Saturday
Saturday
The Providence of God
I hope to visit you [in Rome] while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there [to Spain].
Romans 15:24
What is the importance of Acts 27 and 28? Answer: it concerns the providence of God. It illustrates the truth that “there is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD” (Prov. 21:30). This providential activity of God is seen in these chapters in two complementary ways, firstly in bringing Paul to Rome and secondly in bringing him there as a prisoner. It was an unexpected combination of circumstances.
First, Luke intends us to marvel with him over the safe conduct of Paul to Rome. Jesus had said to him in Jerusalem, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome” (Acts 23:11). Yet circumstance after circumstance seemed calculated to make this impossible. He was arrested and imprisoned, threatened with assassination, nearly drowned in the Mediterranean, almost killed by soldiers, and poisoned by a snake. And behind all these incidents demonic forces (symbolized in the raging sea) were at work, seeking to prevent Paul from reaching his God-planned, God-promised destination. But God obstructed the devil’s purpose. It is exciting to watch. Will Paul make it? Yes, he will! He does! But Paul arrived a prisoner. How was this compatible with the providence of God? God’s promise had been that Paul would testify in Rome, meaning before Caesar (Acts 27:24), and this could not have happened unless Paul had arrived in Rome as a prisoner on trial.
There is another way, however, that Paul’s confinement ennobled his witness. For as a result he has bequeathed to posterity three major prison letters, Philippians, Ephesians, and Colossians. I am not saying that he needed time in jail to get his writing done! But in God’s providence there is something distinctive about those prison letters. They set forth more powerfully than anywhere else the supreme, sovereign, undisputed, and unrivaled lordship of Jesus Christ. The person and work of Christ are now given cosmic proportions, for through Christ God has created and redeemed all things. In addition, having humbled himself to the cross, he has been exalted by God to the highest place, and God has put all things under his feet. Through his prison experience Paul’s perspective was adjusted, his horizon extended, his vision clarified, and his witness enriched.
For further reading: Colossians 1:15–18