Felix had been governor for six years and was quite familiar with the Way. The Christian movement, which had involved thousands of people from the first day on, would have been a topic of conversation among the Roman leadership. Hopefully, too, the Christians’ peaceful lifestyles had already proven to the Romans that Christians didn’t go around starting riots.Felix’s knowledge of and exoneration of the church seemed very important to Luke, and for good reason. Luke wanted the original readers of his book to have a solid record that found Christians innocent, even as they experienced ongoing persecution all over the Roman Empire. That is probably why Luke went to such lengths to record Roman court decisions from Gallio (18:14-15), Felix, Festus, and Agrippa (chapters 24–26).
After an unnamed period of time, Felix and his wife Drusilla sent for Paul and listened as he told them about faith in Christ Jesus. Drusilla was the daughter of Herod Agrippa I and the sister of Herod Agrippa II, making her part Jewish. At this time, she was likely only twenty years old. She had left a previous husband to marry Felix, which she did contrary to Jewish law, since Felix was a Gentile.
Paul’s discourse with Felix and Drusilla included an interesting trio of topics—righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come. Felix responded like an individual under conviction: “Go away for now.” Felix was terrified. Paul confronted Felix, forcing him to deal with its full convicting message. And Felix wanted no part of it.
Two years went by in this way as Felix toyed with the apostle Paul. For two years this apostle to the Gentiles was out of commission, out of the pulpit, and serving as Felix’s personal spiritual conversationalist.
By keeping Paul in prison, Felix could gain favor with the Jewish leaders. Eventually, Porcius Festus took over as governor of the region. He was a welcome successor. After Felix mishandled a political situation between the Jews and Greeks at Caesarea in a.d. 60, where he took unnecessarily harsh military action against the Jews, he was called back to Rome. Josephus wrote that things would have gone badly for him there, had not his brother, Pallas, interceded for him.
The new governor, Festus, wasted no time; after just three days on the job, he went to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, the Jewish leaders met with him and made their accusations against Paul. Although two years had passed, the Jewish leaders still were looking for a way to kill Paul.
The plot had expanded from the original forty-plus leaders to all the Jewish leaders. They tried to convince Festus to transfer Paul to Jerusalem (so they could prepare an ambush). The ruthless Jews had obviously abandoned all hope of a conviction of Paul by the Romans, so they decided to take matters into their own hands.
By God’s intervention, Festus decided to leave Paul in Caesarea. The trial would not be moved, so Festus informed the Jewish leadership that those in authority could return with him. In Caesarea, in his courtroom, they would be allowed to make their accusations.
After a few days, Festus returned to Caesarea, where on the very next day, the case of this Roman citizen, alleged troublemaker for the Jews, began again. As before, the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem gathered around and made many serious accusations they couldn’t prove—probably all the same baseless accusations from two years before.
Paul succinctly denied all the charges that had just been blasted at him again. He then threw all his chips in and demanded a hearing before Caesar. Paul’s request led Festus into a conference with his advisers, giving what seems to be a quick reply: “To Caesar you shall go!”
The bloodthirsty group of Jewish leaders would have done their best to make sure that Paul didn’t live to see another day. Instead, Paul would have an armed guard all the way to his next preaching stop. Though he would have a few more audiences with whom to share the gospel between there and Rome, few were more prestigious than the one he was about to meet.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
Every hard circumstance in life, every moment of suffering, every mis-dead done to you is an opportunity to advance the gospel. Not once do in these passages do we read about Paul complaining of his circumstances. Not once do we hear him cry out to the Lord - "This is not fair."
That is why he could write in Philippians 2:14-15; "Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe..."
Paul saw what so few of us see when the fat hits the fan. He saw opportunities to be a witness. He saw opportunities to be able to relate to people and sympathize with people he could not have if not for the unfairness of what he was enduring.
Here's the principle. Never waste your hurts. Never waste your pain. God allows these seemingly unbearable times in our life, so as to expand our ministry.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV) says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."
God comforts us in our pain and trouble and suffering, so when the opportunity comes, we can do the same for others. If you been through the pain of divorce, have a ministry with divorcee's. If you suffered abuse, have a ministry with those who have been abused. If you've felt the sting of an unfaithful spouse, have a ministry with those who are going through similar troubles.
Lord, give us eyes to see and a heart to follow the path you have laid out for us in life. Don't let me waste one opportunity to care for others today.
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