Paul Appeals to Caesar
“Now when Festus had come to the province, after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. And the high priest and the chief men of the Jews informed him against Paul; and they petitioned him, asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem.” In making this request they intended to ambush Paul along the road and murder him.ULe 156.1
But Festus had a high sense of responsibility, and he courteously declined. He declared that it is “not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has opportunity to answer for himself” (Acts 25:16).ULe 156.2
The Jews had not forgotten their earlier defeat at Caesarea. Again they urged Festus to send Paul to Jerusalem for trial, but Festus held firmly to his plan to give Paul a fair trial at Caesarea. God controlled the decision of Festus, to lengthen the life of the apostle.ULe 156.3
The Jewish leaders immediately prepared to testify against Paul at the court of the procurator. Festus, “sitting on the judgment seat, ... commanded Paul to be brought. ... The Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood about and laid many serious complaints against Paul, which they could not prove.” As the trial went along, Paul clearly showed, calmly and openly, that his accusers’ statements were not true.ULe 156.4
Festus recognized that nothing in the charges against Paul would make him subject to death or even imprisonment. Yet he saw clearly the storm of rage that would follow if he did not condemn Paul or turn him over to his accusers. And so, “wanting to do the Jews a favor,” Festus asked Paul if he was willing to go to Jerusalem under his protection, to be tried by the Sanhedrin.ULe 156.5
The apostle knew that he would be safer among the heathen than with those who had rejected light from heaven and hardened their hearts against the gospel. So he decided to exercise his right, as a Roman citizen, to appeal to Caesar: “I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know. For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar.”ULe 156.6
Festus knew nothing about the conspiracies of the Jews to murder Paul and was surprised by this appeal to Caesar. However, the words of the apostle put a stop to the court’s proceedings. “Festus ... answered, ‘You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go!’”ULe 157.1