Paul arrested in Jerusalem

Last week Chaplain Black covered the beginning of Acts chapter 21 for us. We saw Paul return to Jerusalem even though he had been repeatedly warned that once he did he would encounter hardship and trial and end up in chains. But Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to return, so return he did. He reported back to James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, and as we’ve seen everywhere Paul has gone through his missionary journeys, controversy arises. The Jewish believers in Jerusalem rejoice that so many Gentiles have come to know Christ, but they confront Paul about the fact that they have heard that he is teaching the Jews who live among these Gentiles to abandon the Law of Moses and all Jewish customs. As Chaplain Black pointed out last week, the solution that the church leaders come up with is for Paul to go along with four men there who have taken a vow, probably a Nazirite vow, and to complete the ritual of the vow with them to show that he is still committed to Jewish custom.

So Paul says, “Fine. Let’s do this thing.” So he goes with the plan that the church leaders gave him and that’s where we’re going to pick up reading this morning beginning in verse 26 of chapter 21 of Acts.

Acts 21:26–29 CSB

26 So the next day, Paul took the men, having purified himself along with them, and entered the temple, announcing the completion of the purification days when the offering would be made for each of them. 27 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place. What’s more, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

Acts

We’ve seen this situation before. Remember as Paul traveled from city to city in the province of Asia there were some of the Jewish people who would follow him around and stir up the crowds against him in each new city. Now here we don’t know if these are Jewish people who have followed him all the way back to Jerusalem or if these people just happened to be in Jerusalem and jumped at the opportunity, but regardless we see Jews once again accusing Paul of going against the Law. And notice at the end of what we read there… they accuse him of bringing Gentiles into the temple. They didn’t actually see him do it, but they saw him in the city with an Ephesian named Trophimus so they assume that Paul brought him into the temple. They don’t have any proof, but that doesn’t matter. They accuse him anyway.

Acts 21:30-

Acts 21:30–36 CSB

30 The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. 31 As they were trying to kill him, word went up to the commander of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in chaos. 32 Taking along soldiers and centurions, he immediately ran down to them. Seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the commander approached, took him into custody, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another. Since he was not able to get reliable information because of the uproar, he ordered him to be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, 36 for the mass of people followed, yelling, “Get rid of him!”

So these Jews accusing Paul end up pulling the whole city of Jerusalem into it and a riot ensues. They grab Paul and drag him out of the temple and start beating him. The commander of the Roman regiment there in the city rushes in to break things up and restore order to the city. And that description right there tells you just how big this thing had gotten. It says that he took along soldiers and centurions. Now if you know anything about the Roman legion, a centurion was a commander over a hundred men. So if the regimental commander is bringing multiple centurions and their men it means there were multiple hundreds of Roman soldiers coming in to stop this riot. That’s a pretty big deal. They grab Paul, bind him in chains and take him back to their barracks for questioning, but even with all these soldiers and the show of force by the Romans the people are still following along shouting “Get rid of him!”

And then we read:

Acts 21:37-

Acts 21:37–40 CSB

37 As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “Am I allowed to say something to you?” He replied, “You know how to speak Greek? 38 Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?” 39 Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.” 40 After he had given permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great hush, he addressed them in Aramaic:

Here Paul surprises the Roman commander by speaking to him in Greek. And the commander’s response shows us that they had absolutely no clue who they were dealing with. He says, “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?” I just imagine Paul going, “Ummm… No.” Paul tells him who he is, at least some of who he is, and asks to speak to the crowd.

And once the commander gives him permission this is what he says to them:

Acts 22:1–21 CSB

1 “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.” 2 When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter. 3 He continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail, 5 as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished. 6 “As I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8 “I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’ 9 Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 10 “I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.’ 11 “Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus. 12 Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there, 13 came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him. 14 And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth, 15 since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’ 17 “After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19 “But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten. 20 And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.’ 21 “He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

Acts 2

Now we all know this already. We talked about Paul’s conversion months ago. We saw him g through these things and we’ve seen the change in his character since it happened. He went from being the vessel chosen by the Jewish religious leaders that would destroy the church in its infancy, to being the vessel chosen by God that would help the church to explode out of its infancy and spread across the known world. Paul has this incredible, passionate, compelling testimony that we’ve just read. So what is the reaction to this testimony? Well it’s found in the next verse.

Acts 22:22 CSB

22 They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live!”

The people listen as Paul tells his story of conversion and their reaction is “Kill him! Wipe this man off the face of the earth!” Not quite the reaction we would hope for. But let’s finish reading this section and see what follows.

Acts 22:23

Acts 22:23–29 CSB

23 As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this. 25 As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?” 26 When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, “What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” 27 The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said. 28 The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul said. 29 So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.

The Roman soldiers decide to take Paul in and “interrogate” him via the scourge. Now I put air-quotes around interrogate there because there wasn’t actually a whole lot of questioning, or at least not a whole lot of answering that occurred during the scourge process.

Show image of the scourges and explain the process.

But before they can begin the scourge Paul points out that he is a Roman citizen. Earlier when he was asking to speak to the crowd he told the commander that he was a citizen of an important city, he just didn’t tell him which city. But that is an important distinction. You see it was illegal for Roman citizens to be subjected to the scourge. In fact it was illegal to bind a Roman citizen and the Roman commander had ordered Paul bound in chains so he’s a bit worried.

Now I know we’ve read through a really big section today, but there’s something I want us to see that we can apply to our lives today. In this section of scripture that we’ve read through today we’ve seen the citizens of Jerusalem rioting, we’ve seen Paul being beaten, we’ve seen him placed in chains, we’ve seen him almost be subjected to the Roman scourge. But what I want us to notice particularly from this passage is Paul’s reaction to all of this.

Following the riot, and the false accusations against him; following the beating that Paul received at the hands of the Jews, his reaction was to calmly ask the Roman commander, “May I speak to the crowd?”

After speaking to the crowd and hearing them still call for his death, as he faces the prospect of being beaten with this torture device that was the scourge, Paul’s reaction was to calmly ask, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?”

How was Paul able to be so calm in the face of such anger and hostility? How was he able to be so calm in the face of imminent torture? Remember, we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks that Paul has been warned by the Spirit that once he reached Jerusalem he would face chains and afflictions. But he was also led, by that same Spirit, to continue on; to return to Jerusalem to face whatever came. And that’s the key that I want us to take away from this passage today. There is no better place to be than at the center of God’s will for your life. Notice I didn’t say, “no safer place.” God doesn’t always promise safety. Paul was never promised safety. In fact he was told outright that things were going to get extremely hard for him. But he had faith in Christ, and it was that faith that allowed him to answer those who were warning him about what he would face in Jerusalem before he returned, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

May we have a faith that is that strong. Paul’s faith allowed him to stand in front of those who had falsely accused him, who had beaten him, and who were calling for his death, and to not fight back, but to share the story of the gospel with them. May we have that type of faith. I pray that we would all come to experience that fact, as Paul did, that there is no better place to be in this world, than at the very center of God’s will for our lives.

Would you pray with me?