Before Agrippa & Bernice
Acts 25:13-27 · Vern Peterman · Oct 7, 2018
Acts (2017-18), No. 82
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261912223513

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning, and thank you for reading the Book of Acts, chapter 25, verses 13 through 27. for us, Josiah, and we're going to step our way through it. Just a reminder, last Sunday we went through the first 12 verses of chapter 25. This is where the Apostle Paul had been before Festus and had been through a trial, a hearing, in front of those who are bringing the charges, the Jews. And so what we see here is a follow-on to that set of verses. And as was just read, this particularly involves Agrippa and Bernice, and we'll talk about them shortly here. The location where everything takes place for these set of verses is in Caesarea.

It is a Roman military colony, both with a land base. There is significant development on the land as well as a major military port where ships could come in and out. The Roman Military, unlike ours, had no division between the Navy and the Army sections, and they were one and the same, so they worked together.

One of the things we've been pointing out is that the Apostle Paul has, during the course of now two years, that he has been held. He's been held in the prison at Herod's Palace in Caesarea, this military base. And so this gives you an idea what that looked like. It's actually fairly nice facilities. We shouldn't think, however, that Paul's stay there was under opulence, but rather that Herod's Palace was a better than average place for him to stay, and certainly an opportunity for him to spend time with other believers who would come to visit, but also spend personal time with the Lord. We might also imagine this is a time when here's the Apostle Paul.

He is being held for, so far as he can tell, some unknown and long period of time. It's now, by the time we get to this passage, been about two years that he's been sitting in this palace prison. And he doesn't know with any assurance how much longer is his stay going to be here and what will it be after that once he gets to Rome. So, we could ask, because this seems like a sort of procedural thing, why is this in Scripture? Why go through this? And we can answer that in several different ways. The first part of it, the passage is in Scripture for this reason.

It's consistent with what Jesus said in Acts 9, 15, and 16, we'll be looking at shortly, where Saul, who becomes Paul, is to bear Christ's name before the Gentiles, that's the non-Jews, right, and the kings, that is a euphemism for the rulers at various levels and of various kinds, and the sons of Israel, that is the Jews. So you've got the non-Jews, the Jews, and all those in authority, whether Jewish or otherwise.

So Paul is given the assignment to bring the gospel and to bear Christ's name before all these. Next, it shows that in this passage, Paul had declared that Jesus was alive. As you recall earlier, the issue that the Jews first started this action, this legal action, and first it was actually carried out illegally, but this legal action was based on the Apostle Paul supposedly having brought a Gentile into the inner temple, which was of course against the law, but in fact did not take place. Paul was now beginning to shift the issue not on what supposed temple violation might have taken place, but the fact that Jesus was alive.

We're going to see it actually coming from the lips of Festus as he declares and describes the issues there. So Felix before and Drusilla and Festus and Agrippa and Bernice now at this present passage were all confirmed actual rulers that is this is also real history these are not just simply Bible stories we have independent confirmation of and in multiple kinds of ways and forms, that these were actual rulers, real rulers. This is not just simply a made-up Bible story.

This is also in Scripture because the words that are in Scripture are there so that we can be sure of the historical context, including understanding the matters of culture, history, and the legal environment at the right time and the right place. It fits what actually took place. Next, the one intended meaning at each place is brought out with certainty are seeing and observing what's written by inspiration in view of the context of language, history, and culture. We can see how it fits.

These are not simply Bible stories. These are not things that are just simply spiritually true. We can actually test them. They actually took place in history, just as we're meeting here this morning. This is a real happening. And not just something that is spiritually true, but not historically true. To that we can add this.

We're going to see in the next two Sundays, the Apostle Paul is going to be given, actually it's a fantastic, phenomenal opportunity. It's a golden opportunity to tell these members of royalty and of government and those of their court, and they would have in each case a significant court officials that go along with them. Also those in highest military command, and we're going to be looking at that shortly here, and all the civic leaders of this military base city called Caesarea.

They're all going to be given the gospel of Jesus Christ from the mouth of the Apostle Paul very, very clearly, so much so that Festus will be frightened. These passages about these last times that Paul spent, after two years in this governor's palace in Caesarea, say that Paul is indeed going to Rome. That is what Paul asked for the believers to pray as he wrote the letter to the church at Rome chapter 1 and then in chapter 15 he talked about that. This is also fulfilling Christ's assurances while Paul was still in Jerusalem and hours away from being taken to Caesarea.

