In the last post, I stated that some of the Jews who wanted Paul dead were Pharisees, just like him—possibly even classmates under Gamaliel. So where do I get this idea? Well, from reading Acts 23:9. Look at this verse once again, in its context:
“So Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You have permission to speak for yourself.’ Then Paul held out his hand and began his defense” —Acts 26:1 Agrippa clearly takes charge here. Festus had ordered for Paul to be brought in, and after explaining the purpose of this gathering, he seems to yield the floor to King Agrippa, [...]
When all the dignitaries had made their entrance, Festus gave the order for Paul to come in. Paul’s entrance must have been quite a contrast when you compare it to the pomp and splendor of all these dignitaries. Use you imagination and try to picture what it this was like. In the audience you have [...]
Well, we are coming into the home stretch of our study. We are just beginning the 26th chapter of 28, and we have witnessed some amazing things. Jesus had been raised from the dead and hung around his disciples for several days, when he was lifted up into the air and vanished into eternity (wherever [...]
With everything I just covered, it should be obvious that our God is a God who delights in turning chaos into cosmos. With all the chaos in Paul’s circumstances in this chapter (and we will see later) will accomplish God’s purposes. God will turn Paul’s chaos into cosmos—or more graphically—his dung into fertilizer.
We just learned that owr, which means enlightenment, understanding, is the Hebrew word for light. Now let’s look at the word for darkness. The Hebrew word is choshek. Think of it as the opposite of owr—the opposite of illumination. Choshek carries the tone of blindness, of misery, falsehood and ignorance. It means something that leads [...]
In our previous post, I mentioned the first few verses of Genesis 1, where it says, “Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there [...]
The thing that fascinates about everything that has happened in this chapter is the way God involves Agrippa. Think about it, now he is going to hear a very clear presentation of the gospel from directly from Paul. This is where God gets involved. Officially, this was none of Agrippa’s concern, he had come simply [...]
Yesterday I raised an interesting point. If Agrippa II had been King of Judea, what would have been different? Well, I think several things. For one, the chaos that took place in the temple he would have taken care of himself. For another, Paul would have stood trial before Agrippa, instead of Felix or Festus, [...]
The Book of Acts: Chapter 26 (pt 5 of 14)
We have been talking about why so many people seem to hate Paul; hate him enough to want him dead. But Paul wasn’t some kind of cult leader who has radically departed from Judaism. Paul was a faithful Jew who (like the Pharisees) believed in the resurrection of the dead, and like the Pharisees, Paul’s [...]
Category:
Acts, Bible Commentaries, Bible Study