The last chapters of Acts (Acts 21:27-28:31) deal with Paul’s arrest, imprisonment and journey to Rome. We see how Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem leads to trouble (as prophesied by Agabus in Acts 21:11) and how his arrest leads to him appealing to Caesar, for he was a Roman citizen as well as a Jew. Paul defends himself in Aramaic to the crowd (Acts 22:1-21), to the Sanhedrin (Acts 23:1-10), to Felix, a local governor (Acts 24:1-27), to Festus (Felix’s successor) (Acts 25:1-12) and to King Agrippa (Acts 25:23-26:32). In each of these cases, he gives his testimony, explaining how that meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (also told in Acts 9:1-19) changed his life completely, giving him purpose and a vocation he cannot ignore. Later on, he testifies of God’s power and purposes to the crew on board the ship as it is about to sink (Acts 27:27-38) and ministers in power to the people of Malta (Acts 28:1-10).
Paul lived out a truth he would later expound: God is in sovereign control and He works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. (Romans 8:28) He took every opportunity which came his way – whether these seemed propitious or apparently disastrous – and believed God could use these to further His purposes. As John Stott puts it, Paul ‘was arrested in Jerusalem, subjected to endless trials, imprisoned in Caesarea, threatened with assassination by the Jews, and then nearly drowned in the Mediterranean, killed by the soldiers and poisoned by a snake! Each incident seemed to be designed to prevent him from reaching his God-planned, God-promised destination… [It is only by God’s providence] that Paul will get there.’ (commentary, P 401-402).
No amount of opposition and persecution can stop God’s plans. Job came to realise this; despite all the suffering he endured, he came to understand that ‘no purpose of yours can be thwarted.’ (Job 42:2) Howard Marshall, in the Tyndale commentary on Acts, writes, “Nothing that men do can stop the progress and ultimate victory of the gospel.” (Tyndale commentary on Acts, P427) The truth of God’s sovereignty should fill our hearts with confidence and hope, courage and commitment. It doesn’t mean life won’t be difficult (Paul would later write of being ‘under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself’ 2 Cor 1:8), but it does mean we can face life with security and trust. We know ultimately that much of the New Testament was written from Paul’s prison in Rome. God used even that circumstance to bless the church throughout history. We can be confident that God is still working His purposes out in our individual and corporate lives. He is sovereign over all!