Acts of the Apostles, Acts 27:1-44

1. Acts of the Apostles, Acts 27:1-44 Paul's Trip to Rome

2. Paul has survived the murderous plots of the Jews in Palestine. Will he escape them just to go and be killed in Rome?What will happen to him on the long, dangerous sea voyage? When he stands before Caesar, what will the emperor’s judgment be? Maybe we won’t learn answers to all these questions. Let’s read on to learn what we can. Introduction

3. Acts 27:1-2 • 27:1 When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment. 2 We boarded a ship from Adramyttium about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us. Possibly Spring, AD 58

4. Did Luke travel with Paul to Rome? How do we know? Was there another Christian man who traveled with them? Where was he from? • We learn later there were 276 people on board the ship, including an unnumbered group of prisoners, probably also bound for Rome. All the prisoners were under the charge of Julius and his soldiers. • The Imperial Regiment (actually, “Augustine Regiment) to which this centurion belonged, had been created by Augustus probably for special missions. Augustus

5. The ship was from Adramyttium, a city on the coast of Mysia in Asia Minor, formerly called Aeolis. • This ship picked up Paul, the other prisoners and their guards at Caesarea. • It was probably on its way home to Adramyttium, which meant it would be sailing north into the Aegean Sea and not on west to Italy. So Paul and the other Rome-bound passengers got off at Myra. Mysia was a region in the Roman Province of Asia

6. Myra was a city on the coast of Lycia. Its present name is Kale (KAH-ley). • There Paul and his company would board an Alexandrian ship bound for Rome. • But before they got to Myra, they stopped at Sidon in Phoenicia (Lebanon). There Julius would allow Paul to visit the Christians.

7. Acts 27:3-5 • 3 The next day we landed at Sidon; and Julius, in kindness to Paul, allowed him to go to his friends so they might provide for his needs. 4 From there we put out to sea again and passed to the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us. 5 When we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia.

8. Some reasons for Having Joy, Comfort, and Peace from finding Christians throughout the world: 2 Pet. 1:1 - We have a like precious faith Jude 3 – We have a wonderful gift of salvation in common. 1 Jn 3:1 – We have experienced the love of God in being able to be called His children. Rom. 8:16,17 – We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Rom. 12:5,15; 1 Cor. 12:26 – We are members of one another in the body of Christ; We have the same care for each other; And we rejoice and mourn with each other.

9. 1 Thes. 5:11 – We comfort and edify each other Heb.10:24 – We provoke each other unto love and good works. Col. 2:2 – Our hearts are tied together in love. Jn 13:34, 35 – That love is the kind of love that Jesus has for us. 1 Jn.3:16- It ought to be the kind of love that motivates us to lay down our lives for each other!

10. Paul had many more friends than enemies wherever he went. By the time he has traveled around the eastern half of the Roman Empire, he has had a hand in establishing many churches. His fellow workers, those he trained, are preaching and teaching all over Syria, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, Macedonia and Greece. • He knows many of the Christians in Rome. In fact, many of them are his relatives, as we learn from the 16th chapter of Romans.

11. Leaving Sidon, they sailed to the lee of Cyprus because the wind was against them. • This means they sailed along the south coast of Cyprus so the island and its mountains would block the north wind. • “Lee” means “away from or out of the wind.” • In the days of sailing ships that relied exclusively on wind power, the direction and intensity of the wind were important considerations. Roman theater at Myra Rock- cut tombs in back

12. Acts 27:6-8 • 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board. 7 We made slow headway for many days and had difficulty arriving off Cnidus. When the wind did not allow us to hold our course, we sailed to the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone. 8 We moved along the coast with difficulty and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

13. The Centurion and his prisoners transferred to an Alexandrian ship at Myra, bound for Italy, then sailed west against a headwind that blew from the west and north. It was slow, difficult going for the ship and a lot of anxiety and hard work for its crew. They sailed from Cnidus, turning southward to avoid a straight head-on wind, to the lee, or downwind side of Cnidus toward Crete.

14. Johnson’s notes says that the winds from the Northwest would have been broken up by the highlands of the island. • He says that the information about the travel is so accurate and detailed that it must have been written by an eyewitness.

15. Cnidus was to their northeast and Salmone, at the eastern tip of the Island of Crete, was to their southwest. Then, passing along the southern coast of the island, they came to a place called Fair Havens near the town of Lasea. Fair Havens might have lived up to the promise of its name if the ship’s owner and the centurion had listened to Paul and stopped there until the weather was better for sailing. Site of ancient Lasea

16. Acts 27:9-10 • 9 Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Fast. So Paul warned them, 10 "Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.“ • “The Fast,” or the Jewish Day of Atonement, dates this voyage to September-October. • Paul was a prophet of God. They should have listened to him.

17. Paul predicted doom for the ship and its passengers. My opinion is that what would have occurred naturally did not happen. • God was merciful to all of them because Paul was among them. The ship was lost but all lives were saved, as we shall see later. • So they tried to sail a little farther down the south coast of Crete to reach Phoenix, a harbor that would offer more protection from the wind and weather. It is described as facing both southwest and northwest.

