Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Acts 25:12. Indeed, two years have passed and the apostle is still in prison. But hatred of Jews has not disarmed. For no sooner had Festus replaced Felix than a new plot was plotted, from which the Lord delivered his witness. Like Felix and once Pilate (Mark 15:9-15), Festus’ main concern is to “win the favor of the Jews” (Acts 25:9). Paul therefore felt obliged to invoke his right as a Roman citizen again by appealing to the judgment of the emperor.
Agrippa, Berenice (as well as Drusilla, wife of Felix), were the children of Herod III (Acts 12:1-4) and constituted the fourth generation of this criminal dynasty. The courtesy visit they pay to the new governor will be an opportunity for him to inquire about his strange prisoner. One senses, in the way Festus summarizes the affair, the lack of interest that these religious questions present for him. It is “a certain Jesus who died, and whom Paul claimed to be alive.” For Christ is nothing more for multitudes today. But Paul claimed that He was alive and that was indeed what made all the difference.
The apostle is thus introduced in the middle of this court gathered “with great pomp”. According to the Lord’s word to Ananias, he was to be “a vessel of choice” to bear his name before kings (Acts 9:10-16). But he was the ambassador of a King so great than those before whom he was called to appear, “an ambassador bound by chains,” as he calls himself elsewhere, yet using boldness to speak of his Lord because the word of God was not bound (Eph 6:13-20; 2 Tim 2:8-10).
Thus, Paul replied: “It is before Caesar’s court that I appear, this is where I must be judged. I did no harm to the Jews, as you well know. If I have committed some injustice, or some crime worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but, if the things they accuse me of are false, no one has the right to surrender me to them. I appeal to Caesar” (Acts 25:10-11). For he had a good conscience before God and before all; so his words exuded a firmness and persuasion capable of impressing his listeners, or convincing them, if their conscience had been capable of being attained. But trampled underfoot by their hatred of the Lord and His servant, she was too hardened. And having nothing to expect from the Jews or Festus, Paul appealed to Caesar.
That is why a few days after the session when Paul appealed to Caesar, Agrippa and Berenice came to greet Festus. The latter explained to the king the case of Paul, he had replied that the Romans did not have the custom of condemning someone before the accused had the opportunity to defend himself before his accusers. Then they had not advanced, “the accusers having presented themselves, did not charge him anything of what I assumed”; and Festus recognized that he was not dealing with a bad man; but he did not feel capable of judging his case. For it was the cult of the Jews in which he had little interest, let alone in that dead man whom Paul claimed to be alive.
It was indeed about this man that the greatest difficulty arose, for if they had against Paul, questions concerning their religious worship, it was because this worship according to the law, to which they held so much, had been replaced by the one that God the Father desired, as the Lord said to the Samaritan woman: “The hour is coming, and it is now that true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for also the Father seeks such who worship Him” (John 4:23). This worship, given to God known as Father, had replaced that of Jehovah, the God of Israel, whom the worshipper could not approach freely. By virtue of Christ’s work on the cross, the worshipper, purified of all his sins, is made clean to enjoy the presence of God his Father; he approaches without fear, the Gentile as well as the Jew, by faith in the rejected Christ, whom the Jews always despised.
Indeed, Festus could not understand the difficulties of such worship, nor the importance of affirming that Jesus was alive, a wonderful fact, on which all the blessings of Christianity are based and those in which the Jews will share as earthly people, when the Church is raptured and they have acknowledged their grave sin of having put the Lord to death. But the Jews so strongly opposed the truth of Jesus’ resurrection, because it provided proof of their condemnation, God having resurrected the one they had hated and put to death. For in Acts 5:28 they say to the apostles, “You want to make the blood of this man fall upon us!” And we read in Mat 27:4 that the leaders of the people feared Jesus’ resurrection and its consequences. For not only did they seal the tomb, but when it became clear that Christ was risen, they paid the guards who had seen this resurrection to say that his disciples had stolen his body in their sleep. “And this noise has spread among the Jews, to this day.” (Mat 28:11-15). Thus this people bore the two great characters of Satan: murder and lies.
