Memorize: Caesarea to Malta Island
Key Verses: 1, 3, 9-10, 12, 19, 23-24, 31, 42
I love that the Scriptures are about real people, real places, and real life. Notice the specific places mentioned. If you were going to make up a story without the aid of ‘fact checkers’ on your staff, wouldn’t you make the details fuzzy so as not to get caught? I would. But the details are present so that the readers, both ancient and modern, can check to see the accuracy. The contemporary readers would have known these places. They could have asked others about them. The Gospel applies to real people, just like you and me. They had real lives and interacted with their world, in much the same way that we do today. Notice that the passengers on this ship had to provide their own food for journey. Most were prisoners. I imagine most went hungry during most of the trip.
In this day and age we don’t worry about traveling at almost any time of year. During the winter some of the roads over the Rockies are closed. In Paul’ day, certain times of the year were more dangerous because of the storms that were prevalent during those periods. Because of the unusually strong winds, Paul’s journey to Rome was slowed to the point that they had to stop their journey or face these seasonal severe storms. Paul tried to warn those in charge, but they thought they knew better, so they set sail. Majority rules, and sometimes gets itself in trouble.
The storm came, just as Paul had said, and it ended up destroyed the ship. We hear in the news of ships getting into trouble even today. Just as back then, today most are caused by pilot error. If it weren’t for Paul’s presence aboard that ship, it is probably that all would have died. But the Lord had further tasks for Paul to complete and therefore spared the passengers and crew. The angel confirmed God’s promise to Paul. He would stand trial. Maybe you should check who else in on your cruise ship to see if you are going to be safe! You can hope that there is a Paul on board, one on whom the Lord has His hand, and for whom He is willing to spare all aboard.
By the end of their journey, they trust Paul’s word, even over their ship’s captain. I wonder who else was on that boat with Paul? Some of those other prisoners must have been some bad dudes! They wanted to kill them, rather than have them escape. And yet, the Lord spared their lives as well. I wonder how many of them became Jesus-followers, repented and became productive citizens?
REVIEW: John
The Arnold Journey 