Acts 25 Commentary
Two years on and Paul is still under confinement. Two years should be long enough for the chief priests and the Jewish leaders to forget Paul’s case. Naturally, their anger should have subsided. But the devil has a way to sustain aggression and hatred endlessly.
Among Governor Festus’ first assignments is Paul’s case. God intervenes. Paul won’t be extradited to Jerusalem. Consequently, the planned killing of Paul by an ambush won’t happen.
Festus has his own political capital to protect. He also has his own council that he consults over Paul’s case. But the Holy Spirit has the final say. These happenings appear random and “normal procedure” but remember God has already paved the road to Rome for Paul.
Apart from Paul, all the other pawns on the chessboard don’t know that their decisions are designed for one destination.
These governors, Felix and Festus, and like Pilate before them, they represent power and authority but in reality, they are empty shells. They fail to rule; justice fails. Fear, pride, and wickedness rule. They are encouraged by a desire to please the wrong gang. Dominion fails.
The battle that started in the Garden of Peace and Tranquility rages on. Mankind lost dominion. He was designed to rule but you can clearly see he isn’t in the lead. Behind the hatred of the Jewish leaders and the weakness and wickedness of Governor Felix is Satan. Spineless Festus won’t be the last victim.
We all have moments of decisions where justice fails, truth suffers, and fear rules. Fear of shame, fear of the unknown, fear of missing out, fear of loss… These are moments when pride wins. But it is called rebellion; it is sin.
Paul has an impressive audience for the gospel: Governor Festus, King Agrippa, Bernice, high-ranking military officers, and prominent men of the city – the kind you never have a chance to see. The Holy Spirit has prepared this stage for the gospel. He brought Paul here for this moment. The devil has no idea about these arrangements or is simply too weak to intervene when the Ultimate Authority has an agenda. It is a world beyond his specs and his reach. It is probably a game he is not allowed to watch.
King Agrippa [II] is one of the ‘Herods’ that reigned during these times. According to the Amplified Bible, he is the seventh and last of the Herods mentioned in the New Testament. We know many of them for their aggression against Jesus – the Kings that rise up against the Son, the Anointed One. Psalm 2.
One of them killed all the boys under two years. The boy Jesus spent some years in Egypt on account of this Herod. Another one beheaded John the Baptist and would later mock Jesus during his trial and last hours. Herod’s name appears during the early church and the Apostle James is martyred. And now we have this Herod (Agrippa [II]) who hears the gospel from the Apostle Paul, but that is for tomorrow.
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