Extradition (On Trial pt 2)

But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome." And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy. They came to the chief priests and elders, and said, "We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul..." (Acts 23:11–14)

When one man stands for the kingdom of heaven, even an earthly kingdom can be moved to protect him.

A Troop Movement Like No Other

More than ten years ago, late on a Saturday night, I was leaving the church office for the lower parking lot when a dozen or more military Humvees with flashing blue lights came down Nordahl Parkway. Behind them was a huge flatbed semi carrying a large wooden crate, followed by more armed vehicles. You can't help but wonder where they're going and what's in that box. There's something striking about a troop movement that makes you want to follow at a distance and find out what's happening.

As the story unfolds in Acts 23, we see exactly such a movement—nearly 470 Roman soldiers, almost an entire cohort, moving from Jerusalem down to Caesarea in the cover of night. Spearmen, soldiers, horsemen. Anyone watching this one-tenth of a Roman legion would have assumed something enormous was at stake. You would never imagine all of this was given to protect one man—a Jewish man with Roman citizenship. There is something almost humorous in God's providence here: one man representing the kingdom of heaven is now being protected by an earthly kingdom.

How Paul Got Here

When we left off, Paul had been rescued by Roman soldiers in Jerusalem during the Feast of Pentecost. A crowd had dragged him from the temple, falsely believing he had brought Gentiles inside, and was preparing to beat him to death. About two hundred Roman soldiers moved in and pulled him out, wrongly assuming he was a ringleader of religious zealots inciting riots against Rome.

Speaking Greek, Paul asked to address the crowd. He spoke to them in Hebrew, bruised and bleeding, until the mob erupted again, tearing their clothes and crying out. The commander, who spoke no Hebrew, hauled Paul back in to discover what he had said. When Paul revealed his Roman citizenship, the commander summoned the ruling council so he could learn why the Jews wanted to kill him. As we saw last week, even that arraignment dissolved into a riot, and the Romans again had to pull Paul to safety.

When Paul set out from Corinth two months earlier, traveling through Macedonia, Asia Minor, Syria, and Judea, he surely had no idea that Rome would become his protector or that two riots would erupt against him in Jerusalem. Now here he sits in a Roman prison cell—not for any wrongdoing, but for his own protection—guarded by the very Gentiles occupying Judea, while his own countrymen seek his death.

"Be of Good Cheer"

That night, Jesus appeared to Paul. We aren't told whether it was a dream, a vision, or a manifest presence. All we know is that the Lord stood by him and said, "Be of good cheer."

Notice the implied reality. Throughout Scripture, when an angel appears, the first words are almost always "Fear not"—because the people are terrified. So when Jesus says, "Be of good cheer," the implied reality is that Paul was not cheery. I think he was discouraged, perhaps bordering on depressed. He had returned to Jerusalem intending to be a witness for Jesus and to bring an offering from Gentile believers. Instead of even a cold welcome, his countrymen—people who knew him well—wanted to kill him.

Paul was God's man and a great man, but he was not Superman. He was subject to the same things you and I are. He himself told the Corinthians that he was hard-pressed, so discouraged that he despaired even of life. We sometimes glorify Paul and forget that he was a human being like us. Even though prophets had warned him that chains and tribulations awaited him in Jerusalem, part of him surely hoped something good would come. Now everything seemed to be collapsing.

The Lord Stands By His Servants

Years later, in his very last letter, Paul would write to Timothy: "No one stood by me at my final appearance before Caesar, but the Lord stood with me" (2 Timothy 4:17). The same thing happens here. The Lord shows up to encourage Paul with a prophetic word in the midst of discouraging circumstances.

I've experienced this kind of ministry. Almost three years ago, my wife Andrea and I were in the emergency room at Palomar Hospital with our two-year-old daughter Addison, who had ingested chemical cleaners. As I sat on the hospital bed holding her, feeling completely helpless while they ran their tests, a peace came over me. I sensed the Lord was there, almost as if someone whispered in my ear, "It's going to be okay." Even as we were transferred to Children's Hospital over the next days, that sense remained—even though nothing about it seemed okay in the moment.

