Acts 25:1-12 Paul Appeals to Caesar
“Now when Festus had come to the province, after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the chief men of the Jews informed him against Paul; and they petitioned him, asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem—while they lay in ambush along the road to kill him. But Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was going there shortly. “Therefore,” he said, “let those who have authority among you go down with me and accuse this man, to see if there is any fault in him.”
And when he had remained among them more than ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day, sitting on the judgment seat, he commanded Paul to be brought. When he had come, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood about and laid many serious complaints against Paul, which they could not prove, while he answered for himself, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all.”
But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things?”
So Paul said, “I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know. For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar.”
Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go!”
Porcius Festus is the 5th procurator of Judea from about 59 to 62, succeeding Antonius Felix. Although Festus has just come into office, he is already aware that keeping Jewish religious authorities happy will be a major challenge. As a means of compromise, Festus insists that the Jewish leaders come to Caesarea. When the high priest and his associates come to Caesarea, they are unable to prove any of the charges they have made against Paul.
When the high priest and his minions demand that Paul should be returned to Jerusalem, Festus asks Paul if he is willing to return to Jerusalem. Paul already knows that earlier, 40 zealots were prepared to seize him and slaughter him. The road between Caesarea and Jerusalem is long with lots of places where a convoy might be attacked, Paul seized, and murdered. And Jesus has already appeared to Paul, instructing him that as Paul has testified for Jesus in Jerusalem, so Paul will also testify for Jesus in Rome. Sensibly, Paul argues, “I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know. For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar.” Festus is relieved; now he can pass this burden onto someone else. But what is the basis for Paul’s appeal to Caesar?
“About two decades before the birth of Christ, Rome passed a law, the lex de ui publica, which forbade any magistrate to kill, scourge, chain, torture, or even sentence a Roman citizen who had announced his intention to appeal, or prevent him from going to Rome to lodge his appeal there within a fixed time. Assuming (for a moment) that Paul’s case did come to trial, it is very unlikely that the case was heard by Caesar Nero. The Emperor, according to Tacitus, had been quite firm in the matter of rendering judgments: “‘He would not’ [Nero] said, ‘be judge in all cases…’.” Up until a.d. 62 or 63 he made no exceptions, and only a few after that time, up until the burning of Rome. Appeals cases were apparently assigned to various officials….Festus was reluctant to give a decision on the matter, and Paul seeing that a trial in Jerusalem held virtually no hope of justice, Paul therefore made his petition (I appeal to Caesar) that is to be judged by the highest court of the empire. In Rome Paul would be tried by an imperial representative and be subject to Roman law.” https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/49788/what-were-the-legal-consequences-of-i-appeal-to-caesar-in-acts-2511
Wikipedia tells us this about Porcius Festus: “Festus inherited the problems of his predecessor in regard to the Roman practice of creating civic privileges for Jews.[4] Another issue that bedeviled his administration was the controversy between Herod Agrippa II and the priests in Jerusalem regarding the wall erected at the temple to break the view of the new wing of Agrippa’s palace.[5] During his administration, Jewish hostility to Rome was greatly inflamed by the civic privileges issue. Feelings were aroused which played an important part in the closely following Jewish War of AD 66.
The Acts of the Apostles narrates that the Apostle Paul had his final hearing before Festus (Acts 24:27). In Acts 25:9-12, Festus sought to induce Paul to go to Jerusalem for trial; Paul appealed to the Emperor. The appeal resulted in Paul being sent to Rome for judgment by the Emperor himself although Festus had difficulty in detailing charges against him (Acts 25–26).“
Once more, we see God using unrighteous acts of men to accomplish His perfect Will. God wants Paul to go to Rome; very good. So, God is going to use the Roman government to transport Paul to its capital. In the process, God uses two different relatively weak Roman rulers to accomplish this.
God can use all kinds of circumstances to accomplish His perfect Will. We were already preparing to travel to the U.S. in August 2006 when I injured my left hip in a fall from my bicycle on a dark night. Because I needed to be on crutches for three months, we extended our stay in America. While I was still on crutches, we learned that my husband had prostate cancer, so he underwent operation, and we extended our stay further. While my husband was recovering, we traveled to his home area to celebrate several birthdays and anniversaries. Sadly, we found my husband’s twin brother dead in the house on their mutual 65th birthday; however, as the two medically trained family members, it was far better for us to be the ones to find him rather than other relatives. My husband’s younger brother developed such anxiety attacks at the tragic news that he was hospitalized and could not attend the funeral. My husband and I helped facilitate funeral arrangements that included our early departure afterwards due to a blizzard.
Today, do you find yourself in confusing circumstances? Pastor David Yonggi Cho’s advice to one American evangelist still applies: “I pray and I obey.” Keep praying and obeying what God has already shown you to do. As you obey, God will open the way, even if it’s only one step at a time. But be prepared for God to use circumstances in a fashion you have never anticipated. God is a God of infinite variety!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to trust where we cannot see and to remember that You are always working, even when our circumstances appear confusing. Help us to pray and obey. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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