Atos 23
David Guzik · Citado em PreceptAustin
Atos 23
Guzik points out that "The previous day Paul saw a great opportunity go unfulfilled when the crowd at the temple mount did not allow him to finish his message to them, but started rioting again. Now Paul had another opportunity to win Israel to Jesus, and perhaps a better opportunity. Here he spoke to the council, with the opportunity to preach Jesus to these influential men." (Commentary) Looking intently (816)(atenizo from from atenes = strained, intent which in turn is from a = intensifies + teino = to stretch, to extend or to strain all of which help to paint a picture of the meaning of atenizo) means to look intently, to fix one's gaze on, to stare at, to gaze earnestly, to look straight at, to fasten one's eyes upon. The first use describes Jesus' first "sermon" in the synagogues, Luke recording "And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him." (Luke 4:20). It describes the servant girl looking at Peter (Lk 22:56), the disciples looking as Jesus ascended (a great picture of the sense of this verb) (Acts 1:10), of Peter fixing his gaze on the lame man (Acts 3:4), of the Sanhedrin fixing their gaze on Stephen (Acts 6:15), of Stephen gazing intently at heaven and seeing Jesus (Acts 7:55, cf also Acts 10:4; Acts 11:6; Acts 13:9; Acts 14:9).
Atos 23
Guzik - The Ananias who was high priest at this time did no honor to the office. He was well known for his greed; the ancient Jewish historian Josephus tells of how Ananias stole for himself the tithes that belonged to the common priests. “He did not scruple to use violence and assassination to further his interests” (Bruce). (Ibid) The Pulpit Commentary described Ananias as "a violent, haughty, gluttonous, and rapacious man."
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Guzik comments "We wish we knew how Paul said these words. It would have helped to hear Paul’s tone of voice; was it an outburst of anger, or was it a calm, collected rebuke with that much more weight to it?. Whatever the tone, the rebuke was entirely accurate and justified. The man who commanded that a defenseless man be punched in the face indeed was a whitewashed wall; a white veneer of purity covering over obvious corruption." Paul may have had reference to Ezekiel's denunciation of false prophets as walls plastered over with whitewash, doomed to fall in the flood of divine judgment (Ezek. 13:10-16+). NET Note on whitewashed - This was an idiom for hypocrisy—just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be. Paul was claiming that the man’s response was two-faced (Ezek 13:10–16; Matt 23:27–28). See also Deut 28:22. A whitewashed tomb was another name for a hypocrite a person who pretends to be holy and righteous but in reality is not. William
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Guzik - When John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress, was in jail, a man visited him and said, “Friend, the Lord sent me to you, and I have been looking in half the prisons in England for you.” John Bunyan replied, “I don’t think the Lord sent you to me, because if He had, you would have come here first. God knows I have been here for years.” God knows where you are today; even if you are hiding it from everyone else, God knows where you are. Paul was alone, but he wasn’t alone; if everyone else forsook him, Jesus was enough. Better to be in jail with the Lord than to be in heaven without him. Paul had been miraculously delivered from jail cells before; but this time, the Lord met him right in the jail cell. We often demand that Jesus deliver us out of our circumstances, when He wants to meet us right in them. We sometimes think we are surrendering to Jesus when we are really only demanding an escape. God wants to meet us in whatever we face at the moment. Stood by (2186)(ephistemi from epi = upon, by, near + histemi = stand) means literally to stand by, upon or over and conveys the sense of to be at hand, be present. It is generally used of any sudden unexpected appearance. Ephistemi can denote the arrival of supernatural messengers (Lk 2:9; Lk 24:4; Acts 12:7) or a less spectacular arrival (Lk 10:40; Acts 11:11). Chuck Smith points out that when the Lord stood by Paul it was "Not to scold him. Paul, what's wrong with you, why wouldn't you have better sense than to mention your being called to take the gospel to the Gentiles. So often when we have failed, we are expecting Jesus to scold us. Not to say, "I told you so." Earlier when Paul had been to Jerusalem, the Lord had told him to get out quickly for they would not receive his testimony, and Paul argued with the Lord, for he was sure that they would listen to him. To comfort him, "Cheer up Paul." To acknowledge his work for Him. "As you have testified of Me in Jerusalem." To give him a new commission. "So must you witness of Me in Rome." And said, Take courage - And notice there was no rebuke, but encouragement. Jesus does not waste words and if He said "Take courage" that means Paul was clearly discouraged. Paul is anything but "of good cheer" at this point. He is very likely feeling defeated and discouraged, going over in his mind the awful sense of failure at missing his chance to preach the gospel before the religious leaders. THOUGHT - The Lord knows when to act in behalf of his children who are undergoing severe trials. While He will not appear at our side today, His Word and His Spirit (paraclete = one called alongside) are actually within us to comfort us and encourage us! One is reminded of God's faithfulness in Paul's declaration that "No temptation (OR TRIAL) has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful (TRUSTWORTHY), (HERE IS THE COMFORTING PROMISE) Who will not allow you to be tempted (TESTED) beyond what you are able (HAVE THE INHERENT POWER/ABILITY TO ENDURE), but with the temptation (TEST/TRIAL) will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it (THE TRIAL IS STILL PRESENT BUT THE SUPERNATURAL POWER TO BEAR UP UNDER IT IS PROVIDED BY THE SPIRIT)." (1Cor 10:13).
