As we are studying through the book of Acts, we have come to Acts 21 verse 27-39. In our previous message, we had considered how the Apostle Paul had arrived at Jerusalem, his long-awaited, long-anticipated trip to Jerusalem finally arrived. He had been warned by the Elders of the Jerusalem Church that the Judaizers had spread lies about him, teaching the Jewish Believers that they should not follow their Jewish traditions and Customs. Paul did not do that, and the suggestion given to him was that he would join four men who had taken the Nazarite vows to go through the purification rites, as he himself had just returned from the Gentile lands because of the missionary journeys. So he was considered unclean in a ceremonial sense. That was not a compromise at the expense of the truth, but rather it was a sacrifice for the sake of unity and understanding so that in the future, Paul would be able to minister to the Jews again.
Today, we are going to see how this sacrifice was not able to appease the enemies because they came out with even more lies, and subsequently, Paul was arrested at Jerusalem. The title of our message is Paul's Arrest at Jerusalem. Our first point is the lies.
Let us begin with verse 27, "And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on him." So the process of the purification rites would take seven days, and part of the requirement was that Paul had to visit the temple on the seventh day. When Paul was at the temple, his old enemies, the Jews from Asia who had always been persecuting him throughout his missionary journeys, they saw him, they recognized him. They must have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Pentecost. The moment they saw him, they stirred up all the people and laid hands on him.
You may be wondering how could they be able to stir up all the people? It is understandable if they are able to stir up some of the people, a portion of the people, but how could they be able to stir up everyone? Well, they knew which buttons to push, so to speak. They came up with three false accusations which most certainly would stir up not just some of the people, but all the people.
The three accusations were found in verse 28. Look at verse 28, "Crying out, Men of Israel, help! This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place." So the first accusation was that Paul was against the people. In other words, he was anti-Jew, he was an enemy of the Jewish people and their religion. That was a blatant lie. Paul was not an enemy of the Jewish people; in fact, he himself was a Jew. Nowhere in the scriptures did Paul ever teach the Jewish people to forsake their own traditions and customs. The only thing he did was to insist that they should not force the Gentiles to do what they themselves were doing.
The second accusation was that Paul had opposed the law. The Judaizers knew that the Jewish people esteemed the law very highly, how much more at a Jewish celebration. Remember, at this point in time, all the Jews had arrived at Jerusalem for the Pentecost. Originally, the Pentecost was a celebration of the first fruits of the harvest. Subsequently, the people would use this celebration to remember the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. So to accuse Paul of opposing the law at such a crucial period of time, the Pentecost, would surely stir up all the people. That's why I said they knew which buttons to push.
The third accusation was that Paul had been speaking against this place, referring to the temple. Again, they knew that the Jewish people respected the temple most highly. Anyone who blasphemed the temple would surely be killed. To support their accusation, they said in the last part of verse 28, "And further brought Greeks also into the temple and have polluted this holy place." Verse 29, "For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple." Most likely these Jews from Asia were actually from Ephesus because they recognized Trophimus, who was an Ephesian. So the accusation was that Paul had brought Trophimus and possibly other Gentiles as well into the temple. That was another blatant lie because Paul himself was going through the purification rites in the temple. Why would he defile the temple by bringing a Gentile into it? In those days, the Romans allowed the Jews to execute any Gentile who entered into the temple unlawfully. So if that was truly the case, which it was not, why did they not arrest him and then execute him? It was a lie.
- So if that was truly trous in the placehe case, which heit was not supposed to be in, why did they not arrest him and then execute him i? It was a lie l.
- Look at verse 30 a, "And all the city was moved which means Disturbed aroused, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and Ddrew him out of the temple: and four with which means straight awayrthwith
Look at verse 30, "And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut." You see, the Jews themselves did not want to defile the temple, so they took Paul out of the temple and immediately closed the doors. In fact, they were so impatient to kill him; they did not even consider to bring him out of the city and stone him. That was the usual way in which the Jews would do to anyone who blasphemed the laws of God and the temple. They would bring the person out of the holy city and then stone the person. But they were so impatient that they wanted to batter him to death on the spot, as verse 31 tells us, "And as they went about to kill him..."
We all know that these accusations were false, but was this the first time the enemies, the Judaizers, had used this kind of tactics to accuse anyone? Most certainly not. If you remember the first Christian martyr, Stephen, well they accused him in exactly the same way, and they stoned him to death. So if they succeeded in stoning Stephen to death, here they were trying to do the same thing to the Apostle Paul.
