1 AND when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.

2 And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: [ Meaning, they did show us kindness. They showed us a lot of kindness. They kindled a fire, they received us everyone, a bunch of prisoners. That's a nice show of faith by those people. The people of the island of Melita. They received us everyone because of the present rain, because of the cold. ] for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.

3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. [ Paul goes out to gather some firewood. He lays them on the fire and there was a snake he didn't know about. There was a viper out of the heat that came and just struck him right on the hand, fastened on his hand. The people of the island knew that snake as a venomous snake. ]

4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. [ They say, "Oh, no doubt this man is a murderer. Otherwise, why would bad things happen to somebody? It has to be something bad that they did. He thought he could escape the judgment that was due him, but now it has come. ]

5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.

6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, a [ They all looked stunned, he should have a swollen hand or died. But nothing has effected him at all, so they changed their minds and they said he was a God. He's gone from murderer to God in just a couple of verses. ] and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

7 In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.

8 And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. [ Paul gives the father of the chief a blessing and he is healed. ]

9 so when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed: [ So when others found out that Paul could do, they bring their sick to him, he heals them as well. ]

10 Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.

11  And after three months [ They have stayed on the island for 3 months before they proceed forth on their journey to Rome. ] we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.

12 And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days.

13 And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli:

14 Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.

15  And from thence, [ We know that Luke is the author of both the book of Luke, the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. some scholars have noticed that there are many parallels between the book of Luke and the Book of Acts that seem deliberate on Luke's part. The question for to consider is, why is Luke doing this? For instance, he's going to compare Paul and Jesus, but he doesn't do it overtly. You just catch it. If I do this right side by side, this will be easy. For instance, Jesus's traveling ministry in Luke chapters five through nine where he is in Galilee for a long while and then his long travel narrative to Jerusalem is paralleled in the Book of Acts in chapters 13 through 20 by Paul's traveling ministry, his missionary journeys. So far, I'm like, "I don't know if I'm convinced. Then these keep adding up. Watch this. Then in Acts chapter 20 verse 22, Paul says, "I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there." That should echo back to Luke 9:51 when Jesus steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, all of a sudden. No one understood why Jesus has to go to Jerusalem, only suffering awaits him there. He told it to his disciples multiple times. They never understood him. None of Paul's friends see why he needs to go to Jerusalem. Only suffering awaits you there, Paul. From the moment Paul determines to go to Jerusalem, there are seven references to him going to Jerusalem that Luke mentioned seven times. After Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem, seven times, seven references to Jesus going to Jerusalem. Jesus is initially received positively in Jerusalem, so is Paul. Jesus had built up a bad reputation in Jerusalem among the leadership, however. Paul had built up a bad reputation in Jerusalem among Jewish Christians. Upon his arrival to Jerusalem, Jesus goes initially right to the temple. Upon his arrival, Paul goes initially to the temple. Paul was seized by a crowd. Then he undergoes four separate trials, the Sanhedrin. The governor, Felix. Festus, the new governor, and then Herod Agrippa. Jesus was seized by a crowd in Gethsemane. Then he undergoes four separate trials. Sanhedrin, Pilate, who was the governor, which he was in the same position as Felix. Then he goes to Herod and he comes back to Pilate again. Both Pilate and Herod say that Jesus has done "nothing worthy of death and should be released." Both Felix and Herod Agrippa say that Paul has done "nothing worthy of death." Exact same phrase, and should be released were it not that he appealed to Caesar. On the boat, Paul takes bread, gives thanks. When he had broken it, he began to eat. Almost exact phrase that Luke used to describe Jesus at Passover. "He took bread and gave thanks and break it." A Roman centurion of all people acknowledged that Paul was a good man and he sought to favor Paul and to save Paul. Remember, Luke highlights that it was a Roman centurion at the cross, of all people, who acknowledges that Jesus surely was a righteous man. In this narrative, as you continue to watch these narratives build, the crucifixion moment that parallels with Paul is the storm of the sea, and then the snake bite on the island. This is interesting. Why does he point out that little detail about the snake bite, and why all that detail about the stormy ocean? There's a stormy ocean. In the Jewish thought, you got to upload Jewish thinking here. The ocean represented the chaos waters where evil things would come. Why is Luke doing this? I think what he is not doing is he's not saying Paul is basically equal to Jesus. I don't think Luke's doing that. I don't think he would do that. I don't think anyone, Paul included, would feel comfortable with that. If that's not what he is doing, why is he doing that? Luke never answers that question and so we get to kind of speculate. Any thoughts on that? sometimes we notice patterns and it’s evidence of design. Evidence of design in the way he wrote it is that he's trying to show us something. This is a pattern of Christ. That somebody would notice that is awesome. It makes me think, I got to notice things more. ] when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.

