GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL PROTECTION
Acts 23:12-35
Sunday Morning, September 1, 2024
These verses from Acts 23 reveal God’s providential protection of the Apostle Paul that prevented Paul from being murdered. In this case, God providentially orchestrated Paul’s deliverance through the actions of others. Here, the Lord used Paul’s nephew and Roman soldiers to protect Paul to enable him to continue his ministry.
The founding generation of our country had a profound understanding of God’s providence and attributed America’s success in its War for Independence on the providence of God. Our first president, George Washington spoke frequently of the providence of God. He said, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God.” He certainly acknowledged that God brought the United States into existence.
While God’s creation explains the existence of the universe and all that is in it and His preservation explains its continuance, God’s providence explains His constant control of all things. It tells us that while God had a divine purpose and plan for the creation of His universe, He unceasingly maintains control of this universe and it will ultimately arrive at the very destination He has determined. In His omnipotence, nothing can change His perfect plan and, in His providence, He will move all things to the conclusion He has chosen.
We can further define God’s providence by saying that He “continually controls and directs the actions of all His creatures so that He never violates the laws of their several natures, yet He infallibly causes all actions and events individual and universal to occur according to the eternal and immutable plan establish by His eternal decrees. We may also define it as the continuous agency of God by which He makes all the events in the physical and moral universe fulfill the original design with which He created it.”
From our study of God’s Word, we can determine seven characteristics of God’s providence. His providence is personal because God is a personal Being who is concerned about the persons and things He has made. Second, God’s providence is thoughtful because God is an infinitely intelligent Person who takes thought in the care of His creation. Third, His providence is careful because God has lovingkindness and compassion and cares for His creatures. Fourth, God’s providence is universal because God is all-knowing and all-loving and therefore, He knows and cares for all He has made.
Fifth, God’s providence is particular because in His omniscience nothing escapes the notice of His gracious care. Sixth, God’s providence is effectual because God is omnipotent and because that is true, nothing hinders the accomplishment and fulfillment of His will. He can do anything that is possible to do. Finally, God’s providence is supernatural because the all-powerful God exists beyond the natural world and has the divine ability to intervene in it as He chooses. (See Geisler, 2005)
The Bible informs us about God’s providence and control over all His creation. He is always present everywhere and is always aware of everything. We read in Second Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” This idea is repeated in Proverbs 15:3, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.”
God affirmed this to Israel when He said through Jeremiah, “For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations” (Jeremiah 16:17-18). I am sure many people thought God was no longer watching them or knew about their sins, but the Lord assured them that they were wrong.
The Lord Jesus revealed that He was documenting the words and actions of every person. He said, “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). While there may be things hidden from you and me, the Lord does not suffer from our human limitations. In fact, the Scriptures tell us, “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).
The key New Testament verse for God’s providence is found in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” The Bible says that it is God who causes; it is not random chance, coincidence, fortune, fate, or accidents. The omniscient, all-powerful God provides the force to cause all things (good and evil from our perspective) to work together. There no exceptions or exemptions. He causes all of these things to work together–orchestrated like the notes of a beautiful melody played in a symphony. In His providence, all these things work together for good from His divine point of view.
The Bible is full of examples of God’s providence. No clearer picture is given than that of Joseph in the final chapters of Genesis. Joseph went from being Jacob’s favored son to being thrown into a pit by his brothers, sold as a slave, and eventually imprisoned in an Egyptian jail. From his prison cell, Joseph had nothing, he had no power or authority and it seemed he could do nothing to change his conditions. But in His providence, God worked through others and elevated Joseph to royal status and used him to preserve Israel through a devastating famine.
Today, the verses we will study show God’s providence stepping in to protect the Apostle Paul from certain death. We begin with a murderous plot.
A MURDEROUS PLOT. Acts 23:12-15
The Spreading of the Gospel. The purpose of the book of Acts is to show how the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ spread from the city of Jerusalem throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. In the first chapter, Jesus told His disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Luke, the author of Acts, then described how the church witnessed for Christ to the remotest parts of the earth.
The Apostle Paul received the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior while on the road to Damascus and was soon called by the Lord to serve as a missionary to take the gospel to Gentiles. To that end, he had been on three successful missionary journeys, reaching people for Jesus Christ and establishing local churches, making disciples and teaching them to be obedient to the Lord.
While on his last journey, God called him to return to the city of Jerusalem, where the church had begun years earlier on the Day of Pentecost. Though warned of dire troubles, Paul chose to go to Jerusalem any-way and suffer whatever consequences happened. A crowd found him in the temple and caused a riot, putting Paul’s life in danger. Roman soldiers stepped in and rescued Paul and moved him to the Roman bar-racks. The next day, Paul was returned to the Jewish Sanhedrin or ruling Council for a formal hearing. Once again, a great dissension developed and once more the Romans had to step in and rescue Paul.
