Introduction
In December 2005, Tony Dungy, coach of the Indianapolis Colts, suffered a tragic loss with the death of his 18-year-old son.
At the same time, the Colts faltered during their final games and lost the chance to play for the Super Bowl that year.
As players cleaned out their lockers, Dungy told them there is a difference between disappointment and discouragement.
“We’re disappointed by things that happen to us,” he said, “but we can’t let disappointment deteriorate into discouragement, and we can’t let discouragement become depression.”
The heroes of the Bible faced the triple threat of disappointment, discouragement, and depression.
In Acts 23, the Apostle Paul was disappointed.
He had expected to launch a fourth missionary journey.
Instead, he found himself nearly killed by a mob, barely saved from scourging, and imprisoned in the Antonia Fortress (Acts 21–23).
That’s when Jesus visited Paul while he was in Roman custody and said to him, “Take courage” (Acts 23:11) (Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Annual Preacher’s Sourcebook, 2008 Edition [Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2007], 120).
However, Paul was not released from custody.
In fact, Paul would spend the rest of his life in custody and would never be a free man again.
Yet, the Lord was not finished with Paul.
The Lord continued to be with Paul through the difficult times ahead.
The Lord took providential care of Paul every step of the way.
Today, we are going to look at God’s providence at work in Paul’s life.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 11 asks, “What are God’s works of providence?”
The answer is:
“God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.”
Let’s see how God did that for Paul in a lesson I am calling, “The Preacher Rescued from Death.”
Scripture
Let’s read Acts 23:12-35:
12 When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. 14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. 15 Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”
16 Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. 17 Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” 18 So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” 19 The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” 20 And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. 21 But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” 22 So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”
23 Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. 24 Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” 25 And he wrote a letter to this effect:
26 “Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings. 27 This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. 28 And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. 29 I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. 30 And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”
31 So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. 32 And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him. 33 When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. 34 On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod’s praetorium.
Lesson
Acts 23:12-35 shows us how God’s providence works in his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. God’s Providence Allows Plots to Be Conceived (23:12-15)
2. God’s Providence Allows Plots to Be Exposed (23:16-22)
3. God’s Providence Allows Plots to Be Foiled (23:23-35)
I. God’s Providence Allows Plots to Be Conceived (23:12-15)
First, God’s providence allows plots to be conceived.
Paul was in custody in the Antonia Fortress.
The Roman tribune had put him back in custody because he could not get a clear answer about what law Paul had broken.
One would think that with Paul in custody the Jews would be satisfied and leave well alone.
Not so.
A group of more than forty Jews conceived a plot to kill Paul.
They were so intent on killing Paul that they bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul (v. 12).
Moreover, they managed to convince the Jewish council, also known as the Jewish Sanhedrin, to help them with their plot.
They met with some members of the Jewish council and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near” (vv. 14-15).
Why were the Jews so opposed to Paul that they even wanted him killed?
Paul was proclaiming the truth of the gospel.
They believed that he was teaching against their own deeply held convictions about how one should live one's life and how one gets right with God.
They were so vehement in their opposition to the truth of the gospel that they were willing to kill Paul.
Even today, we know that there are people vehemently opposed to the truth of the gospel who are willing to kill Christians.
According to Open Doors, 4,476 Christians were killed for their faith last year (see https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/).
We need to realize that behind such hatred lies the work of Satan and his demons.
The Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:8a, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
And the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
That sounds very discouraging.
We face a formidable foe.
That is why we take courage from the answer to Question 12 of The Westminster Shorter Catechism: “God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.”
God is in providential control of all his creatures, and all their actions.
God’s providence allows plots to be conceived.
II. God’s Providence Allows Plots to Be Exposed (23:16-22)
Second, God’s providence allows plots to be exposed.
John Stott writes, “But even the most careful and cunning of human plans cannot succeed if God opposes them. No weapon forged against him will prevail” (John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts: The Spirit, the Church & the World, The Bible Speaks Today [Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994], 355).
In Paul’s case, God’s providence exposed the plot through an unlikely source.
In verse 16, Luke writes, “Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.”
This is the first time we hear of Paul having family in Jerusalem.
We know nothing about Paul’s nephew or his sister.
How close were they to Paul?
Were they Christians?
Were they devout Jews?
Why did Paul’s nephew alert Paul of the plot to kill him?
How did Paul’s nephew even hear of the plot to kill Paul?
Luke does not answer any of the questions we have about Paul’s family.
All Luke told us is that Paul’s nephew came and told him about the plot to kill him.
Paul then called a centurion, who took Paul’s nephew to the tribune.
Paul’s nephew told the tribune every detail about the plot to kill Paul, including the fact that the forty Jews had bound themselves by an oath to neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul (v. 21).
Luke tells us in verse 22, “So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, ‘Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.’ ”
In 1605, a group of conspirators plotted to blow up the English Parliament and assassinate King James I.
Their plan was meticulous: 36 barrels of gunpowder hidden beneath the House of Lords, timed for the State Opening on November 5, 1605.
But days before the explosion, Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter urging him not to attend Parliament.
That simple warning triggered an investigation, and Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding the explosives the night before the attack.
Let me give you another illustration of God’s providence allowing a plot to be exposed.
Mordecai was a Jewish exile living in Persia during the reign of King Xerxes (also known as Ahasuerus).
He raised his cousin Esther, who was later chosen to be queen.
Mordecai sat at the king’s gate, which meant that he had a position of influence and power.
