(35)
Scripture Reading: Acts 26:1-32
In this message we shall continue to consider Paul’s defense before Agrippa (26:1-29). Then we shall go on to see Agrippa’s judgment concerning Paul’s case (26:30-32).
In his defense before Agrippa, Paul testified of the Lord’s appearing to him and saying, “Rise up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you a minister and a witness both of the things in which you have seen Me, and the things in which I will appear to you; taking you out from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you” (vv. 16-17). We have seen that Paul was appointed not only a minister but also a witness. In verse 17 the Lord told Paul that He would take him out from the people and from the Gentiles. This verse may also be translated “delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles.”
In verse 18 we have the contents of Paul’s commission: “To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” Here the opening of people’s eyes is the carrying out of the fulfillment of God’s jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord, proclaimed by the Lord Jesus in Luke 4:18-21 according to God’s New Testament economy. The acceptable year of the Lord in Luke 4:19 is the New Testament age typified by the year of jubilee (Lev. 25:8-17), which is the time when God accepts the returned captives of sin (Isa. 49:8; 2 Cor. 6:2) and when the oppressed under the bondage of sin may enjoy the release of God’s salvation. The first item of the spiritual and divine blessings of the New Testament jubilee, which are the blessings of the gospel of God, is to open the eyes of those who are fallen and turn them from darkness to light so that they may see the divine things in the spiritual realm. To see these things requires spiritual sight and divine light.
Many of us have had the experience of listening to certain messages that brought us into darkness and of listening to other messages that brought us into light. Suppose you are listening to a sermon given by a particular minister, pastor, or preacher. The more you listen to that sermon, the more you are brought into darkness, and everything becomes opaque. However, you may listen to another message, and the more you listen, the more the divine light shines in you. Day dawns, your eyes are opened, and you begin to see spiritual things. This is the kind of message that opens people’s eyes.
Acts 26:18 speaks not only of the opening of the eyes but also of the turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God. This turn is what we mean by a transfer. To turn from darkness to light is to have a transfer from darkness into light, and to turn from the authority of Satan to God is to be transferred out of the authority of Satan into God. What a great transfer this is!
Darkness is a sign of sin and death; light is a sign of righteousness and life (John 1:4; 8:12). The authority of Satan is Satan’s kingdom (Matt. 12:26), which belongs to darkness. Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31) and the ruler of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2). He has his authority and his angels (Matt. 25:41), who are his subordinates as principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph. 6:12). Hence, Satan has his kingdom, the authority of darkness (Col. 1:13).
According to 26:18, we are transferred from the authority of Satan to God. Actually, to be transferred to God is to be transferred to the authority of God, which is God’s kingdom belonging to light. Formerly we were in darkness and under the authority of Satan. But we have been transferred out of darkness and the authority of Satan into light and God.
Darkness is actually the authority of Satan. Whenever we are in darkness, we are under the satanic authority. Light is God Himself (1 John 1:5). Therefore, when we are in the light, we are in God. Just as Satan and darkness are one, so God and light are one. The greatest transfer we can have is the transfer from darkness to light.
In chapter twenty-one of Acts James was promoting the old things of Judaism. When he was doing this, he was in darkness. James said to Paul, “You observe, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and all are zealous for the law” (21:20). This word was spoken in darkness, and it indicates that James himself was blind and in darkness. Because he was in darkness, he was also under the authority of Satan. It is not too severe to say this concerning James.
Paul certainly was not blind. However, in Acts 21 he was in danger of being pulled back into darkness. Actually, for the days he was in the temple with the others for the completion of the Nazarite vow, he was in darkness.
In 26:18 we see that when our eyes are opened and we have a turn, a transfer, from darkness and satanic authority to light and God, we may receive forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is the base of all the blessings of the New Testament jubilee. The genuine forgiveness of sins comes through the opening of the eyes and the transfer from Satan to God. Therefore, we need to have our eyes opened and to have a transfer from the authority of Satan to God in order to receive the complete and perfect forgiveness of sins.
As the result of having our eyes opened and of being transferred from the authority of Satan to God, we not only have the forgiveness of sins on the negative side, but also we receive an inheritance on the positive side. This divine inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all that He has, all He has done, and all He will do for His redeemed people. This Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 2:9), who is the portion allotted to the saints as their inheritance (Col. 1:12). The Holy Spirit, who has been given to the saints, is the foretaste, the seal, the pledge, and the guarantee of this divine inheritance (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:13-14), which we are sharing and enjoying today in God’s New Testament jubilee as a foretaste, and will share and enjoy in full in the coming age and for eternity (1 Pet. 1:4). In the type of the jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-13, the main blessings were the liberty proclaimed and the returning of every man unto his own inheritance. In the fulfillment of the jubilee here, liberation from the authority of darkness and receiving the divine inheritance are also the primary blessings.
Believers are generally taught that the inheritance in Acts 26:18 is a heavenly mansion. This is what I was told as a young Christian. But after more than fifty years of studying the Bible, I have learned that this inheritance is Christ as the embodiment of the processed Triune God. This Christ is the portion of the saints. In Colossians 1:12 Paul says that the Father has qualified Us “for a share of the portion of the saints in the light.” This portion is the “lot,” the inheritance, of the saints. The inheritance is a lot, and this lot is a portion.
In the Old Testament the twelve tribes of Israel each received an allotment, a portion, of the good land for an inheritance. The good land is a type of the all-inclusive Christ given to us as our inheritance. Therefore, Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, is our inheritance. This inheritance is the processed Triune God fully embodied in the all-inclusive Person of Christ, who through resurrection has become the life-giving Spirit.
