You're listening to the teaching ministry of Harvest Fellowship Church in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. You can find out more about us on the web at www.harvestfellowshipchurch.org. We pray that through our teaching, we may present everyone mature in Christ. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for another blessed day that you've given us. Lord, we thank you for all your grace and mercy that you poured into each of our lives, Lord, to bring us to this point. We're so very thankful for this time that we can gather unhindered and free to study your word. So Lord, I ask that you would be glorified through this time that we spend this evening. Lord just open each of our hearts and minds to your word. Lord enrich us this evening. And it's all for the praise of your glory in Christ's name. Amen. So last week we were, well of course this week we're in chapter 21 still. Last week we discussed verses 15 through 26 and I'll give a quick recap. So we had Paul and company, they arrived at Jerusalem, and they received a very warm welcome from the church. The day following their arrival, they met up with James, who was the head of the Jerusalem church, this was the half-brother of Christ, as well as the elders. So he met really with the leadership of the church, and after saying their hellos, Paul went on to fill them in on all the wonderful things that God has done through his ministry to the Gentiles. After hearing Paul's testimony, they all glorified God. Then they go on to address Paul, and they informed him that there were some Jewish Christians there in Jerusalem that had heard that he was this subversive. He was anti-Jewish, that he had thrown out all the Jewish customs and that he was basically against everything that had to do with the ceremony and the tradition of Jewish life. None of this was true, of course, but Paul himself was very much still Jewish. The very fact that he was at the Feast of Pentecost observing the feast should say something. See that Paul had attended the synagogues on the Sabbath. He had even taken a Nazarite vow back in chapter 19. So he was involved in all these various Jewish things. But yet some of the Judaizers told the Jewish Christians that he was anti-Semitic, so they were pretty much anti-Paul. So when he arrived in town with all his Gentile friends, and he came there, if you remember, with the purpose of bringing money to the Jerusalem church, that he had collected. It was much needed money, and this was to show his love for the Gentile church. His welcome was good. It was a good welcome from some, but others were greatly concerned because of the tens of thousands of Jewish Christians that thought he was basically a traitor. And in hopes to change his reputation, it was suggested that he would go to the temple and purify himself. He was to join up with four guys who were under a vow. He was to pay their bill, pay for the whole thing. And by doing this, some of the Jewish Christians would see that he certainly was not as anti-Jewish as they had been led to believe. So this is what he did. And while the text really says nothing about this any further, I'd have to believe that it must have had a positive effect on the Jewish Christians. However, tonight we'll see that it didn't have any effect at all on the Jewish non-Christians. So tonight will be in Acts chapter 21. I'm going to cover verses 17 through 36. Oh, you know what? See, I wrote it down wrong. So I read it. Yeah, 27. All right, I'm going to make the correction. 27 to 36. So one thing worth noting tonight, we're going to see a really important change in the narrative. Because from here on out, Paul is no longer going to be a free man. I actually have a title for tonight's study. We can title it Paul the Prisoner, Ambassador in Chains. So up until this point, and since his ministry began back in Chapter 9, Paul had been a free man. You know, he moved around under the direction of the Holy Spirit, but without any type of bonds at all. I'm not saying that things were easy for Paul at all, but through all his suffering, he was still a free man. And really the closest that he came to becoming a prisoner for any length of time occurred back in chapter 16, when Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail in Philippi. And that didn't even last the entire night. Really, the Lord sent an earthquake and his imprisonment was pretty much over. But now things are different. And then from here on out in the remainder of Acts, Paul will be a prisoner. Before we dive into the text, I want to address how Paul viewed his imprisonment. Just to give you a point of reference I want to call to your attention Ephesians 3.1 where Paul says, For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles. Keep this in the back of your mind that Paul never viewed his situation as anything other than God authored. He never viewed his imprisonment as an imprisonment of men. He doesn't say I write to you Paul a prisoner of Rome. He's always a prisoner of who? Of Christ Jesus. And it was Christ that brought him into such predicaments. We see Philippians 1, 12, and 13. