Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, where the chief priests and Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul. They urgently requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way... Then Paul made his defense: "I have done nothing wrong against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar." Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?" Paul answered: "I am now standing before Caesar's court, where I ought to be tried. I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!" After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: "You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!"
Paul experienced all kinds of interrogation, in front of the chief priest and Felix, and now, he is standing in front of the new governor Festus. The original purpose of the governor and the chief priests is to ensure that justice prevails. Unfortunately, the human justice often contaminated by sin. Festus wanted to do the Jews a favor, and sacrificed justice in order to win the popularity of the people. Remember when Jesus was on trial before Pilate the governor, Pilate did the same. Although Pilate asked Jesus, "What is the truth?" and many other questions, he did not listen to what Jesus was saying. Although he did not find Jesus guilty of any crime, because the crowd was asking for Jesus to be crucified, he obliged to the crowd's request. To Pilate, the voice of the crowd replaced the truth. This is the case as well in today's generation. Whatever most people think is correct, that must be the truth; Whoever speaks louder must have the truth; Whoever is more articulate has the truth. Therefore, everyone thinks that he or she must be loud enough to be heard over the other person to show that we have the truth.
In reality, the truth that the world speaks about has much bias, and does not last. Jesus Christ is the only truth. If you take away Christ from Christianity, then Christianity would have nothing; because if there is no Lord, there is no salvation, no new life, and no power to live. Pray that the Holy Spirit help us to recognize that Christ is the One Truth, and only in Christ, we can have true freedom.
Pray with Pastor Tong
Lord, we thank you for your gift of truth in our midst. That truth is Jesus Christ. Teach us to stand on the foundation of this truth in our daily lives, so that we can live for the truth, and fight the good fight. We pray Lord that you give us strength and courage to experience the freedom and joy in your truth! Amen!
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