THE requirements of truth and justice, trodden down of the people in the blind fury of religious zeal, are to be more willfully, deliberately and hypocritically set aside by their rulers, yet not without a witness from among themselves of what is due to the truth of God, to be known and read of all men, not from a sense of what was due to God but to that which was theirs as the responsible depositaries. For though Ananias the high priest commands Paul to be smitten contrary to the law; yet the part of the council who were Pharisees contended against the Sadducees, saying, We find nothing “evil in this man.” Whereupon a great tumult arises, showing that the orthodox Jew had begun to find out that the church of God was not an evil thing to be hunted to death, that he had played the fool and erred exceedingly in seeking to exterminate it as one would a flea; for while occupied in this he had let a more deadly enemy usurp power, even the spirit of denial and Atheism.
But a place of repentance cannot now be found, though it were sought with tears; the Master of the house has risen up and shut-to the door; it is useless now to stand without and cry, Lord, Lord. They had cried Lord, Lord, but had not done His will; if they now cry, Lord, Lord, they cannot enter in. Given over to strong delusions, they curse themselves with a curse to taste nothing until they had killed Paul; and fearfully has the curse clung to them after a spiritual manner, for from that day to this have they starved in a far-off country; refusing to enter into the house of blessing in company with the younger son; where there was music and feasting, the fatted calf and the Father's joy, they are cast into an outer darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. The very act by which they clench the curse upon themselves but binds a blessing on the church and frees it forever from that contact with the authority of Judaism which had hitherto been its chief stumblingblock; for, in the night that intervened between Paul's last witness and the purposed execution by the Jews of their deliberately murderous intent, the Lord stood by him, saying, Be of good courage; for, as thou hast testified the things concerning me at Jerusalem, so thou must bear witness also at Rome.
The light of God's glad tidings, which first had beamed from Bethlehem's manger, now had shone throughout the sphere appointed for its primal exercise; but men had loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; and, no matter how gentle and beneficent its rays had been, the brighter they were, ever the more detested.
The sheaf of Life bound together by the Holy Ghost had arisen to stand in the house of prayer, commanding by word and deed the obedience of its brethren, the sons of Israel, and proclaiming that with it only was the bread of Life; but the reply had been, “shalt thou indeed reign over us?” and they hated it the more, for the vision of the glory of God and the Son of man sitting on the right hand of God, and for its words. Again, the morning star had claimed obeisance from every other light ordained of God: but his brethren envied him, and had carried away the flock from the portion of the Lord's inheritance—the priestly place of resurrection—to broken cisterns which could hold no water; but the man in glory had by His Church come down into their midst, and they had done Him shame and were ready to slay or sell Him to the Gentiles. The time had therefore come for Him to shine in other spheres; the light must be shed upon the land of Egypt, the kings of the earth, and Israel's sons must search for it: never will it seek for them again. So Paul is delivered over into the hands of a company of soldiers, who bring him into Caesarea to Felix the governor who committed him to Herod's Pretorium. All was outer darkness where the light had been for Israel. In an instant, as it were the twinkling of an eye, it had set at mid-day.
It is true, thick clouds of unbelief had shrouded it from view, but it had been in the zenith and brightly beamed, but now it was gone: clouds might gather or roll away, it mattered not. Jerusalem was the abode of every unclean thing and bird of darkness; the Lord had smitten them, as He said, with madness, blindness, and astonishment of heart, they groped at noon-day as the blind gropeth in darkness: the yoke of iron was fastened upon their neck; the nation as an eagle flieth of a fierce countenance was come upon them, for they feared not this glorious and fearful Name, Jehovah thy God.
The light had left the land and was journeying to Rome from whence henceforth it should radiate its beams throughout the nations till their times should be fulfilled; but in its course the kings must be brought beneath its convicting power, therefore Caesarea is the first point upon which its beams arise. But the vessel, the light-bearer, the means by which the light shines forth must be shown to be pure and clean, if the purity and glory of the light is to be witnessed of. Paul himself must be clear from every imputation, if the gospel he preached is to be received of men as the word of God. He therefore readily seizes the opportunity of answering before Felix the charges against him, proving that he was not a pest but a worshipper; neither was he a mover of sedition, for neither in the temple did he discourse to anyone nor gather any tumultuous crowd either in the synagogue or in the city; but to the last portion of the charge he did confess, that in the way which his accusers called sect, so served he his father's God, the motive power being the hope toward God of a resurrection of just and unjust. Again his deeds proved their accusations false and cleared his conscience not only before God but man also: for instead of bringing evil he had brought alms to his nation, and offerings: a purified one was he found in the temple, no mover of sedition. Nay, the only crowd and tumult was caused by certain Jews from Asia; and also when before the council he had cried but this one voice, “I am judged this day by you touching the resurrection of the dead."
Here the Holy Spirit takes the first step in the witness to principalities and powers of the resurrection of Christ from among the dead, of whose resurrection and glory it was His purpose and mission to declare. And how unobtrusively, gently, as it were silently, is it done! in Paul's speech it comes in simply as a collateral thing, and first only as a statement of doctrinal fact that there is a resurrection of all men, just and unjust, subsequently confining it to a resurrection of the just only as the matter at issue between himself and his accusers, and by inference limiting the dispute to the fact of the resurrection of One just Alan whom they had crucified, but whom he affirmed to be alive: for Felix had perfect knowledge of the things concerning the way, and was well aware of the reason for the enmity of the Jews against him. But when the Holy Spirit witnesses to Felix as an individual rather than as a potentate, He deals with him after another fashion, convincing him of righteousness, temperance, and judgment about to come.
It is a time of trial for the Gentile powers to whom God had committed the sword of justice, and from first to last they prove unfaithful to the trust, though there are extenuating circumstances; for though justice is not done and Paul set at liberty, yet such leniency is shown as their policy permits. Thus Felix commands that Paul should in a measure have his freedom, and that none of his friends should be hindered in ministering to him; and, notwithstanding that the word fills him with fear, he yet often sends for Paul, hoping to make a profit out of him.
When Festus succeeds him, the same witness is continued but develops into more decided action. For when Paul, brought to his judgment-seat, clears himself of all charge of offense against the Jewish law, temple, or Caesar, and the Jews are unable to prove anything against him, of which Festus is very well aware, he yet purposes from political motives to deliver him up to them.
Upon such a failure of justice Paul appeals to the fountain-head of all heathen authority, thereby altogether denying the Jewish polity as the depositaries of judicial power. But before proceeding to Rome there is yet another principality to whom witness must be rendered, Agrippa uniting in himself ecclesiastical lore and temporal authority; and before him the apostle at once takes up his great theme, that of resurrection and Jesus as the raised One, and this as no new thing but the promise made of God to the fathers to which the whole twelve tribes, serving incessantly day and night, hope to arrive. Then with solemn emphasis he describes the fact upon which his whole life hinged, and not his only, but the eternal destinies of myriads of those of the nations hitherto in darkness, under the power of Satan, in their sins to whom he was sent an ambassador, an official appointed servant of his God.
Thus before this complete representative of earthly power (holding as he did the reins of ecclesiastical and political power), Paul testifies of his master the Lord of lords and King of kings, and of the mission to which he was accredited; that all men, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, king or commoner, should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.