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BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY
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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday September 3, 2017
PAUL
SAILS FOR ROME
Acts
27:1-12
Here
in Acts 27, Paul’s long sought after appeal to argue his case before Caesar in
Italy, is finally looking like it’s going to happen. Paul, Luke,
Aristarhcus, who was a Macedonian from Thessalonica, along with some other
prisoners, all set sail on a cargo ship to Rome, under the guard of the Roman
centurion, Julius.
Luke’s accurate description of this
Mediterranean scene, impresses even today’s scholars, as he gives us a vivid
account of the ports, sea vessels, and weather conditions in that area of the
world in late October, and early November. There can be no doubt that this
biblical account has to be based on the experiences of someone who had actually
traveled these waters, during this particular season, at some point in their
life. Luke tells us that they set sail from Caesarea on a ship that had come
from Adramyttium (Add-rah-MITT- ee-um), an important sea port in northeastern
Asia Minor. It was scheduled to make several stops along the coast of the
province of Asia.
The following day they docked at Sidon, an
ancient Phoenician seaport on the Mediterranean coast of northern Palestine.
There we get a glimpse of the kindness that Julius shows to Paul as he permits
him to go ashore and visit with friends, who were able to provide for some of the
needs of this, now famous, apostle (v. 3).
After leaving Sidon the crew encountered
some strong headwinds that made it very difficult to keep the ship on course.
As a result, they were compelled to sail farther north between the island
Cyprus and the mainland. They sailed along the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia,
coming to shore at Myra, in the province of Lycia, a mountainous country in
southwest Asia Minor. It was there where they changed ships, and boarded an
Egyptian vessel from Alexandria, that would take them on to Italy (Vs. 4-6).
After several days of very rough waters
they finally came near Cnidus (NYE-dus), a city of the province of Caria, which
is situated on the extreme southwestern tip of Asia Minor. But, unfortunately
the winds were too strong against them for them to land. As a result, they had
to sail down the wind-sheltered side of Crete, past the cape of Salmone, where
they struggled along the coast, finally arriving at Fair Havens, near the city
of Lasea.
This detour caused the crew to lose a great
deal of time, and it was now becoming more and more dangerous with early winter
approaching. Paul, who had traveled these waters before, went and spoke to the
officers of the ship, because he believed that if they continued on their
journey, they would no doubt meet with disaster.
However, the officers made the decision to
go on, in spite of Paul’s admonishments. They reasoned that Fair Havens was a
port that was badly exposed to the winter elements, and that the port of Phoenix,
which was located farther up the coast, would be a much safer place to spend
the winter (Vs. 9-12).
THE STORM AT SEA
Acts 27:13-26
And
so they ignored the voice of the man of GOD among them, and they sailed away
into peril. When a light wind began to blow from the south, the heads of the
ship thought for sure that they could make it to Phoenix. However, the weather
then changed abruptly, and a wind, of typhoon strength, caught the ship and
blew it out to sea. All they could do was surrender helplessly to the power of
the wind (Vs. 13-15).
Having nothing else constructive that they
could do, they pulled in the lifeboat to keep it from being damaged, and then
girded up the battered ship with ropes to strengthen its hull. They were afraid
of being driven across the sand bars of Syrtis on the African coast, and so
they lowered the anchor as they were being helplessly pushed by the wind. The
gale force winds continued on for several more days, blotting out the sun, and
the stars, until all of their hopes (except Paul’s) were dashed (Vs. 16-20).
Then the man of GOD, Paul, stepped forward
one more time, to say “I told you so”. Then he encouraged the frightened crew
by telling them that they would lose the ship, but none of them would lose
their lives. Paul goes on to tell them that an angel of “the GOD he served” had
come to him the previous night, and assured him that they would all live, and
he himself would stand trial in Rome, before Caesar. However, Paul disclosed to
them that they would be shipwrecked on an island (Vs. 21-26), and they were
(Vs. 39-44).
THE SHIPWRECK
Acts 27:27-44
By
this time Paul had garnered so much credibility that he was, quite literally,
in charge of the ship. The lesson that can be learned here is that, authority
is not something that rests on position alone, but rather, it is something that
comes with integrity, and demonstrated competence. Once again Paul had been
proven right by GOD before men, and now, he represented the hope of the entire
276-man crew.
At around midnight of the fourteenth day of
the storm, the ship was being driven across the Sea of Adria. The men could
sense that land was near, and so they began to take soundings to get an idea of
how deep the water was where they were. They found it to be only 120 feet deep
at that time, and then a little later another sounding showed that the water
was only 90 feet deep.
These measurements gave the men some
concerns that, at the speed they were closing in, they might soon crash against
the rocks along the shore. At this point they threw out all four anchors from
the (stern) rear of the boat, and then prayed for daylight. However, their fear
overcame them, and they all (except Paul and his crew), decided that they
needed to abandon the boat as fast as they could.
When the sailors began to lower the
lifeboat, Paul interceded and said to the commanding officer and his soldiers,
“You will all die unless you stay on board this ship”, and so the sailors cut
the ropes that was attached to the lifeboat and let it fall from the ship.
At the crack of dawn Paul began to
encourage the frightened crew to eat some food, something they hadn’t done
throughout the course of the storm (two weeks). Then Paul took some bread and
lifted it up giving thanks to GOD, broke off a piece, ate it, and shared the
rest with the men on board. After they ate, they further lightened the load of
the ship by throwing the entire cargo of wheat overboard.
When daylight came they didn’t recognize
the coastline but they saw a beach and wondered if they could navigate, what
was left of the ship, between the rocks in order to get there. And so they cut
off the anchors, lowered the rudders, raised the foresails, and headed for
shore.
Just as they were beginning to relax a
little, the ship hit a shoal and ran aground. The stern was repeatedly pounded
by the force of the waves and the ship finally began to break apart. The
soldiers wanted to kill Paul and the other prisoners to keep them from escaping,
but the commander wanted to keep Paul alive and didn’t allow his men to carry
out their plan. He ordered everyone off the ship who could swim, and told the
others to float in on some of the planks and debris from the broken ship, and
just as Paul had foretold, none of the 276-man crew died from the disastrous
shipwreck.
Even before this dramatic voyage, Paul had
become accustomed to facing life-threatening situations that would more than
buckle the average person. However, the apostle always believed what GOD told
him, and that gave him strength to continue on with his work, and his calling.
And so I find it appropriate to end this lesson by leaving you with these four
anchors of faith;
·
Anchor yourself in GOD’s presence
(believe)
·
Anchor yourself in GOD’s promise
(believe)
·
Anchor yourself in GOD’s plan
(trust)
·
Anchor yourself in GOD’s power
(trust and believe)
Whenever we are in danger of being
overwhelmed by the storms of life, GOD, will keep in perfect peace, the mind
that stays on HIM, because we trust HIM. GOD will always bring the person who
believes in HIM, through the storms of life, but not always necessarily on a
sound, well-put-together ship. JESUS comes to us from across the storms of
life, with HIS hands stretched out to save, speaking in a calm, clear voice,
that bids us to “have no fear” (have faith). And sometimes when HE delivers us,
HE may just have to bring us in on shipwrecked, broken pieces, because we were
too prideful to consult with HIM, during fair weather.
A
Sunday school lesson by,
Larry
D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official
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