Hearing Festus’ account, Agrippa said to him, “I would also like to hear this man. Tomorrow, Festus replied, you will hear it.” For he was a son of King Herod, “while he was haranguing the people in Caesarea, an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given glory to God. And he exhaled, gnawing at worms.” (Acts 12:23)
Paul is introduced before this assembly of the great of this world to bear witness of which the Lord had spoken to Ananias: Go, for this man is an instrument which I have chosen, to bear my name before the nations, before the kings, and before the sons of Israel; and I will show him all that he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16). For for God he was the greatest, the most illustrious of all, as the ambassador of the One who will one day appear to the world as King of kings and Lord of lords, to destroy his enemies and establish his reign of justice and peace. For, as a child of God and co-heir of Christ, the Christian must always realize the high position that grace has given him. Indeed, he will one day reign with Christ on earth and will be eternally with him in glory. Until then, he has no right to assert here on earth, because his Lord is in heaven, rejected from this world. The awareness of his elevated position humbles him; he possesses it by grace, and thus he will bear the characters of the Lord who, having always been aware of his greatness, since he was God, was the man perfectly humble of heart, accessible to all, always manifesting grace and love.
Festus introduced Paul to this illustrious company, as the accused whose death the Jews wanted, but in whom he had found nothing that deserved it. As he himself had appealed to Caesar Augustus, Festus was to send him to the emperor; but, having nothing specific to write about him, he had brought him before everyone, and especially before Agrippa, so that, when questioned by him, he could inquire about his account. This appearance, as well as the one he suffered in Rome, manifested Paul’s non-guilt: “Indeed, throughout the courtroom and everywhere else, no one is unaware that it is for Christ that I am in bond” (Phil 1:13). He was a prisoner for the Lord, not for committing crimes.
We then understand Paul’s call to Caesar; the Lord could also have intervened to deliver him and send him to Rome, as He had told him. However, the one who is above all was directing the circumstances to accomplish his will. Indeed, Paul had to go to Rome; he would go there, free or prisoner; and what the Lord wanted to do by His means would be done. For his detention in Rome earned us the epistles to the Ephesians, to the Colossians, to the Philippians, to Philemon. Indeed, from human views, the preaching of the Gospel seemed seriously compromised; but from his prison Paul wrote to the Philippians: “I want you to know, brethren, that what has happened to me has rather contributed to the progress of the gospel.” (Phil 1:12-18). For the Lord God makes everything work for his glory and for the good of his people.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
- Festus, Roman governor of Judea
Acts 24:27 Two years passed, and Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. In a desire to please the Jews, Felix left Paul in prison. Acts 25:1, 9, 12, 24Festus, having arrived in the province, ascended three days later from Caesarea to Jerusalem. 9 Festus, desiring to please the Jews, answered Paul: Do you want to go up to Jerusalem, and be judged there on these things in my presence? 12 Then Festus, after deliberating with the council, answered: You have appealed to Caesar; you will go before Caesar. 24 Then Festus said: King Agrippa, and all of you who are present with us, you see this man about whom the whole multitude of Jews addressed me, either in Jerusalem or here, exclaiming that he should no longer live. Acts 26:24, 32 As he spoke this way for his justification, Festus said aloud: You are mad, Paul! Your great knowledge makes you unreasoned. 32 And Agrippa said to Festus: This man could be released, if he had not appealed to Caesar.
