor Felix convened a hearing where the chief priest of the Sanhedrin could come with a lawyer and elders in tow to levy charges against Paul. We saw where the Sanhedrin’s prosecuting attorney first brought false allegations against Paul but then the apostle was able to speak and defend himself, something he did well enough to gain divorce from the Sanhedrin, at least for a while anyways. For after the Jewish leaders went home, believing that Felix would render a verdict, Paul was held captive and Felix did absolutely nothing in regard to deciding the case. Instead, he passed it onto his relief, Festus, who convened a new court, invited the high priest and the Sanhedrin back to Caesarea, and presided over the case. The scriptures told us that Festus saw no violation of either Jewish or Romans law by the apostle and therefore had nothing to report to Caesar if he did send Paul to Rome.
As Festus was wrangling over next steps, the Roman king of the region, Agrippa arrived in Caesarea with his wife Bernice. You’ll remember that Festus’ wife, Drusilla, was not only Agrippa’s sister but his wife’s sister as well. Yes, you have it right. Agrippa married his sister. Good thing there wasn’t such a thing as TMZ back then!
With Agrippa remaining in Caesarea for several days, Festus uses the opportunity to tell him about Paul and this led to the king wanting to speak to Paul himself. And so there was a gathering of people in the “audience room” of Festus’ headquarters and Paul was ushered in to appear. In yesterday’s message from the final verses of Acts 25, we found Festus making opening comments to Agrippa who we find giving Paul the floor at the beginning of chapter 26, simply telling the apostle that he had permission to speak, something Paul never had trouble doing and so he launched once again into a defense of himself. He was given the opportunity to appeal to a higher power, even if it wasn’t yet Caesar.
So what did Paul touch on in his opening statement to Agrippa?
Here are the main points:
1. Paul counted it a privilege to defend himself before the king. Agrippa didn’t need to hear from Paul. He held all the power in the situation and Paul knew it. But something about Paul piqued Agrippa’s curiosity and so he gave Paul a platform to tell his story and this was a blessing to the apostle.
2. Paul made it clear why he was in the situation he was in. The Jews in Jerusalem had brought many accusations against him, accusations he wanted to refute. And since it was well known that Agrippa was sympathetic and accepting of Jewish religion and culture, Paul saw him as someone who could understand what he had to say in regard to “Jewish customs and controversies.”
3. Paul had a lot to get out and he knew all he had to say would build to an important final conclusion and so he urged Agrippa to remain patient and hear him out.
4. With that, Paul connected himself to the very Jews who were falsely condemning him. He grew up in Tarshish but ended up in Jerusalem where he “conformed to the strictest sect” of Judaism, “living as a Pharisee”. The point Paul was making here was that in regard to Jewish faith, he was on the same level spiritually as his accusers.
5. Paul made it clear that in his stringent belief as a Jews, he knew and believed the words of the prophets, words that promised a coming Messiah, the very hope that God had promised to the ancestors of the Jewish people. The coming Messiah was “the promise” that the “twelve tribes” of Israel were “hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night.”
6. All this led up to Paul’s main point in his opening statement. For it was because the Messiah had come in the way of Jesus that Paul was under siege by the Jews. The Sanhedrin refused to believe Jesus was the promised Savior of not only the Jews but all mankind. They not only rejected Jesus Himself and indeed tried to eradicate Him but they went after anyone who believed in Him and committed to answer His call to bring the message of salvation to others. They also declined belief that Jesus was brought back to life by God after the Jews thought they had killed Him on Calvary’s cross.
And this led to Paul’s final question as we close today’s message and set the stage for tomorrow’s fifth devotion in this series. Paul asked the king:
“Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?”
Indeed, God had told Abraham, the one considered to be the patriarch of the Jewish nation, that nothing was too difficult for Him to do. Of course, this was in the context of Sarah conceiving when she was well past her childbearing years and indeed, we know that she would bear a son to Abraham named Isaac.
Paul’s point was that if God was all powerful and could do anything, then why would it be so hard to believe that he could raise the dead, in this case not only resurrecting Jesus but anyone who might place their faith and trust in Him as Savior.
When we appeal to the Lord God Almighty, the highest power, we petition the One through which all things are possible. Nothing is beyond the work of His hands.
Paul knew this and therefore could speak boldly in the face of adversity. We need to remember the same as we face the challenges of life.
For as Paul would write later in a letter penned to the Romans:
“If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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