Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom! Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus Yeshua the Messiah and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat Shalom. I would like today to continue in the study of the Book of Acts, to speak about the journey of the Apostle Paul in the time in which he was taken to prison from Caesarea in Israel to the city of Rome in Italy. Turn to Acts chapter 27 from verse 1 to verse 26.

These verses really deal with two major points here. The first one, we are dealing with the journey from Caesarea to Fair Havens; this is the first eight verses. The second verses deal with the storm that the Apostle Paul had experienced on the Mediterranean Sea on his journey to the city of Rome. I think that is such an appropriate chapter because this chapter helped us to perhaps see what kind of experiences this man had gone through his life. Let me first of all read these verses and we will take it one verse at a time.

Guest (Male): And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band. And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.

And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself. And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.

And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein. And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone; and, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.

Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them, and said unto them, "Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives." Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.

And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.

But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat: Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven.

And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; and the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, "Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.

For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, 'Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.' Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island."

Gideon Levytam: I'm going to stop here with verse 26 because it takes a bit longer to get the full story here. It will take us quite a long time to conclude with the journey on the ship, at least the first part of the journey from the city of Caesarea all the way towards the city of Rome.

You remember in our previous 26th chapter, we have concluded this chapter with King Agrippa II speaking to Festus the governor in the land of Israel of Judea. He is speaking with Festus and he is telling Festus after he heard the testimony of Paul, "This man might have been set at liberty if he did not appeal unto Caesar."

King Agrippa said this to Festus after he heard the testimony of Paul, or Shaul, concerning his faith in Yeshua the Messiah. He did not accept the Messiah. He actually, in a mocking way, said to Shaul, to Paul, "Almost you have persuaded me to become a Christian," to become a Messiah follower.

In other words, what he really said was, "Do you think that with those words that you have spoken and with the little time that you have shared with me and I've heard that message, that I will become a follower of the Messiah?" He was actually mocking at the testimony of Paul when he shared with him concerning the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah and the promises that he gave to our people Israel of old.

So we find now Shaul, Paul, still bound, ready now to begin his journey to the city of Rome, really in fulfillment of the two exercises that he received. One, his own exercise where he promised earlier in chapter 19, "I am yet going to arrive to Rome." He wanted to get to Rome to speak there to the believers at Rome and to share the gospel at Rome.

But also, if you remember, it was our Lord Yeshua the Messiah that said to him in chapter 23 and verse 11, "Paul, be of good cheer, for as you have testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness of me also at the city of Rome." Paul knew that the Lord had in mind to take him to Rome ultimately and there to share the message of the gospel of Yeshua the Messiah.

Many Bible teachers, reading Acts chapter 27 and 28, make a comparison between this journey of the Apostle Paul from Caesarea to Rome. Oftentimes, it's being compared to the journey that each and every believer had experienced in his own life. Also, it is compared to the experience or the journey of the church of the assembly of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

You see, there's none of us that ever can say that our journey from the first day that we became believers in Yeshua till the last day that God is going to take us to heaven, to take us home, that the journey is easy or without problems and challenges. None of us can say that because we know very well that the journey of the believer is full of challenges and trials here in this world.

That's what the Apostle Paul is really teaching us here through his own experience: how it is indeed a time of challenges and trials that the believers also are experiencing in their lives. The journey of Paul to Rome is an illustration of life's journey. You will notice, for example, that we find out some expression that are found here in these verses.

For example, if you just go down the chapter, you will find out for example that the wind was contrary. There is a contrary wind as they journeying towards the city of Rome. We know that, beloved brothers and sisters, that in the life of the believer there is constantly challenges and the wind seem to be contrary to the believer's walk.

The enemy attacks the believer. The world influence the believer. The believer has the sin nature which is struggling here in this world. So there is contrary, constantly there is a wind that is contrary to the walk of the believer here in this world.

You can see now what happened in the life of Paul and how we can really apply this in the life of each and every one of us today. First of all, in the first eight verses, we have the journey from Caesarea in the land of Israel all the way to the place that is called Fair Havens in verse 8. It is a place that was near the city of Lasea, mentioned here in verse 8.

Let's just look at those verses first of all and we'll see what we learn here. The first thing we find out in verse 1, 2, and 3, that the journey to Sidon from Caesarea had begun. "And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one by the name of Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band."

The first thing you find out here that is the word "we" is mentioned in verse 1. "When it was determined that we should sail into Italy." Who is the "we" now? The "we" is not only Paul, Shaul now. Luke is now joining again Paul on his journey to Italy. The last time we stopped reading about Luke was in Acts chapter 21, where he went with Shaul, Paul, to Jerusalem.

There, apparently, Luke have retained; he was there in the city of Jerusalem. There, Paul was captured, if you remember, and he was brought to Caesarea, and there in Caesarea now Paul is about two years in prison. Luke have remained somewhere in Jerusalem, maybe later on joined Paul in the city of Caesarea.