He overheard a plot to assassinate King Xerxes and reported it to the king through Esther (Esther 2:21–23).
His act was recorded in the royal chronicles, although it was unrewarded at the time.
Haman was a high-ranking official in the court of King Xerxes.
He hated Mordecai for refusing to bow to him.
Haman plotted to destroy all Jews in the empire (Esther 3:5–6).
Mordecai responded by mourning publicly and urging Esther to intercede with the king.
On the night before Haman planned to execute Mordecai, the king couldn’t sleep.
He asked for the royal chronicles to be read—and discovered Mordecai’s unrewarded act of loyalty (Esther 6:1–3).
The next morning, instead of executing Mordecai, Haman was forced to honor him publicly.
Esther revealed Haman’s plot to the king.
Haman was executed on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.
Mordecai was elevated to a position of power and helped issue a decree that saved the Jewish people (Esther 8:15–17).
God used Mordecai to expose a plot and to protect his people from annihilation.
The Psalmist writes in Psalm 124:2–3, “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us.”
God is in providential control of all his creatures, and all their actions.
God’s providence allows plots to be exposed.
III. God’s Providence Allows Plots to Be Foiled (23:23-35)
And third, God’s providence allows plots to be foiled.
The tribune was aware of Paul’s Roman citizenship.
So, he could not allow his prisoner to come to any harm.
Therefore, he decided to act quickly and decisively.
Luke tells us in verses 23-24, “Then he called two of the centurions and said, ‘Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.’ ”
Keep in mind that the Antonia Fortress housed 1,000 Roman troops.
The tribune ordered that almost half of the Roman troops in Jerusalem—470 to be precise—escort Paul to Caesarea.
Was that level of protection essential for one prisoner?
It shows the level of caution the tribune was now exercising in relation to Paul.
Why did the tribune send Paul to Caesarea?
It was the provincial capital of Judea, and it was the seat of the governor, Felix.
Felix was an interesting character.
John Stott tells us:
Felix ruled as Judea’s procurator for seven or eight years from AD 52. He owed his appointment to his brother Pallas, who was a favorite at court, first of Emperor Claudius and then of Nero. Felix was utterly ruthless in quelling Jewish uprisings. Though he was a freedman, he seems never to have grown out of a servile mentality, so that Tacitus wrote that “he exercised the power of a king with the mind of a slave” (John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts: The Spirit, the Church & the World, The Bible Speaks Today [Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994], 355).
The tribune, whose name was Claudius Lysias, wrote a letter to Felix explaining who Paul was and the plot against Paul’s life.
He therefore sent Paul to Felix and also ordered Paul’s accusers to state before Felix what they had against Paul.
After the letter was written, the Roman soldiers took Paul by night to Antipatris, which was about thirty-five miles from Jerusalem.
The next day, they continued their journey and took Paul the rest of the way to Caesarea.
“When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him [that is, Felix]” (v. 33).
Felix read the letter from Claudius Lysias and asked Paul what province he was from.
Felix wanted to make sure that Paul was within his jurisdiction.
When Paul told him that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive”(v. 35a).
Then Felix ordered that Paul be kept in custody in Herod’s praetorium.
Since Paul was a Roman citizen, he was likely well-treated while he was held in custody, especially since no charges had been brought against him yet.
In 1521, Martin Luther stood on trial before Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms.
Luther was told to recant his writings.
He asked for a night to consider and pray about doing so.
The next day, Luther was brought in before the Emperor and a vast body of people. He said these famous words:
“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason—for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves—I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”
Martin Luther’s bold stand made him an outlaw.
Anyone could kill Luther without consequence for killing him.
As Martin Luther journeyed back home to Wittenberg from Worms, assassins waited in the shadows to kill him.
But God’s providence allows plots to be foiled.
Frederick the Wise, a secret supporter of Luther, staged a daring rescue.
Luther was “kidnapped” and hidden in Wartburg Castle.
His enemies thought he was dead.
In reality, he was alive—protected by God’s providence.
In that hidden fortress, Luther didn’t waste time.
He translated the New Testament into German, giving ordinary people access to God’s Word.
What looked like defeat became divine strategy.
The Psalmist tells us in Psalm 33:10–11 (NIV), “The Lord foils the plans of the nations…. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever.”
Conclusion
The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 11 asks, “What are God’s works of providence?”
The answer is:
“God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.”
God was in providential control over everything that happened in Paul’s life.
Paul was later to go on to Rome.
Later, when writing to the Philippian Church from Rome, he said that as a consequence of his arrest and imprisonment, “the gospel… has become known throughout the whole imperial guard”
(Philippians 1:12–13).
Of course, in the narrative we looked at today, God’s providence allowed the plot against Paul to be conceived, exposed, and foiled.
But it doesn’t always work out that way.
Sometimes, things go wrong—at least, from our perspective.
People get hurt.
People get sick.
People die.
Nevertheless, even in times like that, we believe that God is always in providential control of all his creatures, and all their actions.
A prime example of this is what happened to Jesus.
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter said to the people: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:22-23).
Jesus was without sin.
He never did anything wrong in his entire life.
Yet, he was unjustly killed.
But even then, God was in providential control of all his creatures, and all their actions.
What looked like an abysmal failure and tragedy, God providentially used for his glory and our ultimate good.
That is why Peter went on to say, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24).
God is always in providential control for his glory and our ultimate good.
Let us cling fast to that glorious truth. Amen.
