{"id":6416,"date":"2020-05-14T05:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T10:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/wp\/?p=6416"},"modified":"2020-05-12T14:46:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T19:46:11","slug":"acts-chapter-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/?p=6416","title":{"rendered":"Acts Chapter 23"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

23 <\/strong>And looking intently at the council, Paul said, \u201cBrothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.\u201d 2 <\/sup><\/strong>And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 3 <\/sup><\/strong>Then Paul said to him, \u201cGod is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?\u201d 4 <\/sup><\/strong>Those who stood by said, \u201cWould you revile God\u2019s high priest?\u201d 5 <\/sup><\/strong>And Paul said, \u201cI did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, \u2018You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot is happening in these few verses. Paul\u2019s opening statement is really an insult to all the Jewish religious leaders in the assembly. If Paul, a Christian, lived his life before God in good conscience then those who opposed Christ were living against God. Thus, we see the anger of the high priest through having Paul struck for what they viewed as blasphemy and an insult. Paul responds with a curse upon them for being hypocrites and violating God\u2019s law by striking him.  Following Paul\u2019s curse, he is made aware of a grievous error. Paul just cursed the high priest which was a violation of the Law of God (Exodus 22:28) which Paul quotes in remorse. While Paul does not agree with the actions of the person, Paul shows respect for the position which God had established. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 <\/sup><\/strong>Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, \u201cBrothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.\u201d 7 <\/sup><\/strong>And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 <\/sup><\/strong>For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 <\/sup><\/strong>Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees\u2019 party stood up and contended sharply, \u201cWe find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?\u201d 10 <\/sup><\/strong>And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11 <\/sup><\/strong>The following night the Lord stood by him and said, \u201cTake courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul later admits (Acts 24:20-21) that yelling to the crowd was a mistake and calls it wrongdoing.  With the interrogation over, the Lord sends Paul a message to \u201cTake courage\u201d because this was the beginning and not the end of his adventures.  The Lord let Paul know that the future will be hard, but at the end of the coming struggles he will get to testify about Jesus to the largest government in the world. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Plot to Kill Paul<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

12 <\/sup><\/strong>When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13 <\/sup><\/strong>There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. 14 <\/sup><\/strong>They went to the chief priests and elders and said, \u201cWe have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. 15 <\/sup><\/strong>Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16 <\/sup><\/strong>Now the son of Paul\u2019s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. 17 <\/sup><\/strong>Paul called one of the centurions and said, \u201cTake this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.\u201d 18 <\/sup><\/strong>So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, \u201cPaul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.\u201d 19 <\/sup><\/strong>The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, \u201cWhat is it that you have to tell me?\u201d 20 <\/sup><\/strong>And he said, \u201cThe Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. 21 <\/sup><\/strong>But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.\u201d 22 <\/sup><\/strong>So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, \u201cTell no one that you have informed me of these things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Sent to Felix the Governor<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

23 <\/sup><\/strong>Then he called two of the centurions and said, \u201cGet ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. 24 <\/sup><\/strong>Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.\u201d 25 <\/sup><\/strong>And he wrote a letter to this effect:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26 <\/sup><\/strong>\u201cClaudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings. 27 <\/sup><\/strong>This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. 28 <\/sup><\/strong>And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. 29 <\/sup><\/strong>I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. 30 <\/sup><\/strong>And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

31 <\/sup><\/strong>So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. 32 <\/sup><\/strong>And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him. 33 <\/sup><\/strong>When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. 34 <\/sup><\/strong>On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia, 35 <\/sup><\/strong>he said, \u201cI will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.\u201d And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod\u2019s praetorium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passion of the Jew who plotted against Paul becomes a reflection of what Paul once was and what he would have become. Had Jesus not changes Paul\u2019s life, he probably would have been one of those forty plotting to kill this follower of the Way. Jesus changes lives. God changed Paul and he can change you if you let him.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Mark<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cScripture quotations are from the ESV\u00ae Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version\u00ae), copyright \u00a9 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6417,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6416\/revisions\/6417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}