Just to recap what we had learned last week, the Apostle Paul was brought before the Sanhedrin Council. He rebuked the high priest after he had been smitten on the face. When he realized that he had rebuked Ananias the high priest, he immediately admitted his mistake because God has said in His word, "Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." Although Ananias was an evil man and a disgrace to his office, yet he was not to be reviled but to be respected because of his God-ordained position of authority. The high priest stood before God, and to abuse him, especially when he was discharging his office, was blasphemy, whether he did the right thing or the wrong thing.
When Paul found out that some of the members were Pharisees, he immediately appealed to them, saying, "I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee," and it was because of the hope of the resurrection that was the reason why he was being persecuted. He brought the resurrection into the picture because it was the central truth of Christianity. That sparked a sharp disagreement between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, because the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, or the angels, or spirits, or afterlife, while the Pharisees believed in all these doctrines. Some of the Pharisees even defended Paul, saying that he had done no evil, and if an angel or a spirit has spoken to him, then they should not fight against God. Personally, I do not believe that they were supporting Paul per se, but rather they were using him as a pawn to fight against the Sadducees. The contention between the Sadducees and Pharisees was so sharp and great that the Roman chief captain was afraid that they would tear Paul into pieces, so Paul was rescued and brought into the castle or the barracks.
Though Paul stood in the barracks by himself, yet he was not alone. The Bible told us that the Lord stood by him. The Lord himself stood beside Paul, ready to help and comfort him. The Lord promised Paul, encouraged him to be strong, and then said to him that he would not die in Jerusalem but that he would testify for Jesus Christ at Rome. My friends, just as the Lord was with Paul, He is also with every one of us. No matter what happens, the believer will never be alone. But this awareness of the Lord being with us always is not only comforting, but it comes with an awesome responsibility. As one theologian said, "Will you walk into adultery with your wife standing beside you?" Most certainly not! If the Lord is always with us, then we must be mindful of the things we do, the things we say, and the things we think. We must always ask ourselves, "Is Christ honored in this very thing that I'm doing, saying, or thinking?" If Jesus is with me always, then I must not live in sin. That is why I say it comes with an awesome responsibility.
Well, in order for Paul not to die in Jerusalem and to testify for Jesus Christ at Rome, that means the Lord must deliver him. Sometimes the Lord would use a supernatural miracle to deliver His servant, like Paul and Silas when they were in prison in Acts chapter 16. All of a sudden, there was a great earthquake, and all the prison gates were opened. The amazing thing was that the prisoners did not escape and still remained in the prison. At other times, God will use normal circumstances of life, and He will order it in a very special way to deliver His servants, like in this case, which is what we are going to learn tonight. Just because it was not a supernatural miracle does not make it any less than God's providential hand working in the lives of the people. The title of our message is "God's Miraculous Deliverance."
The first point is "The Wicked Plot Was Planned." Let us begin with verse 12: "And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul." So the next day, some of the Jews came together, and they put themselves under a curse. Some Bible translators have changed the word "curse" to an "oath," but this is more than just an oath because the original word for "curse" is from where we get the word "anathema." In other words, they came together and promised to carry out this wicked deed, and by doing so, they were putting themselves under a curse. But why did these Jews react with such violent anger and hostility toward Paul? After all, he was just a servant of the Lord. You see, their anger and hostility began when they first rebelled against God. From then onwards, they would persecute the servants of God. Jesus himself has said, "If they have persecuted me, they would also persecute you as well."
Consider Lucifer, the most exalted in all of God's created beings. He first rebelled against God in heaven when he said in his heart, recorded for us in Isaiah 14:13. Let me read for you. Lucifer said this: "I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High," which means I will be like God. But God said to him, "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." After he was cast out of heaven, he tempted Adam and Eve to disobey and sin against God, which led the entire human race into sin. And then he tried unsuccessfully to destroy God's redemptive plan by trying to destroy the nation of Israel and the land which the Messiah would be born. Ultimately, he was defeated by Christ's saving work on the cross and His triumphant resurrection. When Lucifer could not do anything against the cross, from then onwards, he would try to destroy all the preachers of the Gospel. So Paul was just one of thousands and thousands of preachers whom Satan and his evil workers have desperately tried to destroy.
My friends, if you are serving the Lord today, whether as a preacher, as a Sunday school teacher, as an elder, as a deacon, or as a fellowship leader, do not be surprised that you will be the target of the devil and his evil workers. So these Jews were doing the devil's work. Notice, they even made a commitment that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. They were so committed that they were willing to abstain from food and drink until their plan was accomplished. In other words, they even fasted. Most certainly, the understanding of fasting and the motivation behind it were all wrong. Indeed, some people can be fasting for the wrong reasons. By the way, fasting in itself is not a useful spiritual exercise. What do we mean by that? Sometimes a person may tell you that he or she is fasting, but that person goes around playing sports, playing computer games, watching movies, doing all kinds of things except praying. That is not biblical fasting. That is not a spiritual exercise. To abstain from food itself has absolutely no spiritual significance or benefit at all. It is no different from someone who goes on a diet, right? Fasting must always be accompanied with prayer.
