Shabbat Shalom. We will turn today to the Book of Acts, to chapter 21, and we, by the grace of God, will seek to finish the verses that remain in the 21st chapter. I would like to read from verse 27 this Shabbat meeting and to read to the end of the chapter. Shabbat Shalom. And we can see in these verses how the apostle Paul, Shaul, was captured by the Jewish people, specifically by the Jewish people who came from Asia Minor to the city of Jerusalem and how he was taken by the Romans. And listen to those verses. And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on him, crying out, But, men of Israel, men of Israel, help, this is the man that teaches all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place, and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and has polluted this holy place.

For they had seen before with him in the city of Ephesians, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. And all the city was moved, and the people ran together, and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple, and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him, tiding came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar, who immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down unto them. And when they saw the chief captain of Paul, then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains, and demanded who he was and what he had done.

And some cried, and some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude, and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. And when he came upon the stairs, so it was that he was born of the soldiers for the violence of the people, for the multitude of the people followed after, crying away with him. And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, may I speak unto thee? Who said, canst thou speak Greek? Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days made us an uproar, and led us out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?

But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city, and I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people. And when he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying. And I stop at the end of this chapter because the sayings of the Apostle Paul in the Hebrew language, as we say, be'ivrit, will be found in the next chapter, in chapter 22. What he had said to his Hebrew brethren, but the portion that we're going to deal with in this ministry meeting is the capturing of Paul in the city of Yerushalayim and in the temple, as specifically as the uproar came because of those Jewish people who came from Asia Minor to worship in the city and in the temple.

Now, brothers and sisters, we concluded in our last meeting together, and I like always to review for a couple of statements. We looked in the 21st chapter how the Apostle Paul wanted for Miltus to travel all the way to the city of Yerushalayim. And we understood in a previous message that Paul already had arrived to Jerusalem, and there was a warning that had been given to him by various individuals, various brethren, that when he's going to be in the city of Yerushalayim, he will be bound, and ultimately he will be captured. And you remember what Paul Shaul said in chapter 21? This is our chapter in verse 13.

He said to the brethren that were concerned for him, he said to them, He was so devoted to his master that he was willing to give his life for Yeshua the Messiah. And so he had arrived to Jerusalem. And you remember from verse 14 to verse 26 in our discussion previously that he had arrived to Jerusalem. He heard about the great things that were happening in Israel and in the city of Jerusalem. How many thousands of Jewish people became believers in Yeshua the Messiah. And he shared with them also how many from among the Gentiles became believers in Yeshua the Messiah. The brethren rejoiced over the fact of the ministry of the apostle Paul.

And then we find out that Paul was exhorted to show that he really does not speak against the law, against Moses, against the temple. And he had been encouraged to have that vow of the Nazarites with those other four men, which we read about in verse 23 to verse 26. And you remember he went into the temple. He made the vow of the Nazarite. And at the end of this vow, he was there in the temple and he paid the price for those other four men at the end of that Nazarite vow. And now, as he entered into the temple, notice what we read here in these verses from verse 27 to 40, how he had been captured right then and there when he was in the temple, in Beit HaMikdash in Jerusalem.

So, in the next verses, we find this important thing. And I want just to emphasize something here before we're going to read verse by verse. Paul, on the basis of a voluntary way, he showed by taking the Nazarite vow that he practiced what he preached. What does that mean? You know, people were accusing Paul, and by the way, they accuse him still today, that he was the one that was speaking against the God of Israel, against the Jewish people, against the temple, against Moses, against the Lord. They were accusing him then, and they accuse him today. You know very well that when we share the gospel with our people, Israel, with our Jewish community, one of the main problems that Israel have today, and they have had it throughout the ages.

Oh, you believe in the writings of the apostle Paul, all these Jewish men, and when became a Christian, and a hater of our people, and the one that really didn't care for the Jewish people. But you see, beloved brothers and sisters, it is exactly the opposite, and we're going to see it in a moment. Paul loved Israel. He loved his Jewish brethren. He loved the God of Israel, but he also loved the Messiah, Yeshua, and the truth that we have in the person and the work of Yeshua, the Messiah. He never spoke against the temple. He never spoke against Moshe. He never spoke against the law.

