It Is A Fact

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

IT IS A FACT 

Acts 25:13-21

13 A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. 14 Since they were spending many days there, Festus discussed Paul's case with the king. He said: "There is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner. 15 When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked that he be condemned. 16 "I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over any man before he has faced his accusers and has had an opportunity to defend himself against their charges. 17 When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in. 18 When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. 19 Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive. 20 I was at a loss how to investigate such matters; so I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges. 21 When Paul made his appeal to be held over for the Emperor's decision, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar."

NIV

King Agrippa has now entered the conversation about Paul, as he came to pay his respects to the new Roman governor. Festus. It makes sense that Festus would bring up the case of Paul as King Agrippa, a ruler of the Herodian Dynasty who governed parts of Judea and the surrounding Areas. Benice was his sister who traveled with him, and history records that she was beautiful and was known to have many relationships. However, the most important part of this conversation is what Festus told Agrippa about Paul's beliefs about Jesus. Of course, Festus made it sound that Jesus was a dead man, and Paul claimed that he was alive. As far as Festus was concerned, Jesus was a dead man. As the new governor, he must have been informed of the entire situation in Jerusalem under the rule of Pontius Pilate, which culminated in the crucifixion of Jesus, which meant that Jesus was a dead man. Yet, Paul claimed that, because of his divine encounter with Jesus, Jesus was alive. It was no claim; it was fact, and Paul testified about what was true. That is where we take our lesson for today. The truth is that Jesus is alive, that God raised him from the dead, which we know as a resurrection. We know that Jesus had the power to raise people from the dead and did so three times that have been recorded. Because Jesus was resurrected and he has the power to resurrect the dead, then it would not be our hope to be resurrected, but our resurrection is a fact. Jesus made it as clear as possible when he said that although we die, we will live. This is not simply our belief or based on what we believe; this fact is grounded in the word of the Lord, for every word that God has spoken is an absolute fact that does not depend on whether we believe it or not. However, whosoever does believe will be saved rather than perish, because both the believers and non-believers will be resurrected to stand before the judgment seat of God. It will happen! That is a fact! We do not need to hope that we will be resurrected; we only need to testify that it is true.