Shiprecked Near the End of the Earth

Burden: The Lord is fulfilling His promise to bring the Gospel witness to the end of the Earth.

Thule is the place where legends and myths are born. It is a place that is written about by historians and philosophers, is it found on maps and writings throughout history. The name Thule is translated from the Latin to mean “last stop before the end of the earth” It is though to exist somewhere near Greenland or Iceland.

What is really interesting is that after WWI the Nazi’s developed what was called the “Thule Society” They though that this place was the birth place of the Aryan race which had superhuman even psychic abilities, even advanced technology. Adolf Hitler was a member of the “Thule Society”

You might be asking what does Rome have to do with the end of the World and though it is far from Iceland, it as at the time considered especially to the Jews the outer edge of the world. Rome was the central command for the greatest empire to ever exist, and if the gospel were to reach here then it would surely spread to the entire world, including Iceland.

Most people even today see natural disasters as a sign of God’s judgement. Often times with death and destruction left in the wake. In 1991 there was what was called “the Perfect Storm” Much like the storm in Acts this too was a Northeaster wind that turned into a typhoon. With multiple storms converging upon one another this cyclone sent waves up to 30 feet high down the coast of the U.S. The highest measure wave of the storm was measured at just over 100 feet high south of Halifax, Nova Scotia. 13 lives were lost in the storm 6 of which came from the commercial fishing vessel that was capsized at sea. The total damages were estimated at over 200 million dollars in damage.

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 23:11 ESV

The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”

Genesis 12:3 ESV

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Isaiah 52:10 ESV

The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Paul’s Perception

2 Corinthians 11:25 ESV

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

Paul was no stranger to these waters. He had traveled them during his missionary journeys. He knew them well. The waters off the Mediterranean were pleasant during the summer months but treacherous from about September 14th to November 11, and un-sailable from November to February. We can date the time of Paul’s journey to sometime in October because Luke mentions that the fast referring to the Day of Atonement was over.

Part of the issue going on here was this that the Roman Centurion who was in charge of the custody of Paul was on a vessel that presumably left the port of Caesarea, sailed north and then west close to the coast off of Asia until it came to a place called Fair Havens on the south west side of the Island of Crete.

From there the Centurion could catch a grain ship probably from Alexandria, to the south in Egypt. The hasty decision to leave Fair Havens for the Port of Phoenix makes sense when you consider that there was incentive by the Roman government to expedite grain as fast as possible to Rome. The emperor guaranteed the repair and other incentives for these grain ships to travel faster. Under the emperors reign there were several famines even one that history tells us led to an uprising, and so grain was a precious commodity and of interest to Rome. So you could see possibly why they were in such a hurry to leave.

In this case there was a meeting to determine the timing of the route. The Centurian being an official of the state would have likely had the final say and he was in agreement with the owner and the captain. There is no reason to believe that Paul was invited to the meeting but may have overheard the conversation and injected his perception. At this point however the language seems to indicate that this was just a hunch that Paul had a perception and not yet a vision as we will see soon.

Paul’s Prophecy vs 25 -44

The Sovereignty of God over the wind.

Luke 8:22–25 ESV

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

Paul’s Persuasion vs 31

Paul was now acting in place of the captain, at this time he seems to be the only one who is not scared out of his mind. Just a chapter before Festus says to Paul 26:25 are you out of your mind? IRONIC

1. To cut the life boats loose.

Life at sea, one of the most dreadful and powerful and beautiful and yet the most dangerous and hostile place on earth. One of the most ironic things is that these men who were supposed to be in charge and supposed to be the ones who knew what to do, had all but lost hope, they were lost at sea in a violent storm of the century,

Luke tells us that theses men had lost all hope of being saved. They had done everything that they could to lighten the ship and, and frapped the ship which means to undergird the ship with ropes to secure it and keep it from falling apart.

Luke mentions in verse 19 that they had done these things with their own hands, it is not as through it was an accident and they had fallen overboard in the storm, no this was a desperate attempts to save themselves.

Application: We do the same thing in our lives spiritually. We try to with our own hands strive in the midst of the storm and seek to rid our lives of our burdens that we carry. We try to earn our way to God and seek salvation by our own means and our own works. But it leads us wanting, and hungry , and at the edge of despair.

The salvation of this 276 member crew did not come from their own hands it did not come from their own efforts. It had to come from the storm maker.

Psalm 121:1–2 ESV

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

These men were at the point of despair at the lowest point with no hope… But not Paul. For God had promised Paul’s deliverance and Paul’s salvation was the salvation of everyone on the crew. Now the salvation that we are talking about here is physical deliverance there is nothing in the text to indicate that the members of the crew were converted, but their lives were spared because of Paul.

The parallel is there however if salvation is to come it must come through Paul’s God. Listen to what he says in verse 23 and in verse 25.

Revelation 7:10 ESV

and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

2. To take food for strength. vs 33ff

Paul’s pastoral heart

3. To spare the prisoners lives. vs 39ff

The Lord’s promise to deliver Paul safely to Rome also meant that the Lord was going to bless those on the ship as well by sparing their lives.

The people of God.

Psalm 145:9 ESV

The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Story of poor woman who prayed for her boss.

Even those who Egyptians obeyed and took thier livestocks in because the feared the word of the Lord were saved.

Abraham - I will bless the nations through you.

Paul sailed to the end of the earth to bring the gospel to Rome, risking life and limb. But can we walk 30 yards to our neighbor are we afraid we might get caught in a rainstorm on the way.

Imagine if we believed that God wanted to bless our neighbors and our …