Kingdom Citizens: Appeal to the King

Acts 25:1-12; Hebrews 4:16

Appeal:

· In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision.

· A Demand that supersedes a current course of action.

· A right to an audience with a higher authority, be heard by a higher governing authority.

After being arrested, Paul was transported to Caesarea where he would go before Festus, the Roman governor. Paul pled his case to Festus, and that’s when things went awry. In the same way that Pontius Pilate once privately declared Jesus innocent but then handed Him over to be crucified, so also Festus declared Paul innocent yet did not set him free.

Instead, he kept Paul until Agrippa, the Jewish King, could come down and hear him too.

What Paul did, when allowed to face Agrippa, was astounding. He did not plead his case legally. He did not argue his innocence, though he did make it clear that he was innocent. He did not try to argue the law at all. Instead, Paul gave full testimony to why he followed Jesus and why everyone else in the court should too.

The most natural thing for Paul to do would have been to try to save his own life.

But what he did instead tried to save the souls of everyone present. Agrippa even scoffed at Paul, asking if he thought he could convince Agrippa to believe, in such a context and in such a short time.

Paul’s response? “I absolutely hope so!”

Paul was drawing on the promise that God does not forget His saints and that the Lord gives power to His people at the moment they need it. He trusted in this and he declared it. He did not fear or cower or try to manipulate.

In the end, Paul was sent to Rome to face Caesar. It was legal, but it was not right. He was innocent but he was condemned. A Roman governor conspired with a Jewish king to kill an innocent man for honoring God. And the innocent man went willingly.

Paul’s appeal to Caesar was a plea to get out of the mess he faced.

I appeal to Caesar to get me out of this mess.

Paul’s Appeal to Caesar was an Overlapping Appeal

This is actually a very important Lukan point, because for Luke ‘salvation’ is never, as we say, ‘purely spiritual’, but is always about a rescue that is both earthly and heavenly.

Dr. Tom Wright observes:

One of the great losses in Christian modernity is many have tried to reassert Christian truth but within a split-level world, with a ‘god’ who is normally, or even permanently, out of the picture.

It is the modern way of thinking and speaking of ‘natural’ and ‘supernatural’, where ‘the supernatural’ is what happens when the normally absent ‘god’ reaches in and does something peculiar and then goes away again.

That is not how ancient Jews or early Christians would have seen the matter.

In Biblical thought, Heaven and Earth are made for each other, and Jesus stands at the intersection.

.

We have been used to seeing ‘heaven’ as a place separated from earth, somewhere far away, way beyond the blue.

Jesus said, “the Kingdom of God is at hand”.

Heaven and earth are designed to overlap and interlock

· This is the foundation of Worship

· A Powerful Prayer Life sees evidence of this Overlap and Interlocking

Appeal to the King

· As believers (kingdom citizens) we have a right to an audience with the Sovereign God. To whom do you appeal—commend yourself. “Now unto Him who is able

Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Jude 24-25 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Hebrews 4:16

The greatest privilege of being a Kingdom Citizen is you get to hold court with the Sovereign of Heaven and Earth. No appointment is needed. Daily access, multiple times a day.