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. He never saw himself as a prisoner of men. He saw himself only as a prisoner of the will of Jesus Christ, and consequently, his imprisonment represented nothing more than a new ministry. It didn't mean the end of anything. If you think if someone got thrown in the jail, their life's done, it's finished, or at least the direction they were going. But for him, it always meant the beginning of something new. At the end of Philippians, he says, The brothers who are with me greet you, and all the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household." So wherever he was and whatever situation he was in, it was all for the advancement of the gospel. It's just about evangelizing and sharing the gospel with those who were available before him. whether it be in prison or wherever it might be. Second Timothy 2, 8 through 10, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. And so then he never saw that his imprisonment had anything to do with men, but always with God. And God uses him to give a glorious testimony, a positive witness in every trial, even though he was surrounded often with a lot of negative situations. So as we go through our study tonight, let's keep that in mind. But if you turn with me in your Bible to Acts 21, 27. You know, the funny thing is I picked up on that on this other reference, but where I had it posted in earlier, I guess I didn't. So let's see. Acts 21, 27, beginning at 21, 27. When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, men of Israel, help. This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place. For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. And as they were seeking to kill him, word came from the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some of the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd. For the mob of the people followed crying away with him. And may God richly bless the reading of his word. So what kind of questions do we have? Okay, good question. Yep. Anyone else? We will cover that. So where were the gates? What were the gates? What am I answering questions to? I thought I was answering. I was reiterating Bob's question and pointing to you because you were raising your hand. Good question. Any other questions? We will definitely cover that. Shout them out. would they assume that he brought Trojans into the temple without anything other than seeing him come into the city with them? Sure. Good question. Luke? I don't think this one can necessarily be answered, nor would it, but I'm wondering aloud if these Jews from Asia had a previous run-in at all with Paul. I think we can answer that or come close to it. I think there's some clues in the text and we're going to definitely hit that. It is, and I'll actually mention that, and we'll go to, yeah, very good, very good. Anybody else? Just some of the ones I wrote down, like, to whom does everyone everywhere refer? And then what part of the temples would have been off limits to the Gentiles? And then as Bob asked, you know, these temple, the gates of the temple, what, you know, what were they and why were they shut? And then what does it mean when they say that the report went up? And what's meant, again, by all Jerusalem? This is one thing intrigued me. How did the Roman Tribune hear of the confusion so quickly? Just think about they were beating Paul, and all of a sudden, I mean, they didn't beat him to death. They could have easily. How long does it take to beat someone to death? Probably not too long. Why was he bound with two chains? And then there again, I think this was asked, what does it mean when it says do away with him mean? So let's get into the text. Starting in verse 27, when the seven days were almost complete, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him. So we see when the seven days were almost complete. Now this text is referring to the end of this Nazarite vow. And if you recall from last week, these four guys who had taken the vow, Paul joined up with them. and they needed to finish up this seven day purification. At the end of the seven days, they would go to the temple, they would offer sacrifice, the vow would be complete. Then we see the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, they stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him. So, Asia Minor, This is Jews from Asia, this is Asia Minor. This was a Roman province, and this included cities like Ephesus, Laodicea, Philadelphia, Thyatira, Sardis, Smyrna, all the churches that were mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3. But it says, when some Jews from Asia saw him in the temple, do you think they recognized him? I mean, obviously they had to recognize him. He had spent three years in Ephesus. where he had a profound impact, establishing a church and teaching at the school of Tyrannus. His presence also called a significant disruption in the synagogue. It was quite possible that these Jews had encountered him during his time in Ephesus. And I believe they were, and of course the text doesn't say, but I believe they were likely from Ephesus, especially since, well, one age is mentioned, but also we'll see in verse 29, that they saw that he was with Trophimus, who was the Ephesian, and they obviously clearly knew who he was. So their familiarity with Trophimus suggests a connection to Ephesus, and their strong reaction to Paul indicates that they may have been part of the synagogue that he had so deeply affected there. So Paul had a significant influence in Ephesus, and It's why I think that there's a, like I said, the text doesn't say it, but I think we can pull some of these clues out that there was probably a pretty good chance that that's who these Jews were. Now, if you recall back in Acts 19, there had been a riot in Ephesus, and there was a supposed plot to kill Paul, but through, now this was through the sensible intervention of the town clerk, a Gentile, that the killing was prevented. Now, however, they felt they had a real opportunity because now this city's not filled with Gentiles. The city's filled with Jews. Now, Josephus, who is a historian of this time, estimated that around this period in the city of Jerusalem during Pentecost at this time, there could have been an upwards of two million Jews converging on. So there's a massive, massive crowd in the city, and for the most part Jewish. Previously the Gentiles had quelled the riot, but this time there were no Gentiles around to intervene. It was just a very large group of Jews, and they had seized the moment. So upon spotting him in the temple, they incited the crowd, or they stirred it up. And interestingly, the Greek word that's used for stirred up means to throw into confusion. So they effectively confused this mob, and if you think of just mobs in general, they usually lack any type of clarity, and this is no exception. And this mob was very