An Encore for a King ("On Trial" series pt 6)

Acts 25:11... "For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar." Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, "You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go!" ... Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying: "There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix... when the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed, but had some questions against him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive..." Then Agrippa said to Festus, "I also would like to hear the man myself." "Tomorrow," he said, "you shall hear him."

When life feels like a skipping record, God is intricately at work behind the scenes—ordering our steps and preparing us for what He has prepared.

A Skipping Record in Acts 25

Sometimes we feel like God is not doing anything in our lives, that He is distant and far away. But in Acts 25 we will see that God is intricately working, often taking months or years to prepare us so that He can work through us.

When I was about ten years old I was diagnosed with dyslexia. By God's grace I've overcome much of it—so much that some people insist I never had it, though a doctor said otherwise. As a child, one of the major effects was that when I reached the end of a line in a book, I would track back and read that same line over and over, three or four times. It was like a skipping record in my brain. Putting a piece of paper under each line helped a little, but it was so frustrating that I simply stopped reading. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I made it all the way through public high school without ever reading a book.

As we come to Acts 22 through 26 in this series called On Trial, we arrive at a kind of skipping-record passage. It seems repetitive and redundant—the same things stated over and over. Paul stands trial again, declaring the same truths, sharing the same testimony of a man not guilty of anything deserving of death.

The Same Story, Over and Over

Consider the sequence. In chapter 22 Paul stood before a Jewish crowd in Jerusalem. Then before the Jewish Council. Then before the council with the Roman Governor Felix. Then in a private hearing before Felix and his wife Drusilla. Then before a second Roman governor, Festus. And now he's called before a whole gathered group of dignitaries, including the Jewish king of the region, Herod Agrippa II.

Present too is Bernice, the king's sister—and history tells us Agrippa was living in an incestuous relationship with her. There are some crazy things going on in Acts 25. If you or I were subjected to this same routine for two years, I think we'd grow restless, even stir crazy. Really? Again? There would be a part of Paul—because he's human like us—wondering the same thing.

Zooming Out to See the Picture

Since high school I've worked with graphic design and digital photography, programs like Photoshop. When you zoom in deep on a picture, you no longer see the image—only a grid of pixels, squares of color. Sometimes our lives feel like that. We're so zoomed in, so locked into the moment, that we fail to see the bigger picture.

Even though Paul was stuck in this record-skipping cycle for two years, there was something else going on. We can get so myopic, so focused on one itty-bitty pixel, that we miss it. Thankfully Paul had a prophetic word from God many years before that let him in on the reality that something greater was unfolding.

A Word Given 24 Years Earlier

Turn back from Acts 25 to Acts 9, and you turn back nearly a quarter century—24 years. There Paul is entering Damascus, still called Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee persecuting Christians the same way the religious establishment was now persecuting him. On the road he saw the risen Lord in a blinding light, fell to the ground, and for three days sat blind in Damascus, rethinking everything he thought he knew.

Meanwhile God spoke to a Christian named Ananias, telling him to go pray for Saul. Ananias objected; he'd heard this was a bad man.

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My sake." (Acts 9:15)

When we lay Acts 9 alongside Paul's trials in Acts 22–26, we realize none of these events were happenstance. The beating at Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, the extradition to Caesarea, the trials before Felix and Drusilla, before Festus, and now before Agrippa—none were coincidence. Every one was ordered by the Lord decades before. God's word is being fulfilled.

Our Steps Are Ordered by the Lord

Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord." Some translations read "the steps of a good man," but that word "good" isn't in the original; it simply says the steps of men are ordered by the Lord—not just Paul's steps, not just David's, but ours.

There are times we clearly see God's fingerprints—when a friend asks about your faith, or someone you've just prayed for shows up unexpectedly. I remember driving down Ash, passing Valley Parkway, when a friend named Josh—someone I hadn't seen since high school—suddenly came to mind. Recalling Philippians 1:3, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you," I prayed for him. The following Sunday I walked into the sanctuary and Josh was standing right there, having never come before. I got that goosebump feeling: that's the Lord.

But those moments are the exception, not the rule. Most of our lives are lived in monotony, and many things feel like mere delays. Yet maybe that delay is a divine appointment. If we truly believe God orders our steps, then even tomorrow's five delays on the 15 freeway may be His ordering.

God Is Working When No One Is Watching

Because we drill down into the smallest details, we lose sight of the big picture and wonder whether God is doing anything at all. So point two: God is working when no one is watching.

God's timing is often different than ours, and that can tempt us to view Him as distant, unengaged, indifferent—even to ask, "Where is God?" We can drift toward a deistic view: He wound up the universe like a clock and walked away. But the Bible reveals a God personally and intimately involved—who loves us with an everlasting love and knows the very number of the hairs on our heads.

