Felix was born a Roman slave, and being a slave is a hard life for a healthy young man. It cost a lot of money for Felix to buy his freedom out of slavery. For the first time he was able to make his own choices in life.
Was that the end of his problems? No, not at all. He was appointed by the Roman emperor to the high position of governor. This position gave him a new problem, and I’ll tell you how this came about.
A Christian man named Paul had been preaching the gospel in the city of Jerusalem and had been arrested. Maybe you know what a wonderful message the gospel is. It tells us of free salvation and complete forgiveness of sins through the precious blood of Jesus who died for sinners. There were many religious people in Jerusalem, and this message spoiled their proud religion. Paul’s preaching the gospel made the people so angry that they were ready to tear him to pieces. In fact, the soldiers had to pick up Paul and carry him into the castle to protect him from the angry mob who wanted to kill him.
The next day forty angry men decided that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul. But one boy got permission to visit the prisoner and said, Uncle Paul, they have a plan to kill you.
Paul told his nephew, Go tell the chief captain about that.
That news gave the chief captain a problem, but he decided to have his prisoner transferred to Felix the governor and let him decide what to do. So, in the dark of night, he ordered a guard of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to take Paul to the city of Cæsarea where Felix was governor. That’s nearly five hundred strong men to guard one prisoner!
But I shall tell you a secret. Paul had far more guardians than that, even if the soldiers had all stayed at home. We have thousands of angels sent with God’s orders to take care of us . . . not always according to our plans, but according to God’s perfect plans.
Felix wasted no time, probably because he thought the problem was an easy one. He ordered a hearing for the prisoner. Some men had hurried from Jerusalem to accuse Paul, but Paul spoke for himself. Felix probably was expecting some argument from Paul to explain what the uproar was all about. He probably thought the matter did not concern him personally. But when Paul spoke of righteousness, self-control and judgment to come, Felix trembled with fear. He realized the message was for himself, because he knew he was a sinner. We know that the message is for us too, and down in our hearts we understand that we are sinners, and God must punish sin. And we tremble with fear too.
That wasn’t the end of the message, but Felix did not want to hear any more. I will listen to you some other day when it suits me, he said. And Paul’s hearing was ended.
Then Felix did some thinking, but not about Paul’s message that had made him tremble with fear. He thought about the money that some of those rich Jews had, and he hoped that maybe they would bribe him with money to release Paul.
Money! He wasn’t going to miss the chance of seeing if he could get more than he already had. During the next two years, Felix often found time to call Paul to court again, but I don’t think he ever trembled in fear again. And he didn’t get the bribery money that he hoped to get. When his term as governor ended two years later, he left Paul chained in prison, hoping that would please the Jews.
That’s the last we hear of Felix. He’s been dead a long time and waiting to meet God in eternity. You and I will meet God too. For me, I will meet the same loving Savior who died for me and washed away all my sins in His precious blood, so I have no fear.
What about you? Will you meet the loving Savior with your sins completely gone? If not, all the money in the world can’t take away your fear when you meet the God whom you tried to forget. In fact, money, if you did get it, will be no more than dust.
Read our next story for more about Paul in prison.