Acts Chapter Twenty Five
At the end of chapter 24 – the story was left hanging again. I hate to tell you this, but chapter 25 doesn’t finish it either. Paul had already been held without evidence for two years. The case dragged on. When Paul stood before Felix, he probably felt that Paul was not guilty of the charges, and yet he delayed his decision. He should have released him. He was trying to gain favor with the Jews and so he kept an innocent man in prison. Felix eventually returned to Rome and Festus replaced him as Governor.
Upon his taking the governing position, the Jewish leaders came to Festus and again brought their charges against Paul. They requested Paul be brought to Jerusalem for a trial. Their real motivation was to have an opportunity to kill him along the way. Instead they are invited to Caesarea for the trial.
Charges are again brought against Paul. Now they had a problem, the charges were two years old. They had a hard time having witnesses and putting a case together.
Paul again declared that he had done nothing against the Law. V. 8. Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”
Again, Paul declared his innocense. One wonders how many time he would have to say that.
We saw political games with Felix. We now see them again with Festus. Read V. 9.
9 Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?”
Paul refused to play the game and go back to Jerusalem for some kind of a trial. He finally used his rights as a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar.
A few days later King Agrippa arrived in Caesarea. In talking about Paul and his situation with Festus, he said he wanted to meet Paul and hear his story. So, on to chapter 26. As we have been saying, more tomorrow.
We don’t know exactly what Paul’s attitude was over all of this. God had warned him of the things coming up. He knew he would have to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. Paul pressed on serving the Lord from a prison cell. Again, I encourage you to think about this – pressing on in the face of impossible situations.