similar to the mob in Ephesus. See back in Acts 19.32, it says, now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not even know why they had come together. Back then, they seized Paul while he was completing the Nazarite vows, and the group of Jews from Ephesus... Oh, I'm sorry. Here, Paul's in the temple, they grab him now, and what I'm going to say, this group of Jews from Ephesus, they overwhelm, they stir up chaos and confusion, and they start crying out, men of Israel, help. So, men of Israel, help. You know, this is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place. So they're crying out as if some sort of blasphemy occurred, screaming, men of Israel, help. You know, they're calling to this mob. And they're saying, this is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Now here they're making a very vague and general accusation. But then they go on to say, moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place. Now this is a very specific accusation. The Jews from the province of Asia bring five charges against Paul. Now, the first three charges are described in terms of Paul's opposition to or attack against the foundation of really the Jewish community. Now, the last two charges are linked with an accusation that he has taken part in actually defiling the temple, which makes this accusation the central charge. The accusations closely resemble the charges against Stephen, and I'll even say in Jesus as well, but from Acts 6, 11 through 15, where it speaks about Stephen, says, then they secretly instigated men who said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God, and they stirred up, here's stirred up again. confused the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council. And they set up false witnesses who said, this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. So it's almost the exact same charges. But then before we examine the accusations that have been leveled against Paul, I'd like to take a minute to describe the setting. So what's going on in Jerusalem at this time? Pentecost. Penta means 50. It's 50 days after the Passover. Now traditionally, the feast of Pentecost or the celebration of Pentecost or the Feast of Harvest was a thanksgiving for the first fruits of the wheat harvest. But a change occurred after the exile, and it became a holiday to commemorate the giving of the law to Moses at Mount Sinai. And the law was given 50 days after the Exodus. So the celebration of Pentecost, or Shavuot, became a celebration of Jewishness. People were super hyped over the law and its sanctity. So now we have upwards of two million Jews converging on Jerusalem to celebrate all that it means to be a Jew. And here comes this guy to their temple who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people, against the law, and against this place, which would have been the temple. And then to top it off, he supposedly brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled their holy place. So let's look at the five charges. Teaches against our people. They accuse Paul being anti-Semitic. See, the Jewish person associates their religion with their race. So to speak against one is really to speak against the other. And Paul here is seen as a rebel against Judaism. If you think about it, the actual real rebel against Judaism is the unbelieving Jew who rejects the Messiah. To reject Jesus Christ really is to reject everything that Judaism is. But then they go on to say he teaches against the law. So they accuse Paul of being antinomian. Get anti, against, nomos, the law. So antinomian, against the law. If he's against the law, he's against Moses. We know this to be false, though, that, well, they feel that he's against Moses, but in associating Moses with the law. But to say that Paul is anti-law is really false because we see that he states in Romans 7 that he delights in the law. And Paul is present here. I mean, if you remember how he wanted to be here, he desired to be here for this festival. And then even consider the vow that he had previously taken. Then they go on the third charge, teaches against the temple. They accuse Paul being anti-God. And while there's ample evidence from Paul's teaching about Jesus as the Messiah who saves us from God's wrath, there's no evidence that Paul explicitly taught that the Jerusalem temple had become redundant. So they can't accuse him of teaching that. And again, these first three charges are described in terms of Paul's opposition to or attack against the foundations of the Jewish community and everything it meant to be Jewish. They're general accusations without any real specific actual offense. But the final two accusations are specific, and they're really, like I said, the central charge, one that he brought Greeks into the temple. So if the Jews from Asia were familiar with Paul's teaching, this is going into Romans 14, 14, it says, I know and I am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it's unclean. See, if they were familiar with that teaching, they could have really construed grounds for an accusation that Paul did not respect the distinction between ritual purity and impurity and thus would have no qualms about bringing an unclean Gentile into the temple. If a Gentile were to enter into the inner courts of the temple, the temple itself would become defiled. And thus the final charge, he defiled the holiness of the temple. And this charge is even more serious than the accusations of heretical teaching, because defiling the temple carried the death sentence. And if the temple would have become defiled, it would have required a whole purification rites and rededication and sacrifices and all, so it really wasn't a light thing. But what grounds were they able to make such accusations, though? They go in verse 29, they say they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with them, in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. As I stated earlier, these Jews knew Trophimus. When they spotted Paul earlier in the