02 December 2010 Devotion for Today "Before Kings" Acts 25

02 December 2010 Devotion for Today "Before Kings" Acts 25

23 The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. 24 Festus said: “King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. 25 I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome. 26 But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write. 27 For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”

(Acts 25:23-27)

In this passage Paul had already met with Felix's successor, Festus. Festus, like Felix, seemed very taken with Paul- but not so much that he was willing to release him. Festus needed to build trust with the Jews who repetitioned charges against Paul. However, the charges against Paul were now more subdued. Festus enjoyed a good relationship with King Agrippa, the puppet-ruler of the region. Both enjoyed hearing an educated and articulate man such as Paul give forth with sophistication, learning, and philosophy. Apparently there were few minds as gifted in Judea on the level with Paul's. I think they also enjoyed the intrigue that had been brewing between Paul and the Jews for some time. It was still a very delicate matter Festus and the King had to deal with. They knew that to hand Paul over to the Jews would mean certain death for him. They also did not wish to offend the Jews by holding a trial where Paul would most certainly be acquitted- since they knew that Paul had not broken any laws, civil or Jewish. Their recourse was suggested to them by Paul himself who stated that he had the right to appeal to Caesar to allow him to try his case. Festus, elated at not having to contend with the matter any further, lost no time in expediting the appeal to the Imperial government. Festus appeals to King a
Agrippa (who was not technically a Jew, but of the tribe and people of Esau and raised up in the court of Emperior Claudius). Bernice was an interesting figure. She was the sister of Agrippa and Drusilla- the wife of the former governor Felix. Josephus, the Roman historian, suggests Agrippa and Bernice carried on an open, incestuous relationship; for she was not the queen we might suppose. These highly political figures demonstrate their extreme spiritual poverty, and the fact that they will even willing to listen to Paul suggests that they were somewhat open to hearing about Christ and the reparation that Christ could do for their extremely broken lives.

Brokenness lies every where today. We find it in our political figures as well, but where we see it most pronounced is in our pews. It is a wonder that the modern church today can be as effective as it is considering the dysfunction which has invaded it at times. Our society is rapidly becoming as morally corrupt as that of the Romans. In fact it makes me wonder just how far away we are in countenancing incestuous relationships like we find with Agrippa and Bernice. We must not, however, underestimate what the power of the Gospel can do to change lives and restore or even invent character where none has been before.

You may not stand before Agrippa and Bernice but you stand nonetheless before a pagan and wicked society that seems to tolerate anything or anyone except for those who call us accountable to God's standards. Where do you stand today?

Prayer: Dear Lord it is to a very wicked world that You send me to. All of the virtues and ideas which You have instilled in me are considered old-fashioned and outmoded by the sophisticates of my modern world. Yet the power of the unchangeable Gospel and commitment to Christ's love continues to reside in me. Use me to demonstrate love and compassion for people like Agrippa and Bernice that they may see themselves people whom God loves and wishes to draw unto Himself. I go today as Your Ambassador. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.