the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
Acts 23:16-35
We do not see the Lord intervening in a miraculous way as at Philippi (Acts 16:26), or as in the case of Peter (Acts 12:7), to deliver His servant. Yet He still controls events, uses a young nephew of Paul and the qualification of Roman citizenship which Paul possessed, as well as the proud disdain which the Roman commandant had for the Jews on whom he was no doubt pleased to play a trick. The Lord had promised His servant that he would witness for Him in Rome (v. 11). Consequently all the plots of his enemies would not be able to prevent him from going there. Rather would they help towards this end; it is in fact their threats which decide Lysias to send Paul under a strong escort to Caesarea, the port where he landed not long before, in order to protect him from the fanatical Jews. At the same time as he sent his prisoner, Lysias addresses a letter to the governor, Felix, about Paul. Notice how he arranges the facts to his own advantage, to hide the error he had almost committed (v. 27; Acts 22:25). In spite of that, the offences of the heathen are almost non-existent compared with the dreadful guilt of the Jews. The forty murderous conspirators evidently were not able to keep their oath, thereby calling down a curse on their heads.