city, they had recognized that it was Trophimus from Ephesus who was with them. Again, their familiarity with Trophimus suggests a connection to Ephesus, and their strong reaction to Paul indicates that they may have been part, like I said before, part of the synagogue that he had so deeply affected there. But they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. So first off, they supposed. They didn't know. They didn't see. They just supposed. There was no evidence whatsoever. They didn't see him in the temple. They just assumed. Nothing more than it was a straight up lie. With Stephen, the accusers, if you recall, they set up false witnesses. Here the accusers are the false witnesses themselves. This mob obviously was definitely confused. How could we know that Paul didn't do it? Well, for one, he had spent seven days going through a Nazarite vow to convince the Jews that he did honor their customs. And if Paul would have taken Trophimus into the inner court of the temple, he would have actually taken him there at the cost of Trophimus' life, not Paul's. You know, Gentiles could go into the outer court of the temple, a complex, but no further. And this was really plain to all. So if you can picture the, I was going to get all high tech with the, with the PowerPoint, but I figured I, anyway, you're going to, and I was thinking of doing chalk, but I'll just do it with my hands. If you can picture the temple, the temple was a series of courts. So you have like an outer court of the temple, and then you have the next court, the outer court where the Gentiles, anybody could go. And then there was a series of courts that led into the center where the Holy of Holies was. And you'd have the next one would have been the court of women, and then the court of men, and then the court of priests. Now the Gentile court, the outer court would have been where Jesus is running with the money changers back in Mark 11, 17. But it worked all the way into the Holy of Holies, where the high priest could go once a year. But interestingly, between this one outer court and the series of inner courts, there was what they called the dividing wall. And it was a wall, a physical wall, about five feet high, and it was a barrier between the courts. Now, it symbolized both spiritual and social separation between the Jews and the Gentiles. And it's Christ's sacrifice that actually removed this barrier. We see in Ephesians 2.14, for he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in the flesh the dividing wall of hostility. And that's what this dividing wall, when we read this verse, we think of just a dividing wall, something that is set up that's not like a real physical wall. But there was a real physical wall between the inner and outer courts of the temple. But on this dividing wall, or this barricade, there were pillars placed around and had these inscriptions on them. They were known as the temple warning. And it read, let no Gentile enter within the partition and barrier surrounding the temple. Whosoever is caught shall be responsible for his subsequent death. So in other words, if you're not Jewish and you pass beyond the barrier, you alone are to blame for your own death. And the statement was written both in Greek and Latin so that all the pagans could read and understand the warning. Interestingly, they've actually found some of these. Archaeologists found one in 1871 and another in 1935, and they both contain the exact same inscriptions. So for a Gentile to pass beyond this barrier was a capital offense, and one that Rome actually strictly upheld for the Jews. So now what's interesting is this, that even if Paul had taken Trophimus in there, it would not have been Paul that died. It would have been Trophimus. And Paul was a Jew. He could go in. And the actions of the mob demonstrated that the whole thing was completely out of whack. Paul couldn't be killed for going in there. He was a Jew. If anybody got killed, it would have been the Gentile who violated. I mean, aside from him, if he would have drug them in, kicking and screaming, maybe they would have had some kind of validity to the charge. But otherwise, if we see from the inscription, it said, whosoever is caught shall be responsible for his subsequent death. If you're caught in there, you alone are to blame. So the whole thing was a pretense, and in all the confusion, the mob had no idea what was going on. The actions of the mom really resemble that of a vigilante group out for vengeance, not for justice. See, the Romans here clearly acknowledge the independence of the Jerusalem temple by accepting some limitations on their own authority in capital cases. Now, however, it really seemed improbable that they would have permitted a lynching or spontaneous act of violence. They would have required, and this is the Romans, would have required standard legal procedures to be followed through the Sanhedrin, and that any death sentence be validated by a Roman governor before the Jewish authorities could carry out the execution. So just because Rome allowed them to declare this a capital offense, they couldn't just go out and lynch somebody up or beat him to death. It had to go through the proper proceedings. Then we will find in a few chapters, once we get to chapter 24, that the Sanhedrin were involved in these legal proceedings that are to follow. But the Jewish leaders never file a claim with the Roman authorities for Paul's extradition. Rather, they attempt to solve the case by extrajudicial means, by plotting to have him killed. And we'll see that in the weeks to come. But in verse 30, then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. So then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. Now, confusion spread throughout the city. And Luke's use of the word all is not meant to portray every single person in the city. But remember, this is a Jewish festival's going on. It's the festival of Pentecost. It's in full swing. And most everyone would have been outside taking part in the celebration. So