He never spoke against the people of Israel, but he spoke for them. But he also wanted them to understand the truth of the gospel, that the answer for salvation is not through animal sacrifices, but through the sacrifice of Yeshua, the Messiah, the Savior of this world. So they accused him all the time, still accusing him today, and now look what happened in the temple in Jerusalem. And first of all, you find out in verse 27, 28, and verse 29, the accusation against Paul in the temple. Look at this, verse 27, who did this accusation? Who was the one who accused him? Look at this, these were the Jewish people who did not believe in Yeshua, the Messiah, who came from Asia Minor.

These were the Jewish people who lived in the diaspora, in the dispersion, and every feast, three times a year at least, they would come to Yerushalayim, to Jerusalem, to celebrate the feast. Pesach, the feast of weeks, Shavuot, the feast of Sukkot, Booth, they would come for the celebrations of the feast. So we find out, verse 27, that when the seven days were almost ended, the seven days of the vow of the Nazarite, he was now in the temple. The Jewish people, which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, they stirred up the people and laid hands on him. As he was there, to finalize the vow with the other four men, at the end of the vow of the Nazir, in Hebrew we call Nazarite Nazir, we find now that he's right there in the temple.

These Jewish people who came from Asia Minor to worship at the time of the feast, they saw him. Now they heard about him. They have seen him already in Ephesus and all Asia Minor, wherever he was preaching the message of the Messiahship of Yeshua, and they remember him. They marked him. They knew of him. So when they saw him now in the temple, they have stirred up all the people. All the people in the temple and in the city, they stirred them up, and they laid hands on the apostle Paul, on Shaul. And we find out that what did they do in verse 28, what was the accusation?

And look, brothers and sisters, this is important for us to understand. They cried, men of Israel, help. This is the man, pointing to Shaul Paul, that teach all men everywhere three things, they said. Number one, he teach everywhere, all people, against the people. This is against the Jewish people. Secondly, against the law, against the law that God given Israel. And thirdly, against this place, namely the temple in the city of Jerusalem. Now, brothers and sisters, look at the accusation itself that the apostle Paul was accused by these Jewish people of the diaspora that came for the feast. They accused him three things, that he speak against Israel, against the Jewish people, that he speak against the law, and he speak against the holy place.

And, you know, I was searching in scripture, specifically in the book of Acts, throughout the history of Paul speaking, and throughout the epistles. And you don't find ever the apostle Paul speaking against his own brethren. In fact, you remember what he said in Romans chapter 9, when he wrote to the Roman believers, he said to them, I wish that I myself was accursed from the Messiah for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. He was wishing that he will be separated from the Messiah on behalf of his Jewish brethren. You remember in chapter 10 of the book of Romans, in verse 1, he says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel, that they might be saved.

How could anybody ever accuse Shaul, Paul, ever speaking against the people of Israel, against the Jewish people? Unfortunately, many do speak against Israel. Many do accuse the people of Israel. Many do speak against the Jewish people, but not the apostle Paul. He has always spoke for the nation, for the Jewish people. And he prayed for them. He longed for his brethren. They were wrong in accusing him, speaking against his people. Secondly, they said that he was speaking against the law. Now, beloved brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that never the apostle Paul spoke against God's law. Never. In fact, if you remember, in the book of Romans, in chapter 7, the apostle Paul in Romans 7, in verse 7.

Notice that I'm going to read some of these verses. Roman chapter 7, verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? He says, God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. In other words, the law is pure. If you remember, in verse 12 and verse 14, the apostle Paul says of Romans chapter 7. Therefore, the law is holy. And the law and the commandment, holy and just and good. He never spoke against the law. In verse 14, he says, for we know that the law is spiritual. The problem is not with the law. It is holy. The problem is with me, Paul says. With men, Paul says.

With sin nature, not with the law. So they were wrong about accusing him that he spoke against the law. In fact, it is the law that shows us as a mirror how sinful we are that demanded for us to look elsewhere for salvation. And it is the law that promised the coming of the Messiah. And so the apostle Paul definitely never spoke against the law. And thirdly, you notice that they accuse him in Acts chapter 21, in verse 28, that he spoke against this place, against the temple. Well, he is right now in the temple. And he is doing the Nazarite vow. And he is in the temple there in order to show his brethren that he does not speak against the law or against the people of Israel or against the temple.

But he speaks for the nation of Israel, for the law, and for the temple of God. But he goes beyond that by saying that the law spoke about the coming of the Messiah, the Jewish people through whom the Messiah was going to come. And this place, the temple, the Messiah once will sit there and stand there. And he will ultimately rule over the nation of Israel from the city of Jerusalem and over the whole world. But they accused him that he's speaking against the people of Israel, against the law of God, and against the temple in Jerusalem. So, you notice what they also accuse him, that it says in verse 28, that he brought a Greek person into the temple and has polluted this holy place.

