Acts 27:1-22 Except These Abide in the Ship ye Cannot be Saved

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Audio Download

Acts 27:1-22 Except These Abide in the Ship ye Cannot be Saved

[Study Aired October 15, 2023]

Act 27:1  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.
Act 27:2  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.

The phrase “certain other prisoners” could have included others who had also appealed to Caesar. Aristarchus and Luke, “Paul’s companions in travel”, are with Paul on this voyage. Paul calls Aristarchus “my fellow prisoner” in his epistle to the Colossians, indicating that Aristarchus had also been arrested and had also appealed to Caesar. Luke could simply be a paying passenger who was led to stay with Paul as he endured his imprisonment. At any rate, both Aristarchus and Luke are with Paul on this voyage to Rome.

Here is the verse in Colossians, which is one of Paul’s prison epistles, where we are informed that Aristarchus was indeed a “fellowprisoner”:

Col 4:10  Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister’s son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)

Aristarchus is first brought before us in Acts 19 where Paul is in Ephesus, the city where Demetrius, a silversmith fearing the loss of his income, set the whole city into an uproar against Paul shouting, “great is Diana of the Ephesians.”

Act 19:28  And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Act 19:29  And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.

We are not given any details about Aristarchus, but this 27th chapter of Acts is well over two years after that uproar in Ephesus, because we are told that by the time Paul left Caesarea for Rome, he had been a Roman prisoner in Caesarea for over two years. The events at Ephesus took place several weeks before Paul was apprehended by Lysias the Roman captain in Jerusalem, and Aristarchus is still faithfully by the side of the apostle Paul.

Act 24:27  But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix’ room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.

Now Aristarchus is once again “Paul’s companion in travel” as a “fellowprisoner” on this voyage to Rome. Luke is still using the pronoun ‘we’, so we know that there are at least two men of the church who are traveling with Paul on this journey to Rome to appear before Caesar Augustus.

Act 27:3  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.

This tells us that Julius, the centurion, knew Paul well enough to know he would not attempt an escape. It is still amazing, because had Julius lost a prisoner under his charge, he would have had to forfeit his own life, as was the case for the guards watching over Peter:

Act 12:19  And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode.

Julius is the centurion who was charged with ensuring that all these prisoners be delivered to Augustus at Rome. We are not told the exact number of prisoners, but in verse 37 of this chapter we are told that the exact number of people on the ship at the time of its destruction at sea was two hundred and seventy-six:

Act 27:37  And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.

Once again, the Lord makes even Paul’s enemies to be at peace with him, and Julius allows Paul the liberty of going to his friends in Sidon “to refresh himself”. What incredible favor the Lord shows us even as we serve Him in bonds!

Act 27:4  And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.

The Greek word translated as ‘we sailed under’ here in verse 4 is ‘hupopleo’ and it is defined as to sail “to the lee of” by Thayer, and “to sail under the lee of” by Strong. All we are being told is that they had to go in the direction the wind was blowing, and that happened to take them north of Cyprus along the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia instead of the much more direct route to Asia, which would have been sailing south of Cyprus.

In the Hebrew scriptures, the Hebrew word for ‘the wind’ is ‘ruach’ (H7307). It is the exact same word which is translated as ‘spirit’. Here is a verse which describes what the spirit of the Lord is doing with Paul and all those in the ship with him:

Isa 17:13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind [H7307: ruach; wind or spirit], and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

The Lord uses the wind as He uses His spirit to work all things after the counsel of His own will:

Isa 19:11  Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
Isa 19:12  Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
Isa 19:13  The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
Isa 19:14  The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit [H7307: ruach] in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

Jer 51:1  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind [H7307: ruach; wind or spirit];

The Lord used “a lying ruach”, a lying spirit”, to persuade King Ahab to go up to Ramothgilead to die there:

1Ki 22:19  And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven [good and evil] standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
1Ki 22:20  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
1Ki 22:21  And there came forth a spirit [H7307: ruach], and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
1Ki 22:22  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit [ruach] in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
1Ki 22:23  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit [ruach] in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

It is nothing less than a spirit from the Lord which is driving these two ships all around in the Mediterranean Sea working every detail of this voyage “after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11).