Atos 23
Guzik - The words be of good cheer tell us that the night brought with it an emotional and perhaps spiritual darkness upon Paul. Jesus was there to cheer His faithful servant after he had spent himself for Jesus’ sake. i. Jesus would not have said be of good cheer unless Paul needed to hear those words. Paul knew his situation was bad, but he didn’t know the half of it! The next day, forty Jewish assassins would gather together and vow to go on a hunger strike until they murdered Paul. Paul didn’t know this would happen, but Jesus did. Yet He still could say to Paul, be of good cheer. ii. You might think that things are bad right now, but you may not even know the half of it. But Jesus knows, and he still says to you, be of good cheer. Why? Not because everything is fine; but because God is still on His throne, and He still holds to His promise that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). iii. Anyone can be of good cheer when everything is great; but the Christian can be of good cheer when everything is rotten, knowing that God is mighty and wonderful no matter what the crisis of the moment. (Sermon) Jack Arnold - For Paul, things had turned from bad to worse in Jerusalem. He was a Roman prisoner, in Roman barracks and under Roman guard. Because Christ had to encourage Paul, we assume he was quite discouraged, downcast and drooping in spirits. All of his dreams of going to Rome were, in his mind, dashed on the rocks, and it appeared that he would end up his brilliant career in a Roman cell. To say the least, he was dejected, defeated, deflated and disenchanted. He felt abandoned by Christians, for none seemed to support him in Jerusalem, and abandoned by God. However, man's extremity is God's opportunity. God often brings a Christian to the place of helplessness and discouragement only to lift him to higher levels of commitment and service. When a Christian feels absolutely bankrupt of any strength to go on, that is God's hour to step in because a man at that point is totally open to Christ and ready for help of any kind from Christ. Paul probably said to himself, “I quit! I’m tired of suffering! I don't want to be a minister of the gospel any more! I don’t even want to be a Christian!” Right at that point, God was going to give Paul a new surge of power to do even a greater ministry, even though Paul probably thought that his ministry was all washed up. For as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem - Notice how the Lord encourages His servants with His praise of their past service. Jesus endorses Paul's previous work and his decision to go to Jerusalem. And notice that Jesus' commendation is in spite of the fact that Paul had not fully preached the Gospel. It matters not that we please men but please Him. The fact that Paul mentioned the hope of the resurrection was enough of the Gospel to satisfy the Master! Did Paul give an "altar call"? Of course not, but he gave enough truth that anyone being drawn by the Spirit would do further examination. THOUGHT - All too often, we judge our service for the Lord by the results that we can measure or see. How many showed up at the meeting? How many made decisions for Christ? How many gave us positive feedback about what we did? If we consistently receive negative feedback or no visible results, we probably should evaluate whether our manner or methods are somehow wrong. But in some cases, such as with Jeremiah, we may faithfully serve the Lord for many years with many negative and few positive responses. The main criteria for evaluating our work for the Lord are: Was I faithful to God’s Word? And, was I relying on Him and acting in obedience to what I believed He wanted me to do? If you can answer yes, then, even if you catch criticism, you know in your heart that the Lord was pleased with your service. You offer it up to Him, and you will hear from Him, “Well done!” The Bible has many promises that the Lord commends His faithful servants. Here are two: Hebrews 6:10 says, “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.” And, 1 Corinthians 15:58, in the context of the resurrection of the body and the Lord’s return, says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” Whatever you do to serve Him, He remembers and He will reward you for it. Even if no one else appreciates what you have done, the Lord says, “Thanks for standing for My cause!”(Steven
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Guzik - Paul really wanted to go on to Rome (Acts 19:21 and Romans 1:9-12). Sometimes we think that just because we want something a lot, it couldn’t be God’s will for us. But God often gives us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4). The timing of this promise was especially precious. It didn’t look like Paul would get out of Jerusalem alive; much less make it to Rome. God not only knows what we need to hear; He knows when we need to hear it. iii. Paul faced his enemies the next day with a smile, knowing that they were powerless against him, because God had more for him to do! Steven
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Guzik - This began a two-year period of confinement for Paul in Caesarea. After that he spent at least two years in Rome. Taken together with travel time, the next five years of Paul’s life were lived in Roman custody. This was a striking contrast to his previous years of wide and spontaneous travel.. Paul lived many years with great freedom, and had to trust the promises of God through those years. Yet he also had to trust the promises of Jesus in his years of little freedom – and to know that God could work just as powerfully through those more difficult circumstances.i. Paul needed to receive the promise of Jesus – both promises from 20 years before, and promises recently made – to receive them with confident faith, allowing those promises to make a difference in how he thought and even felt. Every believer must do the same. (Enduring Word Bible Commentary – Acts) Jack Andrews - There are many times in life when everything is “out of our hands” and we just have to trust the Lord. That is a good place to be seeing that we should always trust the Lord! (Ibid) Jack Arnold sums up this chapter noting that "We see, through the life of Paul, how God manipulated human history. It might not look like God is involved at all, and yet all events occurred at His command, accomplishing His purpose. Most of history is God supernaturally working through what appears to be natural to us. God has no problem handling history. He can work out His will through human events, big or small, without any difficulty at all. Even stubborn, obstinate, resistant and rebellious people are used by God to get people where He wants them and to do what He wants done in this world. Yet, through it all, man feels and senses he is acting freely. This is the mystery of history." For you who are not Christians, you should know that God has a plan which includes who will go to heaven and who will go to hell. Yet, in this plan, God has established secondary causes as surely as He has established the plan. These secondary causes are the spreading of the gospel, prayer, witnessing, faith, repentance and a moving of the human will towards Christ. God, based on His own character, promises to save every man who will by an act of his will trust Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Use the means that God has provided in His plan. Repent, exercise faith, will to come to Christ. If you will come to Christ, you will learn that your whole salvation was part of the plan of God. Trust Christ and then you will come to understand that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Warren