🙏🏽 Dear Heavenly Father – We return again today to learn how the early church began. Let us remember that we are part of Your Church and let us be thankful for the men and women who blazed the path courageously so that we could hear the glorious salvation message of the Gospel today. We thank You for all that You do in our lives and we are thankful for those who went before us. Amen.
On to Jerusalem
21 After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. 2 We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. 3 After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. 4 We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. 5 When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. 6 After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.
Points to Ponder: In this section, we begin to see two things: (1) Paul and his companions seek out the disciples wherever they are. And (2) Paul hears the warnings about what he would face in Jerusalem. He is not deterred. He knows ahead of time that this will not be easy. Like Jesus in Luke 9:51-56, Paul heads resolutely to Jerusalem.
7 We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day. 8 Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. 9 He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
Points to Ponder: In Our Lord’s prayer, we are told that we are forgiven as we forgive others. In this sections we see Paul staying with Philip, the evangelist. This is the same Philip that ministered to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:35)… and the same Philip that served with Stephen (Acts 6:5), the first martyr that was stoned to death while Paul was guarding the cloaks of those who killed Stephen. (Acts 7:58).
I am humbled to see all that the early followers endured in building The Church. They are demonstrating that the Gospel message of salvation was more important than the difficult circumstances they endured. This is a level of maturity I strive for – more of Him and less of me. 😔
10 After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”
12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
15 After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.
Points to Ponder: Three times Paul hears the warning and his conviction is unshaken. There is a strong reminder of Jesus’ own journey into Jerusalem here. As readers, two thousand years later, we who know how the story turns out, still are in awe at the strength Paul displays as well as the strength implied in the author, Luke – Paul’s traveling companion.
Paul’s Arrival at Jerusalem
17 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”
26 The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.
Points to Ponder: This is a tough section for me. Paul meets with the home base of this new Church and the recommendation is to compromise. No, not really compromise, but to take actions that minimize offense to the Jews in Jerusalem.
The problem I have with this section is that two thousand years later we are still struggling to teach the sufficiency of Jesus for salvation. God’s grace is all we can count on for our salvation. Nothing we can do… no laws we can follow will ever make us ‘good enough’ to stand in the presence of a Holy God. We can only stand in the righteousness of Christ.
The Gospel message is simply too good and too simple to accept for many people.
Paul Arrested
27 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)
30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”
Points to Ponder: Even after the demonstration of legal obedience, the response of the Jews in Jerusalem look like the response that Paul received from the Jews in the other regions. So much for trying to be less offensive! The false accusations start and the mob-mentality begins.
Any reader will have a flashback to the crowds yelling to Pontius Pilate, ‘Crucify Him!’ The tension is thick and the words of warning that Jesus gave His disciples should come to mind. (John 15:18, 20)
Paul Speaks to the Crowd
37 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”
“Do you speak Greek?” he replied. 38 “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?”
39 Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.”
40 After receiving the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic;
22 1 “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”
2 When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.
Then Paul said: 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4 I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5 as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
8 “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 9 My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
10 “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ 11 My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
12 “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. 13 He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.
14 “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15 You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
17 “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’
19 “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20 And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’
21 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”
Points to Ponder: Jesus, didn’t answer His accusers – He had a mission of salvation to complete. Paul, on the other hand, didn’t come to Jerusalem to die. He came to preach. He takes this opportunity to give his testimony. He is sure that those who knew him before his conversion would listen.
Paul the Roman Citizen
22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”
Points to Ponder: They don’t listen… they won’t listen, (just as Jesus had told Paul in a vision during his last trip to Jerusalem! Acts 22:18) A mob does not respond to logic and reason.
23 As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. 25 As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”
26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”
27 The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes, I am,” he answered.
28 Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”
“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.
29 Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
Points to Ponder: Oh boy, this is the justice of the time. The crowd is unruly and those in charge decide to beat Paul and interrogate him in order to find out why the people were shouting. Crazy! Paul has been through this before in the other cities, but in Jerusalem he, a Jew, is protected by his Roman citizenship.
Paul Before the Sanhedrin
30 The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.
Points to Ponder: Paul knew he was walking into a confrontation. And he did so purposefully. How very odd for the military commander, who paid for his Roman citizenship, to find himself in the midst of this Jewish infighting. Their fighting almost led him to an act that threatened, if not his life, his livelihood. As the act of beating someone for information was illegal for Roman citizens. 🤦🏻♀️
Summary: The chapter ends on a cliff-hanger. Sometimes, we get immersed in a story and play the ‘what-if’ games. The book of Acts is New Testament history. It’s fascinating to see how people respond to the Gospel. When Jesus walked this earth… some believed, some got angry… and He was crucified. One of those angry folks, Paul, is now doing the walking and experiencing what His Lord and Master went through.
It is a little heart-wrenching for me to read. Maybe I’m remembering when I was part of a crowd being lured into doing or saying what I ought not to; maybe I’m seeing the increase of crowds around me – and my heart now breaks for them. I am thankful for Paul’s unwavering efforts to remain steadfast.
🙏🏼 Heavenly Father – Thank You for Your Word. Let all your children read your Word – holding it up as a mirror to our own lives. Show us our hearts and strengthen us to resubmit to Your will. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.