So this is fulfillment of all those things. One of the verses that we brought out before, and I'll bring it to us again just because I think it is a pivotal key verse. This is Jesus' golden insight into the ministry of Paul and what he is about to do. This is Jesus speaking to Ananias in Acts 9, 15, and 16, and it reads like this, But the Lord said to him, that is to Ananias, For he, Paul, is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles, these are the non-Jews, the kings, and that is a euphemism for all those in some kind of authority, and the sons of Israel, who are the Jews. So you've got the non-Jews, the Jews, and all those in authority.

And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. So we have the first thing, Jesus chose Saul. He was specifically chosen. It was not an accident where, oh, look what kind of guy we have here. What an interesting thing that he showed up. Jesus chose him, who later became Paul, as we see him now, as his instrument to bear his name. Secondly, Paul is going to bear his name not before some obscure little group or small group, but rather before those who are non-Jews, the Gentiles.

He would go out in each of his missionary journeys to Gentile lands. Even on this journey, it will take him out into Gentile lands, including Gentile lands where he had never been before. Kings, that is rulers, including the passage we're looking at here, and over the next couple of Sundays.

And finally, the Jews, the sons of Israel. As we know, the apostle Paul first went to the Jews and presented things to them first. First to the Jew, and then to the Gentile, and that was his priority. Finally, Jesus is going to show, and that means to warn and instruct Paul about how much Paul would suffer for Christ's name. We have been bringing out as we go through this the fact that suffering is a part of God's design and plan and intent for us. He has purpose in it. Suffering is not needless. Suffering is not useless. God is not wasting His time or ours in that.

What we see unique here is Paul's suffering was specifically pointed at suffering for Christ's name. Some of us will be in a position of suffering for Christ's name from time to time. For the Apostle Paul, that was front and center. That was the main thing that he did, suffering for Christ's name.

Also, we want to point out as we step into the passage, this passage is full of very special words. This passage has words in the Greek that are not used anywhere else in the entire New Testament. And that's because this particular passage has circumstances and events that are unique, so unique that words are fitting and very descriptive. Of the three things that Acts 9, 15, and 16 talk about, it talks about this Apostle Paul being brought as God's chosen instrument before rulers. That we see especially played out and lived out in this passage and the passages to follow shortly after. Verse 23 is the verse most packed with those once-only words. It's amazing just that that particular verse has several these once-only words once in the entire New Testament in that one verse.

So we'll start with Acts 25, 13 through 15, and now when several days had elapsed King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. While they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, King Agrippa, saying, There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix. And when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. Now, one of the things to look at with the family of Herod here.

We have a supplement. I think some may still be available. If not, we'll get more out. And I will also have them available so you can download it. But we show the larger family tree, at least the biblical portion of the family of Herod the Great. And so what we see here, Herod Agrippa is actually the second. And Bernice are brought out in this passage and in subsequent passages will look at it, and you have it on your handout in this form. And we show Drusilla was the wife of Felix. And we saw her in a previous passage here.

We have Herod, Agrippa, and Bernice, who are brother and sister. Now, I have to explain that there was a certain amount of suspicion because they seemed awfully close. So there was a lot of rumor going around that they were also carrying on a relationship that was more than just brother and sister. And for a while, you also see Herod, king of Chalcis there, or Chalcis. For a while, Bernice married her uncle. And then when that ended, because he died rather young, she went back to this Herod Agrippa. So the suspicions were continued. So we need to learn about this fellow Agrippa, because he's the one that's referred to here. As a matter of fact, he's referred to as a king. He's a man we should come to understand, and here's why.

He was the great grandson of Herod the, and we put in quotes or brackets, not so great, right? Herod the not so great. He was the son of the man who ordered the Apostle James to be beheaded. This is Acts chapter 12. He was part Jewish, but he was an expert in all things Jewish, and that was one of the reasons why Ephesus wanted to have him come here. He was given authority from Rome, and by the way, he did a lot of his growing up in Rome, over the temple of the Jews. That's why he was called a king. It's funny, we think of a king and we think of someone who was a king over significant pieces of land and districts and areas. He was a king over the temple. That was his kingship. He was king over the temple.

