Title: Paul Arrested/Acts 21:27-36
Contents
Paul Arrested/Acts 21:27-36
As we go through life, we face many problems that are difficult to comprehend as our reason. For example, when a young child suddenly dies, or when many innocent lives are lost in a disaster, we cannot understand and explain why such a tragedy must occur with our minds.
The arrest of the Apostle Paul recorded in today's text is also an incident that cannot be understood at all. He has never committed a crime that deserves to be arrested and killed. Still, many of the Jews made vows with their teeth grinding that they would not eat him unless he killed him.
This is the greatest contradiction in history. Yet it is the reality of history. So, we fight with it Desperately rushing to kill fierce battle for survival. That is why the righteous are always afflicted by the wicked. They think that their poor and difficult lives are in the other person who is living well. I don't think I'm a winner, I'm not a champion, and I don't think it's my opponent who doesn't succeed So, he tries to kill him. However, this kind of thinking leads to endless killing and conflict. If you eliminate that opponent, another opponent will appear. It leads to endless retaliation and a series of bloodshed.
The biggest lesson from today's text is
First, it is the fact that Paul's dream and vision of going to Rome and preaching the gospel came true through the unfortunate incident, although Paul was arrested unjustly.
It's a very ironic story. It was strange and surprising that the Roman soldiers rescued him from the Jewish mob, but what was more ironic was the fact that his dream about Rome, 'I must see Rome,' came true through the unfair arrest and trial. This is truly the inexplicable paradox of life. In that respect, his arrest is the greatest contradiction in history, but the fact that God's providence and plan of evangelism in Rome were realized through the incident of that contradiction is a paradox that is even more difficult to explain.
We can see that God is realizing His providence and will through human contradictions and absurdities. The crucifixion of Jesus was also a complete mass of contradictions. However, we come to realize that God has accomplished God's great plan and providence for the salvation of mankind even through the contradictions and absurdities and sins of human history.
Second, Paul's sufferings, beatings, and injustice were not caused by Roman soldiers or Gentiles, but by his fellow Jews. That is, by the legalists he was closest to before his conversion.
Then why did they hate Paul so much and even tried to kill him? This is a mystery that runs through the book of Acts. However, if you study the entire book of Acts, you will find the answer, “Aha, this is it.” What is it? It was because of jealousy. Jesus was crucified because of the jealousy of the Jewish religious leaders.
Jealousy is really scary. If you are jealous, you can't see anything in front of you. reason is paralyzed It doesn't matter whether you have good faith or a noble personality. If jealousy is severe, even if you eat food, you cannot digest it, and even if you exercise, it is said to be invalid. Rather, it is stress. If you are too jealous, you will not succeed in business. No matter what a person does, he has to take it easy to succeed, but if he gets caught up in envy and jealousy too tightly, stress builds up and his work becomes inflexible. eventually fail. The same goes for leadership. If you are too competitive or jealous, your leadership becomes rigid. When the ruddership is rigid, it is impossible to immediately think and judge. A person must have the freedom and flexibility of the mind to think and judge right away.
According to today's text, the Jews wanted to kill Paul for three reasons. One was that he had acted anti-Semitic, the second was that he had acted anti-legalistic, and the third was that he defiled the sanctity of the temple. These three things were cherished by the Jews as life. But Paul ignored this and defiled it. But this was ostensibly a reason and an excuse. The real reason was something else.
Whenever we fight, there's a superficial reason behind it and a more fundamental real reason behind it. It's a bit embarrassing, but when the so-called Presbyterian Church in Korea split into unity and integration, the ostensible reason was whether to join the World Council of Churches (WCC) or not. However, the real reason behind this was a dispute over school authority. It was a question of who would take the lead in the church.
Even in today's text, the outward reason was that they were anti-Jewish, anti-legal, and defiled the temple, but the real reason was their jealousy behind the scenes. They could not defeat Paul with their skill. So they persuaded the crowd to execute and kill him in the name of the crowd. Don't dictators and politicians always execute people's trials in the name of the masses instead of executing them themselves?
Finally, from this predicament, God mobilizes Roman soldiers to rescue them.
Paul was on the verge of death. However, God does not leave him alone, but mobilizes Roman soldiers to rescue him. Centurions and Centurions, feeling the urgency of the incident, mobilized the soldiers to run. Then the excited and angry crowd tried to kill Paul, but they were unable to kill him. The reason is that if you stone them to death, they must be punished by Roman law. So, Paul is eventually arrested by the Roman soldiers. The Roman soldiers arrested Paul to protect him from the crowd. And it was really to find out what he had done wrong and whether he had committed a mortal sin. So, after being imprisoned in the military camp for a while, he was transferred to Caesarea, where he remained as an unconvicted prisoner for two years.
And Paul did not realize the meaning of these sufferings right away, but he does. He could not understand why he was arrested, imprisoned, and subjected to injustice, so he was resentful, but after a long time he realized God's economy and became grateful. Paul confessed this in Philippians 1:12, which he wrote while he was imprisoned for two years in Rome. 'I want you to know that what happened to me has actually progressed the gospel.' what a great confession What happened to me? Paul was almost killed by the Jews and was arrested by Roman soldiers and imprisoned in Caesarea for two years.
I didn't know it at the time, but now that I've been through it, it is a confession that such suffering was necessary and useful. When we face these hardships, we cry out, why is God silent? But we must remember. God is with me in the scene of suffering. He is working out God's economy for me in silence.