Acts 25
Notes
Transcript
Verses 1-12
Felix was the governor for Rome over the area of Judea.
He held Paul in prison for 2 years even though he didn’t find anything against Paul.
He held him to keep the peace with the Jewish people and he was thinking that Paul would offer a bribe to get out of prison.
2 Years is a long time for doing nothing wrong.
Festus takes over governing the area of Judea and instantly begins trying to make things better and mix all the mistakes of Felix.
The historian Josephus wrote about Felix making the relationship between the Romans and the Jewish people full of tension.
He noted that Festus was much better and tried to form a less tension-filled culture.
At that time in history, The Roman Empire was ruled by an emperor who at that time was Nero, his full name was Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.
Under the emperor, who ruled from Rome, were governors over certain areas who would uphold Roman law and to make sure that taxes were being paid.
They were called perfects or procurator.
There were also Kings that would act as connections from the Roman authorities to the Jewish people.
Many scholars refer to these kings as more as puppets controlled by the emperor.
We see this in the life of Agrippa II in our passage.
Rather than ruling from Jerusalem, the governor of Rome over the Judean area ruled from the coast city of Caesarea.
This is where Paul was in prison but the priests and Jewish leaders tried to plan a plot to kill Paul.
These were priests and religious leaders who were trying to kill a man that did nothing wrong.
This makes me think of the dangers of having or being religious without having Jesus.
There are many people in churches that try to be religious instead of having a relationship with the Father through Jesus.
These people try to do all the right things but never have a relationship with the Lord.
They end up causing the death of church and ministries through gossip and other ways for no reason or because of something very small.
Its important that we as Christians, and as a church, never get caught up in playing church, with all the rituals, traditions, or habits, but move into a relationship with the Father.
If not, we will end up plotting the death of a person or ministry without even knowing it.
Festus went to Jerusalem to hear the case being brought against Paul by his accusers and then went back to Caesarea to hear from Paul himself.
We then see Paul being brought before this judgement seat where Festus sat to make a ruling.
The word for judgment used in the Greek is the word bema.
The word bema means judgment seat, judicial court or judicial bench.
In the first century, the bema was an elevated platform from which political speeches or judicial decisions were made.
Slide
Slide
If you can picture the imagery as it relates to Christ in this verse, Christ is seated on his elevated throne and one day we will stand before him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
The Bible teaches that as Christians we will stand before Christ to be judged for the things we have done.
This not a matter of going to heaven or hell, because we as Christians are covered by the blood of Jesus.
The White Throne Judgement seat that we read about in Revelation 20 are for those who rejected the Lord and will spend eternity in Hell.
We see Paul being falsely accused by these Jewish leaders with no proof that he did anything.
This should sound familiar to us.
In Luke 23, Luke’s account of Jesus standing trial before Pilate who was the governor of the Judean area at that time, also says that he found no basis of charge against Jesus.
4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
Jesus did nothing wrong especially nothing deserving death.
Paul did nothing wrong.
There may come a time when we find ourselves being falsely accused.
We actually are being accused by Satan which accuses us before the Lord.
Revelation 12:10 “10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”
Satan accuses us before the Lord because he hates us and the concept of forgiveness.
Jesus stands in the gap for us constantly praying for us.
Paul said, “I have done nothing wrong against:
The law of the Jews—this would not concern the authority of Rome.
We can see this in our courts as well.
The Supreme Courts in the U.S. have consistently ruled that the judges and other government officials cannot rule on religious issues or theological doctrine.
This is the reason of the separation of church and state—not to keep the church out of government but to keep government out of the church.
If theological views and issues are spiritual how can a non-spiritual group try to interpret what we should do or believe?
They cannot do it, so that is why even Rome chose to not intervene in religious affairs.
The temple—only if the sanctity of the temple was violated would it concern Rome.
Caesar.— treason against Caesar would be fatal.
Paul was not guilty of any of these and he knew his right as a Roman citizen was to be asked to stand before the emperor, so he did just that.
He knew he had a better chance in Rome than he did in Jerusalem.
Verses 13-22
King Agrippa and his sister Bernice travel to Caesarea to visit the new governor Festus.
He would have been appointed oversee this area as well by Caesar as someone with more knowledge of the Jewish people and possibly someone who could help.
He attempted to meditate between the religious leaders and the Roman overseers.
Felix explains to King Agrippa about this man named Paul who is in prison.
He tells the king that he heard to arguments and the crimes against him, but they are not what he had expected.
He then said, “The Jewish people have some disputes about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claims is alive.
It is amazing that God is using all of Paul’s hardships, his beatings and imprisonments, to get to the most powerful people in the world.
We read of the 2 people in charge of the region of Judea for the Roman empire talking about Jesus and the resurrection.
God can truly use our bad circumstances for His good.
If we are praying that God uses us and things do not make sense or seem to be going our way, what if God is still moving and actually answering our prayers.
Verses 23-27
Festus does not want to send Paul to Rome to stand before the emperor with no good reason as to why he is there.
I’m sure if Caesar shows up to hear of a trial sent to him from Festus in Judea with no real reason why he is there, Caesar will probably not think very highly of Festus.
It seems like we at times witness these kind of things today.
Luke mentions here that King Agrippa and his sister enter for this hearing with great pomp.
They enter in all of their fancy robes, celebrations, and applauds.
One scholar made a great point in saying that most people have no idea who Festus, Agrippa, or Bernice are, but many people know Paul and who Jesus is.
They came in in all there fanciness only to be remembered no more.
That scholar said that those people were just a footnote in the story of Paul and the advancement of God’s kingdom.
Conclusion: I just go back to the fact that Paul is living this life of complete surrender to the Lord.
He was compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem.
He had many people trying to persuade him to not go because of what would happen to him, but he chose to listen to the Lord’s leading.
He was falsely accused and arrested, but he knows that he was led by the Holy Spirit there and was even spoken to from the Lord that he would testify in Rome.
No matter who was there in their fancy clothes and many followers, God’s ways would prevail.
This should be an encouragement to us to live a life of obedience to the Lord.