The Jews could not appoint a high priest without his approval. So he had to approve of the high priest. If he ceased to approve of the high priest, then that high priest was gone. No longer in authority. So this was a guy who had authority there. He had all the temple hardware authority. You're not going to put things or have things in there unless I say so. So he had that. All the organization and temple rituals had to meet his approval. So that's what he's king of. And it's funny to think, well, that's a funny thing to be king of, but that's what he was given authority over. And that's one reason why Festus would want him to be involved here.

We could also ask, how long is many days in this passage? That's a term that is only used by Dr. Luke. And as a matter of fact, a couple of times it's used, not many days, right? And so not many days, it turns out, from two passages means 10 days, right?

But many days in Acts 13.31 is 40 days. So as an approximation, something around 40 days would be what is implied here. A little over a month. So that's an estimate.

Here's Acts 25.16-19.

I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before the accused meets his accusers face to face. and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought before me.

When the accuser stood up, they began bringing charges against him, not of such crimes as I was expecting, but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man Jesus whom Paul asserted to be alive. Now this word religion we want to take a look at that's also this is a one-place one-of-a-kind word never used anywhere else in the entire New Testament. And also notice, he ends in verse 19, he talks about this man, dead man Jesus, who was, yes, crucified under Pontius Pilate, he would have record of that, about whom Paul asserted to be alive. This assertion of Paul, Christ was alive, was now becoming the issue, as opposed to the original charges the Jews brought that Paul had brought a Gentile into the inner temple. This Jesus is alive was an issue that the Apostle Paul had made previously and was continuing to make and we're going to see continues to make and it is a huge shift from what was there previously.

So this English word religion doesn't come across as Festus actual words came across to King Agrippa and to Bernice because to us we don't understand the distinction. But the Greek word that is only used here in the entire New Testament is not a respected religion. It's an ignorant superstition. It is a derogatory term. So Festus is speaking ill of this religion that Agrippa is in charge of for Rome. It's actually something that Festus might not have thought this through. I think Agrippa likely didn't share Festus' sentiments and perspective on what was going on with the Jews.

Acts 25, 20, and 21 goes like this. Being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these matters. But when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the emperor's decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar." So in order to please all the Jewish leaders, Festus asked Paul if he was willing to stand trial in Jerusalem before the Sanhedrin.

But Festus could not force Paul. to stand trial before the Jews by Roman law. So that's why I had to ask him whether or not he was willing. He couldn't say, you must go, but are you willing to go? Since Paul refused, Paul insisted that he stand trial before a Roman court knowing from his nephew that these Jews actually intended to just kill him and had no intent of giving him any fair trial. So he appealed to Caesar and says, I'm getting out of this, you know, Jewish option.

Roman law did not tell Festus how soon, however, he had to send Paul to Rome so he could take his time, just as Felix before him had taken his time. And so, although he had made the decision to send Paul to Rome, how soon and when and under what conditions?

Not yet made. Here's Acts 25, 22. Then Agrippa said to Festus, I also would like to hear the man myself." So here's Agrippa, he says, you know, I have an interest in listening to this man. And so in response, Governor Festus says, tomorrow you shall hear him. So the arrangements apparently had already been made and were to be carried out.

So Festus was brand new at this governor thing, right? And he was brand new, especially here among the Jews. He didn't understand them well. Agrippa did. And so Festus readily admits, I don't really understand what's going on here with the Jews. But Agrippa, having some Jewish ancestry and having spent time among the Jews, knew quite a bit about them. And the fact that he was in charge of everything in regards to the temple, So Agrippa would find this Christian variation among the Jews fascinating and interesting.

He wanted to know all the details. What's going on with these Jews? And now this Christian variation on it, the apostle Paul would speak about, would be something new. He was eager, actually, to hear what Paul had to say. And Festus was glad for the help. Because why? Because Festus, he said, I'm going to send Paul to Rome. I'm going to send him to the Emperor Nero. But I have no charges to bring against him." So he thought, I cannot send Paul to Rome with no charges.

I'm going to look like a nutcase. Right? Instead, I've got to come up with something. Help me. That's really what his position is here with Agrippa. Would you please help me, if you have more understanding and insight, how I can send Paul to Nero to be heard and write an intelligent letter about why he's showing up in front of Nero.

