Acts 25:23-27; 26:1-8 The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. Festus said: “King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome. But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write. For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.” So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. “The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
In the above scene we see Paul once again convened with the authorities, explaining once more his conversion to Christ and his ministry of the Good News. This time because of Festus' desire to find a valid reason for sending Paul to Rome before Caesar’s court, he wants King Agrippa and Bernice to hear Paul’s defense against the Jewish leadership's accusations against him. Festus realizes Paul is innocent of the charges against him. For him to send Paul to Caesar is a waste of time of the highest court in the Empire. However, maybe Agrippa by hearing Paul’s defense can determine a good reason for him to send Paul to Rome. King Agrippa is the great-grandson of Herod the Great, the first Herodian to rule Palestine and the surrounding area. King Agrippa and his sister, Bernice enter the courtroom with great pomp. They are accompanied by high-ranking military men and prominent secular officials. In contrast to this group's prominence in society sits Paul, a man who has experienced a difficult life in ministering the gospel. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (2 Corinthians 11:26-27) Paul is in the courtroom with well fed, well groomed, well perfumed people. HIs clothing, grooming, and health are not anywhere near the well-being of these people. In addition, he is in the room of his enemies, opposed to him and Christianity. He knows the Herodians have always been opposed to Christ. Herod the Great, his grandfather, tried to kill Jesus the baby. Herod’s father, King Agrippa I, executed James and imprisoned Peter, holding Peter in prison to behead him after the Jewish Passover celebration had ended. But Peter escaped his murderous hands. Herod’s cousin, Herod Antipas, beheaded John the Baptist at the request of his granddaughter who was following her mother’s instructions Her mother hated John the Baptist because John opposed her marriage to King Herod Antiopas, a condition of infidelity to her former marriage to the brother of King Antipas. Now Paul knows, King Herod and Bernice are no independent arbitrators; they both harbored hatred toward Paul and his proclamation of the Good News. King Herod the first, their father, had converted to orthodox Judaism when he ruled, so his son was very familiar with the tenants of Judaism. Paul could not trust these people to treat him fairly. He knew their hearts and their animosity to Christianity. He could not trust their fairness. Jesus did not even trust many of his own followers because he knew the intrinsic nature of humans. Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person. (John 2:23-25) Jesus had once said that no one is good, only God his Father is good: trustworthy and loving.
Paul understood, knew this courtroom was in a hostile environment. No one in that courtroom wished him well or would advocate for him. If they could find any supportive evidence for his execution under the Roman’s hand, they would rejoice. But Paul was innocent of these charges brought before the court by the Jewish authorities. As with Jesus, his enemies wished to kill him. In Jesus’ case, the Jewish leadership constantly harassed Jesus, harboring murder in their hearts. Jesus lived a sinless life, but this did not prevent them from their desire to murder him. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8:44-47) Paul is now looking at men who do not want to hear the truth about God. They do not want to change their lifestyles, their selfish pursuits of benefitting themselves by the exploitation of others. Leadership carries perks which they enjoyed. Except for the magnificent presence of the Holy Spirit, Paul had none of these fleshly perks and advantages in life. These enemies of Christ and the Good News rejected the idea that they needed a cleansing of their souls if they desired eternal life. Paul knew the crux of eternal life is wrapped around a substitutionary work of Jesus on the cross. Sometimes John 3:16 is misunderstood by those who quote it often. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:13-17) People leave out the reason they have eternal life; Jesus became a curse for them. He was lifted up on a stake, just as a serpent was lifted up on a stake in the wilderness to heal those who looked upon it. It is a horrible imagery to view Jesus as the bronze snake in the wilderness, but that is what He is in God’s sight. God had cursed the snake and Jesus became that curse satisfying the wrath of God toward rebellion of his authority. Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. (Genesis 3:14) Without God’s intervention in our lives, we are cursed to death. Paul’s Good News is that we no longer have to carry this curse of death on ourselves because of the rebellion within us to God’s authority and will for our lives. No one wants to be imagined as a snake, crawling in the dust of the world, the sin of the world. We want to be lifted up in the eyes of the Lord God as holy and good. Jesus who is holy and good paid the price for our nature of selfish pursuits and self-interest. Paul catalogs so well the nature of mankind: They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. (Romans 29-31) How can we accept such a description of us?
What might we say? I am not like that. Look at my life: I do not display that kind of nature. Of course the Bible depicts clearly another group of people who said things like that: the Pharisees. But Jesus the righteousness of God describes them differently. What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:27-28) Are we consumed with evil and wicked deeds? No, but our nature is not pure or holy in everything we do, think, or say. And God is always the same in season and out of season: perfect. Jesus told us to be perfect as God is perfect, and unless we are, we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven or possess eternal life. Jesus categorizes these supposedly righteous people as Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? (Matthew 23:33) For Jesus, they are dust eaters, sin consumers. But Paul’s message is that Jesus paid the full price for dust eaters. We who never will be perfect; the perfect price for our imperfections has been paid, Jesus. On the cross, Jesus became the cursed one, the snake, and paid the price for all unrighteousness. All who look upon that price, Jesus on the stake or the cross, will be healed of their unrighteousness. They will not die as Jesus said: those who believe on his name and put their trust in his works, will never die. This has been the message in the heart of God from the beginning of time. Paul is faithful to deliver this message to the people in the courtroom. He tells the courtroom, this is why generations of Jews have served the living God day and night. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? Jesus has been raised from the dead: He is not in the grave rotting as all flesh that is buried. No! He is alive! Paul tells the people in the courtroom: the Good News has been promised to us Jews by our prophets. Isaiah writes about the Messiah, who is Jesus, Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10-12). Friends around this breakfast table, God has come down in the form of a man, Jesus Christ. He suffered in the flesh for the salvation of many. Jesus experienced what it was like to be in a sinful, rebellious environment to his Father God. He felt the pain of humanity. He cried at Lazarus’ tomb. In the pain of death, the sorrow of those who were weeping about Lazarus' departure, He wept. But his mission was to be lifted up on the cross, to release humans from the pain of sorrow and death. He told the people who believed IN HIM, you will never die. This is your inheritance. Paul preached this message to many communities, both Jew and Gentile alike. Now the people in the courtroom are considering whether Paul should be charged with a crime deserving death. They could not find such a charge, but off to Caesar he went. Paul taught THE WAY to God; he was faithful in this task. You will be faithful too.
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