Act 27:5  And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.
Act 27:6  And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein.
Act 27:7  And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone;
Act 27:8  And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.
Act 27:9  Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,
Act 27:10  And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.

Paul is speaking for the Lord, and “the Lord hath spoken evil concerning” (1Kg 22:23) this journey, but the ship’s captain and owner persuaded Julius the centurion to try to make it to the next port instead of listening to the words of the Lord via His servant Paul.

Everyone knew that bad weather sets in on the Mediterranean Sea after “the fast”. ‘The fast’ refers to the day of Atonement when all law-abiding Jews fast as commanded in the law of Moses:

Lev 23:26  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:27  Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Lev 23:28  And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
Lev 23:29  For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.

“Afflict your soul” means to fast and deny oneself any food from sunset to sunset on “the day of atonement.”

Act 27:11  Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.

This centurion, Julius, typifies each of us when we place the words of men of this world, be it scholars like Noah Webster or James Strong or the words of any other ‘man’ or any minister, above the words of Christ. Paul is a proven and faithful servant of Jesus Christ. Julius, being a centurion with a hundred soldiers under his command was without a doubt one of “the principal men of the city” who was present when Paul was permitted to speak for himself before the Roman governor, Festus, and King Agrippa and Bernice “and all the principal men of the city” of Caesarea (Act 25:23). This centurion, Julius, knows Paul’s story of meeting the risen Christ.

He was also aware of Paul’s statement to King Agrippa that “this thing was not done in a corner.” Julius the centurion knows that when Paul said, “this thing was not done in a corner”, Paul is referring to the death and resurrection of Christ, and all the undeniable miracles which followed that miraculous event. The miraculous delivery from prison of the twelve disciples and the miraculous delivery from Herod’s prison by Peter were not done in a corner. The death of Agrippa’s father who was eaten with worms shortly after killing the apostle James and intending to do the same to Peter was well known throughout the Jewish world because it all happened in and around the Passover, when Jews from all around the world were at Jerusalem for the Passover:

Act 12:1  Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.
Act 12:2  And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
Act 12:3  And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
Act 12:4  And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter [G3957: pascha; Passover] to bring him forth to the people.
Act 12:5  Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

There is every reason for Julius to listen to Paul, but he is persuaded by the captain and owner of the ship to ignore Paul and attempt to make it to Phenice, the next and better port on the eastern end of the island of Crete.

The fact that Julius allowed Paul to visit his friends in Sidon demonstrates how well he knew Paul, and how much he trusted Paul’s judgment. Nevertheless, he is a man of this world, and he listened to and “believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul” (vs 11). It is all by God’s design “for our admonition.”

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

If the “them” of 1 Corinthians 1:11 refers to the people of the Old Testament, how much more do the people of the New Testament signify each of us, as indeed the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

2Co 3:2  Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
2Co 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

The apostle Paul, who speaks for Christ and who is always rejected of this world and in this age, signifies us as we witness for Christ and against the present evil world. Just as Christ and His words were rejected, so we must expect to be rejected by this world in this age:

Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

Act 27:12  And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.

To tell the truth, the port of Fair Haven “was not commodious to winter in.” Nevertheless, the Lord, through the apostle Paul, admonished Julius to stay put. The Lord knew that Julius and the captain and owner of the ship would want to sail to Phenice on the east end of the island of Crete. The Lord always gives us a good excuse for disobeying His commandments, just as He gave Eve a reason to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:4-5), and just as He gave “the man of God” a reason to disobey Him when another prophet lied to the man of God and told him that the Lord had told the lying prophet that the man of God should come to his house for dinner. The Lord always provides Himself an occasion to judge our rebellious and sinful flesh.

1Ki 13:18  He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

This ‘man of God’ was set up by God to succumb to the severe hunger and thirst he was enduring, and it was all done to admonish us against giving in to our own weaknesses (1Co 10:11, 1Pe 1:9-12):

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Now the Lord has lured Julius and the captain of the ship back into the sea, and the worst is yet to come:

Act 27:13  And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.

