"This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me."
Acts 26:7
Hope is the anticipation that God will direct situations to the conclusion He deems best. It trusts His lordship and praises His holy governance. Hope is not weakened by trials or hardships for such conditions cannot diminish the awe-inspiring power of humanity’s Creator.
A recent incident gave me a greater appreciation of how amazing hope is. At the time, my wife, Dawn, and I were experiencing a growing level of marital discord, mainly in the area of finances. Both of us were employed full-time and earning decent salaries, but we could not seem to find our footing on a sound, fiscal foundation. As our savings balance dwindled, arguments and worries intensified. Because we were unwise, impatient, and oblivious to discerning money management techniques, we started to accrue credit card debt. To make matters worse, Dawn and I signed a contract for the purchase of our first home, which only heightened our sense of concern. Taken together, monetary apprehensions overwhelmed us and became a topic of division.
Eventually, Dawn and I learned that a financial stewardship seminar was going to be held at a local church in the upcoming months. As we researched the workshop, we discovered that the forum had successfully aided thousands of people in overcoming money woes, primarily through the development of realistic budgets. In short order, our interest in attending the conference shifted from a “this might be practical” musing to a “for the sake of our marriage we must go to this” petition. Thereafter, we purchased tickets for the seminar and participated in it with receptive hearts.
The sage advice we absorbed from that event was astounding. Basic financial administration principles were presented in a logical, commonsense approach. How to achieve a healthy monetary portfolio was laid out with precision and clarity. Underlying problems with fiscal priorities and how they can negatively impact marriages if not properly addressed were identified, along with solutions. Numerous resources were supplied in our conference packet, which only reinforced the incredible life-changing education.
As Dawn and I drove home from the seminar, we both remarked how transformative the workshop had been. We apologized for expressing hurtful words in the past and pledged to not let financial irresponsibility be an impediment to our marriage again. Money is tool to pay for necessities and nothing more. Somehow we had let worldly values and worldly influences pull us away from the simplistic purpose of money: to honor God (through tithes and offerings), to provide for our family, and to assist others in need.
Hope encapsulates what Dawn and I felt that day. Hope that God would help us exercise wisdom in our future financial plans. Hope that money would no longer be a source of conflict in our home. Hope that we would stop looking for a certain savings threshold to obtain a sense of security, but that we would find contentment and peace in the Supreme God, Whose spiritual riches never leave us in a state of emotional poverty. What set Dawn and I on the course to unity was the extraordinarily regenerative quality of hope. Hope is not some whimsical, unfounded sense of optimism. It flows from a decisive knowledge that the God Who has demonstrated His faithfulness throughout history will continue to display His faithfulness. The Lord honors all of His promises and one of His most comforting vows is that He sustains the ones who serve Him (Joh. 12:26). This does not necessarily mean that all believers will attain material prosperity, at least by cultural standards, but it does mean that God, Who charged us to work to fulfill our ongoing obligations, will bless our efforts should we labor in the right spirit and for the right reasons.
Where many would have struggled to exhibit a positive outlook, particularly through incarceration, persecution, abuse, and extreme scrutiny, Paul maintained a hopeful disposition during the course of his earthly pilgrimage (post-salvation). In Acts 23, the apostle was dispatched as a prisoner from Jerusalem to Caesarea, where he remained through Acts 26. Because of a reluctance to upset the Hebrew community, influential Roman civil powers delayed Paul’s ruling for over two years. The apostle nobly refuted the charges the Jewish priests and elders had levied against him on multiple occasions. It was determined, in large part by his own request, that Paul’s case be transferred to Caesar in Rome. The governor posted in Caesarea when Paul made his appeal to the Emperor, Porcius Festus, was not well-versed in Hebrew religion (or Christianity for that matter) and felt ill-equipped to outline the crux of the dispute to Caesar.
When King Agrippa visited Caesarea to congratulate Festus on his appointment as provincial governor, Festus utilized the opportunity to seek the king’s advice on Paul’s trial. Rather than cite generic counsel or procedural protocols, Agrippa asked to hear Paul testify in person. In Acts 26, Paul was brought before King Agrippa and other Roman dignitaries. According to Acts 26:1, Paul’s voice was silent until it was authorized to be unfettered by King Agrippa. When Paul was granted permission to speak, the apostle provided one of the most compelling defenses of faith in all of Christianity.