18. Acts 27:13-16 • 13 When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had obtained what they wanted; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. 14 Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the "northeaster," swept down from the island. 15 The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. Site of Phoenix on Crete

19. Acts 27:16-17 • 16 As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure. 17 When the men had hoisted it aboard, they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along.

20. The ship and all aboard are in big trouble now. It was hopeless to try to sail toward Italy, so they “batten down the hatches,” roll up the sails, secure the rudder with ropes, tie everything down, throw out the sea anchors and just try to ride out the storm. • A sea anchor is like a large underwater parachute that is dragged behind a ship to slow it down. • They even strengthened the bottom of the ship by passing ropes under it to hold it together.

21. Modern translations take syrtis, meaning “sandbar” or “quicksand” in Greek, as a proper name for the great sandbars off the west coast of Cyrene (modern Libya). The NIV and ASRV have the paraphrase “sandbars of Syrtis.”

22. Acts 27:18-20 • 18 We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. 19 On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

23. Acts 27:21-23 • 21 After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: "Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22 But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed.

24. Acts 27:23-26 • 23 Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me 24 and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.' 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. 26 Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island."

25. Acts 27:27-29 • 27 On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. 28 They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. 29 Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.

26. Still caught in the storm, but now being blown northwest toward Italy, the sailors sensed the approach of land. • A difference in the rocking of the ship, the movement and height of the waves - something they sensed – gave them the clue. • To test the theory and avoid crashing into the shore, they began dropping the lead-weighted sounding line. Sounding Line

27. Knots were tied in the line at every fathom. • A fathom was the reach of the average man, from the fingers on one hand to the fingers on the other hand with the arms spread out to the sides. The fathom came to be standardized at six feet. • When the bottom came up to ninety feet, the sailors dropped four anchors from the stern (rear of the ship). • Hoping the anchors would hold, they waited anxiously and prayed for daylight.

28. Acts 27:30-32 • 30 In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31 Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved." 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it fall away.

29. NOW they believe Paul. The centurion and the owner of the ship are convinced that Paul is indeed a prophet and they will do anything he asks them to do. • It must have taken faith to cut loose the only lifeboat they had. • Now they look to Paul for further orders. • The first thing they must do is eat to get their strength up. This Paul urges them to do. • After Paul gave thanks, he gave them food. He ate, then they began to eat.

30. Acts 27:33-35 • 33 Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. "For the last fourteen days," he said, "you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food-you haven't eaten anything. 34 Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.“ • They haven’t eaten in fourteen days, according to this account. • They believe Paul’s prediction and are now ready to eat. Ship’s biscuit or hard tack

31. Acts 27:35-38 • 35 After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. 36 They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board. 38 When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea. Hard tack in another form

32. The bread Paul broke and gave them to eat must have been the “hard tack” that has always been a staple food on the old sailing ships. • If it contained some salt, and kept dry, it would last months without spoiling. Hard tack – also called “common crackers”

33. This had to be a large merchant ship for those days, carrying 276 passengers and crew. • Here we are told the grain was tossed overboard. Earlier we read that the “cargo” was tossed overboard in the storm. This grain must have been their food.

34. Acts 27:39-41 • 39 When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 40 Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. 41 But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.

35. With the rudder untied so the ship could be steered and the foresail hoisted so the ship would be blown bow-first to the beach, they make a run for it. The ship runs aground and the bow smashes into the sand. • With the bow stuck fast in the sand and the stormy waves pounding the stern, the ship is soon broken up and lost to the sea. • They must still have been some distance from the shore of the island and the men were in danger of drowning.

36. Acts 27:42-44 • 42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. 43 But the centurion wanted to spare Paul's life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. 44 The rest were to get there on planks or on pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land in safety.

37. We have seen from earlier lessons that if a soldier allowed a prisoner in his charge to escape, the penalty was death. • These soldiers were not going to pay the ultimate penalty for allowing the prisoners to escape. • If Julius had not stopped them, they would have killed Paul and all the other prisoners. • The centurion believed Paul and refused to allow any harm to come to him. So God saved all the passengers and crew because Paul was among them.

38. The centurion ordered everyone to abandon ship. • Everyone who could swim, swam to safety. • Those who couldn’t swim were told to hold onto planks or pieces of the ship to float to shore. • Everyone made it safely to shore just as Paul had said they would. • This ends the voyage of the ship from Alexandria. And this ends our lesson.

39. This has been a long, eventful voyage. And Paul still has not made it to Rome. • But God has taken care of Paul and given him the lives of all those on board the ship from Alexandra. • Paul will have more exciting adventures on this mysterious island. • Today “Survivors” is a game, But this was no game. These men were true survivors with the help of God. Conclusion

40. Heb 6:19 • This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a {hope} both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil. (NAS) Hope, the Anchor of the Soulby Ellis Jones

41. Hope as an anchor of the soul, Ties me to heaven’s shore. Stormy seas may o’er me roll; The winds may beat and roar.

42. On rough waters I can walk, For He will hold my hand. Because I listen to His talk And follow each command.

43. The anchor line may twist and stretch, My strength be almost gone. But because He saved this wretch. He helps me to hold on.

44. If my ship of life goes down; Earth’s treasures will be gone, But I’ll receive a golden crown. He helps me to hang on.

45. To His harbor safe He brings Where I shall drift no more. Praise to Him my glad heart sings. I’ll reach the heavenly shore.