Fasting is not twisting the arm of God: "God, I'm not going to eat until you answer my prayer; I'm not going to eat and drink until you bless me with a life partner." It is not that. That kind of fasting is definitely unbiblical. We fast. Why? Because our heart is so consumed with the matter that food is the last thing on our minds. We are not interested in eating. We want to spend the entire time praying. Like when our loved one is diagnosed with a terminal illness and suffering intense pain, or our loved one is dying, he or she is still outside the kingdom of God, our hearts are so consumed with all these matters that food will be the last thing on our minds. We just want to pray. That is when fasting has real value. Fasting must always be accompanied with prayers, and fasting must always be for a good reason or purpose, not like these Jews who refused to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
Verse 13: "And there were more than forty which had made this conspiracy." They wanted to kill Paul; that was their main intention. They knew they could not depend on the Romans to execute Paul because they could not accuse him of any capital crime. Therefore, they decided to take matters into their own hands. So they made this conspiracy or formulated this conspiracy. They needed more than forty men. Why? Because Paul was heavily guarded by the Roman soldiers. Most likely, they planned to create a riot, and then in the midst of the fury and confusion, these forty men would be able to overwhelm the Roman soldiers and then kill Paul. To ensure that their conspiracy would be a success, they needed the help of the religious leaders, so they were looking for partners in crime. They could not do it on their own.
Look at verse 14: "And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, 'We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.'" Most likely, they had approached the chief priests and elders, which belonged to the Sadducees' group, who were more than willing to help. Remember, previously in verse 9, we learned about the Sadducees or the Pharisees; some of them had even defended Paul that he had done nothing wrong. So most likely, these wicked Jews had turned to the Sadducees' group, and then they revealed
their evil plan.
Verse 15: "Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you tomorrow, as though ye would inquire something more perfectly concerning him, and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him." In other words, the religious leaders must first notify the chief captain Claudius Lysias and pretend that they wanted a more thorough investigation of Paul, or they had more questions to ask Paul. The moment the chief captain released Paul to be investigated by them, that was when the forty men would be ready to kill him.
Can you see how wicked the plan was? The chief priests and elders knew about this conspiracy. It was not as if they were ignorant; they were willing partakers of evil. My friends, it is one thing when we are unaware of the evil plan and we have been deceived into playing a part in it. But when we know in our hearts that there was this evil plan going on, and we went along with it, we are just as guilty. Are you able to detect an evil plan? Are you able to notice a wicked conspiracy when you see one? Are you someone who is easily deceived by people to be partakers of evil? I pray that all of us would have the discernment to be able to detect an evil plan, a wicked conspiracy when we see one.
Take a moment and consider this: all of us would agree that this was a wicked plot, right? There's no question about that. But have you ever considered how these wicked Jews were able to approach the chief priests and elders and then discuss this evil plan openly? How were they able to do that? Because they knew that the chad hief priests and elders were just as wicked as they were. You see, no one would ever approach a righteous man or righteous woman to discuss an evil plan. They will always look for someone who thinks like them, talks like them, and agrees with them.
If someone chooses to gossip to you, if someone chooses to share some wicked things with you, that speaks a lot about who you are. That speaks a lot about how people perceive you, right? As one church member said to me, "How come I do not hear of all these gossips? How come I do not know of all these things happening?" Well, praise the Lord, because the people perceive you not as someone who will entertain gossips. The people perceive you not as someone who will entertain malicious talks. They will look for someone with whom they can openly discuss these things, just like these wicked Jews could look for the right people—the chief priests and elders—and openly discuss this conspiracy, how they could trap Paul and then kill him.
Our second point is the wicked plot was exposed. Look at verse 16: "And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle and told Paul." This is the first time we hear of Paul having a sister, and his sister had a son. Apparently, Paul's nephew was a young man according to verse 17; most likely, he was just a youth. How do we know? Because verse 19 tells us that the chief captain had to lead him by the hand. That implies that he might be just a youth.
The Bible does not tell us how Paul's nephew had heard of the wicked plot. Some people believe that Paul's family lived in Tarsus, so his nephew must have come to Jerusalem following his uncle's footsteps, studying to be a rabbi. And as he was studying under those religious leaders, he must have overheard the plot. That could be possible. Others believe that Paul's family must have been disappointed with Paul when he became a Christian, but no matter what happened, he was still his uncle. We do not know for sure how Paul's nephew came to hear about the plot or why he was willing to reveal it to his uncle. But whatever the reason, one thing is for sure: it was by God's providence. God is in control of all things.