But apparently, we don't read about Luke until now. We finally read about Luke joining this journey from Caesarea to the city of Rome. It tells us a lot about Luke, by the way. He record very clearly and very precisely the journey. He mention various things here that seem to be insignificant, but Luke recording this experience of the journey from Caesarea to Italy, to the city of Rome.

Paul is now enjoying to have Luke with him. It must have been very important because Luke was a physician, he was a doctor. He may have joined the journey to just be Paul's personal doctor there to assist him as he's going with him towards the city of Rome into Italy.

The second thing we find out, that Paul was not only alone on that ship because it says here "certain other prisoners" were there joining Paul on that trip. Apparently, there were prisoners that they took from Caesarea and they wanted to bring them to Rome.

Who knows what is the reason for bringing those prisoners? Paul was not yet condemned. He was only going to see Caesar. But those other prisoners, maybe they were taking them to Rome in order to be either crucified there or I don't know what they were going to do with them. Maybe to have them play in the stadium where they have these games, the Romans games. They brought these prisoners with Paul, placed them in the ship, and they began to journey towards Italy, towards Rome.

You notice another thing that we find out interesting here, not only that they enter into the ship, but also we find another interesting servant by the name of Aristarchus. He was a Macedonian from the city of Thessalonica. He also joined the ship on the journey to the city of Rome.

He's mentioned a few times in the scripture. He was the kind of a man that is called a fellow prisoner by the Apostle Paul. In Colossians chapter 4, Paul have mentioned his name. We know him in earlier passages that we read in the Book of Acts. I want to read what is said of him in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 10: "Aristarchus my fellow prisoner saluteth you."

Aristarchus was perhaps not Jewish, but he was a believer in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and he was a fellow prisoner with the Apostle Paul. We don't read that he actually was captured like Paul was, but he was a prisoner of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He bound himself, he committed himself to serve the Lord, and together with Paul he was serving our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Now notice that in verse 3, we read that he finally... it's about a 70-mile journey. They have arrived the next day, we touched at Sidon and Julius courteously entreated Paul and gave him liberty to go into his friends to refresh himself. What we learn here is that this centurion must have been a very gracious man.

He treated Paul respectfully. He treated him courteously. He even allowed him, when they have arrived to Sidon, to get off the ship and to go to have a visit, apparently with his friends. Apparently there may have been an assembly, a local congregation in Sidon.

Can you imagine Paul getting off the boat, going to meet his friends there and to have some time with them to refresh himself with the brothers and sisters? This have been an encouragement to Paul as he was heading now towards the city of Rome to see Caesar there and there perhaps to be condemned and judged. We know that ultimately he had been killed in that city.

So verses 1 through 3, from Caesarea to Sidon, as he arrived to Sidon, he took some time to visit his friends and to refresh his heart with them. Then notice, there's a journey now from Sidon to Myra. They continue the next day. It says in verse 4 and 5, "And when we had launched from thence—this is Sidon—we sailed under Cyprus because the wind was contrary."

Verse 5, it says, "When we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came unto Myra, a city in Lycia." So here is the following day. They launched, they left Sidon, they went under Cyprus because the wind was contrary. You see, they were hugging the shores. They were trying to find a way where they will not be on the open sea because the wind was against them.

Now for you and I, it's a foreign names. We don't hear those names often. We can hardly pronounce them. But the journey to Rome from Caesarea demanded them because of the contrary wind to go in a different way so they will be ultimately arriving to the city of Rome.

I'm reading those verses now, verses 6, 7, and 8: "And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria—Alexandria is in Egypt, so apparently there was an Egyptian ship which he now found—it must have been a larger ship. So they left the first ship, enter into a second ship and the centurion now went in it, put everyone inside that second ship and now they were journeying."

Again, I would like to suggest, beloved brothers and sisters, from these verses that we see that there is a sailing, there is a progress, but there is constantly the wind is against them. There is a constant challenges to try to get from one place to another in order to arrive finally in Rome.

Remember, brothers and sisters, that the Lord said in chapter 23 to the Apostle Paul, "Paul," He said to him, you remember the verse that we have read, "You have testified for me in Jerusalem, you will also testify for me in the city of Rome." But He didn't tell Paul how he's going to arrive there, how long time will it take, what he will experience on the journey.

To make an application for us, the Lord also tell us, He have used us and desire to use us in various ministries, in various services for Him. He does not tell us how we're going to get there and to the place where He want us to go, but He tell us you're going to do so.

In actually, the whole life of the believer is full of challenges until we finally arrive to the place where the Lord have intended for us. And so they have arrived to Fair Havens. The word for "fair," it's beautiful, or a good place. And really the word "havens" is really a harbor. It was a place where you can place yourself towards a measure of protection from the wind.

So we find out in the first eight verses, we see the earlier part of the journey of the Apostle Paul. In verse 9, the Apostle Paul now because he has some experiences, he admonishes the captain and the owner of the ship and the sailors. He says, "Listen, let's don't go. Let's not continue on for a while. There is a danger on the way." But look at this, verse 9. He says, "Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous..." Apparently he knew from experience that there is danger in certain season at sea. How do we know that the Apostle Paul knew that?