Transcript

Unlike other countries that have a pay-as-you-use toll system on major roads, Switzerland expects drivers using its autoroute system to pay an annual fee of 40 Swiss francs.

When you pay, you get a windshield sticker you display for the rest of the year. Traditionally, traffic police give motorists the whole month of January to purchase the sticker.

There is no penalty for driving without it during that month—it is a month of grace. But when the first days of February come, expect to see the traffic police on the autoroute exit ramps checking for cars without the sticker.

No more excuses are accepted; no more time is given. The grace period has ended.

In God’s dealings with man, it’s a grace period and it’s January. But February is coming when grace will end. Currently, we are living in the dispensation of grace.

The dispensation of grace began with salvation by grace and it ends with salvation by grace. It began with an appearance of Christ and it ends with one.

It began with Christ appearing to Paul on the Damascus Road, saving Saul, the chief of sinners, by grace, the one who was leading the charge in man’s rebellion against Christ.

And the dispensation of grace will end with the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air, who will come for His Church, to deliver and save us by His grace from the wrath to come in the seven-year Tribulation and to catch us away to heaven.

And it is at that time that the grace period will end for the world.

Until then, the Church finds its instruction for how to live today in the current dispensation of grace from the Apostle of the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul.

Paul was saved and called as an apostle to the nations by Christ that He might reveal “the dispensation of the grace of God” to Paul, to give him the instructions and rule of life for this dispensation.

Paul’s letters are Christ’s manual of grace for how He would have His Church, the Body of Christ, live and serve Him today.

Paul’s voyage to Rome in Acts 27 portrays the dispensation of the grace of God. In Galatians 1:4, Paul also calls this time in which we live, “this present evil [age].” It’s a stormy age, full of opposition by Satan, wicked deeds of mankind, and deceptive teachings.

The church, the Body of Christ, is pictured as a boat in the chapter. And there are principles and illustrations for the church here about how we are to navigate this stormy, tumultuous time.

We are taught of the need to heed the words of Paul; we learn about our spiritual warfare, the need for us to be working together, and that all those trust Paul’s gospel will be saved.

Acts 27:1-2: “And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band.

“And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.”

Paul wrote the Roman believers in Romans 1:11-15 and told them this: “For I long to see you…oftentimes I purposed to come unto you…So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.”

During his ministry in Ephesus, Paul stated in Acts 19:21: “I must also see Rome!”

Little did Paul know the round-about way God would take him there and all that would transpire before he arrived. Paul didn’t expect to travel and arrive in Rome as a prisoner, but that’s how God brought him there according to His perfect will.

Paul had been in prison in Caesarea for two years before the events of Acts 27.

In Acts 25, before Festus, Paul had claimed the right of every Roman citizen to appeal to Caesar, and Festus said: “Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar shalt thou go.” So here in Acts 27, to Caesar and Rome is where Paul is going.

Now when Luke, the author of Acts, was along with Paul during different parts of the book, he used the pronouns “us,” and “we.” But he hadn’t included himself with Paul since Acts 21:18.

However, here in verse 1, we find that Luke had again joined Paul, as he wrote “that we should sail into Italy.” Luke was a physician. Paul called him the “beloved physician” in Colossians 4:14.

Because of his age, as well as from the hardships and sufferings of ministry, Paul had health difficulties, and it seems that Luke traveled with him as his personal physician, as well as a fellow-laborer. And he was going with Paul to Rome.

Aristarchus was also along according to the end of verse 2. Aristarchus had been friend and a helper to the apostle for some time. He was from Macedonia and specifically from Thessalonica within Macedonia.

This brother had been with Paul in Ephesus when he denounced the goddess Diana and spoke against the shrines made of her, saying that “they be no gods” (Acts 19:26). This did not please the shrine makers who profited from the worship of this false goddess.

As a result of these angry shrine makers stirring things up, an uproar and a riot ensued. Having been recognized as one of Paul’s traveling companions, Aristarchus was seized by the mob and drug into the theater in Ephesus. Fortunately, he survived the ordeal.

Acts 20:4 tells us that he was with Paul accompanying him back from his third missionary journey, from Ephesus to Jerusalem. After Acts 27, we find him mentioned in Rome with Paul in Colossians 4:10 and Philemon, verse 24.

In Colossians 4:10, Aristarchus is mentioned as a “fellow prisoner.” Whether he was already a prisoner with Paul on the journey to Rome, or whether was put in prison later with Paul in Rome, we don’t know.

But as a result of being a companion with Paul, Aristarchus had experienced a riot, long, arduous journeys, this stormy voyage and shipwreck, and prison!

1 Corinthians 11:1 teaches the church to be followers of Paul, as he followed Christ. Aristarchus teaches us that it is tough to follow Paul! It still is.

It takes grit and determination. Paul challenged the church in 2 Timothy 1:8 to “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.”

Sadly, many don’t want to have anything to do with the sacrifices it takes to stand for the truth of Paul’s unique apostleship and message. It’s easier and demands less sacrifices to go with the flow and follow traditional teachings in the church.