Here are some of the unique and special words in Acts 25-23. And I'll read the whole thing as we point these out. So, on the next day when Agrippa came together with Bernice amid great pomp. So this word, pomp, this is a Greek word, it's phantasia. is where we get our family of words fantastic and fantasy come from this so and notice the word great pop so this isn't just a little bit of ritual and a little bit of you know show put on this is a great show this is a fantastic presentation it is in fact you could say way overdone right so and this is the only place in the entire New Testament this word shows up which tells us we have some very unique circumstances here and we can see why and how it's unique shortly here and they entered the auditorium the next unique word this word is used Here, and nowhere else in the entire New Testament. So this is a special place. This is not the usual place where you would have just some sort of a minor hearing. This is a place where you would gather a large number of people.

Now, accompanied by the commanders. This word commanders is not unique to this passage, but it does give us some special insight. There were at Caesarea five commanders. So we know about how many there were. In fact, we know exactly how many there were. There were five commanders.

The Roman Tenth Legion was stationed at Caesarea. They had five commanders over them. The sixth commander from that legion was assigned to Jerusalem and they would rotate among them. We've seen Claudius Lysias was the other commander who had been there in Jerusalem. So now when it says commanders, we know the number and the number is five. Ordinarily, the Legion would be about 6,000 soldiers that would be stationed there, but the 1,000 approximately, they're stationed in Jerusalem, would be the other number completing the Roman Tenth Legion.

Next, it has the word prominent men, another unique word to the passage. The prominent men of the city. What does that mean? And we put it this way. Everybody who was anybody came on for this fantastic display, okay? This pomp, all the commanders, these are the highest officers over this legion. Right? The five. These five commanders are there. They have command over ten centurions each. Right? So centurions we've seen before. We saw them, for example, when Peter brought the gospel before the house of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. The centurion there was Cornelius, right?

And so he had charge over, the century term is over about a hundred men, sometimes that number varied, but about a hundred men. In this case, he had about a thousand soldiers among each one of the commanders, so about 5,000 stationed there. So, it's likely that this Great Pomp included a military parade. Here's the capital city, if you will, for the military. It's a military base, both land and naval base, with 5,000 there included. It very likely included a military parade as part of the Great Pomp.

And so you could see them coming through the city of Caesarea and going through all the main areas with this parade going on. It also likely included demonstrations of military formations of different kinds and you actually see some of those coming forth in some of the letters that Paul wrote.

For example, the stand firm statement that Paul used not only in Ephesians but others would be the soldiers standing in this formation, being under command. Stand firm with your cleats. That would be a command. And when it was time to move, that was another command.

You'd see them marching and walking, and this would be the word for walk that would be used at the end of the book of Galatians chapter 5. So all this great pomp and military formations and all these commands the centurions would give out, likely included.

And this also included the civilian leaders, and the civilian leaders and the military who were citizens, only they were allowed to wear the toga. that we often think of them as the Romans wore the toga. Yeah, the Roman citizens wore the toga. It was illegal for anyone else to do so. But you'd see them often if they were citizens, Roman citizens, as many of them would be, dressed in this toga, which was legally limited to just citizens. The great pop likely included musicians of Roman style of various kinds and maybe multiple bands and groups of musicians as well.

But here is the big point. Can you see what a fantastic evangelistic opportunity the Lord is arranging with these people? These people have no idea We think of an evangelistic crusade filling stadiums and things like that. Here you have an auditorium that's going to be filled with all of the officials from the governor to his court, to all of the officials who are accompanying Bernice and Agrippa to the highest military command, and very likely all their officers. This will be a fulfillment of Acts 9, 15, and 16 that talks about before kings. He is going to be the one before kings and so God is arranging for all the military command and all the governors court and his court and Agrippa and Bernice and everyone who's coming with them all being there for Paul to tell them the gospel. The Roman Empire is actively arranging a city-wide evangelistic crusade, whether they know it or not. Everybody who is anybody will all be there to hear Paul present the gospel of salvation. He is the one whom Jesus chose. This is the Apostle Paul, the one who is fulfilling what Jesus intended from the outset. Here's Acts 25-24.