16 And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him. [ So Paul is allowed to dwell by himself with a soldier. He's basically on house arrest again, but Paul has to pay the rent for the house. So he doesn't waste any time. ]

17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: [ he reaches out to all the Jews in Rome. He wants all the leadership of the Jews to come and meet him so that he can explain himself and get ahead of the story. He even asked them, "I don't know what you guys have heard. some people in Jerusalem have spoken against me saying that I'm going against the law that I'm going against Israel. I'm telling you that that's not true." It's for the hope of Israel, verse 20, that I am bound with this chain and they answer him and say, "We haven't heard anything about this man. We neither receive letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm of thee. We want to hear it straight from you." ] and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

18 Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me.

19 But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of.

20 For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.

21 And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judaea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee.

22 But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: [ We want to hear it straight from you. This shows the maturity of those whom he is talking to here. They are not prejudging, they are not all twisted out of shape so they can really listen. No they want to hear about Christianity from a Christian. ] for as concerning this sect, [ The Christianity sect of Judaism. ] we know that every where it is spoken against. [ We've heard the bad rumors, we've heard the bad people, nay saying this, we've heard the gossip, but we want to hear it from you. ]

23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, [ What does he testify? The kingdom of God. That's his message. The kingdom of God. Persuading them concerning Jesus, the King of the Kingdom, both out of the law of Moses, out of the prophets from morning until evening. ] persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.

24 And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.

25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, [ Paul didn't have anything else to do. For him, this is his happy place. People are coming to the house. He was free to teach and speak. There was just a Roman soldier there making sure there's no shenanigans. He preached and people came to listen. When they did not like his message, well they just left. This is a fantastic set up for Paul. Good times. ] after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,

26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:

27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. [ Then he uses this verse that some of them took as insulting. Paul's saying and he is like, "You guys remind me of this Isaiah." That didn't make him friends or influence people when he was alive either. ]

28  Be it known [ Here's my final word to you guys. ] therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. [ It's intentionally provocative. It's like, are you guys hearing this? Are you picking up what I'm putting down? This is the most important message in the world and you have so much internal noise, it's getting in the way of you being able to hear it. Humble yourselves. Humble yourselves. Empty your assumptions. Try to hear this as if for the first time without all your baggage. Otherwise, you fit Isaiah's prophecy. You fit his condemnation of those who just insist on not getting the true story. Resisting the true story. ]

29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.

30 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, [ Paul's going to go to Rome. The gospel's got to go to every nation. That was set up at the very beginning and now he's in Rome. Then no conclusion. So what happens? Well there is no conclusion here. The camera pans away with Paul preaching in a house that he's renting with a Roman soldier standing by. What? Does he ever talk to Caesar? He appealed to Caesar. Does he ever talk to Nero? Luke, this is the heart of the world. This isn't the whole world. He's gone to Rome. What happens, brother? Given Luke’s care as a writer, a lot of scholars are convinced that this open-ended ending is clearly intentional. Again, that's a good wrestle to think about. Luke is doing this on purpose. He's not telling us why and we didn't have to just think about it and think, "Okay. Why did he end like that? He's such a careful writer. Why did he leave some of these ends untied, these loose ends? Why is he not tying them all up?" What does this do to your mind and your heart? some have called this the most odd ending of any book in scripture. Mark doesn't even have an ending, so that doesn't really count. This is a deliberate weird ending on purpose. It's up there with the Book of Jonah that just ends without resolving the story. ]

31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him. [ The last verse is he's in the uttermost parts of the earth. Maybe in Luke's mind he's like, "I did tell you the story. It's the story of Jesus. It's not the story of Paul. This is what Jesus said would happen and it happened." Luke is like, "Exactly." He says, "For Luke, Paul's story is really about the unstoppable word of God, which no obstacle, no shipwreck, no snake bite, no Roman authorities could hinder from reaching the heart of the empire and the hearts of those who live there." Then from there it would go as the gateway into the ends of the earth. It's almost like Luke is including and challenging the reader to consider your own ending. How are you going to help this story end? What do you want to do about this? The story isn't over, as you can see. We can all participate in it. We can help spread the kingdom of the risen king to the ends of the earth. What are you going to do about it? We made it to the heart. What are you going to do? ]