Aristarchus though is a good example for the church. He was a tenacious and faithful laborer with Paul, who was committed to the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery and to the spread of the gospel of grace to the world.

That is what God desires from each of us in our service to Him under grace.

Paul was not the only prisoner on board and headed for Rome. Verse one says that there were “certain other prisoners” along as well. The Greek word for “other” means “others of a different kind.” They were prisoners of a different kind from Paul.

This could suggest that, unlike Paul who was going to Rome to stand trial, these men were going to Rome to die, already condemned to death, not to stand trial, and that they were on their way to fight with wild beasts for the amusement of Nero and the Romans.

Or it could mean “others” of a different kind, in that they were actually guilty of some crime, unlike Paul who had been falsely accused and falsely imprisoned.

The prisoners were sent to Rome in the custody of a centurion by the name of Julius. A centurion commanded a century, or 100 Roman soldiers.

Every centurion in Scripture is mentioned in a positive light, such as Cornelius in Acts 10 who was visited by Peter and was saved. There was the centurion at the Cross who after seeing the Lord die said “Truly this was the Son of God,”

Or the centurion in Matthew 8 who came to the Lord in Capernaum to have his servant healed. The Lord said of this man, “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

This centurion, named Julius, was a member of “Augustus’ band,” a revered division and distinguished legion of the Roman army. It consisted of around 500 men, and was named after Caesar Augustus.

Julius found a ship leaving Caesarea. Adramyttium was the home base of the ship, Adramyttium was a harbor town in northwest Asia Minor, near Troas.

The ship which would have been making its last journey from Caesarea to its base before the stormy winter season set in.

Acts 27:3-4: “And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself. And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.”

Leaving Caesarea, the first leg of the journey went smoothly. They embarked and traveled about 70 miles from Caesarea to Sidon in one day.

Matthew 15:21 says, “Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.” Sidon, is the area where the Lord visited when the Syrophoenician woman came to him begging the Lord to heal her daughter who was vexed with a demon.

It is where Christ told His disciples that “I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24).

Here in Sidon, Paul, the apostle sent by Christ to the Gentiles, is permitted to visit Gentile friends. Paul often won the affection of his captors, such as the Philippian jailer, and it was no different with Julius.

The journey from Caesarea to Sidon wasn’t much time to get to know someone. It only took one day. So Julius either knew Paul before the journey or he knew enough about Paul and his character to know that he was not a “flight risk.”

A soldier’s life was at stake in the guarding and transport of prisoners. But Julius trusted Paul and treated him “courteously,” or kindly, verse 3 says. Thus, the Apostle who proclaimed our liberty in Christ was given “liberty” to visit his friends in Christ.

Leaving Sidon, they set off for Myra, a port city of the ancient country of Lycia, in what is in modern southern Turkey.

But the voyage from Sidon to Myra, became more difficult because of the westerly winds. To get more protection from the wind they sailed to the north.

The phrase “we sailed under Cyprus” does not mean underneath or to the south of the island, it means that they sailed under the shelter of the island of Cyprus as they sailed north then west.

Rather than going directly into the prevailing westerly wind, they sailed between Cyprus and the mainland to get protection from the westerly wind.

Notice how it says that “the winds were contrary.” The combination of wind and water makes for an interesting study in God’s Word.

As we know, the Lord equated the working of the Holy Spirit and new birth by Him to the “wind.” John 3:8 reads, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

Wind can be symbolic in Scripture of both good and bad things. Of course, with the Holy Spirit it refers to something good, because God is good. But the wind also can portray something bad and wicked.

In Ephesians 2:2, Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air.” And wind is the power of the air. When it’s standing still, air offers little resistance and we barely notice it. But once the air starts moving, we feel it, and we can feel its power.

Now when you join wind with water, you have an interesting combination in God’s Word. Scripture often joins the two, wind and water. Such as when God parted the waters of the Red Sea, He divided it by a strong east wind (Ex. 14:21).

Wind, of course, influences the water. And in the Bible, water symbolizes the nations of the world.

We see this in Revelation 17:1,15: “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many WATERS…And he saith unto me, The WATERS which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

The wind stirring up the water in Paul’s journey to Rome in Acts 27 is a picture in our dispensation of grace of the Satanic, spiritual forces and rulers of darkness stirring up the nations. It is the influencing of this world by the powers of darkness.

Like the water is moved by the wind, the powers of the earth are moved by the powers of the air. They are pawns in their hands. The chaos and confusion of this world is typical of what Satan and his demons try to do. We can see their influence.

And when it says that the “winds were contrary” to the ship Paul was on with his fellow-laborers, we see the resistance by the powers of the air specifically to the Apostle Paul and to his message, ministry, and gospel. And that resistance continues.

When Paul wrote about the persecution of the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16, he said.

“For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:

“Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are CONTRARY to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”

This contrary wind in Acts 27 is a picture in this dispensation of the resistance and pushback to the truth by the spiritual powers of darkness and unbelievers who persecute the Body of Christ.

By the influence of the power of the air, people then were contrary to Paul, and people now are contrary to us and we know that this will take place throughout the dispensation of grace.