Discouraging circumstances do not hinder the personal and private ministry of Jesus. He stands by His servants. That is one of the great promises we have as followers of Jesus.

God's Promise Does Not Prevent Suffering

This brings us to our first point: God's prophetic promise does not prevent short-term suffering. A false teaching has grown up, largely from our own nation, that Christians don't suffer. But if that were true, none of us here would be Christians, because we have all faced trials. And Paul wouldn't be a very good Christian, because his life was filled with suffering.

Yet Paul calls these trials "a momentary light affliction" that works for us "a far better and greater eternal weight of glory." Our hope of resurrection in the future—grounded in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection in the past—changes how we experience our trials right now. It doesn't remove the discomfort, but it transforms it.

Sadly, many who called themselves Christians have walked away from the faith because of discouragement they were told they would never face. Jesus warned of this in the parable of the sower: the seed on shallow ground sprang up quickly, but when the sun—the trials—came up, it withered before producing fruit. People said, "I was told I wouldn't experience this," and gave up.

Do Not Think It Strange

Peter addresses this directly: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you" (1 Peter 4:12). When you suffer, don't conclude that something has gone wrong. God uses these difficulties.

Non-Christians and Christians alike experience cancer, the loss of a child, the loss of a career, the loss of health. But God uses these things in the believer's life—to show unbelievers the peace, joy, and contentment we have in Christ, and to refine us into His image. As Paul writes in Romans 5, tribulations produce patience, hope, and character, and that hope does not disappoint because God has poured out His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

So, Christian, if you're facing a hard circumstance today, the Lord wants to stand by you. Perhaps your prayer should change from "God, take me out of this" to "God, help me in the midst of this to glorify You."

One more thing on verse 11: Jesus says, "As you have testified for Me in Jerusalem." I'm certain Paul did not feel he had been a good witness—both opportunities to speak ended in riots. But the Lord does not measure success as we do. Jesus essentially says, "You did what I wanted you to do. Your work here is done, and now I'm getting you to Rome." Paul had longed to go to Rome (Romans 1), and now, when it seemed impossible, God confirms it will happen.

The Conspiracy of the Religious

Verse 12 brings more discouragement. The next day, more than forty Jews bound themselves under an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. What is striking is that they don't come to confess their murderous ambition—they come to the chief priests and elders to enlist them in it.

Remember, murder violates the Ten Commandments, and Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that hatred is equal to murder in God's eyes. These men are already guilty. Yet they come to the chief priest—the overseer of the faith, the one who knows the law—expecting him to help. You almost hope he'll say, "Are you crazy? Don't you see where your hearts are?" But he doesn't.

This leads to our second point: Sometimes the most religious can be terribly unrighteous. Religious rules and rituals can provide the perfect justifying excuse for our unrighteousness. The most striking example is the trial of Jesus in John 18, where the chief priests refused to enter Pilate's praetorium for fear of becoming ceremonially unclean and unable to keep the Passover—even as they conspired to murder an innocent man.

We do this too. We set up unbiblical scales of righteousness: real Christians don't listen to secular music, never go to R-rated movies, only listen to K-Love. Meanwhile, behind that religious veil, a person can be gossiping, acting without integrity, or looking at things online they shouldn't. Our religious standard can cover over incredible unrighteousness. That is exactly what is happening in this passage.

They Hated Jesus First

How could these men so hate Paul? Here is our third point: If they hate you, know that they hated Jesus first. They didn't really hate Paul; they hated the Lord Jesus, and they hated that Paul stood on His behalf.

Jesus told us this on the night He was betrayed: "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you" (John 15:18–19).

Christian, if people call you bigoted, narrow-minded, and ignorant because you believe Jesus is the only way, expect their hatred—not because they hate you, but because they hate Christ. The cross is an offense to those who are perishing, a stumbling block to those walking according to the course of this world.

God Works in Ordinary Ways

Verse 16: "So when Paul's sister's son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul." In all my study of Paul, it never crossed my mind to think about his family. Most scholars believe Paul was single, but here we learn he had a sister living in Jerusalem and a nephew. Jewish families were large, so Paul likely had other siblings as well.