“Their purpose” was to make it to Phenice on the west end of the island of Crete. Their purpose had no regard for the warning they were given from the Lord through the apostle Paul. The Lord who warned Paul of the impending disaster, which was to destroy this ship, knew just what to do to lure Julius, the centurion and ‘the master and owner of the ship’ to attempt to make it to Phenice. He gave them a “a south wind [which] blew softly” just long enough to get them out of the “Fair Haven” harbor and out to sea. However, as soon at that soft south wind had them out at sea, things began to change for the worse very quickly:

Act 27:14  But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.
Act 27:15  And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.

“We let her drive” is just another way of saying ‘We completely lost control of the ship which was being driven of the winds beyond any ability of the crew to direct it.”

Act 27:16  And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat:

“The boat” means the lifeboat which is contrasted with ‘the ship’ to which ‘the boat’ was attached. All larger ships have lifeboats which hang off the sides of the ships in calm seas and are brought on board in very bad weather to keep them from being lost in the storm. The lesson for us is that our works, which the Lord causes us to undertake as we fight against the storms He places in our lives, cause us to sweat, and it is all in vain because our works cannot save us when the Lord Himself is against us:

Mic 6:14  Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.
Mic 6:15  Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.

This stormy voyage to Rome in this ship signifies how the spirit of God deals with us all. Our lives are driven by His will for us, and we are just as helpless to resist His will as this ship and its crew were helpless to resist the winds of this storm.

Nevertheless, we work hard to save ourselves:

Act 27:17  Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven.

“Strake sail” means they let the sail down to keep the ship as stable as possible under the stormy winds they were facing. This whole story is written for our admonition. It is telling us that Christ is working with us while we are in this ship, and that being in this ship we are “in Him”, and He is our only hope. Taking down the sails signifies that we are beginning to submit to His guidance in our own stormy lives. There is more for us to learn about the work of the Lord in our lives as this story progresses:

Act 27:18  And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;

“Being exceedingly tossed with the tempest” is just another way of telling us what Paul and Barnabas told all the churches they had raised up on their first journey:

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

“Much tribulation” refers to great physical and spiritual trial in this physical life, affecting and producing wars in the spiritual heavens of our hearts and our minds. Here is how Peter makes this same admonition to all who are given to accept and rejoice in it:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:14  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

“On their part he is evil spoken of” refers to the carnal mind within each of us. The carnal mind within us blasphemes the name of the Lord when He sends fiery trials into our lives:

Rev 16:8  And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Rev 16:9  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Rev 16:10  And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Revelation 16 is speaking of you and me:

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God [the “fiery trials” of chapter 16], and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled [the “fiery trials” of chapter 16].

We are one and all blasphemers of God before we repent of our God-will-burn-sinners-in-hell-for-all-eternity blasphemy. We repent of our blaspheming only when the seventh vial is poured out upon us and Babylon the Great and all her lies within us begin to be destroyed, revealed for what they are. When we see how badly we presented the Lord to this world, that is when the man of sin begins to be destroyed by the brightness of the Truth as it begins to come into our lives and destroy the man of sin within us:

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

2nd Thessalonians 2:8 is a condensed version of these words about the fruit of experiencing the pouring out of the seventh vial in our lives:

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Rev 16:20  And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21  And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

We all “blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail.” What does that mean? The religious world of Babylon wants us to believe that the Old Testament has nothing for us. That is what I was taught when I was submerged in Babylonian doctrine. The adversary knows that the proper meaning of all the signs and symbols of the New Testament are revealed only in the Old Testament, so of course the Great Whore churches of this world do not want us to understand the function of hail in scripture. That function is revealed only in the Old Testament:

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

Hail is formed by the winds up in the heavens, and it comes down to us out of heaven. It is this product of the winds of heaven which “sweep[s] away of the refuge of lies.” It is the Lord’s ‘wind’ which creates the storms of life which bring us all to our “wits’ end” and drag us to repent of believing all those lies. That is what the scriptures teach from Genesis to Revelation. It is a loving heavenly Father who raises up all the storms in our lives. The storms and trials of our lives are “His wonderful works to the children of men” which bring us to repentance:

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:32  Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

That is the lesson of this stormy trip to Rome. From the very beginning, the wind, signifying the spirit of the Lord, decided where the ships Paul sailed would go. The first one wanted to go straight to “the coasts of Asia” by sailing south of Cyprus, but the winds took them north of Cyprus and eventually to Myra in the province of Lysia.