If you can turn with me to Acts 6 verse 11-14. Acts 6 verses 11-14, let me read for you.
"When the leaders in the synagogue were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which Stephen spoke, what did they do?" Verse 11 tells us, "Then they suborned men, which means they introduced false witnesses, saying, 'We have heard him, Stephen, speak blasphemous words against Moses, against God.' And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, and set up false witnesses, saying, 'This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place,' which was a reference to the temple and the law. 'For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.'"
Can you see the accusations were very similar? To charge someone for speaking against the Jewish people, against the law, and against the temple would guarantee death. What can we learn from here? When your enemies really want to bring you down, they will not think of just any allegations. They would think of the worst allegations. They will not think of something just to trouble you for the moment. They would think of something that would totally destroy you and your ministry. Even if you were to survive the attack, it would take a very long time for you to recover.
If you remember in our previous message, I mentioned about a minister who preached in the recent Gethsemane Family Camp, and he shared how he was being falsely accused. It was so devastating that he almost gave up his ministry. It was so sad. Personally, I knew what those accusations were. It was not meant to only hurt him. It was not meant only to cause him some pain, some trouble, some discomfort. It was meant to totally destroy him. But by the grace of God, the Lord preserved him and his ministry.
My friends, if we are caught in a similar situation when people would want to destroy us because we are doing the Lord's work, whether in evangelism, whether you are a leader in a fellowship group, what would you do? Well, you can do everything you can to defend yourself, to speak up. But we must always remember to trust in the Lord. God alone is in control of all things. God alone is in control of our lives and every situation in which he puts us into. If God allows these things to happen, it is for his sovereign purpose. If God does not allow these things to happen, no one can do anything to us. Do you believe in that?
For the Apostle Paul, it was not yet time for him to be killed. So God had a plan for him. God used the Roman soldiers to arrest him. Through that arrest, God saved him from the persecutors.
Our second point is the arrest. Look at the second part of verse 31. So when all these things were happening, tidings or news came unto the chief captain of the band that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. During major religious celebrations such as the Pentecost, the Romans will be very watchful because most riots were occur at this kind of occasions, because religious and national sentiments would often run very high. That was why it was not surprising to see the Roman soldiers stationed nearby. The chief captain was a commander in charge of 1,000 Roman soldiers. He was told that Jerusalem was in a very chaotic situation. Later on in Acts 23:26, we were told that the name of this chief captain was Claudius Lysias. So if you refer to Acts 23:26, you'll find his name is Claudius Lysias.
Verse 32, "These chief captain Claudius Lysias immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down unto them. And when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating Paul."
A centurion is someone who is in charge of 100 soldiers. So the word plural "centurions" tells us that this Chief Captain took several 100 Roman soldiers together with him. When the multitude saw the great number of Roman soldiers approaching, they were afraid. They stopped beating Paul because they did not want to be arrested.
Verse 33: Then the chief Captain came near and took Paul and commanded him to be bound with two chains and demanded who he was and what he had done. Which means he arrested Paul and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Now this is very significant. If you remember in Acts 21, the same chapter verses 10 and 11, there was this prophecy by Agabus that Paul would be arrested. Allow me to read for you Acts 21:1 to 11. And when Agabus was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. Notice hands and feet. Some theologians believe that this was a reference to the two chains, one for the hands while the other for the feet. So, it was a fulfillment of the prophecy. God's word will surely come to pass. When God says Paul will be arrested, he will be arrested. Whatever God says will come to pass.
As the chief Captain demanded to know who Paul was and what he had done, verse 34 tells us: And some cried one thing, some another among the multitude. And when he could not know the certainty of the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. You can imagine the great chaos when everyone was speaking all at the same time. Somebody was speaking here, others were speaking something else. So, he could not ascertain who Paul was and what he had done. So he demanded Paul be brought into the castle or the Romans barracks so that he could question him privately. Oftentimes, the Romans would even use torture to extract a confession. So Paul was brought into the castle. But before that, verse 35 tells us: And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people. For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, "Away with him!" The multitude was so violent; they were trying to get to Paul. Remember the Judaizers? They had pressed the right buttons to stir up all the people. This man had opposed the Jewish people, had opposed the law, had blasphemed the temple. Their hearts were stirred up; they wanted to kill him. Therefore, the soldiers had to carry him, and the people were crying out, "Kill him!" That is the meaning of "Away with him!" Do you remember? That was exactly the same way they treated our Lord Jesus as well when they cried out, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Here they said of Paul, "Away with him! Kill him!"
