Festering in the background of all Paul’s troubles there in Jerusalem are a couple of nagging questions.
First, should Paul have been in this predicament in the first place?
People say, if he had just listened, then all of this could have been avoided.
But, as I have tried to show, I am of the opinion that the prophesies were given to prepare Paul and the saints, not to prevent him from going.
He no longer believed that anyone was under the obligation to serve the Lord in that place.
The rites and ceremonies were all fulfilled in the incarnation and death of the Lord Jesus.
If the Gentiles were not responsible to keep them, then they weren’t obligatory upon the Jews either.
He was in the Temple that day in an effort to improve the relationship between himself and the Christian Judaizers.
What he was doing was not necessarily wrong, but I’m not sure that it was exactly right, either.
It wasn’t necessarily sinful, but it certainly wasn’t all that helpful to have been in the temple that day..
And where were James and the members of the church while Paul was in this predicament?
Paul had been bending over backwards to help these people.
but when the time came that Paul was need of some help, the only one to stand by him was the Lord.
Did the judaizing Christians look at Paul’s arrest and his current problems as proof that his evangelization of the Gentiles was heresy?
If they did, they need to look again.
Another question which has arisen in the minds of some people, is Paul’s purpose in raising the subject of resurrections.
There are many commentaries which suggest that Paul looked at the council,
They say that he then made his very divisive declaration about the resurrection with the intention of dividing the council to such a degree that they would forget about him, and he could walk away.
I think that the subject of the resurrection, particularly the resurrection of Christ, was at the heart of what turned the persecuting Saul of Tarsus into Paul the Apostle.
As a Pharisee he had believed in the subject of resurrections prior to his conversion, and since having met the resurrected Christ, his insistence on the resurrection would never, never be broken.
Plus, if he intended to divide and conquer the council, his purpose was a total failure, because once again, the ensuing battle nearly brought about his death.
“And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain,
fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down,
He was in jail, although he wasn’t chained to the wall or locked in the stocks.
And as we shall see, he will be kept there for some time.
One of the results of which, will be another night-time visit from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Earlier we are told that Paul had spoken in Hebrew to the mob in the temple.
When this resulted in a riot, the Chief Captain was forced to take Paul into custody.
Then the next day, he ordered that the Sanhedrin assemble, and he brought Paul down to them.
Since many of the Sanhedrin were among the intelligensia of the Jews,
And it doesn’t seem that Claudius knew much, if any, Hebrew.
And again, I point out the fact that this meeting was not in the Roman Castle of Antonia.
I think that it took place in the usual assembly room of the council.
And if that was the case, then obviously, the Roman government could at any time be present in any of their meetings.
“And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.”
Notice that the fight began with the scribes of the Pharisees.
These scribes are an interesting bunch.
They were initially well-educated Levites, whose job it was to transcribe the law and share it with others.
This eventually evolved into a few them acting as royal secretaries and historians.
But their primary function was the law, and they also became known as teachers of the law.
When we compare passages such as Matthew 22:35 and Mark 12:28, we see that they were also called “lawyers.”
Then one of them, which was a LAWYER, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
As far as I can tell, the majority, if not all the scribes and lawyers were from among the Pharisees.
And Matthew 23 is filled with words like: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”
The scuffle in the Sanhedrin began with the lawyers among the Pharisees.
It seems that those who knew God’s Word the best, quickly jumped to their feet to defend Paul’s statement about resurrections.
But the question remains – beyond that whom did they hate more: Paul or the Sadducees?
Did they really mean:”We find NO evil in this man,”
than the High Priest and his company of heretics?
Could it be that Paul had more friends among the Pharisees than he did in the church in Jerusalem?
Or could it be that the people who jumped to Paul’s defense here actually were Christians and members of the church?
At this point in time the Lord knows, but we do not.
If these people were the actual friends of Paul, attempting to secure his release, the effort ended in failure.
Ananias and his Sadducee friends were not going to give up easily.
And this forced the Chief Captain to forcibly remove Paul from the council chamber.
While he was in Corinth, and apparently alone among the crowds of people, the Lord Jesus visited him.
“Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.”
In many ways Paul was no different from any of us.
There were times that he made wrong choices, and there were occasions of sin in his life.
He had the same basic needs as any of us as far as food and shelter were concerned.
His body was as frail as any of ours and at times his muscles and bones ached as much as yours.
Oh, yes, he got lonesome and maybe he even got frightened from time to time.
I’m not going to be so bold as to say that his faith never wavered.
He probably second guessed some of the choices in his life,
and sometimes he wondered whether the Lord really considered him worth rescuing.
When there was no man who could encourage him;
When there wasn’t a telephone which Paul could use to talk to Luke, or Timothy or Silas;
When there weren’t any human companions to lift his spirits, the Lord came and visited him.
How literally should we take the words “the Lord STOOD by him.”
Strong says that this word is used 21 times in various ways from “come” and “come upon,” to “stand” and “stand by.”
Some commentators say that the Lord visited Paul in a vision or a dream and appeared at his side.
But it appears to me that our translators believed that the Lord Jesus personally came for a visit.
There may not be a great deal of difference between those two things, but one is far more personal.
Hebrews 4, which some of us looked at this morning is among my favorite scriptures.
“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
“All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
Spurgeon told a story about a Quaker who visited John Bunyan while in prison in order to encourage him.
When he found the Baptist preacher, the Quaker said,
Bunyan replied, “Nay, verily that cannot be; for if the Lord had sent thee to me, thou wouldst have come here at once, for He knows I have been here for years.”
I won’t tell you that Paul was cowering in a corner or praying for death like some sort of Jonah.
But apparently this visit from the Lord was timely and important; just what the doctor ordered.
“And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.”
Some people say that the Lord’s blessings are the result of our service for him.
“Since you’ve faithfully witnessed for me here in Jerusalem, so I’m going to spare your life so that you can be a witness for me in Rome also.”
But I don’t believe that was what the Lord was saying at all.
God was merely making a point of comparison:
“For AS thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, SO must thou bear witness also at Rome.”
God’s blessings flow out of His grace just as much as His salvation does.
I’m not saying that the Lord doesn’t chastize us for our sinfulness, and that He doesn’t reward His servants,
But I don’t think that is what he was saying in this case.
The Lord was simply telling Paul that his ministry wasn’t over; in fact it was going to the next level.
And one other thing:
What sort of message would it take from the Lord to cheer you up?
Would it be information about your kids or grand-kids?
Some people would be delighted to know that they would soon be going home.
Notice that for Paul it was a message about on-going service.
And the first words out of his mouth were: “Praise God, the Lord has more work for me to do.”
Maybe we aren’t visited in the same way, because we aren’t as interested in the work of the Lord as Paul.
Maybe that is the lesson which we should learn here.