the word most likely spread pretty quickly. And I think it was probably like, you guys are probably familiar with the whole whisper down the lane thing. So I could imagine what people were saying blocks down the road of what was going on. But as I stated before, there would have been upwards of two million people in the city for this festival. So the group converging in on Paul would have been quite large. And they seized Paul and they dragged him out of the temple. See they wanted to make sure they got him out of the temple so that the worship of God could continue at the same time that they were really trying to kill God's anointed. They really did the same thing at the trial of Jesus. They wanted to make sure they didn't violate the Sabbath while they executed the Lord. See with Jesus they wanted to make sure they didn't violate any of the things that were going on at the particular time. If you recall, they didn't enter Pilate's court because to enter the house of a Gentile at all would bring upon them defilement. So they stayed outside. Instead, they were ceremonially clean as they screamed for the blood of the Messiah. And once they had successfully had him on the cross, they wanted him dead and down. John 19, 31, we see that. Since it was the day of preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, they wanted to make sure he's dead, get him off there, and let's get this behind us. It's a real strange confusion of religion. So these Asian Jews, most likely from Ephesus, apprehended Paul in the inner court of the temple. As a result of their shouts, it set the whole city in turmoil. The people rushed together and they moved from the city into the temple complex where they seized Paul and they forcibly dragged him out of the inner court. The phrase out of the temple refers to that, that they pulled him from the inner courts to the outer court. This was something I was going to add to my teaching, but I'd read and I think maybe I'll just share it. It's kind of ironic that here's Paul in the temple doing something religious. He's going through a purification rites. He's there for, we'll say, a holy purpose. And then we have all these people rushing the temple. to drag him out for a complete opposite, for an unrighteous, unjust purpose. Just seemed kind of ironic that, you know, this is, but you know, that's the strange confusion of religion and the mentality of mob mentality, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just as illogical. So the phrase out of the temple, of course, refers to out of the inner courts of the temple. They're dragging him to the outer courts. As we'll see in the next verse, the purpose of Paul's removal from the inner courts was that they were attempting to kill him. See, stoning and such was impossible to conduct within the inner courts of the temple because of the resulting defilement. where it was quite possible to do it outside the temple. You could stone somebody, and it was fine. But the text then says, at once the gates were shut. And these were the gates to the inner court and the court of the women. And this may have been done by the captain of the temple. We don't know. But the captain of the temple was the official that was in charge of all temple affairs. And Luke doesn't tell us, but it would be fair to assume that the captain of the temple guard and his men would have moved quickly to shut the doors between the court of the Gentiles and the court of the women in the beginning of the inner court. The captain oversaw maintaining order in and around the temple complex, and by shutting the doors he would have prevented the crowd from rioting in the inner courts. But shutting the doors would have also then prevented Paul from seeking refuge within the inner courts of the temple. So it's probably a dual purpose. But that's what the closing of the doors refer to. And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. See, it's as they were seeking to kill him, and it wasn't just a plan all along. Plot after plot, and they finally have him. They have him on their turf and to their advantage. Then in the providence of God, God activates the Romans to come to Paul's rescue. So word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. Let's define tribune. A tribune, the Greek word for that is chiliarch, which identifies a commander of a thousand troops. So he was the chief captain and commander of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. We'll learn in chapter 23 that his name was Claudius Lysias. surname Lycius in Greek, and then the Roman name Claudius. And that was evidently taken at the time when he purchased his Roman citizenship, which we'll see in Acts 22. So the word gets out to the commander that civil order has been disrupted in the city. And the one great thing that the Roman government demanded in its provinces was civil order. They didn't tolerate any civil disorder in any form. And the commander here would have been responsible to keep the order. And if he didn't, he would be the one held responsible for that. So then, how then did word of this civil unrest come to the ears of the Tribune so quickly? So I made my temple. We have the temple here. Positioned directly adjacent to Temple Mount to its northwest corner was the Antonia fortress. This was probably one of the first buildings erected by Herod the Great in 24 BC, and it was named in honor of Mark Anthony, who had appointed Herod king of Judea. So the central structure of this fortress then climbed to a height of 65 feet above the temple ground. So it would have been up 65 feet. But then if you can picture on each side or say one in each corner, there were towers. In three of the corners, there were smaller towers. They were 16 feet high, but then positioned right looking over the temple court, there was the main tower and it was called the Tower of Antonia, which it rose to a height of 32 feet above the structure. So it was roughly 97 feet, say 100 feet above the temple grounds. So this allowed constant