Daily Devotional

(Note: Welcome to my on-going devotional series in Acts 16–28. I encourage you to look back at past devotionals and stay current. Today we come to Acts 25).

In Acts 25 we are back at the trial of “Paul vs. Everybody” — this time before Governor Festus, who replaced Governor Felix. Festus goes to Jerusalem and gets an earful from the jealous Jewish leaders, who want the apostle Paul dead—and they want him dead now!

The apostle Paul again declares his innocence and willingness to be executed...if found
guilty in anything but their illegal “kangaroo court.” He appeals to the Roman Emperor, the highest human authority in Paul’s life, yet knowing fully well that the King of the Universe was in charge. Even though Governor Festus believes Paul to be innocent, he is obligated to declare, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.” Before that happens, King Herod Agrippa II shows up. With great ceremony, Paul is paraded before the crowds. Later, in Chapter 26, he will present the gospel to the “small and great” (26:22).

As Jesus was presenting the signs of the end times He warned, “...be on your guard; for
they will deliver you to the courts...you will stand before governors and kings for My sake,
as a testimony to them...When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand
about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you
who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:9, 11).

It seems to me that if what happened to the apostle Paul in the first century was a birth
pang of the end times, we should be even more prepared for these illegal charges and phony courts two thousand years later. Are we?

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation