Coincidence or Providence?
Acts 23:12-35
Romans 8:28 (ESV)
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Providence: When God works through natural circumstances and processes to do what He wants done.
1. Providential Protection
Acts 23:12–15 (ESV)
When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”
John Piper wrote, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.”
• Miracle: When God alters or overrides the natural laws and processes that govern creation to do the supernatural.
• Providence: When God works through natural circumstances and processes to accomplish what He wants to do.
Acts 23:16–19 (ESV)
Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”
2. Providential Provision
Acts 23:21b–24 (ESV)
So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.” Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”
Acts 23:24
“Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”
3. Providential Positioning
Acts 23:31–35 (ESV)
So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him. When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod’s praetorium.
William Temple said, “When I pray, coincidences happen; when I stop praying, the coincidences stop happening.”
Acts 23:11 (ESV)
The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”
John 16:33b (NIV)
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