Our final point is the response. Look at verse 37: And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief Captain, "May I speak unto thee?" And then the captain said, "Can thou speak Greek?" The chief Captain was shocked that Paul could speak Greek because in those days, Greek was the language of the cultured and educated men, not the criminals. Criminals were uneducated. He was surprised that Paul could speak Greek. Therefore, verse 38, he said, "Art thou not that Egyptian, which before these days made an uproar and led us out into the wilderness, four thousand men that were murderers?" Allow me to explain a little bit on this from church history. What happened was that some time ago, there was another incident whereby an Egyptian who was a false prophet, he had led a group of his disciples to the Mount of Olives. He proclaimed that he could bring down the walls of Jerusalem by his command and that the Romans would be driven out of the city. What he said created such an uproar that Roman soldiers, led by the governor Felix, arrived at the scene, fought against him and his followers. Several hundred people were killed, others were captured, but this Egyptian and his followers, numbering 4,000, managed to escape into the wilderness. All these were recorded in church history by the historian Josephus. The only difference was that Josephus said that there were 30,000 instead of 4,000. Some commentators believe that the book of Acts was referring to the total number of fighting men, 4,000. Josephus was referring to the total number of followers, 30,000, including women and children. But whatever be the case, this was the incident Glorious Lus, the chief Captain, was referring to. "Are you that Egyptian who sometime ago had created trouble in this city?" So, he thought that Paul was that terrorist, and the Jews had arrested him as a criminal, as a terrorist. He should be uneducated; he should not be someone who was able to speak Greek. That was the reason why he was surprised. "Are you not that Egyptian?"
Verse 39: But Paul said, "I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city." Which means, Cilicia was not an insignificant city. It was an important city. Notice the Apostle Paul did not even mention that he was a Roman citizen because it was not necessary. Cilicia itself was already an important cultural center. It had universities equivalent to that of Athens and Alexandria in Egypt. It was a very important city. That was the reason why Paul said, "I am from that city which was no mean city," not an insignificant city.
But the amazing thing was that although Paul was beaten, surely he was injured. At this point in time, he was bound in two chains, one for his hands, one for his feet. And yet, notice what he said in response. He said this: "I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people." Which means, I urge you, please allow me to speak to the people. Can you imagine that? He was beaten; he was being persecuted; he was almost killed. He did not even consider the danger or his own safety. He was just thinking about speaking to the people. He wanted to tell them how he was converted, how Jesus had saved him and called him. He wanted to declare to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that these persecutors, the Jews, will be saved. We will learn more about his message in our next sermon. But that was the heart of the Apostle Paul, a love for lost souls that enabled him to look beyond his own sufferings.
If I may add my own words to the sentiments of Paul, it will be this: What is my present sufferings compared to the eternal suffering in the Lake of Fire if these people were to die without Jesus Christ? So, I urge you, please let me speak to these people. During my recent trip to Singapore, I stayed in a room with a missionary from Ethiopia, Reverend Ephraim. I don't know; some of you may know him.
One night, Reverend Ephraim received a call from Ethiopia, and he was speaking to one of his church deacons in Ethiopian. But he seemed very troubled. After the phone call, he shared with me that his deacon and some of the church members were even evangelizing in the streets when some men came and attacked them. They were beaten. But the next day, the church members went back to the same place to look for the persecutors to evangelize to them. And they had not yet returned home. So, Reverend Ephraim was very afraid. That night we prayed.
Later on, we found out that they had returned safely. In fact, they managed to speak to the persecutors and even invited them to church. What do you think had caused these church members to look beyond those beatings and go back to the same place to evangelize to the persecutors? The love for lost souls, my friends.
When we think about the things said about us, when we think about false accusations hurled at us, people doing nasty things to us, indeed, those things may have caused us great pain and trouble. But let us think about this. If those people were unbelievers, without God, without Christ, without hope, what is our present suffering compared with the eternal suffering in the Lake of Fire?
We will be like the Apostle Paul who said, "I beseech thee, suffer me to speak to the people." Maybe we may not have the opportunity to speak to them because they are not willing to listen to us. But if we truly have this love for lost souls and if we really understand the gravity of hell and the Lake of Fire where the fire never stops burning, at least we would pray for their salvation.
My friends, this is one important lesson we can learn from the Apostle Paul. He was able to look beyond his sufferings, beyond the beatings, beyond being chained with two not just one, two chains. Why? Because of this love for sinners. That was the reason why he cried out, "I beseech you, please, I urge you, let me speak to my people."
We will stop here. When we come back, we will learn how the Apostle Paul spoke to his own Jewish people.