Paul wrote how they were forbidden to speak to the Gentiles, or the nations, that they might be saved. This still takes places by the influence and working of Satan who hinders the church by persecution and does everything in his power to keep unbelievers blind to the gospel.

This also reminds me how in many countries around the world, Christians are legally forbidden to share their faith and can only do so secretly.

Satan has also worked and influenced many countries to have a state religion, an official national religion imposed upon their citizens by the state, to keep Christianity from being spread in that nation.

Satan will do anything and everything to be contrary to the Church and to forbid us to speak to the nations that they might be saved.

March 4:37-39: “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”

As the Lord and His apostles, were crossing the Sea of Galilee, Mark records “there arose a great storm of wind” or a fierce gale of wind. And that great wind greatly stirred up the water of the Sea of Galilee. The storm was so severe it had the properties of a hurricane.

In his account, Matthew described the storm as a “great tempest,” which are the Greek words “mega seismos.” Mega, of course, describes an event of huge proportions. And seismos speaks of an earthquake. They measure the intensity of earthquakes with instruments called seismographs or seismometers.

So Matthew tells us that the storm was like a violent shaking of the earth, a violent shaking of the water generated by howling, hurricane force winds.

Verse 37 in Mark here says that the huge waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was filling up with water.

The other thing that tells you how severe and huge this storm was, is because these fishermen, who had spent countless hours on the Sea of Galilee and had seen many storms on the lake, are fearing for their lives.

But in spite of that storm, Christ was asleep in the back of the ship. Fatigued, totally calm in the stern with His head on a pillow, He is the calm One in the midst of the storm. He was like the eye of a hurricane. But nobody else was calm.

In a near state of panic the disciples approached the sleeping Christ in the stern of the boat, shouting to be heard above the wind and the waves.

And they woke Him and asked how He could just sleep when they were going through this? They ask Him, “Don’t You care that we’re perishing?” Think about that question! “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not PERISH, but have everlasting life.”

He cares for the perishing. The disciples understood that this storm meant inevitable death and that they would not survive this.

Verse 39 says “He arose,” He got up off His bench in the stern, up off the pillow that was under His head, “and rebuked the WIND.” The Greek word for “rebuked” describes an authority figure bringing a subordinate back into line.

And interestingly, the word “rebuked” was used by Christ when casting out a demon in a synagogue earlier in Mark. Mark 1:25-26 reads, “And Jesus REBUKED him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.”

The Lord, the Creator, commanded and the demon HAD to submit and obey. And so the Lord, the Creator, “rebuked the wind” and it HAD to submit and obey Him.

The wind and waves were violently roaring, raging, howling, and beating against the boat, crashing over it, tossing it around.

The wind pictures Satan and his demonic forces. The waves picture the nations of the world. This boat in Mark picture the believing remnant in Israel.

And Israel’s Messiah, the Lord Jesu Christ, simply stood up in that boat, and with no theatrics, but with authority as Lord and God, He (1) rebuked the wind and (2) simply spoke to the sea, “Peace, be still.”

And in that second, the WIND and the raging WATERS were brought to peace and it became perfectly calm. And all was quiet and still. No howling wind, no treacherous waves, just a glassy calm on the water.

He spoke and it was done. He rebuked the wind and that wind ceased. He spoke to the water and that water was calm. The water and the wind recognized the voice of their Creator.

Having the power to create it, He has the power to control it. Creation is His employee. Creation works for Him. Creation is under His power and authority.

And there was a “great calm.” The Greek word for “great” in verse 39 is again “mega”, just like when Mark said it was a “great storm of wind” in verse 37. It went from a mega storm to a mega calm, the greatest calm.

The account teaches Israel about her future. The Messiah will do this when He institutes His kingdom. Like the apostles in that boat, Israel will be within the turmoil and mega storm of the Tribulation, but Christ will be with her through it all.

Within that time, the Lord said in Luke 21:25: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; AND UPON THE EARTH DISTRESS OF NATIONS, with perplexity; THE SEA AND THE WAVES ROARING.”

But after His Second Coming, Christ will rebuke the WIND and calm the SEA. The great wind is a picture of the raging of Satan and his demonic host within the Tribulation and how they will stir up the nations causing great distress.

But Christ will rebuke the wind, the demonic host, and they will all, Satan included, be cast into the center of the earth, and He will confine the spiritual powers of the darkness there for the entire 1000 year kingdom.

As a result of “the wind” being rebuked, and Satan and his host being chained in hades, the Lord will “calm the sea” or the nations of the world. The nations will be calm. There will be peace on earth.

Christ will usher in a perfect peace and stillness in His earthly kingdom.

The Church, the Body of Christ, however, Paul tells us, is delivered from the wrath to come. We will not be here for the Tribulation period. Christ will catch the Church away before it ever begins.

So in Acts 27, when we see this contrary wind and the stormy sea during Paul’s voyage to Rome, it pictures the activity of Satan and the rulers of darkness and the unrest of the world and hindering of the world toward the gospel of grace and the Body of Christ within our current age.

Join us next time, when we continue this voyage with Paul.