“Acts 23:23-35”

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

“And he called to him two of the centurions and said, ‘Get two hundred soldiers ready by the third hour of the night to proceed to Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen.’ They were also to provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to Felix the governor. And he wrote a letter having this form: ‘Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix, greetings. ‘When this man was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them, I came up to them with the troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. ‘And wanting to ascertain the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their Council; and I found him to be accused over questions about their Law, but under no accusation deserving death or imprisonment. ‘When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing his accusers to bring charges against him before you.’ So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. But the next day, leaving the horsemen to go on with him, they returned to the barracks. When these had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. When he had read it, he asked from what province he was, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, ‘I will give you a hearing after your accusers arrive also,’ giving orders for him to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.”
---End of Scripture verses---

After receiving the report from Paul’s nephew that certain men were plotting to kill him, the commander put a serious plan of protection into action. He assembled an escort of 200 infantrymen, 200 cavalrymen and 70 spearmen. That’s nearly 500 armed soldiers to protect one Gospel preacher from 40 or so religious extremists! The president of the United States isn’t provided that kind of coverage when traveling to the most unstable global military hotspots. Do you think that maybe Claudius Lysias went a bit overboard when he finally discovered that he had been mishandling a natural born Roman citizen of good standing (Acts 22:25-30)? The commander made certain that he was doing everything within his power to deliver Paul to Governor Felix without further harm or risk of violence. I can’t help but believe that we are really seeing the powerful hand of God on display here though. Jesus had promised Paul that He would see him safely to the city of Rome (verse 11), and then provided the means to make good on His promise. Of course Paul was safe with God with or without an human army surrounding him.

The commander sent a letter along with Paul to the Judean governor who was located in the city of Caesarea (verse 33). In this letter Mister Lysias wrote that he had “rescued him having learned that he was a Roman” (verse 27), and that he had sent Paul to Governor Felix “at once” when he learned of the plot against his life (verse 30). Did you notice how he very conveniently left out the details about how he had him bound with chains and had ordered him to be flogged to beat some information out of him (Acts 22:24-30)? We do things like that sometimes too don’t we? We will tell a “half-truth” and then pass it off as if we are being completely honest. Sometimes we stretch the truth to make ourselves look good to our earthly peers and superiors, but our main concern should be to please the One who can look right into our heart of hearts. God values absolute sincerity in His people. Let’s try to be people of the utmost integrity.

Proverbs 28:18 – “Whoever walks in integrity will be delivered, but he who is crooked in his ways will suddenly fall.” (ESV)

Please read Acts 24:1-9 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

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