1Festus then, having arrived in the province, three days later went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. 2And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews brought charges against Paul, and they were urging him, 3requesting a concession against Paul, that he might have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, setting an ambush to kill him on the way). 4Festus then answered that Paul was being kept in custody at Caesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly. 5“Therefore,” he said, “let the influential men among you go there with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them prosecute him.”
The nefarious intrigue continues as a new governor, Festus, arrives with an intent to appease the Jews. He had no history or exposure to “the Way,” or to Paul, whom Tertullus charged was a leader of that “sect.” The case had languished for two years, and now the Jewish leaders were pouncing on the opportunity to revive their vendetta against the apostle Paul. This they did almost immediately upon Festus’ arrival in the province. Their seething anger did not abate, no matter the passage of time.
Their strategy was to set up an ambush to assassinate Paul as he was being moved. Yet God had other plans: remember, God had told him in prison, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also” (Acts 23:11). The psalmist writes:
The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation. (Ps 33:10–11)
This extended story of Paul’s difficulties at the Jewish leaders’ hands underlines the blend of God’s sovereignty and the workings of human intention. Theological debate concerning God’s overarching, absolute will and the will of mere humans consumes much energy among thinking Christians. But we see the illustration of this blend in Paul’s life. Unlike their first plot thwarted by Paul’s nephew, this one was undermined by Festus’ simple dismissal of the request and order for them to prosecute Paul in Caesarea. That is God’s sovereign will, and as the story plays out, Paul does go to Rome. He will not die at the hands of Jewish assassins.
The affirmation of God’s divine intention emboldened Paul with confidence that affected his response to his persecutors. He had previously appealed to his Roman citizenship; he had used his nephew to alert the commander of the secret plot against him. And now, we see God working independently of any strategy of Paul’s and leading Festus to simply deny the request for his transfer to Jerusalem, and thus remove the opportunity for the plot against him.
Lord, help me to make my decisions in light of confidence in Your divine will.
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