caesarea

Have you ever felt like giving up? If we’re honest, all of us have had that experience. It comes with living in a fallen world. There are those times in life when we get the urge to throw in the towel, to quit. Sometimes it’s because we simply run out of steam. We get tired. Other times, we find ourselves running short on hope. Things get so tough that we don’t see any way out. Which drives us to abandon all hope of things getting better. In Acts 27:1-20, Luke recalls a story when Paul was being transported by ship from Caesarea to Rome. He was on his way to stand trial before the emperor. This was a God-ordained journey that was going to place Paul in the very heart of the Roman empire, providing him with a unique opportunity to share the gospel with the world’s most powerful man: Caesar. But this trip, while sanctioned by God, was not going to turn out to be a Disney cruise. This voyage was marked by lousy weather complete with typhoon-strength winds and timber-breaking waves. And even the leather-skinned sailors on board the ship reached the point where they abandoned all hope of survival. But Paul was given a word from God letting him know that, in spite of the dire circumstances, all would end well and not a soul would be lost. This trip had God’s hands all over it. Yes, they would still have to endure the winds and the waves. They would end up having to abandon ship. But each and every occupant of the ship, from the sailors and soldiers to the prisoners like Paul, were miraculously saved.   

I want you to imagine for a moment this scenario. (As you will hear in this PODCAST, a potentially familiar biblical story to you.)

That being said, see if you can guess the name of its principle player.

His people were ravaged by a barbarically blood-thirsty Empire, the armies of which decimated his land, desecrated his holy places, and butchered his people.

His hatred for these pagan barbarians flamed in his guts with the white-hot fury of volcanic rage. A smoldering-just-beneath-the-surface-anger that could have understandably erupted into a deadly confrontation at the slightest provocation.

But God is a God of mercy, isn’t he?

So He asked this man to set aside his prejudices, to extinguish the fiery rage that blazed within him. And in the face of the mountain of abuses he and his people suffered at the hands of these hedonistic heathens, these merciless marauders, to travel into the very power-center of this occupying power in order to share with the people there the Good News of God’s redemptive love.

The notion that he would engage these interlopers on any level was utterly repugnant to him. Not to mention his absolute inability even to entertain the slightest possibility that some such as these might spend an eternity with him in Heaven.

He didn’t want God to save them; He wanted God to obliterate them.

So down to the seaport city of Joppa he went (that’s your clue to this mystery man’s identity) where he confronted a personal crisis of faith unlike he had ever experienced before.

Does he walk away in rebellion against God? Does he get into a boat and sail away, in direct defiance of God’s revealed will?

Or does he submit himself to the task to which God called him, knowing full-well that in doing so he may-well place himself squarely in the crosshairs of his sworn enemy?

To whom am I referring? Who was this singularly-selected servant of God, forced to face such a potentially life-threatening, history-altering choice?

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We can’t see into the future. We have no way of determining the outcome of our present circumstances. And neither did Paul. He had been in Caesarea under the protective custody of the Romans for two solid years, waiting for someone to make a decision regarding his guilt or innocence. But the months came and went and, eventually, so did the Roman governor. Felix was replaced by Festus. But as we will see in Acts 25:1-12, not much else changed for Paul. The Jews were still around and their hated of Paul had not diminished with time. Paul would find himself facing yet another hearing, having to listen to the same old false accusations again. And, once again, he would defend himself, declaring his innocence. But this time, Paul would take matters to a whole new level, demanding that he be allowed to appear before Caesar in Rome. This was his right as a Roman citizen. He knew he would never receive a fair trial in Jerusalem, and his only hope of having this situation resolved was by making the long and arduous journey to Rome. It was something he had always wanted to do. And while making the trip as a prisoner of Rome was not his preferred method of seeing his dream come true, Paul knew that God was in control. He was fully content to trust God with the outcome. All of the events described by Luke in these verses provide additional proof that God was orchestrating the affairs of Paul’s life. There was a far grander plan taking place behind the scenes, to which even Paul was unaware. But he could sense the sovereign hand of God on his life.

It was Jesus who referred to Paul as, “my chosen instrument.” He had called and commissioned Paul to take the message of the gospel to the Gentiles and to kings. And Paul had proven to be a faithful servant, carrying out that calling with fearless determination. He had been beaten, flogged, rejected, run out of town, and even stoned, but he never gave up. He refused to back down. And now, Luke begins to chronicle Paul’s divinely appointed journey to Rome. The Roman tribune in Jerusalem had no idea what to do with Paul. He could find no reason to keep Paul, let alone punish him. So, he determined to send Paul to Caesarea, where the Roman governor, Felix, could assess the situation and make a judgment. As we have stressed repeatedly, these encounters were divine appointments, orchestrated by God and in fulfillment of the words of Jesus. Paul had been chosen by Jesus to accomplish great things for the kingdom, and that was going to include standing before some of the most powerful men in the Roman empire. And there was nothing that was going to stand in the way of God’s will being accomplished. Paul had divine protection. That didn’t exempt him from difficulty, because Jesus had clearly predicted that Paul’s life would be marked by suffering. But it meant that his life and ministry were under divine protection until God decided Paul’s work on earth was done.   

