Escaping the Plot

 Acts 23:12-35

Good morning! Today we continue our series in the book of Acts, focusing on the second part of Chapter 23. I would like to start with a review of what has transpired in Jerusalem. In Chapter 21, we read of Paul being told by a believer – a prophet named Agabus – in Caesarea that the Holy Spirit was saying that Paul would be arrested by the Jewish leaders and handed over to the Gentiles. 

Now there may be details here that Paul did not yet know, but God had already revealed to him that he was facing a future involving arrest. But he also understood that this was God’s will and God’s plan for him. The other believers wept over this and begged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. But Paul told the other believers that he was ready not only to be arrested, but to die there “for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 

I want to point out here that there is strong parallel between what appears to be the future for Paul and for what happened to Jesus. Jesus was also arrested in Jerusalem, also by the Jewish leaders. And He was also handed over to the Gentiles, and He underwent multiple trials/interrogations, and a Gentile leader finally, if reluctantly, sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion. I have no doubt that Paul and the other disciples saw these parallels, and that Paul’s friends feared that the worst was soon to come. But as I think about this moment in Paul’s life, I think Paul had other thoughts. 

I want to jump ahead, past the book of Acts, to see what Paul writes to the church in Philippi. In Chapter 1 he says this:

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. – Phil. 1:12-14

Paul is indeed under arrest, and yet he is encouraged because this very fact has helped to advance the gospel. And then in Chapter 3, while reminding people not to put any confidence in their flesh, Paul says this:

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. – Phil. 3:10-11

Now we could spend an entire message exploring the depths of what we think Paul meant by that, but I want to simply point out that, back to this pivotal moment in Acts, not only is Paul likely keenly aware of the potential parallels between his life and Christ’s, but he welcomes these parallels, wherever they may lead. I also think all the way back to Acts 9, when God called Ananias to go to Paul (then Saul) at the moment of his conversion. What did the Lord tell Ananias? “Go! This man is My chosen instrument to proclaim My name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.” Paul spent some time in Damascus immediately after that, and as he grew in faith and understanding, he perplexed the Jews there with his arguments showing that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. And in short order, Paul experienced the first of many conspiratorial plans to have him killed, but we are told that Paul somehow learned of their plan (the learning of which was God’s plan), and his followers helped him escape at night by lowering him in a basket through an opening in the city wall.  

Back to our pivotal moment in Acts. Paul indeed went on to Jerusalem, and it appears that only after about a week, he was recognized, and those who recognized him stirred the whole city up into a riot. Paul was seized, dragged form the Temple, and those who had him beat him with the intention of killing him. But God in His sovereignty did not let this happen. Roman troops came in amidst the uproar, stopped the attack, and to protect Paul, carried him up to their barracks. Before they entered, Paul asked to speak to the crowd and was given permission to do so. Paul gave a portion of his testimony, but when he came to the point where he explained that God had directed him to reach out to the Gentiles, the crowd became livid and Paul was not allowed to continue. He was taken into the barracks, and the commander directed that he be flogged and interrogated to see why the crowd was so stirred up. As they were about to start, Paul explained that he was a Roman citizen, and they stopped. 

The next day the commander brought Paul to the chief priests and the Sanhedrin. After what can only be called a rocky start, Paul stated that he was on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead. Because the Pharisees and Sadducees did not see at all eye-to-eye on whether resurrection could occur, this led to another big uproar that grew into another riot, and Paul was again taken away and brought back to the barracks. And this brings us to the last verse from last week’s message:

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” – Acts 23:11

I fully believe that Paul was willing and ready to die in Jerusalem, following the footsteps of Jesus. But God, at this moment, gave Paul the news that God had more plans for Paul on this earth – that He would send him to testify in Rome. If it is hard for you to imagine what it would be like to receive this promise in the midst of such dire circumstances, I encourage you to remember that you have been given an even more spectacular promise that you will be alive with Christ for eternity if you have put your trust and faith in Him. Unless Christ returns before we die, we all face certain death. You could say that our future is even more dire that what Paul is facing at this moment. But we have also been given a promise from the Lord, and His promises are sure. 

Let’s now look at today’s passage:

The next morning some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. More than forty men were involved in this plot. They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here.” – Acts 23:12-15

This is not a conspiracy theory. This is an actual conspiracy. In Greek, the word for the oath is anathematizan, and it means to be bound with a curse, literally, to be lifted up to God for punishment if you do not carry out what you vow to do. You see examples of this in the Old Testament – “May God deal with me ever so severely if I do not ….” Jesus, on the Sermon on the Mount, says not to do this, to just let your yes be yes and your no be no. 

The depths of these 40 men’s hatred of Paul is truly breathtaking. Where does this kind of hatred come from? It certainly doesn’t come from God. This is the same kind of hatred that we saw against Jesus when the crowds shouted “Crucify Him!” and when Jesus was spit upon, beaten savagely, and mocked. It is fueled by the hatred of Satan towards Christ and towards His redeemed followers. And we continue to see examples of this kind of hatred towards believers around the world today.