According to Acts 26:18, the divine inheritance is among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ. This sanctification is not only positional but also dispositional (Rom. 6:19, 22). Sanctification (being made holy) is not only a matter of position, that is, not only a matter of being separated from a common, worldly position to a position for God, as illustrated in Matthew 23:17 and 19, where the gold is sanctified by the temple and the gift is sanctified by the altar through a change of position, and in 1 Timothy 4:3-5, where food is sanctified by the saints’ prayer. Sanctification is also a matter of disposition, that is, a matter of being transformed from the natural disposition to a spiritual one, as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Romans 12:2. This involves a long process, beginning from regeneration (1 Pet. 1:2-3; Titus 3:5), passing through the whole Christian life (1 Thes. 4:3; Heb. 12:14; Eph. 5:26), and being completed at the time of rapture, at the maturity of life (1 Thes. 5:23).
To be sanctified positionally is only to have a change in position and usage; to be sanctified dispositionally is to be transformed in nature by and with the holy nature of God. Sanctification is a saturation with God as our possession for our enjoyment today. It will consummate in our maturity in the divine life so that we may resemble God and be qualified to fully possess and enjoy Him as our inheritance in the coming age and for eternity.
In 26:19 and 20 Paul testified, “Wherefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and also in Jerusalem and all the country of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.” Paul’s use of the word “vision” in verse 19 indicates that Paul was obedient not to doctrine, theory, religious creed, or theology, but to the heavenly vision, in which he saw the divine things concerning the Triune God to be dispensed into His chosen, redeemed, and transformed people. All his preachings in Acts and writings in his fourteen Epistles from Romans through Hebrews are a detailed description of this heavenly vision he saw.
In 26:21 and 22 Paul continued, “Because of these things the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to slay me. Therefore, having obtained the help which is from God, I have stood unto this day, testifying both to small and great, saying nothing apart from the things which both the prophets and Moses said were about to take place.” The Greek word translated “help” in verse 22 also means “assistance.” The root of this Greek word means alliance. This implies that the apostle was allied with God and realized God’s assistance in this alliance.
In 26:22 Paul did not say, “I have lived unto this day”; rather, he said, “I have stood unto this day.” Paul had stood in front of the Roman commander and in front of Felix and Festus. Now Paul was standing before Agrippa. As Paul stood before Agrippa, he was bold, saying that he testified both to small and great. The great ones to whom Paul testified included Felix, Festus, and Agrippa.
Paul told Agrippa that he did not testify anything apart from the things which both the prophets and Moses said were about to take place, “that the Christ should suffer and that He first, from the resurrection of the dead, should announce light both to the people and to the Gentiles” (v. 23). Literally, the Greek words rendered “should suffer” mean “was to be subject to suffering.” Furthermore, the Greek words translated, “He first, from the resurrection of the dead, should announce” may be rendered, “by the resurrection of the dead He should be the first to announce,” or, “He being the first to rise from the dead should announce.”
In 26:23 Paul says that the Christ announced light both to the people and to the Gentiles. The word “light” here indicates the enlightenment of God, who is light (1 John 1:5), shining in Christ, who is the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5), through the preaching of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4, 6). Here Paul spoke of light instead of life because both the religious people and the Roman politicians were in darkness. Because they were in a dark “cell,” Paul said that Christ first, from the resurrection of the dead, announced light both to the people and to the Gentiles.
Acts 26:24 goes on to say, “And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with loud voice, You are insane, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!” The Greek word for “insane” in verses 24 and 25 also means mad, crazy, beside one’s self. Literally, the Greek word translated “driving” means turning. Festus, who was the host and not the guest like Agrippa, said with a loud voice that Paul’s great learning, his scholarship, was driving him insane. As the host, Festus should not have said anything.
In verses 25 and 26 Paul replied, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus, but I am uttering words of truth and soberness. For the king knows about these things, to whom also I speak freely, for I am persuaded that none of these things has been hidden from him; for this has not been done in a corner.” In these verses Paul first told Festus that instead of being insane, he was very sobered and also sobering, uttering words of truth and soberness. Then Paul said that Agrippa knew about these things. Agrippa, as a Jew by religion, knew the things of the Old Testament and of the resurrection. Paul seemed to be saying, “Agrippa already knows about these things, for he is one of the Jews.”
In verse 27 Paul addressed Agrippa, saying, “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” As a member of the Jewish religion, Agrippa surely believed the prophets.
In verse 28 Agrippa replied to Paul, saying, “By a little talk are you persuading me to become a Christian?” The Greek word translated “talk” may also be rendered “time.” Literally, the Greek word for “become” is “make.” In answer to Agrippa’s question Paul said, “I would to God that both by little and by much, not only you, but also all those who hear me today may become such as even I am, except for these bonds” (v. 29). Paul’s word in this verse is very eloquent.
Acts 26:30-32 say, “And the king rose up, and the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them, and when they had withdrawn, they spoke to one another, saying, This man is doing nothing worthy of death or of bonds. And Agrippa said to Festus, This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.” Here we see that in Agrippa’s opinion Paul could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar. However, without this appeal, the apostle might have been killed by the Jews through Festus’ unjust handling of him (25:9), and thus his life might have not been preserved to that day. If Paul had not appealed to Caesar, he might not have had the opportunity to write the crucial Epistles of Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Hebrews.
In the section of Acts from 21:27 to 26:32, a long narration of the Jews’ ultimate persecution of the apostle, the genuine characteristics of all the involved parties were made manifest. First we see the darkness, blindness, hatred, and hypocrisy of the Jewish religion. Second, we see the injustice and corruption of Roman politics. Third, we have the transparency, brightness, faithfulness, and courage of the apostle. Finally, there is the Lord’s encouraging care for His witness and His sovereignty over the entire situation for the carrying out of His divine purpose.