An Apostle in Roman Custody. Paul was in the protective custody of the Romans in their barracks. There had been no formal charges and so he was not under arrest. After recent events, he may have been thinking of the words of Psalm 56:1-6, “Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride. When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life.” (NIV) The Lord appeared to Paul, telling him that he had faithfully “witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem” and he would “witness at Rome also” (Acts 23:11).
The Conspiracy to Kill Paul. But there was a problem. Forty Jews agreed that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. They received approval from the chief priests and elders, who were eager to silence Paul. They arranged to send for Paul, and the conspirators would murder him on the way. Why did these Jews respond this way? Why choose to murder Paul? Second Corinthians 4:4 tells us the reason, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Satan has tried to sabotage God’s plan from the beginning: he tried to destroy Israel and then the Messiah. He thought the cross settled the issue but Jesus rose again, utterly defeating Satan. Now he was trying to prevent the spreading of the Good News by killing the most effective Christian preacher. The conspirators knew that many of them would be killed in the battle with the Roman soldiers. They chose this course anyway. The Sanhedrin’s support shows their complicity in this murderous plot.
THE PLOT UNCOVERED. Acts 23:16-22
Paul’s Nephew. This is the only specific reference in the Bible to Paul’s family. We find he had a sister and a nephew. No other information is given. We can assume they resided in or near Jerusalem. The word “young man” in the original language refers to someone in their twenties, so Paul’s nephew may have been a student in the city. We are not informed how the nephew heard this diabolical plot, but we note that as soon as he did, he went to see Paul. He went to the Roman barracks, where he was allowed to speak with his uncle. As soon as Paul heard the news, he had the centurion take him immediately to the garrison commander, to relay the information to him.
The Commander’s Investigation. Paul’s nephew told how the conspiracy included forty assassins and the Council. They would send a request to interview Paul, expecting the commander to send Paul to them but on the way, they would kill him. I am sure the commander realized several of his soldiers would be killed in the struggle. The commander dismissed the young man and warned him to tell no one what he had said. If the conspirators discovered he had told the Romans, they would likely kill him too.
THE PLOT FOILED. Acts 23:23-35
The Commander Took Action. The commander assigned four hundred and seventy soldiers as a protection unit to move Paul from Jerusalem to Caesarea. That was half of his force allotted to him for the surveillance and control of Jerusalem. Paul was given a horse to ride and the contingent would leave Jerusalem at nine o’clock at night.
The Letter to the Governor. The commander, Claudius Lysias, wrote a letter to Felix the Roman governor as-signed to Judea, who typically resided by the Mediterranean Sea in the town of Caesarea. The letter explained why he had sent Paul to Caesarea. The letter also mentions no charges had been filed and there was no accusation according to Roman law.
Paul Was Taken to Caesarea. In the darkness of night, the large force left Jerusalem. They travelled all night until they reached Antipatris. Paul and the cavalry contingent continued on the Caesarea, while the foot soldiers returned to Jerusalem. Paul was now out of immediate danger. When they arrived at Caesarea, they gave Governor Felix the letter and Paul was placed under protective custody in the Praetorium. The governor would wait for Paul's accusers to arrive from Jerusalem for a formal hearing.
God’s providence is very real. He controls the events in our lives so that we will give Him the glory for His grace and wisdom. The things we call coincidence are often acts of God’s providence, in both large and small ways, to move us along in His perfect will.
In August of 1814, only a quarter of a century after the United States ratified its Constitution, tensions between America and the British once again boiled over into conflict. The British navy sailed into Chesapeake Bay and headed to the nation’s capital. On August 19, 1814, British admiral George Cockburn, let 4,500 troops into Washington, intent on burning the city to the ground. President Madison was away with his war council leaving First Lady Dolley Madison to remove valuable historic artifacts from the President’s Mansion. The British set fire to the Capital building and its library. As they marched to the President’s Mansion, Dolley Madison took the large portrait of George Washington, among other national treasures and fled the city, while flames filled the skies behind her. But while the city burned a large storm swept into Washington. It triggered a tornado in the middle of the city that headed straight down Constitution Avenue. Hundreds of British troops were killed by storm debris, their equipment and ammunition destroyed. The tornado even threw cannons into the sky dropping them yards away. The torrential downpour put out the fires and the British were forced to retreat.
As he left the city, Admiral Cockburn asked a local woman, “Madam! Is this the kind of storm to which you are accustomed in this infernal country?” She replied, “No, Sir, this is a special interposition of Providence to drive our enemies from our city.”
Despite the way things appear, no matter how difficult they seem, as Christians, we cannot let our hearts be troubled. Our Sovereign Lord is working out His perfect plan and we must realize that we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. Remember the words of an ancient church leader, “Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence.”
If you have never received Christ as Your personal Savior, I invite you to ask Jesus Christ to come into your life, forgive your sins, and grant you His gift of everlasting life. Will you do that right now?