Acts 21:31-36 (NIV)
While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”
The Antonia fortress abutted the wall of the temple, so word of the riot in the court of the gentiles didn’t have to go very far to get to the commander. The Romans hated riots and demonstrations, because they could quickly spin out of control and become a real problem to contain. So, the commander took a contingent of soldiers with him and went immediately into the court.
As soon as the soldiers appeared, the rioters stopped and grew silent. As they moved forward, the mob separated until Paul could be seen, bruised and bleeding from the beating he had taken, but still conscious.
It was obvious that Paul was the instigator of the unrest, although it was far from clear exactly what he had done that had lit the fuse of the riot. But the commander ordered that he be arrested and chained until they could get to the bottom of things. The commander asked those nearby what Paul had one, but instead of a clear accusation, he got different stories from all sides, until the whole crowd was yelling at once.
Rather than deal with the crowd, the commander ordered that Paul be taken to the barracks of the fortress so that he could be calmly questioned to find out what he had done. But even getting him to the barracks proved to be a huge challenge. The crowd clustered thickly around them shouting the whole time that Paul should be killed immediately for whatever crime he was guilty of.
Father, in these few minutes, all the prophesies Paul had received of his arrest and being chained up reached their fulfillment. But You had spared his life through the unlikely means of a Roman commander and his troops! Now that Paul was in the thick of the fulfillment, all he could do was to ride it out, and to trust in your guidance. If this was the end for him, he was confident of Your grace to see him all the way to heaven’s gates. If not, he was confident of Your guidance to help him to navigate the path forward. Help me, Lord, to walk forward today in that same confidence, so that in hard times or easy, You are glorified in my life. Amen.
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