Festus said, King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not to live any longer. So first of all, you notice that Festus addressed everybody gathered here at this great gathering that had been brought together with great pomp He addressed Agrippa and Bernice and all the highest military officers and officials and those who accompanied him and the civic leaders. He publicly addressed King Agrippa and he presented that Paul was the one the Jews wanted dead. But Festus was in this verse also making open address to all of these, as an introduction to the evangelistic address. As a matter of fact, you could say Paul was the keynote speaker of this evangelistic crusade in this grand event.

Acts 25.25, But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, since he himself appealed to the emperor. I decided to send him. So he's already made that decision.

So we find in verse 25, Festus' summary of his findings and decisions regarding the case of Paul. Paul, having appealed to Caesar, was going to be sent to Rome, but on Rome's timetable. Festus was not looking for a different finding and a different conclusion from Agrippa. He wasn't looking for Agrippa to contradict anything that he had found or decided so far.

He just wanted something to put in this letter. What do I put in this letter to Nero instead of saying this guy and saying he appealed to Caesar, I have no idea what he's guilty of, right? Here's Acts 25, 26, and 27. Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my Lord.

Therefore, I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner not to indicate also the charges against him.

So one of the things we quote here, I have brought him before you all, that is, before all the people that are gathered here, the military leaders, the governor's court, the king's court, King Agrippa's court, and all the civic leaders, this citywide parade and a grand gathering invited to this great evangelistic crusade paid for and sponsored by the highest regional authorities of the Roman Empire. King Agrippa is actually the most important person present here because of his expertise in everything about the very complex and conflicted religion of Judaism and since he had authority over everything in the temple. So one of the points we make and bring out here Festus is fulfilling all his governmental duties as the governor of Judea He wants to have a meaningful letter to send with Paul to Rome for consideration of Emperor Nero as Paul arrives.

But God, on the other hand, sees the eternal destinies of all these people. These people who are gathered here, he's arranging for them all to hear the gospel of salvation so that some might hear and believe the truth. This is a very special moment too because soon, soon the Jews would be beginning their rebellion. Many of these people present here will lose their lives in the midst of that rebellion. They need to hear the gospel.

After spending two years in the palace there in Caesarea, Paul having spent personal time with Christ in that palace, he would be able to tell and to write these precious truths to those who believed, including people who would believe as a result of this coming evangelistic crusade that we're going to be looking at over the next couple of weeks.

Here's Ephesians 2, 1-7. These are the truths that the Apostle Paul had learned during his time there in the prison. He would be able to tell these new believers these things. Ephesians 2, 1-7 starts with this, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." He is writing in this passage to those who believe about their standing in condition before they believe.

This would be true of all those who were gathered at this evangelistic crusade, and he could describe them all with these very same words. But he doesn't stop there, and there's a very good reason, because he spent personal time with the Lord Jesus Christ, and what you find is that he presented in here what he had learned from the Lord Jesus Christ during his time there in the palace in Caesarea. He not only said, what he wrote to the church at Rome before his time in Caesarea.

You have been crucified and died with Christ. You were buried with him. You were raised with him. In addition to that, as Paul had learned during his time here in the palace prison, you've been ascended and seated with Christ. And that's what he writes in the next verses, Ephesians 2, 4-7. But God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." What is amazing is once Paul gets to Rome, you see him writing this letter. and the letter to the church at Philippi, and the letter to the church at Colossae, and in those, all three, he begins talking about our heavenly position, the place where we are blessed in the heavenly places.

He has just gotten these truths revealed to him during his time here in the palace prison. These very precious and special truths are also brought forth to Paul, but we only read about it here, when he talks before these people, which we'll see in the next couple Sundays, in this evangelistic crusade arranged by Rome. He knows these truths, but he has to lay out what is necessary for salvation first. He may even have told some of these people, once they became saved, some of these truths. but it only fully comes out in his writings once he gets to Rome.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you. As we see here, you've made an amazing setup for an evangelistic crusade. We're going to see that the Apostle Paul lays out clearly why and how salvation comes about. That salvation comes about by belief that Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins and was buried and rose again. And we thank you for playing out before us in these very special words recorded by Dr. Luke. When you see played out before us, here's the gospel needed to be saved.

In addition, we see the basis on which the Apostle Paul shares the amazing ways in which we've been ascended and seated with Christ, there having heavenly citizenship. Thank you for that. Thank you for all you've laid out. We give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.