- Examples of Human Justice
1 S 30.24 And who would listen to you in this matter? The share must be the same for the one who came down to the battlefield and for the one who stayed close to the luggage: together they will share. 2 S 8:15 David ruled over Israel, and he did right and justice to all his people. 1 The 1:52 Solomon said: If he shows himself to be an honest man, he will not fall to the ground one of his hair; but if he is in him of wickedness, he will die. 1 R 3:28 Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived together, no strangers were with us in the house, there were only the two of us. 2 Kings 14:16 Joas went to bed with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And Jeroboam, his son, reigned in his place. Jer 22:15 Do you rule, because you have a passion for cedar? Didn’t your father eat, didn’t he drink? But he practiced justice and fairness, and he washappy; Acts 25:16 I replied to them that it is not the custom of the Romans to surrender a man until the accused has been placed in the presence of his accusers, and has had the faculty to defend himself on the things of which he is accused.
- Popularity sought by men
Jn 12:43 For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. Acts 12:2-3 and he caused James, John’s brother, to die by the sword. 3 Seeing that this was pleasing to the Jews, he had Peter arrested again. -It was during the days of unleavened breads. -; Acts 24:27 Two years passed, and Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. In a desire to please the Jews, Felix left Paul in prison. Acts 25:9 Festus, desiring to please the Jews, answered Paul: Will you ascend to Jerusalem, and be judged there on these things in my presence? Eph 6:6 not only before their eyes, as if to please men, but as servants of Christ, who willingly do God’s will. Col 3:22 Servants, obey your masters in all things according to the flesh, not only before their eyes, as if to please men, but with simplicity of heart, in fear of the Lord.
- Jerusalem, general references
Jos 10:1 Adoni Tsedek, king of Jerusalem, learned that Joshua had seized Ai and devoted her by prohibition, that he had treated Ai and his king as he had treated Jericho and his king, and that the people of Gabaon had made peace with Israel and were in their midst. Jg 19:10 The husband would get up to leave, with his concubine and his servant; but his father-in-law, the father of the young woman, said to him: Behold, the day goes down, it is late, so spend the night; behold, the day is on its decline, passes here the night, and may your heart rejoice; tomorrow you will rise early in the morning to set out, and you will go to your tent. 2 Sam 5:6 The king marched with his people on Jerusalem against the Jebusians, inhabitants of the land. They said to David: Thou sha t enter here, for the blind and the lame will repel you! Which meant: David will not enter here. 2 S 11:1The following year, when the kings were on the campaign, David sent Joab, with his servants and all israel, to destroy the sons of Ammon and to besiege Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 S 15:14 And David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem: Rise, let us flee, for there will be no salvation for us before Absalom. Hurry up and go; otherwise, he would soon reach us, and he would throw us into misfortune and strike the city with the edge of the sword. 2 S 20:3 David returned to his house in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to guard the house, and put them in a place where they were sequestered; he provided for their maintenance, but he did not go to them. And they were locked up until the day they died, living in a state of widowhood. 1 King 2:11 The time David ruled Israel was forty years: in Hebron he reigned for seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years. 1 Kings 8:1 Then King Solomon gathered near him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the chiefs of the tribes, the heads of families of the children of Israel, to carry from the city of David, which is Zion, the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. 1 King 10:2 She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large renumit, and with camels bearing herbs, gold in very large quantities, and precious stones. She went to Solomon, and she told him all that she had in her heart.
From all the above,let us then understand Paul’s call to Caesar; for the Lord could also have intervened to deliver him and send him to Rome, as he had told him. However, the one who is above all was directing the circumstances to accomplish his will. Indeed, Paul had to go to Rome; he would go there, free or prisoner; and what the Lord wanted to do by His means would be done. And his detention in Rome earned us the epistles to the Ephesians, to the Colossians, to the Philippians, to Philemon. Indeed, from human views, the preaching of the Gospel seemed seriously compromised; but from his prison Paul wrote to the Philippians: “I want you to know, brethren, that what has happened to me has rather contributed to the progress of the gospel.” (Phil 1:12-18). Itis that the Lord God makes everything work for his glory and for the good of his own. Our prayers support you all in your efforts to work for the glory of Almighty God.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow on Paul’s address to Agrippa.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.