Acts 27:1-3 - We are sailing

27:1

We now have the account of the journey to Rome, and an eventful one it was too. The descriptions of the weather conditions fit the geography extremely well, another small detail that adds to the veracity of the account. There were several other prisoners on the boat. Some, maybe most, of these would have been condemned men, sent to Rome to provide entertainment for the people by public deaths. The Roman Empire was very orderly but also very cruel. The term “Augustan Regiment” was used to refer to several legions and cohorts, and there was a cohort in this region and time.

27:2

The ship would have been relatively small. They were designed primarily for carrying cargo, mostly grain. Passengers were an afterthought. As Paul was a Roman citizen and not guilty of anything it seems he was allowed to take a friend, Aristarchus, with him.

27:3

This verse shows how lightly Paul’s status as a “prisoner” was taken. They had found nothing wrong with him and Paul was being sent to Rome purely because he had claimed the right to be referred to Caesar. Sidon was about seventy miles north of Caesarea. It would be in Justus’ interests to let Paul go to his friends as this would mean he would have less supplies to requisition.

Zechariah 2:5-7 - A wall of fire!

2:5

But having a city without walls was a great risk. Cities had walls around them to offer protection against invaders, and when an army attacked a city breaching the city walls was key step in taking the city. Notice that the Lord does not say that they do not need any protection, rather that He Himself will be their protection. Similarly, the Bible does not say that we do not need provision, but that the Lord is our provider. Seeing God’s plans fulfilled and going further with God means trusting in Him more and more. “And I will be the glory in her midst”. The fore and glory recalls God’s presence with the Israelites as they travelled towards the Red Sea. He is our glory and He is our protection. These are two basic human needs, both individually and corporately. We want some glory, something to make us feel of worth. We want to feel useful. We also want to be secure. God provides both the worth and the protection.

2:6,7

In the prophets the attacks were often stated as coming from the north (eg Jer 1:13). Babylon, although located to the east of Israel, the direction of attack was from the north. At this time some had returned to Israel, but relatively few. Yes, the Lord had scattered them, but now He was calling them back, and those who had not yet returned needed to do so quickly. “Daughter of Zion” is a term used several times in the Old Testament and means living under the care and protection of God. Here Zechariah uses the term “daughter of Babylon”. Those who had not returned were living under the care and protection of Babylon, they needed to get out. It can seem that the world will provide for and protect us, but the world will ultimately turn on us. We need to live under God’s protection.

Acts 26:26-32 - Off to Caesar

26:26-29

Agrippa was aware if the things that had happened during Jesus’ ministry, the cross and the resurrection. When we read the New Testament, particularly the events based in Israel, we need to remember that the message of the gospel is given in an environment where people knew, and had maybe actually seen, the events that the New Testament speaks of. Then Paul directs Agrippa to the prophets. Agrippa recognises that Paul is trying to convert him. Technically it was Paul who was “on trial”, but in reality it was Agrippa and those with him who were no trial. The same is true whenever the gospel is attacked in some way, it is the critics or opponents who are really on trial. They are the ones who have a charge to answer.

26:30-32

The king and Bernice rose to consider the matter. Bernice gets mentioned but her role in these things is unclear. In Luke we read that Pilate’s wife spoke to him about her misgivings. Agrippa and his advisers recognised that Paul, like Jesus, had done nothing wrong, nothing deserving of death or imprisonment. If Paul had not appealed to Caesar he could have been set free. We might think it a great pity that Paul had appealed to Caesar, but if he had not he might have been killed earlier by the Jews. Being “free” in Jerusalem was not a safe place for Paul. Most importantly, Paul knew that God wanted him to go to Rome. We can have regrets about life, and, of course, we do get some things wrong, but we should not dwell on regrets, and God’s plan and purpose runs far deeper than our limited understanding.

Zechariah 2:1-4 - A city without walls

2:1,2

We continue with the images, this time Zechariah sees a man with a measuring line. He was going to go and see how wide and how long Jerusalem was. Shortly we will see that he is told not to do this. We tend to see things purely in terms of concepts that we are familiar with, and measure and assess everything in these terms. For the most part this works well, but when something completely new arises it will work no longer, and we need to be ready to use new wineskins at the appropriate time.