Look at the verses which tell us how the wind dictated where the ship would go:

Act 27:2  We set sail on a ship from the city of Adramyttium. The ship was going to stop at ports on the coast of the province of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from the city of Thessalonica, went with us. (GW)

Act 27:4  Leaving Sidon, we sailed on the northern side of the island of Cyprus because we were traveling against the wind.
Act 27:5  We sailed along the coast of the provinces of Cilicia and Pamphylia and arrived at the city of Myra in the province of Lycia.
Act 27:6  In Myra the officer found a ship from Alexandria that was on its way to Italy and put us on it. (GW)

Julius, the centurion, “put us on… a ship… to Italy”, but they were still “traveling against the wind.”

Act 27:7  We were sailing slowly for a number of days. Our difficulties began along the coast of the city of Cnidus because the wind would not let us go further [westward]. So at Cape Salmone, we started to sail for the south side of the island of Crete. (GW)

When Luke writes that “the wind would not let us go further” he is telling us that the wind would not let the ship go directly west to Italy. Instead, the wind drove the ship south to Salmone, a city on the eastern most tip of the island of Crete. From there the wind forced them to sail on the southern side of the island to the port of Fair Haven.

Act 27:8  We had difficulty sailing along the shore of Crete. We finally came to a port called Fair Harbors. The port was near the city of Lasea.
Act 27:9  We had lost so much time that the day of fasting had already past. Sailing was now dangerous, so Paul advised them,
Act 27:10  “Men, we’re going to face a disaster and heavy losses on this voyage. This disaster will cause damage to the cargo and the ship, and it will affect our lives.”
Act 27:11  However, the officer was persuaded by what the pilot and the owner of the ship said and not by the revelation Paul had been given

The Lord “knows our frame”, and He gives us hope when we have no hope, and He delivers us when we cannot see a way to be delivered.

Act 27:19  And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.

The third day signifies the process of the judgment of our old man and the beginning of the birth of our new man. It is at this point that we are more than willing to “cast out with our own hands” everything we would have used to save ourselves, and we place ourselves at the Lord’s direction and at His mercy.

Act 27:20  And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

Exactly what King David said would happen to everyone occurs to each one who aspires to truly come to know the Lord:

Psa 107:25  For [the Lord] commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

Act 27:21  But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.

‘Long abstinence’ refers to abstinence from food which is exactly what happens to us when we are being judged for our transgressions against our Lord. This is exactly what King David says will happen to us right here in this same 107th chapter of Psalms:

Psa 107:17  Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Psa 107:18  Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.

This desperation is essential to bring us to repentance, and once we acknowledge our transgressions and repent then this happens:

Psa 107:19  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.

Only “when all hope that we should be saved [is] taken away” can the Lord come to our rescue with words of hope for the hopeless:

Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

“His Word” is Christ:

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Christ is “the beginning” because He was “in the beginning” (Rev 3:17). “The Word of God” brings us great hope, and “we are saved by hope.”

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Paul, who everyone knew had advised that they stay in the Fair Haven harbor, was a proven prophet, and was now extending words of hope to everyone on this ship:

Act 27:22  And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.

Next week we will learn why the ship had to be destroyed, and why Paul is so confident. We will learn that we, too, must ‘abide in the ship’ if we want to be saved and to be disciples indeed:

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue [G3306: meno; abide] in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Joh 8:31  Therefore, Jesus began saying to the Jews who had trusted and were now believing by Him [or in Him], “If you should remain [dwell, abide] within My word [My message; My communication; My expressed thought; My Idea], you folks are truly [really, genuinely] My disciples.

What we will see in our next study is that we must ‘remain’ and ‘abide’ in Christ if we hope to be saved.

Other related posts