Acts 24 | God Gives Opportunityনমুনা

From Opposition to Opportunity

This plan on Acts 24 is part of an ongoing series following the ministry of Paul in Acts.

Here’s where we left off. For years, Paul has been traveling to different synagogues across modern-day Türkiye and Greece, proclaiming Jesus as the hoped-for messiah to Jew and Gentile alike, and collecting money to help those affected in Jerusalem by a famine. He arrives in Jerusalem in Acts 21, and here is where everything goes off the rails.

James, Jesus’s half-brother, who is a leader of the Jerusalem church, hears the controversy surrounding Paul among many of the Torah-observant Jews and urges him to go to the Temple in a show of good faith and in direct opposition to the rumors. Here, Paul is spotted. And here, an angry mob forms, rushes Paul, and would have killed him if not for the intervention by Roman troops stationed there.

This kicks off a series of events: Paul trying to appease the crowd, interrogated by the Romans, appearing before the Sanhedrin, a plot to kill him, warned of the plot through his nephew, transferred from Jerusalem to Caesarea (where the Roman governor is at) by military escort, and finally – finally! – arriving where he’ll stand trial before the Roman governor, Felix. Acts 23 ends by saying:

When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers get here.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s palace (Acts 23:33-35, NIV).

All in the span of twelve days. That’s where we pick up. Five days after arriving, the High Priest, some elders, and a lawyer named Tertullus came from Jerusalem to bring their charges against Paul before Governor Felix.

Paul stands falsely accused. Anyone who’s been in that position knows how hard it can be to listen to people malign you, distort your intentions, twist your words, and otherwise go all out to get you. But this gives Paul a platform he would not otherwise have had. What looks like a setback becomes an opportunity—God places Paul before rulers and leaders he could never reach otherwise.

Sometimes the hardest seasons bring us before people we would never imagine. Where might God be giving you an opportunity to show Christ? How might you use the things that seem to stand against you and flip the script so that they are opportunities for God’s work?

Prayer

Ask God to help you see beyond hardship and to the opportunities he may be opening.