Thursday 1 September, 2016

23 The next day Agrippa and Bernice arrived. They were treated like very important people. They entered the courtroom. The most important military officers and the leading men of the city came with them. When Festus gave the command, Paul was brought in. 24 Festus said, “King Agrippa, and everyone else here, take a good look at this man! A large number of Jews have come to me about him. They came to me in Jerusalem and also here in Caesarea. They keep shouting that he shouldn’t live any longer. 25 I have found that he hasn’t done anything worthy of death. But he made his appeal to the Emperor. So I decided to send him to Rome. 26 I don’t have anything certain to write about him to His Majesty. So I have brought him here today. Now all of you will be able to hear him. King Agrippa, it will also be very good for you to hear him. As a result of this hearing, I will have something to write. 27 It doesn’t make sense to send a prisoner on to Rome without listing the charges against him.”

Paul was brought before King Agrippa “amid great pomp” in order that they might try to find some guilt in him to charge him with.  As we read this we can imagine that in this situation Paul was a prisoner and would have appeared to be a very humble and unimportant man.

King Agrippa, Bernice and Festus are all mentioned here as part of the great pomp, and yet all these years later, which of these men have changed the world history forever?  The answer is Paul – the one who appeared to be a lowly nobody at the time.

In heaven, I’m sure we will be very surprised when we see some of the humble people whom God has esteemed as important – ones  who have changed the world through pursuing God’s Kingdom.

May my heart be fixed on eternal things and not impressed by the things of this world.

Written by Shelley Witt