observation of much of the temple court activities. In addition, there were stairs that led down from the fort right into the outer court. And this would allow quick access to the outer temple court by the soldiers stationed in the fortress. So hopefully that answers the question, how then did the civil unrest come to the tribune's ears so quickly? Because they were right there. The fort was right there. There was 1,000 soldiers right there. And they had a series of stairs leading right down into the court for quick access. See, they gave the Jews a little bit of leeway, but then they didn't give them a very long rope. So he had once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. So since the commander was responsible then for keeping civil order in Jerusalem, he took action. He took it immediately. He called the commanding centurions and their soldiers, likely including those who had been patrolling the walkway between Antonio and the fortress wall, and maybe even the ones that I guess who had witnessed the chaos below, but aiming to control the uproar in the outer court where a very large angry crowd of shouting Jews was attempting to kill Paul, figure he may have assembled two centurions and their 200 men to help restore order. We're just guessing at that, but the centurions, centurion would be a commander of a hundred and since it's plural, There'll be more than one. So we figure there was at least 200 soldiers would have come down. And they all ran down the steps of the Antonia Fortress to the outer court of the temple complex. And when the Jews saw the Tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. So the arrival of the Roman soldiers and their officers would have been impossible to miss. I can just envision even More impressive than this big riotous crowd, riotous, confused crowd, was the well-ordered strategic deployment of these Roman troops to the scene. Troops weren't running around chaotically, but they were orderly and on a mission, and this resulted in the immediate ceasing of Paul's beating by the crowd. Paul appears to be rescued at this time, but take note, the commander did not come to rescue Paul, but he just came to reestablish order. So then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. As the tribune came up and he arrested him, the commander approached Paul and he immediately took him into custody. Given the violence of the crowd and the shouts that a capital offense had been committed, The commander may have assumed that the man who was receiving the beating must have been the guilty party. So he placed Paul under arrest even before gathering any evidence. We'll see in our text next week that the commander thought he knew who Paul was. It may have been on account of that assumption that he ordered him to be bound with two chains. By having Paul bound, the commander cut off any possible attempt to escape. We also see something quite astounding. The prophecy of Agabus has been fulfilled. If we go back to two weeks ago to verses 10 and 11 in chapter 21, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea and coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, thus says the Holy Spirit, this is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. So the prophecy came to pass, the Jews captured him, they got him, they held him, they delivered him over to the Gentiles who chained him. We can then assume that the binding was with two chains, referenced to both his hands and his feet, but it's also possible that the reference was to what they called manacles. So these were metal chains with shackles that bound someone's hands and feet, and they were attached to two soldiers, one on each side. So we don't know with two chains exactly what that means, but I'm going to say possibly that it was these manacles that would have both his hands and feet that would cover the prophecy of Agabus and then the two chains going one to each soldier. But by intervening, the commander saved Paul from death. But then he began to ask the attackers about Paul's identity and the transgressions. So he inquired who he was and what he had done. So now the commander asked two questions. Who might this person be? And what has he done? The first question indicates his uncertainty about his identity, although he has an idea who he believes Paul to be. And the second question hints to the fact that he certainly committed a crime. He said, what has he done? So some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. So some of the crowds were shouting one thing, some another. It's typical mob mentality, and we've seen it time and time again. We saw it back in the riot at Ephesus. Next, 1932. Now, some cried one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. So this is the case also here in Rome. Nobody has the faintest idea what's going on. Everyone is just shouting and screaming. The Jews who had seized and beaten Paul could not agree either on Paul's identity or on his alleged crime. They were no help to the Tribune in finding out really what was going on. The text says, and as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. So picture for a moment a very large crowd, confused, out of control, shouting and screaming, all saying different things. It's really just a lot of noise. So all this massive voices and confusion did not allow the Tribune to get to the truth. He was really prevented from obtaining factual, definite, certain information about Paul and his supposed offense. So therefore he decided that the best course of action would be to get him away from the crowd and its noise and to get someplace quiet and secure where he could further the investigation or the interrogation. So the decision to go back to the fortress was made, but it was also made probably for safety reasons as the crowd was beginning to become more and more violent. So he ordered his soldiers, with Paul being bound with chains, to chains to two of them, to take the prisoner back to the barracks at the fortress. And when they