SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/8/2018 11:06 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Absence of Proof
Bible Reading & Mediation Reference: Acts
25:7b-11a
Message of the verses: “which they could
not prove, 8 while Paul said in his own defense, "I have committed no
offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against
Caesar." 9 But Festus, wishing
to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, "Are you willing to
go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?" 10
But Paul said, "I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to
be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know.
11 “If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I
do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these
men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them.”
As we look back when Paul was on trial before Felix which
was two years before his trial before Festus the Sanhedrin have not come up
with any witnesses to show that Paul was guilty of any crime. They have had two years to come up with a
witness, but have found none. As we look
at the highlighted portion of verse nine we see something familiar, something
that both Felix and Festus have stated “wishing to do the Jews a favor.” That is the problem with justice, at least
one of the problems, and that is not looking at the facts of a case on their
own merits, but trying to pervert justice by looking at a reason other than the
fact to get a result that people want.
The Jews wanted Paul to be found guilty and yet both Felix and Festus
wanted to do the Jews a favor and so Paul has been in jail for two years
because they wanted to do the Jews a favor.
Even though the Jews were actually under the arm of Rome make no mistake
they had a lot of influence in what was going on in Palestine during this time
period otherwise both Felix and Festus would not have wanted to do them a favor
by keeping Paul locked up. Now as we
look at this situation and how it has been all played out we see the hand of
God in all of this. I say this as I have
said before that Paul was in need of a rest, which he was getting at this time,
and during this time Paul wrote what we call the “Prison Epistles.” A part of our NT that Paul had written was
written while he was in custody at this time.
The only way that a true believer in Jesus Christ gets
himself into trouble against the law is to break the law. Paul is stressing his innocence here stating
that he has done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against Rome. If a believer like Paul is doing nothing
wrong, that is against the Law then the only way unbelievers can get them into
trouble is to make a law that it is wrong to worship God. Daniel chapter six is an OT example of this
as Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den because he worship God as the king was
tricked into signing a law stating that one only could worship the leader. There is a pastor under house arrest in
Turkey because of false charges against him and this has become an
international incident in which the entire nation of Turkey could actually go
bankrupted because the leader of Turkey will not allow this pastor to be
released. Like Paul, he was not breaking any law, but because of his telling
others about Jesus Christ, which is perfectly legal he is under house
arrest. We will see how our Lord is
glorified through this case as it goes on.
I suppose that Festus handled this problem a bit better
than Felix did in that he did not sweep it under the rug, but wanted to get it
settled. He asked Paul if he was willing
to go to Jerusalem to be tried by the Jewish Sanhedrin. Paul of course did not want anything to do
with that because of what could have happened when he was in Jerusalem, that is
a plot to kill him was put into place, but his nephew found out about it and he
was moved to Caesarea. Paul told Festus
that he had done nothing wrong and was in the right place to be tried. Paul knew that Festus knew that he had done
nothing wrong. Paul was a Roman citizen
and as a Roman citizen he had the right to expect justice from a Roman
court. There was no case against him,
and so he was in no obligation to put himself into the hands of the Jewish
authorities.
John MacArthur writes “Festus’s obvious readiness to
appease the Jews put Paul in a difficult and dangerous situation. He had no illusions (even if Festus did) about
what his fate would be if he did survive a murder plot and stand trial in
Jerusalem. He knew how adroitly the
Jewish leaders would capitalize on Festus’s inexperience. To return to Jerusalem meant almost certain
death. Paul therefore chose a bold course
of action.” We will look at that action,
Lord willing, in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for
my life today: I have to be like
Paul as we will see that he used his head, but also I am sure that he prayed
for wisdom to make difficult decisions.
My Steps of Faith for Today: First I am
thankful that I did not have a great deal of problems with my IBS, and pray
that will continue to be the case as we are on vacation for a while
longer. I trust the Lord that my wife
will especially enjoy herself on this vacation, a vacation she has planned out
and one that she has done a wonderful job doing it.
Answer to yesterday’s
Bible question: “The Word of God, king
of Kings, and lord of Lords.”
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said, ‘The Lord is my
light and my salvation, whom shall I fear’?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/8/2018 12:22 PM
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