to His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor to have his case decided and to be kept in custody. I ordered him detained until I could send him to the Emperor in Rome."
King Agrippa said to Festus excitedly, "I myself have been wanting to hear the man speak."
"Tomorrow," he replied, "you will hear him, tomorrow."
So the next day King Agrippa and Bernice approached the court with great display. They entered the audience room accompanied by the military commanders and the prominent men of the city. At the command of Festus I was brought in by a Roman guard. Then Festus addressed King Agrippa and said, "King Agrippa and all of you here with us today. Do you see this man. The whole Jewish community has complained to me about him both in Jerusalem and here. Crying that he shouldn't remain alive. But I discovered that he has done nothing that deserves a death sentence. Now when he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. However, I have nothing specific to write in a letter to His Majesty about him. This is why I have brought him before all of you, and especially you, King Agrippa, so that after we have examined him, I might have some thing to write. It seems irrational to me to send a prisoner to the Emperor without indicating what the charges are that are against him."
King Agrippa said to me, "You have permission to speak on your own behalf." At that I motioned with my hand indicating to the crowd that I was about to speak. Then I delivered the best sermon of my life.
I am Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness. May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, make you to increase and overflow in love for one another. May He give you inner strength to be blameless before Him.
Amen - so be it.
Madness. #16
I had the King of Judea and the Roman governor on my finger tips. The governor had no idea what to write in a letter to the Emperor in Rome. I made it my duty to give him something spectacular to write about, so I spoke in the most eloquent language in my defense, "King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that it is before you today that I am defending myself against all the charges made against me by the Jews. Especially because you are so well informed and conversant with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently."
I was at my best. My speech flowed from my mouth with ease, like a skilled archer launching an arrow at his target. I had them in my sights and I was delivering arrow after arrow at their hearts. My words were weapons intended to win their minds over onto my side. "So then!" I continued, "all the Jews know how I lived my life from my youth on, both in my own country and in Jerusalem. They have known me for a long time. And if they are willing, they can testify that I have followed the strictest party in our religion. That is, I lived as a Pharisee. How ironic it is that I now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise God made to our forefathers, that the Messiah would one day come. That is why the twelve tribes of Israel zealously worship God night and day, as they have the same hope that I have. Yet it is in connection with this hope, Your Majesty, that I am being accused by the Jews! Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?"
I told them my history with both passion and conviction, yet I was deliberately building my case slowly, cubit by cubit, stadia by stadia. "I used to think it was my duty to do all I could to combat the name of Jesus the Nazarene," I proclaimed, "and in Jerusalem I did so. After receiving authority from the chief priests, I myself threw many of God's people in prison. When they were condemned to be put to death, I cast my vote against them, consenting to their deaths. Often I went from one Synagogue to another, punishing them and trying to make them blaspheme. In my wild violent fury against them, I even went as far as to persecute them in cities outside the country. On one such occasion, I was travelling to Damascus with the full authority and power of the chief priests. I was on the road, and it was noon, Your Majesty, when I saw a bright light from heaven. This light was brighter than the sun, shining around me and my travelling companions."
I had their full attention now. The court auditorium was heavenly silent. I had them exactly where I wanted them, "We all fell to the ground and then I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you keep persecuting me? It is hard for you to continue to keep offering vain resistance against my will.' I replied, 'Who are you, Lord?' and the Lord answered, 'I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand up on your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell the world what you have seen of me, and what I will show you about me in the future. I have chosen you out selecting you for Myself. I will rescue you from both the Jews and the Gentiles. Yes I'm sending you to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, so that they will turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness of their sins and be given a place among God's people, who are set apart by faith in me.' So, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven. I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles. That they should repent and turn from their sins and turn to God."
I could speak freely as the chief priest and the Jewish elders from Jerusalem were not present to hiss against me like serpents, "It was because of these things that the Jews seized me in the Temple and tried to kill me. But to this day I have had help that comes from God as He has been my ally. So I stand here testifying to small and great alike, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses declared would happen and come to pass. That Christ, the Messiah would die, and that He, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to both the Jews and the Gentiles."
Just as I reached this point in my defense, Festus shouted out loudly at the top of his voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind, you are mad. Your great learning is driving you mad!" But I replied confidently, "No, I am not mad, Festus, Your Excellency. On the contrary, I am speaking words of truth and sanity. For King Agrippa understands these matters, so to him I express myself freely, because I am sure that these events are all familiar to him. After all, they didn't happen in some back alley. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe!" King Agrippa interrupted me, "In this short time, are you're trying to convince me to become a Christian?" I replied passionately, "Whether it takes a short time or a long time, I wish to God that not only you, but also everyone hearing me today, might become just like me, except for these chains!"
Then the king, the Roman governor, Bernice, and the others sitting with them stood up and left. As they went out, they talked it over and agreed with one another, "This man is doing nothing wrong that deserves either death or prison." Agrippa said to Festus, "If he hadn't appealed to Caesar, the Emperor, he would have been released."
They called me mad, crazy, insane but has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But I preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than all the wisdom of men, and the weakness of God is stronger than all the strength of men. God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things which are mighty.
I knew that it was God's will that I should go to Rome. The Messiah Himself had told me so in a vision. So we set sail for the coast of Italy, I was escorted by Julius, a centurion of the Emperor's Imperial Regiment with a total of two hundred and seventy six men. Including sailors, Roman guards, fellow prisoners, Luke and Aristarchus, a Macedonian from the naval city of Thessalonica, was also with us.
We sailed late in the season on a ship from Adramyttium which is a maritime city in Asia Minor, seated at the foot of mount Ida opposite the Islands of Lesbos. The next day when we had docked at Sidon, a port city, Julius was very kind to me. He allowed me to go to shore under guard to visi
t my friends, so that they could provide for my needs. We launched off from there, putting out to sea. We sailed close to the sheltered side of the Island of Cyprus, because we faced strong headwinds that made it difficult for the sailors to keep the ship on course. So keeping to the open sea we sailed along the coasts of the Provinces of Cilicia and Pamphylia. We finally came to the port of Myra, a city in the Province of Lycia.
At Myra the centurion found a ship from the magnificent city of Alexandria, sailing from its port in Egypt to Italy. He ordered that we all be put on board. We had several agonising days of slow sailing, and after great difficulty we finally neared the port of Cnidus, a town opposite the Island of Crete. But the wind was deliberately against us, so we changed coarse and sailed across to Crete, crawling along the sheltered coast of the islands, past the Cape of Salmone, a city on the east side of the Island of Crete. We struggled along the coast with great difficulty and eventually arrived at a place which is called Fair Havens, near the city of