“Acts 25:13-27”

Saturday, February 20, 2016

“Now when several days had elapsed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. While they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, ‘There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix; and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before the accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought before me. When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. Being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these matters. But when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.’ Then Agrippa said to Festus, ‘I also would like to hear the man myself.’ ‘Tomorrow,’ he said, ‘you shall hear him.’ So, on the next day when Agrippa came together with Bernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. Festus said, ‘King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not to live any longer. But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

“Now when several days had elapsed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus” (verse 13). Adam Clarke wrote the following about King Agrippa in his commentary on the book of Acts: “This was the son of Herod Agrippa who is mentioned Acts 12:1… This king was strongly attached to the Romans, and did everything in his power to prevent the Jews from rebelling against them; and, when he could not prevail, he united his troops to those of Titus, and assisted in the siege of Jerusalem…Bernice was sister of this Agrippa, and of the Drusilla mentioned Acts 24:24. She was at first married to her uncle Herod (Herod Agrippa’s youngest brother and the former king) and, on his death, went to live with her brother Agrippa, with whom she was violently suspected to lead an incestuous life.”

When Festus told Agrippa about Paul and the peculiar details of his case, he said that the apostle’s accusers, “simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive” (verse 19). You know, I can understand why Festus would view with absurdity the idea that someone would follow a dead guy that they claimed to be alive. Paul wrote about the idea of a crucified Savior as being foolishness to most of the people of the world (1 Corinthians 1:23). Unfortunately, a lot of people who even claim to believe in and follow Jesus treat Him like He died nearly 2,000 years ago and just stayed dead. I think that if more people truly believed that the Lord is alive today and is watching and judging all the things that they think, do and say, they would be living their lives a whole lot differently than they do.

“Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness’” (2 Timothy 2:19).

Christian remember who you are today!

Please read Acts 26:1-18 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

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