The Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 28
Vs. 1-14
Paul and the other people are on a small island. People who live on the island have come to see what has happened. They build a fire on the beach for the people to get warm.
Paul was helping to gather sticks for the fire. A snake was hiding in the sticks and when Paul reached for the stick the snake bit him and hung on.
It was a poisonous snake so the when the people saw it they thought that Paul must have been a bad man.
Since he was a prisoner, they thought maybe he was a murderer.
And even though he did not die in the sea now justice was being done and he would die and be punished by a snake bite.
Paul shook off the snake. The people watched. They expected him to soon get sick and die. But as time went by nothing happened to Paul. The people then changed their minds and thought he must be a god.
Do you remember when Jesus was on earth he told the disciples that when they went out to preach about Jesus God’s power would be with them and if they took up poisonous snakes the snakes would not hurt them? Mark 16:18
In the southern states of the U.S. there are some small churches back in the hills that have a belief that if for any reason you pick up a poisonous snake it will not hurt you.
And these people have made it a teaching in their church. They bring in poisonous snakes and people will hold them.
Many times people have held them and have not been bitten. But many times they have been bitten and men have gone to the hospital or died.
States have made it against the law for this kind of thing. But some of those little churches still do it.
When Jesus told this to the disciples he did not mean for them to go around and find snakes and hold them just to prove they would not die from a bite.
Jesus was giving comfort and encouragement to the disciples who would be walking in the wilderness and the desert and many place where snakes are that God would protect them. Yes, in a miracle special way because they were doing God’s work in a dangerous place where snakes lived. God was going to protect them from the dangers of the land.
So when Paul in his doing a normal thing picking up sticks got bit by a snake God protected him.
It was a special thing a miracle that Paul did not die. Paul was not trying to hold the snake he just got in the way.
Even though the people now think Paul is a god he is not. Soon the people will see God’s power to heal many of them.
A man who was a leader on the island was richer than the others and so he was kind and he brought food for all the 276 people who came on the ship. He fed them for 3 days.
The man who was the leader of the island had a father who was very ill. Paul went to the man to pray for him. The man was healed. Then all the people brought their sick people for Paul to pray for them, too. They were all healed.
After that the people of the island brought food and all kinds of things to the people of the ship to help them.
Later when another ship came to the island and the 276 people went on that ship the people of the island gave them many things to take with them on the trip.
Three months later the 276 people go on another ship and start for Italy. They stop at different places along the way. Finally, they come to Rome, Italy.
Vs. 15
Some of the believers heard that Paul was coming finally to Rome. So they went out to meet him. They met him at the Forum on the Appian Way.
The Forum was a building a public building in Rome. The Appian Way was the name of a main road a very long road an important famous road that went for many, many miles.
When Paul saw these believers he was much encouraged.
Vs. 16
Paul was still a prisoner, but he was allowed to live in a private house and he was guarded by a soldier.
Vs. 17
Three days after Paul was in Rome he asked for the Jewish leaders in Rome to come
to him so he could talk to them. He told them that he had come to Rome because the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem wanted to kill him.
He explained that he had a trial in a Roman court and they did not find any reason for him to be in prison or to be killed. But the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem would not accept this and they still wanted to kill him. So Paul said he asked to come to Rome to talk to the King Caesar.
Paul said the reason the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were so angry with him was because Paul believed and was teaching that the “hope” of Israel the Messiah had come. (That Jesus was the promised Messiah.)
The Roman Jewish leaders said that they had not heard anything about Paul and did not know anything of what had happened to him. But they had heard about these believers in Jesus and the “new way” and that everywhere the Jewish people had not accepted this teaching.
Paul set up a time and many of the Jewish people came to his house to hear him. Paul explained from the Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah coming and how Jesus was that person. He explained how Jesus died and came to life again.
Paul talked from morning to the evening. Some of the people believed what Paul said and some of them did not.
Paul told them you are like what the Old Testament prophets said about you that you would hear with your ears but you would not understand. Your hearts will be hard and you will not accept the truth of what you hear.
Paul said to them (the Jews) salvation from God is also for the Gentiles. I will talk to them and they will hear and accept the truth that I speak.
For the next 2 years Paul lived in the house many people came to him and he would teach them. No one tried to stop him.
So for 2 years Paul preached and taught about the things of Jesus to many, many of the people of Rome, Italy.
The Book of Acts does not tell us what happened to Paul. But history books have said that Paul was finally killed in the end.
Paul wrote to the young man Timothy. In his second letter to Timothy
II Timothy 4:6-8 Paul said:
“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand (near). I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course (race), I have kept the faith.
Henceforth, (So), laid up for me is a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give to me, and not to me only, but all those who love his appearing (coming).
Paul had a very full life. He traveled all over. He preached to hundreds and hundreds of people. Many people were healed. He preached to the Gentiles like God called him to do. He started several churches. He did what God called him to do.
We can be thankful to Paul for most of the books in the New Testament. Most of the books are letters he wrote to different church groups or the persons to teach them and encourage them. The letters were saved and passed along. And we still have them today.