So don't miss the hand of God in the mundane, the delays, the repeats. Sometimes life feels like Groundhog Day—the same conversations, the same emails, the same phone calls. But even in the repeats God is working behind the scenes, ordering our steps.

Pomp, Power, and a Plain Prisoner

The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp—like a red carpet of royal regalia—and entered the auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the city, the leaders over thousands, the movers and shakers of Caesarea. And all of it was for one man: Paul the apostle.

History describes Paul as short, with bowed legs, a high brow, a large nose, possibly an eye condition—now in his sixties, having lived a hard life and been beaten many times. He was not much to look at. Yet here come the beautiful people to see him. You can almost sense Agrippa thinking, Really? This is the man everyone is worked up about? That he was called specifically to witness of the resurrection before such a gathering shows the clear hand of the Lord.

Much Waiting for God's Workers

When Ananias spoke that word 24 years earlier—that Saul would stand before kings—Paul may have thought it sounded far out. And after his conversion, Scripture records that Paul lived in relative obscurity for about 14 years, doing seemingly nothing for the Lord, just waiting. I wonder if he ever doubted that calling during those years.

Point three: there is often much waiting for God's workers. I'm often in a hurry; God rarely is. The last time He moved quickly was the sixth day of creation. Just as God works when no one is watching, He works in our waiting—working in us and on us so He can work through us.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

In waiting, God strengthens us with divine power so we can persevere and endure. Psalm 25:3 says, "No one who waits on the Lord shall be ashamed." Many of us would confess shame for our impatience, even ruin from rushing ahead of God. So David's application in Psalm 27:14 is clear: "Wait on the Lord... wait, I say, on the Lord." Those who wait will not be ashamed, will receive strength, and will be equipped to endure.

The Charge No One Could Make Stick

...You see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me... crying out that he was not fit to live any longer. But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him. (Acts 25:24–25)

That word "petitioned" carries the picture of a siege work battering a city wall—the whole assembly of the Jews bombarded Festus, demanding Paul's death. Yet Festus found nothing deserving of death. This whole hearing exists only because Festus needs help: a Roman citizen has appealed to Caesar, but there is no charge to write. So he turns to Agrippa to avoid looking incompetent.

...especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I may have something to write. For it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him. (Acts 25:26–27)

Here is the striking thing: two pagan governors, Festus and Felix, and three immoral members of Jewish royalty are more just and more willing to give Paul an honest hearing than the religious establishment—the chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Sanhedrin.

An Echo of an Earlier Trial

This reminds us of another trial some thirty years before, when another man stood before a Roman governor named Pontius Pilate. Pilate had Him scourged, searching for any fault worthy of death, and found none. He stood the beaten Jesus before the gathered chief priests and said, "I find nothing wrong with this man." And they cried, "Crucify Him."

The contrast in Acts 25:24–25 is the same: the religious establishment bombarded the governor demanding death, while the governor found nothing deserving of death.

Let Your Conduct Be Holy and Befitting the Gospel

Point four: let your conduct be holy and befitting the gospel.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

The chief priests and the religious establishment should have been the picture of justice, mercy, and humility. Instead they were the picture of cruelty, haughtiness, and injustice. Why is it that non-believing pagans sometimes show more compassion and mercy than Christians? It shouldn't be that way.

Too often we get those things backwards. We love justice for others and mercy for ourselves. Driving a little—okay, a lot—over the speed limit, you spot a black-and-white vehicle and instantly lift off the gas, praying, "Lord, mercy!" But when someone cuts you off, suddenly you wish a cop were watching. He has shown us what is good: do justly, love mercy, walk humbly.

Walk in the Path He Has Ordered

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

This week God has ordered things for you and me—even in the delays, monotony, and redundancy of life. He has created opportunities for us. As we walk that path, let us remember He is working behind the scenes, ordering our steps, and desiring to reveal Himself through us. The best way to be ready is to do justly, love mercy, and walk in humility—to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel (Colossians 1:10).

Closing Prayer

Father, I confess there are times I wonder what You are doing, whether You are doing anything. Help me to recognize that You are working, that You are ordering my steps, that You have good things prepared for me to walk in. Help us to walk in those things this week. And if we find ourselves in a place of waiting, help us to recognize that in the waiting You are working in us and on us so You can work through us. Prepare us to be vessels of honor and glory for Your name.

Perhaps today you've grown frustrated with God's pace, judged Him indifferent, or rushed out ahead of Him in your impatience. This is an opportunity to repent, to confess, "Lord, I haven't trusted You," and to reaffirm your submission to Him as Lord. Confess your impatience and frustration, for the fruit of the Spirit is patience. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again, paying for them, clothing us in righteousness, and giving us His indwelling Spirit so we can walk in a way that pleases Him. God, have Your way with us; work in us that we would walk in a way that is pleasing to You this week, bringing praise and honor and glory to You, for You are worthy. In Jesus' name, amen.