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In the Bible room today, we continue reading the book of Acts with Session 11, the summaries of chapters 22 and 23.

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Acts

Session 11

Chapter 22. Witness

When the Jews hear Paul speaking in Hebrew, they grow silent:

Now, he will tell them his defense:
He says he was born a Jew in Tarsus of Cilicia,
Raised at the feet of Gamaliel, a strict teacher of the law;
Paul says he was strong for God, just as they all are today;
He even had the believers in the Way thrown in prison;
The elders and the high priest will attest to what he says;
In fact, he was going to Damascus with a letter from the
High priest giving him authority to arrest believers,
And take them in chains back to Jerusalem for punishment;
Then, Paul says, while he was on the Damascus road
A very bright light from heaven shown down upon him,
Causing him to fall to the ground, and he hears this voice:
It is saying: Saul, why are you persecuting Me?
When he asks the voice who is speaking, the voice says:
“I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting;”
Paul says those who were traveling with him saw the light,
But they did not hear the voice speaking to him;
He then says to the voice: “Lord, what shall I do?”
The Lord tells him to go on into Damascus and there
He will learn what he is to do next;
The brightness of the light has temporarily blinded Paul;
So, he is led into town by his traveling companions;
A devout, respected Jew named Ananias comes to meet him,
Standing together, Ananias tells him to receive his sight;
Which he does in the same hour;
He tells Saul that the God of their fathers has chosen him
To see the Just One, to hear His voice, and be His witness;
He says Saul should be baptized immediately to be saved,
While calling on the name of the Lord;
Saul goes back to Jerusalem to pray in the temple;
While there, in a trance, he hears the Lord speaking to him:
Telling him to leave Jerusalem quickly for his own safety;
He says the Jews will not receive his witness about the Lord,
So, the Lord is calling him away to witness to the Gentiles;
The Jews are listening to Paul up until that last declaration;
Then, they begin shouting: ‘Away with this fellow, kill him;’
The commander has Paul taken into the barracks;
He intends to get Paul to confess as to what he has done
That he should deserve the death penalty;
He has Paul bound with thongs and will beat him, up until
Paul asks the soldier guarding him if this punishment is lawful:
Is it allowed for a Roman, not condemned, to be scourged?
The guard then tells the commander that Paul is a Roman;
So, the commander asks Paul if he is a Roman: He says he is;
The commander says he paid a large fee to become a Roman;
Paul tells him he was born a Roman citizen;
With that, they stop the questions, leave Paul alone;
The commander and the centurion become very fearful,
For they had bound a Roman citizen;
The next day they loose Paul from his bindings;
But they still want to know why the Jews want him to die;
So, they call for a meeting with the chief priest and the council;
They bring Paul in to sit before the council.

Chapter 23. Rescued

Then Paul, looking intently at the council, begins speaking:

He calls them brethren, says he has lived for God all of his life;
Suddenly, the high priest orders the guard standing next to Paul
To strike him across the mouth, which he does;
Paul reacts to that: He tells the high priest God will strike him;
Then he calls the high priest a whitewashed wall,
Who sits in judgement of Paul according to the law,
Then breaks the law by having Paul struck for no reason;
Those standing around accuse Paul of reviling the high priest;
Paul says he did not know this man is the high priest,
As he knows it is not lawful to disrespect a leader;
Then Paul realizes that the council has two factions:
Some are Sadducees, the others are Pharisees;
So, he quickly tells them he is a Pharisee from birth;
He believes in the resurrection of the dead;
This statement divides the discussion within the council:
Sadducees do not believe there is a resurrection of the dead,
Neither do they believe in angels or spirits, but Pharisees
Accept both, the angels, and the resurrection of the dead;
The disagreement becomes loud and boisterous,
Until the scribes of the Pharisees take control:
They say if a spirit, or angel, has spoken to Paul,
Then there should not be any charge against him;
The dissention becomes serious, threatening Paul’s safety;
Fearing for Paul’s life, the commander orders his soldiers
To remove Paul from the crowd, take him into the barracks;
That night, the Lord stands beside Paul, and speaks to him:
He tells him to take courage, for as he had witnessed for Him
In Jerusalem, so he will be witnessing for Him in Rome;
When daylight comes, some of the Jews make a vow together:
They will neither eat nor drink until Paul is killed;
There are more than forty Jews who make this vow;
So, they go to the chief priest and elders with their plan:
They ask them to tell the commander to bring Paul to them,
And, when they do, these Jews will ambush Paul and kill him;
However, Paul’s nephew has overheard this conversation,
So, he goes to the barracks to tell Paul what he has heard;
Paul then asks a guard to take his nephew to the commander,
Which he does, and the commander is told about the plan;
He then tells two centurions to form a group in the night
Consisting of 470 soldiers, horsemen, spearmen, and a mount
For Paul, to escort him to governor Felix at Caesarea;
The commander sends along a letter with the soldiers addressed
To governor Felix explaining why Paul is being brought to him;
In the letter he says he rescued this man from the Jews who
Were trying to kill him over an issue concerning their law;
When he learned he was a Roman, he determined that he had
Not committed any crime worthy of death or chains;
And then he learned of a planned ambush where the Jews
Intended to kill him, so he is sending him, and his accusers,
To the governor who can hear the charges against him;
Paul, and the letter, are delivered to the governor,
He learns that Paul is from Cilicia, then tells him he will hear
Him when his accusers arrive; In the meantime,
Paul will be staying at Herod’s headquarters.

End of Session 11 of the book of Acts.

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