Since Paul had not been officially charged with any crime, he still could entertain visitors. So when his nephew told him about it, what did he do? Verse 17: "Then Paul immediately called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him." Perhaps Paul believed that it was more credible for the chief captain to hear from the horse's mouth, as in from his own nephew, rather than from Paul himself. So he sent his nephew to go with the centurion to the chief captain.
Remember, the Lord had promised Paul that he would not be killed in Jerusalem because he would testify for Christ at Rome. That means the Lord must deliver him. At the beginning of our message, we said sometimes God would use a supernatural miracle to deliver his servant. At other times, he will use the normal circumstances of life and order it in the most special way to deliver his servants, like in this case. God used Paul's nephew to hear about the plot. He in turn revealed it to his uncle, who then advised the centurion to bring the boy to the chief captain. That was how God saved his life. It looks like normal circumstances, but my friends, it was nothing short of a miracle. It was truly God's providential hand working in the midst of the circumstances.
Do you believe in God working in the midst of circumstances, circumstances that look normal to you, but then you are able to see God's hand working in the midst of them? Let me share with you something I remembered when I was preparing this message. It happened some years back, which Reverend Luk would know very well. Maybe I've shared this testimony before, but I'll do it again. Some years back, it was on a particular Monday morning, and I arrived at the Myanmar airport. I think Myanmar has three airports, but I arrived at one of them. Usually in the past, either Reverend Bak or Reverend Lan would be there to fetch me because it was very hard to communicate with the Myanmaris. Most of them do not speak English; I do not speak Burmese, so communication would break down.
But on that particular morning, I looked around, and there was no one there to fetch me. I did not have any Myanmar currency with me. None of the money changers was willing to accept Aussie dollars; they only accepted US dollars or Sing dollars, which I did not have at that time. I was stranded. I sat in the huge arrival hall, not knowing what to do. I sat there for almost two hours, praying and thinking about what I should do next. Then all of a sudden, I looked up, and I saw Reverend Luk about three meters away, and he was looking at the arrival notice board. I was so happy to see him, and I called out to him. I thought he would explain to me why he was late. To my shock, he was surprised to see me, and he said to me, "Why? Why are you here? You were supposed to arrive tomorrow." Later on, I found out that I had sent out the wrong itinerary—the wrong dates, as in I sent out the email to them saying that I would arrive on Tuesday instead of Monday.
But the question is this: why was he there at the airport at that particular time, standing right in front of me about three meters away? Well, he later explained to me that he was there at the airport to fetch someone else, and the amazing thing was this: he went to the wrong airport! What can we say about that? It is truly a miracle—not the kind of supernatural miracle, but a miracle nonetheless. It was God's providential hand working in the midst of circumstances at every step of the way. I made a mistake by sending out the wrong itinerary, but God helped me. Using normal circumstances, he ordered it in a most special way to assist me.
My friends, have you ever encountered something like that? It looks like normal circumstances. It could be a sickness; it could be the loss of a job; it could be just traveling from one place to another, sending your children to school, then something happened, but you knew in your heart that it was God's wonder working. It was God's providential hand working in the circumstances of life. As believers, we must understand that nothing happens by chance nor coincidence. Everything is by God's appointment. You and I must learn to see God's hand working in our lives. So sometimes it may appear to be normal circumstances, but it is nothing short of a miracle because God's hand is always working in our lives. Just as he enabled Paul's nephew to hear of the plot—not by chance nor coincidence, but by his appointment—and then revealed it to Paul, and then Paul, in turn, told the centurion to bring him to the chief captain, and that saved his life. It looks like normal circumstances, but truly God's hand is working.
So I pray that all of us will learn this: learn to see how God is working in our lives, even through the circumstances we encounter each day, each moment of our lives. When we come back, we will consider the second part of God's miraculous deliverance. Let us look to the Lord in prayer.
Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for this opportunity to look into these few verses, even from this narration in the book of Acts. We want to draw valuable spiritual lessons that we may apply into our lives. Indeed, Thou art all-powerful, Thou art all-knowing, and we are always in Thy presence, and we believe nothing happens by chance nor coincidence. And we want to learn to see Thy hands working in our lives, and we know that Thou art always with us, watching over us. Help us, O Lord, to acknowledge Thee. Help us to learn to see Thy hands working. Strengthen our faith. For those who are discouraged, disappointed, troubled, Thou who knowest all things, may Thou comfort their hearts and cause them to understand that Thou art working in their lives. O Lord, it is most comforting for us to trust and believe that indeed the Almighty God is truly working in each and every one of our lives. Help us, therefore, to rise up with great faith, trusting in Thee, serving Thee, honoring Thee, glorifying Thee at every moment of our lives. We give Thee thanks, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.