A Revealing Conspiracy

Christian Commitment
in Today's World

Acts 23:12-24 (The Message)

 ^12-15Next day the Jews worked up a plot against Paul. They took a solemn oath that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed him. Over forty of them ritually bound themselves to this murder pact and presented themselves to the high priests and religious leaders. "We've bound ourselves by a solemn oath to eat nothing until we have killed Paul. But we need your help. Send a request from the council to the captain to bring Paul back so that you can investigate the charges in more detail. We'll do the rest. Before he gets anywhere near you, we'll have killed him. You won't be involved."
 ^16-17Paul's nephew, his sister's son, overheard them plotting the ambush. He went immediately to the barracks and told Paul. Paul called over one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the captain. He has something important to tell him."
 ¹⁸The centurion brought him to the captain and said, "The prisoner Paul asked me to bring this young man to you. He said he has something urgent to tell you."
 ¹⁹The captain took him by the arm and led him aside privately. "What is it? What do you have to tell me?"
 ^20-21Paul's nephew said, "The Jews have worked up a plot against Paul. They're going to ask you to bring Paul to the council first thing in the morning on the pretext that they want to investigate the charges against him in more detail. But it's a trick to get him out of your safekeeping so they can murder him. Right now there are more than forty men lying in ambush for him. They've all taken a vow to neither eat nor drink until they've killed him. The ambush is set—all they're waiting for is for you to send him over."
 ²²The captain dismissed the nephew with a warning: "Don't breathe a word of this to a soul."
 ^23-24The captain called up two centurions. "Get two hundred soldiers ready to go immediately to Caesarea. Also seventy cavalry and two hundred light infantry. I want them ready to march by nine o'clock tonight. And you'll need a couple of mules for Paul and his gear. We're going to present this man safe and sound to Governor Felix."

For Reflection
The captain rescued Paul.  In a letter sent with Paul, the captain said, "It turned out to be a squabble turned vicious over some of their religious differences, but nothing remotely criminal."  God used the civil system to thwart the plot to kill Paul even though the Roman officials were not believers.  Biblical writers found it easy to assign human acts and circumstances to God's plan.  We in our contemporary society are more reluctant to make such assignations.

Suspend reason for a moment.  What current event(s) would you point to as a sign of God's intervention in human affairs?  What evidence would you need to establish the truth of his presence?  How did God encourage movement toward the establishment of His Kingdom on Earth?

Pray for insight into God's will.