came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd. So he was commanded, the commander had told him to take him back to the barracks. He was carried. They came to those stairs and those were probably, they were the same stairs that all the soldiers had converged down earlier from the fortress. But he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd. So it was that they carried him, they lifted him overhead. He was lifted overhead by the soldiers because of the people. The soldiers had to carry him up those stairs because the people were pulling and tearing and grabbing at him. It's a bit ironic that Paul had been chained because he was perceived to be a violent perpetrator and now it's he who must be rescued from the violence. The disappointed crowd had been robbed of their prey and now it was pushing and shoving and screaming and lashing out in a furious rage. It was a scene very reminiscent to what had occurred 25 years earlier when they screamed for the blood of the Messiah. Last verse, for the mob of the people followed crying away with him. So the mob of Jewish people surrounding Paul along with the soldiers and their officers followed him to the bottom of the stairs leading up to the fortress. And the mob kept following the Roman soldiers who undoubtedly tried to prevent, the Roman soldiers tried to prevent the people from following them up the stairs. And as Paul was about to enter the Roman barracks, the Jews realized that they had lost their victim. They raised their voices in unison, insisting that the Roman commander carry out their demand. And what was their demand? to kill him as his execution, because they began to shout to the soldiers, away with him. This chant didn't mean that they wanted the soldiers to just take Paul inside the barracks or take them out of their presence or just to take him away. It meant that he should be killed. And consider the similarity to the mob's chant when Pontius Pilate sought to release Jesus. The multitude screamed, away with him, crucify him. In John 19, 15, and 16, they cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. And Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? And the chief priest answered, we have no king but Caesar. So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. In Luke 23, 18 through 21. But they all cried out together, away with this man, and released to us Barabbas. a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them at once desiring to release Jesus, but they kept on shouting, crucify him, crucify him. So the phrase away with him is virtually the same as to demand that he be killed. away with him, crucify him. So the shouts of the crowd in the outer court of the temple echo the shouts of the Jews in Herod's palace who demanded Jesus' execution as he stood trial before Pontius Pilate. We will see the same from this crowd again in a few weeks as we examine Paul's speech to the people, but in Acts 22.22, It says, up to this word they listened to him. So they're listening to Paul. And then they raised their voice and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live. So away with him. So what can we take away from the text tonight? I think if I want to pick out one thing. we can look at Paul's attitude to adversity. And we can see two parts of that, one in his testimony and also in his approach to the gospel. If we could think back to the beginning of the study tonight, I want to ask to keep this thought in the back of your mind, that Paul never viewed his situation as anything other than God authored. Paul believed in the sovereignty of God. He knew that it was God who had ordained all that was before him. And so each dilemma he faced represented nothing but a new ministry opportunity. He never saw any type of hardship or persecution as the end of anything, but to the contrary, it was the beginning of something new, a new opportunity for the gospel. For Paul, it was just about evangelizing. It was about doing the work of the master by sharing the gospel for those that God had placed in his path. And God uses him to give a glorious testimony, a positive witness in every one of his trials, even though they were all negative situations. Like I said, this statement could be really examined two ways when we talk about you know, Paul's attitude to adversity. We can see hardships just in general and we can apply it to ourselves like how can we uphold our Christian testimony when we're faced with something. Now Paul is obviously being unjustly accused in this whole thing and he's not shouting out, he's not fighting back, he's not, you know, he's upholding his Christian testimony. And if we can relate anything in our lives, in any hardships, how do we face hardships when things are down? Do we just want to throw in the towel, or do we shout out, or do we uphold our Christian testimony? In the sense that people are looking at us, so when we say we're Christians, yeah, you're a Christian, but let's see how you are when things get tough. Then we can also look at the hardship then associated with our faith, just our faith in general. How many here have faced hardship associated with your faith? And then think about in your mind how you handled it. I suppose that every Christian is faced at times with a dilemma on how to give a positive testimony in a negative situation. For the rest of this, I want to really apply it to how we share the gospel. Maybe it's how you share the gospel. I just use an example for work. So you're at work with a bunch of God-hating co-workers, and to make matters worse, possibly in the past, you've given an indication that you were a Christian and you were mocked and ridiculed. So you know that any further mentioning of Christ will most likely open the floodgates of mockery. So now every time that opportunity presents itself, do you struggle with fear and let it pass by? I use the example of coworkers, but we can easily fill in the blank with other groups such as family members, friends, strangers. You know, when we know that adversity lies right