Unstoppable! 'Playing Politics with Paul's Life' — Acts 25:9

Poor Paul. Previously, he had Felix play politics, try to extort a bribe from him, and then leave him in prison despite knowing he was not guilty. Then Festus, the leader who next had authority over him, wanted to repeat the same old set of dangerous procedures Paul had legally stopped previously. He wanted to send Paul back for trial in Jerusalem! Except, a group of men in Jerusalem had vowed to kill Paul, and others wanted to kill him on the way there.* What I hope we can all realize through the ongoing, repetitive — and from our perspective, sometimes hard to follow and dangerous — ordeals is that God had a plan for Paul, and God carried out that plan. He led Paul through his ordeals to Rome. From the last eight chapters of Acts, consider what Paul endured, and realize none of this could derail God's plans for him:

• Attempts by a riotous mob in Jerusalem to kill him.
• Multiple political and military leaders who had oversight of him.
• A determined and ongoing assassination plot by Jewish adversaries.
• Harrowing storms on the Mediterranean Sea.
• Sailors planning to abandon both the ship and passengers in the storm so that Paul had to take charge and reassure everyone.
• A violent shipwreck.
• A normally deadly snake bite.
• A trip of about 140 mi or 225 km from the coast to Rome, probably walking and chained to a Roman soldier.
• House arrest in Rome.

* See the first set of our Related Scripture Readings.
* See the second set of our Related Scripture Readings.