This was a true conspiracy, as the oath makers went to the Jewish leadership to include them in the plot. Their role would be to request that Paul be brought to them – not for any real reason, but just so that the oath makers could have an opportunity to kill Paul where he was less protected. I am struck by how Satan is often the great imitator of Christ – you see this throughout Revelation, for example, but everything Satan does takes the good work of Christ and twists it into something evil. Paul is very willing to die for the sake of the gospel, for advancing Christ’s kingdom. Satan has so worked up these men that they too are apparently willing to die, not for something good but instead to savagely murder an innocent man, a man who only wants all men to hear the good news of the gospel and repent, putting their faith in Christ, so that they too can experience the eternal blessings of redemption through the blood of Christ. 

But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.” So he took him to the commander. The centurion said, “Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.” – Acts 23:16-18

The events here remind me so much of the book of Esther. Why? Because God is working behind the scenes causing incredible “coincidences” (and this is purposely in quotes) so that His sovereign will comes to pass. In fact, like the book of Esther, today’s entire passage never explicitly mentions God at all! Yet He is the star of the account, the most important Person in the entire story. Yes, there is a sense in which we have free will – I believe the question of free will verse God’s sovereignty is really a matter of perspective, of whose glasses you are looking through. Both are clearly true because both are described in Scripture. But if you are going to try to thwart or alter the will of God, you don’t understand who God is. His will is certain to come to pass – even more certain than the fact that the sun will rise again tomorrow morning.  

And so God makes it so that someone on the side of Paul hears of the plot to kill him. Of course God does that. This is no coincidence. And shockingly, this person is Paul’s nephew. Until this point in the New Testament, we didn’t know that Paul had a sister, let alone a nephew. And so Paul learns of the conspiracy from his own relative. Does Paul panic? Not at all. He calls for a centurion, which is quite literally a leader of one hundred soldiers, and asks that his nephew be given audience with the commander. The centurion agrees, and this person is brought to him.

Twice the nephew is called a young man. How old is he? Given that the same Greek words are used to describe Eutychus, the person who fell from the window, and given that Eutychus is also described with words that normally refer to someone whose voice has not yet deepened, I think he is really young, maybe 10-12 years old. He is certainly a brave person to go into the Roman barracks by himself. And now Paul has tasked him with an even scarier assignment – to go with the centurion to speak with the commander of the entire place! 

The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, “What is it you want to tell me?” He said: “Some Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. Don’t give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request.” – Acts 23:19-21

I so love the details in this account. Perhaps the commander was shocked to see a Jewish boy there, and perhaps he looked terrified – but in any case, the commander kindly took him by the hand and took him away from the others so he could give his message in a less scary environment. Or perhaps, there was something about the way the boy was looking around that implied that he didn’t want to give his message to anyone but the commander himself. The boy, for his part, spoke boldly, even telling the commander not to give in to the conspirators.  

The commander dismissed the young man with this warning: “Don’t tell anyone that you have reported this to me.” Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, “Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. Provide horses for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.” – Acts 23:22-24

The commander was wise in telling the young person not to tell anyone what he had done or knew. If word had gotten out that he was the reason the conspiracy failed, who knows what these evil men might have done to him? 

Then the commander arranges for quite a large escort to take Paul out to Caesarea – two centurions each with their hundred soldiers, plus seventy horsemen plus two hundred spearmen – 470 soldiers (plus their leaders) in all. Why Caesarea? Because this was the regional government “seat”, and it was there that Governor Felix, the commander’s superior, was stationed. 

Why does the commander want to move him at all? After all, he could have used his troops to perform a surprise arrest of the 40 men who have conspired to kill Paul. I think it is because he is worried about there being more riots, if not a complete revolt, if he did so. And from his superiors’ point of view, his primary purpose was in fact to prevent that kind of thing. To have a revolt on his watch almost certainly spelled the end of his military career, if not his life. 

And again I see some parallels between what is happening to Paul and what happened to Jesus. Jesus also endured multiple interrogations. He too had His case pushed up to His superiors. But Paul has a promise that he will testify in Rome. Caesarea is not Rome, but it is not Jerusalem either. In later chapters we will see that Caesarea is not Paul’s final destination.

Now, Paul was provided a horse so that he would not hold them back. He was not in the same shape as the soldiers who were in excellent shape, young, and were able to move quite quickly, even running over significant distances. Paul was older and had already gone through beating/stoning, and other physical hardships. And he did not spend significant parts of each day working to get and stay in excellent shape like the soldiers did.  

He wrote a letter as follows: Claudius Lysias, To His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him. – Acts 23:25-30

This is a fascinating letter, not without some humor for we who have already been told more precisely the sequence of events described here. Let’s walk through this letter, looking for embellishments, omissions, and the like. First of all, we see the name of the commander, Claudius Lysias, and the name of his superior, Governor Felix. I want to point out that we have evidence of the existence of Governor Felix outside of the Bible. His full name is Marcus Antonius Felix, and in addition to being mentioned by name in the works of the historian Josephus, who wrote shortly after these events took place, we have coins from the proper time period with his image on them. Many of these coins were found at Masada, and a few were found at Meiron, Caesarea, and Herodium. 

He writes that the Jews had seized Paul and were about to kill him, which was correct. He then says he rescued him as he had learned that he was a Roman citizen. This is not correct. He didn’t find out he was a Roman citizen until after they had laid him out in order to flog him, back at the barracks. But that is a very embarrassing detail, so Lysias leaves that part out.

Notice how he also doesn’t mention the riot that took place at Paul’s initial arrest, the riot that occurred after Paul started to give his defense to the people at the foot of the barracks, or the riot that broke out during Paul’s being questioned by the Sanhedrin. Again, those are highly embarrassing details. But they are also extremely relevant to the “case”, such as it is. In reality there doesn’t appear to be much of a case, not from a Roman perspective. It is in fact the riots that explain the perceived need to whisk Paul away. Without explaining this, the account begs the question of why Lysias bothered to have Paul sent to him. If there was indeed no case, then Lysias should have been more than capable to declare this.

Again, notice the parallels between this account and what we have of Jesus. Multiple times, Pilate said “I find no fault in him.” Likewise, Lysias finds no fault in Paul. Of course, that is because both of them are guilty of no crime! So if Paul is not guilty of a crime according to Lysias, what is his reason for sending him to Felix? For his protection! He is a Roman citizen, and Roman citizens need protecting. As for the charges against him, Lysias doesn’t see anything relevant there, but the Jews are really worked up about something, so maybe Felix can figure that out and work it out so that Paul is thereafter safe from his enemies. 

So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers get here.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s palace. – Acts 23:31-35

So Paul is indeed whisked away. The soldiers evidently travel all night long, as Antipatris is about 35 miles away from Jerusalem, mostly downhill. That’s a long journey for one night, but the Roman army is able to do that. Beyond that, it’s about another 25 miles to Caesarea, a section with uphill and downhill parts, and so they just send the men on horses (including Paul on a horse) the rest of the way. Meanwhile, the rest of the army returns quickly to Jerusalem, as they are needed there, especially given the recent riots. 

Antipatris is a city built by Herod the Great in the first century BC, who named it after his father, Antipater. The remains of Antipatris are known today as Tel Afek. It is likely connected to the tower of Aphek described by Josephus and the biblical Aphek. The Battle of Aphek is described in I Samuel 4. In this battle, the Philistines defeat the Israelite army and capture the Ark of the Covenant. However, it may be the case that there has been more than one city through history named Aphek. 

Herod the Great’s city was largely destroyed by an earthquake in AD 363, but the foundations are still there, including the remains of a theater. 

As for Caesarea, we have the foundations of Herod’s Palace there. It was divided into two parts, a lower palace built close to sea level, with a large rock-cut pool in the center instead of an atrium. The upper palace, built higher up and farther away from the sea, had a large central courtyard. The remains of this palace can be seen today. There is every reason to believe that the events in this chapter of Acts did really happen exactly as described.

The detail that Caesarea is both the location that Paul, under guard, is sent to, and that this is also the location that Agabus had given Paul his prophecy of being arrested, is an interesting irony. If they allowed Paul to have visitors, Agabus might have even visited Paul there. 

And so we leave Paul today, under guard in Herod’s palace, waiting for the arrival of his enemies, those who hate Paul because they hate the One that Paul serves. I am reminded of Jesus’ words in John 15: 

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not know the one who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both Me and My Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason. – John 15:18-25

We are never to be needlessly offensive, but we need to understand that the gospel message by its very nature is highly offensive to some people. The gospel forces people to look honestly at their lives of sin, compare themselves to God’s perfect holiness, realize that they deserve the wrath of God, and cry out for their Savior, the only one who can save us, Jesus the Messiah.

For those of us who trust in Christ and seek to walk with Him in our daily lives, we do not have confidence in our future roles or actions or even how long we will be alive. But we know that God knows these things, and we can also trust that He is constantly working behind the scenes, just as He was in the book of Acts and the book of Esther, to bring about His will. 

I think the most difficult lesson for us from the account of Paul is that sometimes His will involves significant suffering. I think of God’s words through Ananias: I will show him how much he much suffer for My name. Do we embrace the suffering – suffering if it serves a purpose for God – as Paul did?

Let me close with the verses we looked at early in this message from Paul in Phil. 3:

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. – Phil. 3:10-11

I titled this message “Escaping the Plot” because it has a double meaning. One meaning is quite literal – that through God’s behind-the-scenes work, Paul escaped the plot of the Jews that wanted to kill him in Jerusalem. But the second meaning is that when it comes to the plot of Christ’s sufferings, I think most of us would rather escape repeating that plot when it comes to our lives. Yet Paul’s example shows us that this is a plot we should not seek to escape but rather embrace if it draws us nearer to Christ and serves His purposes in some way (which it certainly will). May we learn to embrace the challenging mindset of Phil. 3:10-11.