The Lord knew what was in Paul’s heart. He also knew that Paul was faithful but was not able to help the situation. Instead of helping it, Paul was trapped in it by compromising with it. However, the Lord used the uproar described in 21:27—23:15 to rescue Paul. The Jews seized him and were seeking to kill him (21:30-31). But a commander of the Roman cohort intervened, laid hold of him, ordered him to be bound with chains, and inquired concerning the situation (21:31-33). It was not the commander’s intention to protect Paul. He was simply fulfilling his duty to maintain order in the city. He could not allow such an uproar to continue. Therefore, he intervened, and through his intervention Paul was rescued. Actually, the commander’s intervention was Paul’s protection from the plot of the Jews.
Through the intervention of the Roman commander, Paul was given the opportunity to defend himself before the rioting Jews (21:40—22:21). Following that, he was bound by the Romans (22:22-29) and defended himself before the Sanhedrin (22:30—23:10). Because of the plot of the Jews (23:12-15), Paul was transferred to the Roman governor in Caesarea (23:16—24:27), where he remained in custody for quite a period of time. Apart from God’s sovereignty in using the Roman commander to protect Paul, he would have been killed. God sovereignly delivered Paul out of that threatening situation.
In His sovereignty the Lord caused Paul to have a dispensational transfer. Paul was in favor of such a transfer. He came to Jerusalem with the positive intention and strong purpose to help the believers there to experience this dispensational transfer. However, instead of helping them, he himself was eventually trapped in a situation of mixture and compromise.
Paul must have been unhappy when he was in the temple with the four Nazarites, for he did not have a way out of the situation. Paul must have regretted joining those who had the Nazarite vow. He might have regretted going to the temple instead of staying in the house of Mnason with his co-workers, keeping himself away from the attention of the Jews. Paul, however, joined himself to the Nazarites and went with them into the temple, where he was seen by Jews from Asia and seized by them. Their intention was to kill him. Who except the Lord could help the situation? The Lord was sovereign and helped Paul to have a complete transfer out of the Judaic mixture in Jerusalem.
As a result of what happened in Jerusalem, Paul was taken to Caesarea and was probably kept there for two years. We may infer that those two years were a profitable and an excellent time for Paul. What do you think Paul did during those years in Caesarea? What did he do while he was being kept from both his work and from the trouble caused by the plotting Jews? He may have been preparing to write the crucial books of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Hebrews. While Paul was in custody in Caesarea, he might have considered putting into writing those materials that would complete his ministry. Thus far, Paul had written only six of his fourteen Epistles: Romans, Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Although these books are basic, they are not as crucial as Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Hebrews. Before 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon were written, these four crucial books were written after Paul’s two-year period of custody in Caesarea. Just as Paul’s time in Arabia had much to do with the early part of his ministry, so the two years in Caesarea had a great deal to do with Paul’s upcoming writings in the completion of his ministry.
We need to be impressed with the Lord’s sovereignty in completing Paul’s transfer from the old dispensation to the new. Praise the Lord that such a transaction took place! In His sovereignty and wisdom, the Lord carried out such a complete transfer with Paul, and this transfer is fully recorded in the holy Word. Having this record in our hands, we can now see a full pattern concerning the complete transfer from the Old Testament economy to God’s New Testament economy.