at the door, when we open our mouths, we know that we're probably going to get something fired back at us. How do we handle that? But you know all of us have those times we struggle and it isn't necessarily a negative situation but it can be created into a negative situation when we fear that our ego might get stepped on or fear possibly of a relationship might get altered negatively. Fortunately at least for now in this country we're not subject to beatings or imprisonment for our faith. Currently there are There aren't groups around here that wish that we were dead. There's probably a few groups, but for the most part, we don't have groups chasing us down. And think of how blessed we are here because many in this world aren't afforded this grace. We can see even through many of the people we support through HeartCry, they face peril on a daily basis for the name of Christ. A day may come and come quickly that the tides may drastically change in this country. But so ask yourself, how will you fare in a truly hostile environment? I think that's what we can learn from Paul and really through Paul's life. You know, we can see the example set forth by him, by his conviction for the truth and his courage to stand for it and his humility. Think about it, he submitted himself fully and totally to God. And not only just to God, but when he was in places, he subjected himself to the elders of a town or the elders of the church, to James and such. So he's actually humbling himself to the authority that God has placed on earth in men. So he's not just saying, hey, I'm Paul, I can do what I want. So we see a lot of humility in Paul. But then we also see boldness. So I think we can really learn from Paul. I don't want to get into a side study on the characteristics of Paul, but I think for me, that was the takeaway from this text tonight. We see Paul, his entire life was a life of adversity, but here we see it just full on. His people, the people that he cared for the most, that he wanted to see saved, just want him dead. So in closing, as a recap, you know, Paul, having arrived at Jerusalem in our last study, now he takes a trip to the temple. Jews from the province of Asia, possibly from Ephesus, bring some charges before the crowded temple court about this infamous Jewish teacher named Paul. The charges are as follows. Paul teaches against the Jewish people, against the law, against the temple, and he's even brought a Greek into the temple and is defiled. Their charges, albeit false, provoked a riot. They seized Paul and they dragged him from the inner to the outer court of the temple. And when the crowd beats Paul and attempts to kill him, their assault is abruptly interrupted by the intervention of the Roman tribune, Claudius Lysias. And Paul's arrested and placed in two sets of chains and thus fulfilling the prophecy of Agabus. And after a failed inquiry by the Roman commander, The order is given for Paul to be taken to the barracks located at the Antonia Fortress that lay adjacent to the Temple Mount. Paul is carried up the stairs to the barracks from the outer temple court. The Jews demand Paul's execution. Next week, we're going to be in, still in chapter 21, 37 to chapter 22, 16. We'll say that's part one of Paul's address. from the steps. So tonight we saw the attack of the mob and the arrest of Paul by the Romans. Remember, the rest of our study through Acts, Paul's going to be bound. Next Wednesday, we're going to see the apology of Paul. So you're probably asking yourself, what do you mean he's going to apologize for all this? So we're going to see the apology of Paul. And you have to come out next week to find out what that actually means, even though I'm not teaching it. So I'll fill Andrew in. Would you like me to? No, no. Would you like me to let the secret out, what that means? No? Come on, thanks, Bob. It's funny, and I meant to do an entomological study on the word apology. And I only did it briefly to find out apology, we think of it as something, oh, I'm sorry, this is why. But historically, that's not what it meant. It was a defense. This is why I did this, not, oh, you know, I apologize. No, it was a more positive thing than it is right now. All right, so let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for, Lord, for your mercy and for your grace. Lord, for the great care that you afford each one of us. Lord, forgive us for how often we take that for granted and not recognizing that every breath, every beat of our heart is a grace from you. Lord, we thank you for your word and for the time that you've given us to study it. Lord, we truly desire that you be honored through our time here that your word was rightly handled. Father we pray for the state of Florida, for all those that are in the path of this storm and Lord not even that, that there's so many that have just endured a horrific storm that they're going to be dealing with it again. We pray for those of our loved ones and our fellow brothers and sisters that reside in the path of this storm. We pray, Lord, that those that are in true harm's way would have evacuated. We pray for Ron and Cookie, for they're definitely going to have some of this storm. Tonight, we pray for their safety. We also pray for the BFC church plant down there. Lord, we pray for all people that are being faced with this, Lord, that through this horrific time, this period of loss, that your gospel would prevail and that this would just be another opportunity, another opportunity for your gospel to be proclaimed. So Lord, we thank you. We thank you, oh Lord, for all that you are, all that you do for us, oh Lord. I ask that you would be with us, Lord. Be with us, give us traveling mercies as we head home, Lord. Be with us each and every moment, Lord. May our heart and mind be focused upon you. Lord, that we not just worship you while we're here and be in your word while we're here, but it would be the pattern of our lives. So we thank you and we praise you until you be all glory in Christ's name. Amen.