Acts 23:12-35 preached by Pastor Jon Needham

Big Ideas

1. Narrow escape
Whether it be Moses being rescued from the river, the spies being protected in Jericho, or Jesus escaping Herod’s massacre, narrow escapes are everywhere in the Bible. Here, Paul narrowly escapes an assassination conspiracy. While these escapes may be narrow, they are never coincidental or dumb luck. Rather, these are examples of God’s divine providence. God was not done with Paul, and nobody was going to kill Paul until he was.

2. Strange supporters
One cannot read this text without seeing the great and sad irony. Paul was a Jew who believed in Christ, and yet his own Jewish brothers were conspiring to kill him, even vowing not to eat until they took his life. It is the Gentiles who come to Paul’s rescue, protecting him from the Jews’ murderous conspiracy and transporting him safely to Caesarea via military escort. God is always full of surprises!

3. Luke, the historian
Acts is not a myth or wishful thinking. Acts is history and Luke, the author, is a historian. In this text, we find a great example of how thorough Luke’s investigation was. Beginning in verse 26, we have a summary of the letter from Claudius Lysias to Governor Felix. How Luke got this document or became aware of its contents is unclear. What is clear is that Luke did the necessary heavy lifting to get ahold of such information. Acts isn’t just a story; it’s true history.

Study Questions

1. Life can be full of close calls and narrow escapes. But God is sovereign over all of it. What are some of your close calls and how did God protect you during those moments?

2. Sometimes we are surprised by who opposes us and who supports us. Have you ever been caught off-guard by the opposition or support you received from an individual? How did you handle it? What was the outcome? What did you learn?

3. When reading the amazing stories in Acts, it’s easy to forget that these are real stories about real people. Acts is not just some fairy tale meant to inspire us; it is the true history of the early first-century Church. How does seeing Acts, and the rest of the Bible, as history change the way you read it?