2:3,4

A second angel arrived and told the first one to stop the man with a measuring line. Remember that David was severely rebuked and punished for counting the fighting men of Israel (1 Chron 21).  The man was not to measure the city for the true Jerusalem would be a city without walls. A walled city would not be able to contain the extent of God’s plans for it. The religious leaders of Israel saw God’s plans purely in terms of Jerusalem and Israel, in reality God’s plans were far greater.

Acts 26:24,25 - Out of your mind

26:24

Festus claims to not be impressed, saying that Paul is out of his mind. It is probably the resurrection that is the main cause of this assessment, or possibly also the claim that the Messiah must suffer. We do not appreciate how ridiculous these things were. People did not rise from the dead never to die again, and why would a messiah suffer instead of being a victorious superhero?

26:25

Paul refutes Festus’ accusation. The gospel is rational and true. The events which happened during Jesus’ ministry were a matter of record, and the resurrection was, and is, a well attested event. Most telling, neither the Romans nor the Jews could produce a body. What Paul said was also rational. It was consistent with the Jewish Scriptures, our Old Testament. Note how often in Acts, and in his letters, it says Paul proved that Jesus is the Christ from the Scriptures. There is a rationality to the gospel, and it is important that both truth and rationality go together. The resurrection is a unique event. Occasionally a person may die and come back to life again to continue their normal life, eventually dying, but no one comes back from the death by crucifixion never to die again. The evidence cannot refute that this is actually what happened, the alternative explanations all have massive flaws in them, as many books on the evidence for the resurrection will attest. But we also need the rationale for the resurrection. Why did it happen? How does it fit into God’s overall plan? This is why those who tend to make the resurrection a stand alone event, downplaying or even ignoring the Scriptural context, are mistaken. The resurrection only makes sense in the light of the Old Testament.

Zechariah 1:20,21 - Four craftsmen

1:20,21

We then get another vision, this time of four craftsmen. Again Zechariah asks for an explanation. The four craftsmen match the four horns. The horns were destructive. Craftsman work with more purpose and skill. Yet they too are powerful, and more powerful than the horns that brought destruction. The craftsman will throw down the horns, ie defeat them. In our own lives it can sometimes seem as if destruction is coming in, all sorts of things going wrong. We should continue to look to God, for He will restore us.

Acts 26:19-23 - Light to the Jews and the Gentiles

26:19,20

The Jews accepted visions as a normal means of Godly communication, and Paul refers here to being “obedient to the heavenly vision”. Paul then goes on to give an outline of his mission, proclaiming the gospel in Damascus, Jerusalem, Judea and then to the Gentiles. So far it is purely descriptive, then he sums up what the message is, “that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with repentance”. There are two key things to note here. The first is the centrality of repentance. This is a point have made on numerous occasions (and don’t intend to stop making), for it is central to all the preaching in Acts, and so lacking in most of our preaching today. If you think you are proclaiming the gospel, but are never preaching repentance, then you are not preaching the gospel. But let’s look at it more positively. We are all living life wrong, living life independent of God with all the terrible consequences of that. We all need to change and we are all guilty. God has declared that if we do repent and put faith in Christ then He will forgive us our sins and through the Holy Spirit start a work of transformation in our lives. There is no other gospel.

The second key thing is “performing deeds in keeping with repentance”. The gospel expected deeds to change, it is most definitely not just about “God loving us”. This does not mean we can save ourselves, or change ourselves without God’s help, but we will make the effort, depending upon the Holy Spirit to work in us.

26:21-23

Paul then says that it is because he proclaimed the gospel that the Jews seized him. Note that in the previous couple of verses he has not mentioned Christ, but only “turning to God”. Now, they knew full well that Paul constantly preached faith in Christ, so by saying turn to God he is equating turning to Christ with turning to God, and this would greatly upset the Jews. He then goes on to say that he, Paul, was preaching the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. Then he mention Christ explicitly, talking about his suffering and rising from the dead, and that Christ must be preached to both the Jews and the Gentiles.