Before Paul uttered his opening statement, he motioned with his hand, perhaps imploring the king to offer his undivided attention. Paul intended to partake in a lengthy discussion and thus he entreated King Agrippa to patiently hear him out. Agrippa might have been tempted to mentally dismiss the apostle’s lecture considering the king’s affection for Jewish scholarship, but Paul urged the king to not arbitrarily overlook the truthfulness of his message. Paul perceived Agrippa was fluent in the Old Testament writings and so the apostle sought to expound upon the ancient texts through the ministry and legacy of Jesus Christ.
Like King Agrippa, Paul’s upbringing had endeared him to Hebrew beliefs. He was so zealous for the religion that he committed himself to the training and tutelage of the Pharisee sect when he was younger. He was no stranger to Scripture; he was an imminent scholar. Unlike some within the Jewish religious parties, namely the Sadducees, Paul understood resurrection was possible. If God could create the world out of nothingness, why couldn’t He breathe new life into a dead body, specifically the crucified body of Jesus Christ? But Paul initially rejected this reality and treated it as pure heresy. He attempted to mute those who proclaimed Jesus is the Messiah, the only begotten Son of God, Who had been miraculously raised to life. Paul was so opposed to the Christian faith that he amassed the approval of Jewish priests to imprison and murder followers of Jesus. He began his vendetta began in synagogues throughout Jerusalem, where Christians were actively witnessing. Paul went so far as to try to coerce captured believers to renounce their allegiance to Christ, presumably through the means of torture.
In his obsession, Paul journeyed to distant lands to assail the body of Christ. When Paul embarked upon a trip to Damascus to apprehend followers of Jesus one fateful day, he was interrupted by a most glorious vision of a heavenly light. In reciting this story to King Agrippa, Paul indicated that his stubborn defiance of accepting Jesus as Savior was conquered by an encounter with Christ. This honest confession served to provide some credibility to his account and explain his dramatic transformation from a doubter to a disciple.
The narrative recorded in Acts 9 was retold in Acts 26, with some additional detail regarding Jesus’ interaction with Paul. According to Acts 26:14, Jesus rebuked Paul for kicking against the goads, which was not previously mentioned in Acts 9. Goads are pointed rods used to urge animals towards a destination. They represent a means of physically prodding a creature to go where the master wants it to go. This term is mentioned in the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes 12:11 says, “The words of the wise are like goads.” On the road to Damascus, Jesus was showing Paul that Christians were marshaling humanity towards truth, and by toiling against them Paul was in conflict with God.
Paul informed King Agrippa that his divine exchange with Jesus changed his mission and, ultimately, his destiny. Paul became a proponent of the gospel message that he had long scoffed. He stopped profaning it and he started preaching it. Paul’s heavenly-commissioned ministry commenced in Damascus, but he was forced to flee to Jerusalem when some of the Jewish residents in Damascus conceived a plot to kill him. Paul resumed evangelizing in the city of David with much vigor, but Paul upset others in the Hebrew faith residing there as well, so-much-so that several Jewish people formed a conspiracy to slay Paul. When believers in Jerusalem caught wind of the malevolent plot, they sent Paul away to his hometown of Tarsus (by way of Caesarea).
Later, Paul was called to witness to many people in Antioch and across Asia Minor. His instruction harmonized with the Bible and did not socially exile any segment of society. Whether Jew or Gentile, wealthy or destitute, senior or adolescent, Paul told others to repent of their sins and find forgiveness through Jesus’ sacrifice. Paul claimed that it was his willingness to herald the gospel to the Gentile people that prompted his arrest inside the Jerusalem temple a few years prior. Paul was prepared to say more, but he was cut short because of an outburst from Governor Festus, who assumed the apostle was certifiably insane. The governor voiced his contemplation in a raised manner, shouting aloud his inner thoughts. Even though the gathering was for King Agrippa’s benefit, Festus became weary of the proceeding and intended to discredit Paul. Hardhearted people have no shortage of hasty, hotheaded behavior. Paul did not respond in kind to the inappropriate distraction. He respectfully denied the governor’s charge that he was deranged and declared his testimony was fair and reasonable. Furthermore, he called Festus “most excellent” as a sign of honor. Paul had an acute mastery of speech, which was in line with his mature spirit, a spirit interwoven and counseled by the Holy Spirit.