If there’s one thing most of us as believers have learned, it’s that God doesn’t always do things the way we expect or want. He seems to have a mind of His own and a tendency to do things the way He thinks best, whether we approve or not. And in Acts 10:44-11:3, we are going to see God surprising Peter and the Jewish believers in the church with His treatment of the Gentiles who came to faith in the home of Cornelius. God poured out His Spirit. Upon their belief in the saving work of Jesus Christ, each of the Gentiles received the same anointing of the Spirit of God as the 120 disciples had received on the day of Pentecost. They even spoke in foreign languages. This had not been what Peter had expected and, as we will see, it was most certainly not what the Jewish believers back in Jerusalem had anticipated. God was not doing things according to their preconceived notions of protocol. These Gentiles were received the baptism of the Spirit, as well as water baptism, and they hadn’t even been required to be circumcised. This was unacceptable. It wasn’t kosher, so to speak. But God was doing things His way. He wasn’t taking input or seeking permission. He wasn’t operating according to their will, but in keeping with His divine, totally flawless, and completely just and sovereign will. They were amazed, but also appalled. They were shocked and stunned that God was operating outside the box in which they had placed Him. And this was just the beginning.  

His name is Pilate, as in Pontius Pilate — P-i-l-a-t-e, not p-i-l-o-t — even though Pilate did manage to fly himself right into middle of a maelstrom of religious and political corruption and compromise with devastating consequences.

In this PODCAST, as we now approach Jesus’ impending crucifixion, the greatest irony of this entire sad saga is that the whole thing is motivated by one thing: self-interest.

As we learned in last week’s podcast, on the Jewish side of things, the entire motivation behind the High Priest Caiaphas and the 70-member Sanhedrin in wanting to kill Jesus was the realization that He posed an existential threat to their power, position, prestige, and possessions, all of them paid for with their obscene wealth and ill-gotten gains — the chief thieves, these religious leaders were, in a den of thieves. Which is what, on their watch, the Temple, The House, God’s House, “My Father’s House” (as Jesus called it), had become.

As we will learn this week, on Roman side of things, the spineless Pilate will collapse like the house of cards that he was because he feared losing his title and power as the Roman Governor of the province of Judea. All of this while killing a man who was utterly, totally, completely and absolutely selfless. Somoen who had not one strand of the DNA of self-interest woven anywhere in the fabric of His sizable soul.

We’re talking their willingness to murder a gentle, peaceable, innocent man — not to mention their Messiah — if that’s what it took to maintain their coveted positions.

Make no mistake about this — Pilate KNEW that Jesus was absolutely innocent, and yet sentenced Him to die anyway, in the most unimaginably barbaric, brazenly humiliating, excruciatingly torturous death ever devised by man.

You talk about Jesus looking out over a vast multitude of precious people with overwhelming compassion in His heart, while lamenting that they were like sheep without a shepherd? Well, these were their shepherds.

Shepherds both religious (Caiphas) and political (Pilate). Unprincipled men who unconscionably used and abused their helpless little lambs for their own personal gain.

Just like they do today. Religiously and Politically. It is today as it was then.

Well, last week we met their religious shepherds.

The time has now come for us to meet their political shepherds. Most specifically, Pontius Pilate, the man who has lived long in infamy as the man who caved to political pressure and who, against own convictions, sentenced Jesus to death.

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God bless you richly as you listen.

Today's show:

• What's going on with John Walsh?
• Catching up on resources from his web site
• And some fun events happening from next month

Bryan catches up with some of the new releases that have appeared in John Walsh's corner of the web. See links below. Also some events that are coming up that may be of interest and blessing. And finally some fun stuff coming up next week, God willing, from Siberia!

Links ... John Walsh's web site ... All the Stories of the Bible resource ... Israel trip (9-22 April 2016) brochure online ... BTStories interactive web site ... Christian Storytelling Conference (23-25 June 2016)

Follow us on Twitter ~ Review us in iTunes ~ Give us your feedback!

We hope you enjoy the show. Click on the (direct download) link immediately below to start hearing this show NOW!

Today's show:

• What's going on with John Walsh?
• Catching up on resources from his web site
• And some fun events happening from next month

Bryan catches up with some of the new releases that have appeared in John Walsh's corner of the web. See links below. Also some events that are coming up that may be of interest and blessing. And finally some fun stuff coming up next week, God willing, from Siberia!

Links ... John Walsh's web site ... All the Stories of the Bible resource ... Israel trip (9-22 April 2016) brochure online ... BTStories interactive web site ... Christian Storytelling Conference (23-25 June 2016)

Follow us on Twitter ~ Review us in iTunes ~ Give us your feedback!

We hope you enjoy the show. Click on the (direct download) link immediately below to start hearing this show NOW!