The fact that his nephew could come and go into the barracks confirms Paul was not a prisoner but was being held for protection. The young man told Paul of the entire plot, and Paul called a centurion to take the boy to the commander. When the commander "took him by the hand" (verse 19), I suspect this was a child, not a teenager. The boy reported everything—the forty men, the oath, the plan to ask that Paul be brought down. The commander listened, then sent him away with a charge to tell no one.

Imagine receiving such news without Jesus' word the night before. Even though Paul had said, "None of these things move me" (Acts 20:24), it would be hard not to be shaken by forty men sworn to kill you. Yet God is still on the throne, still working behind the scenes.

This is our fourth point: God works in ordinary ways. We expect the mysterious, but don't fail to recognize how God works through ordinary circumstances. Somehow Paul's nephew heard of the plot, found an open door to share it, and a Roman commander actually took a child's word to heart. In Acts there are three accounts of miraculous prison escapes—the apostles in Acts 5, Peter in Acts 12, Paul and Silas in Acts 16—but here God works through perfectly ordinary means.

God Works in Extraordinary Ways Too

Verse 23: the commander called two centurions—each representing at least eighty soldiers—and ordered two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to be ready at the third hour of the night, nine o'clock. The spearmen carried spears seven and a half feet long, weighing seven to eleven pounds, which they could throw with deadly accuracy—the machine gun of the first century. All of this to put one man on a horse and bring him safely sixty miles to Governor Felix in Caesarea.

The commander, Claudius Lysias, wrote a letter to "the most excellent governor Felix." I love how he whitewashes history: "This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. Coming with the troops I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman." That's not quite how it happened. But notice his crucial admission: Paul was accused "concerning questions of their law, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains."

This is our fifth point: God works in extraordinary ways too. At nine o'clock that night, surrounded by seventy horsemen with two hundred soldiers ahead and two hundred behind, Paul must have chuckled and said, "God, You're amazing." When he later wrote to the Ephesians that God "is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think," I wonder if he remembered this night in Jerusalem—surrounded by Roman soldiers not to kill him, but to protect him.

Delivered to Caesarea

The soldiers brought Paul by night to Antipatris, about halfway. The next day the horsemen returned to Jerusalem while the foot soldiers continued on. When they came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and presented Paul. Felix asked what province Paul was from, learned he was from Cilicia, and said, "I will hear you when your accusers also have come" (verse 35), commanding Paul to be kept in Herod's Praetorium.

As we'll see next week, Paul still had freedom to come and go. He is not a prisoner but is protected by the Romans, moved from one praetorium to the next as he awaits trial. For the last ten years of his life, this would be Paul's recurring situation.

Three Things to Take Away

First, be careful not to cover unrighteousness with religion. "I go to church, I serve at the orphanage, I help with children's ministry, I give, I raise my hands"—and yet behind it, pornography, dishonesty at work, cheating people, gossip. The Lord sees, and He will judge. One of the heartbreaking events of recent weeks was the fall of Pastor Bob Coy of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, who lost his church and ministry after committing adultery. What he truly lost was the reputation of being a man of God, and the enemies of God were given occasion to blaspheme. We can cover unrighteousness with religion, even thinking, "Well, I'm a pastor; I'm an elder."

Second, be careful not to misunderstand the sanctifying work God brings through suffering. If you are in a trial today, don't conclude that God is mad at you or doesn't care. He has allowed it to do His sanctifying work and to glorify Himself through your life.

Third, be careful not to miss the working of God in the natural and the ordinary. We often look only for the miraculous and think God isn't acting because there are no ravens from heaven. Don't fail to see His hand in the little things, and be thankful for it.

Closing Prayer

Father God, thank you for this text, and for the encouragement we receive by looking at what you have done in and through the lives of men and women of faith who followed you faithfully in the past. We pray that you would help us to walk in faithfulness as well. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, help us to run this race in such a way that brings glory to you. Don't allow us to cover over unrighteousness with religion. Help us to see that the obstacle we face right now is your tool to transform us. And help us to recognize your hand at work today and tomorrow as we go about our week. Work these things into our lives, we pray, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.