After Governor Festus’s tantrum, Paul beseeched King Agrippa to consider his literacy of the Old Testament and overall familiarity of the Jewish faith. The apostle inquired if the king firmly believed in the Scriptural passages penned by the prophets, many of which alluded to a Messiah. Paul’s question was likely a forerunner to another, a question which would have required King Agrippa to either embrace or expel the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. On the cusp of spiritual deliverance, Agrippa, like Governor Felix before him (Ac. 24), internally trembled at the thought of his depravity and refused a redemption proposition. Although the king was persuadable, he chose not be persuaded, at least by Paul. Rather than continue to listen to the outspoken, but compelling, apostle, King Agrippa arose and left the assembly room, thereby preventing Paul an outlet to triumphantly usher the king, or any others in attendance, to the door of salvation.
Despite King Agrippa’s stiffnecked attitude towards Paul’s message, he recognized there was nothing in Paul’s ministry that warranted jail or death. At the conclusion of Acts 26, the king observed that Paul’s predicament was aggravated because of the apostle’s demand to be taken to Caesar. Paul’s appeal would have to be fully vetted by the highest Roman court, regardless of Paul’s innocence.
Paul’s uncompromisingly encouraging countenance, which is underscored in Acts 26:7, highlights three critical aspects of hope. One, hope is discernable. It is not camouflaged or concealed. It is an articulated, recognizable reliance upon the Almighty God. Paul was not ashamed to announce his loyalty to God, or God’s Son: Jesus Christ. While many in the Jewish faith were still awaiting the appearance of the Messiah, Paul understood that he had already met the Messiah, Jesus, on the road to Damascus.
The hope Paul enjoyed harkened back to a promise that God made to Israel’s patriarch, Abram, in Genesis 12. In that Old Testament passage, God told Abram that his family would be blessed. Abram’s blessing would not be a multi-generational outpouring of financial prosperity or military dominance, but rather a redemptive promise foreshadowing Jesus’ human-coming through Abram’s genealogical line. The apostle was extremely grateful for the covenantal relationship that God had established with Abram and its subsequent fulfillment in Christ. It forged an imperishable, discernible hope that overflowed in Paul’s heart.
Two, hope is desirable. Hope is worth obtaining and yields ample spiritual value. Paul’s unflappable hope derived from the cognitive awareness that God has absolute authority and His plans are put in motion at His digression. In a society that longs for instant success and entitlements, the apostle made no stipulations of God, except that God employ him as an instrument of heaven. To many outside the Christian faith, hope appears misplaced or false. But nothing could be further from the truth. God’s hope is the only real hope for it is the only hope never fails or disappoints. It is desirable because it is both exhorting and eternal.
Three, hope is doubtless. It is sure of God’s power. It is certain of God’s ability to resolve complex circumstances. It is emboldened and encouraged by the unending endowment of the Holy Spirit’s strength. Paul did not cower before the high-ranking Roman dignitaries. He did not fear their position or the punishment they could inflict upon him. The apostle was doubtless in his belief that his trial, and his life in general, would finish exactly how God destined it to. Therefore, Paul relinquished anxieties about his life because he rightly believed he was protected through God’s wondrous watch, revealing that panic loses its sway over a person who holds fast to hope in God.
Paul’s hope-filled perseverance has much to teach modern-day Christians. We would do well to cast aside the worries of the world and leave them at the throne of grace. The apostle Paul was able to withstand skepticism by placing his faith in Jesus, the Prince of Peace. The bond produced a spiritual resiliency and a hopeful spirit in the apostle. Even when he found himself in restraints, Paul had an unrestrained spiritual freedom that refused to accept timidity or defeat. In Acts 26, the apostle was in chains, but the burden of sin’s sentence was removed from his soul because it had been replaced with the freeing hope that only Christ can bestow.
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