Now, I want you to see. In the temple in Jerusalem, after Herod had enlarged the temple, there were actually five courts. There was the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could enter once a year. There was the holy place, the second court. The priests only could go in and minister in the holy place. And they could do it all the time. Then there was the larger outside court. And that was the court of the men of Israel, of the Hebrew men who could enter in and worship there. And then the fourth court was the court of the Jewish or the Hebrew women. That was the fourth court.

But there was the fifth court that is called the court of the Gentiles. And the Gentiles could only come into this court. They could never go into the court of the Jewish women. They could never go into the court of the Jewish men. They could never go into the holy place. And they could never go into the holy of holies. In other words, they were in the fifth court. And the apostle Paul knows very well that he was not allowed to bring any person who was not Jewish beyond that fence that had a sign there. There was an inscription that actually had been found, brothers and sisters, that it says something like this.

No alien may enter within the wall of the temple. In other words, there was a fence that a Gentile could not go beyond that fence there. The apologetics have found that you can see it. Some of this inscription is found even today if you would visit the land of Israel. And so no one, no Gentile could enter in. The apostle Paul understood that. He would not violate purposely, intentionally the conscience of the people of Israel. And biblically speaking, prior, before the time of the grace, this present day church age, God did make a distinction between Israel and the Gentile world. That's why Paul said in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 11, when he was writing to the Gentiles, he says, Remember that ye being in time past, Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hand, that at that time ye were without the Messiah, being alien from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world.

And he knew that. But he wouldn't bring them into the immediate presence of the Lord. But in the Messiah right now, a Jew and a Gentile are united. There is no distinction anymore. So he would not bring them to the temple, but a Jew and a Gentile would be able to enjoy the presence of the Lord at any time, immediately to draw into his presence now as believers in Yeshua the Messiah. So they assumed that he brought this person into the court of the men. And so if you notice in that verses in Acts chapter 21, look at these verses, it says in verse 29, For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimius and Ephesians, whom they suppose that Paul had brought into the temple.

You see, they were accusing him into the inner court because he understood how the nation would feel. And therefore, we do not read that Paul brought him in, but they supposed that he had done so. And so they accused him. They have gathered all the people there. And they were really all men of Israel. Look at this. Look, here is that man who speak against the people of Israel, who speak against the law, and who speak against this place. And so verses 27, 28, and 29, we see the accusation against the apostle Paul. To just remind you, brothers and sisters, as I read in Ephesians chapter 2, that right now, in this present day, the Gentile believer is no longer in the fifth court.

The Gentile believer, together with the Jewish believer, we can enter into the immediate presence of God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah. This is something that is very important to get a hold of because we can now draw near, as Paul said in this Ephesians 2 passage, he says, But now, in the Messiah Yeshua, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of the Messiah. There is now the nearness that we all have through Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. So, the accusation against Paul, verses 27, 28, and verse 29. Now, verse 30 to 33, we see the uproar not happen only in the temple, but the whole city of Jerusalem was in uproar.

All the city was moved. Verse 30, we read, and all the city was moved, and the people ran together, and they took Paul, and they drew him out of the temple, and forthwith the doors were shut. You see, they were so angry with Shaul Paul, they captured him, they took him, and they immediately moved him outside of the temple, and they shut the temple's door. Why? Because they assumed that he defiled the temple. By assuming that he brought a Greek into the temple, they pushed him quickly, they drew him, and shut the door, so no one can enter in. Now, they kept him out, and they actually, they intended to kill him.

They really hated what he believed in. And so, this verse 30 really shows us that they took him, and they drew him into the outer court, and completely shut the temple door, lest he and anybody else will enter in. And now you notice, in the first part of verse 31, the people were about to literally kill Shaul. Verse 31, and as they went about to kill him. Just pause here for a moment. Do you know that throughout the life of the Apostle Paul, he was always in danger. Always he was in situation that he was literally almost near death. They sought to stone him. They sought to kill him.

In fact, we have a verse in 2nd Corinthians, if you just turn there for a moment, when he recorded his history, he says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, and verse 23, Paul Shaul said, look at this, verse 23. Are they ministers of the Messiah? I speak as a fool. I am more in labors, more abundant, in stripes, above measure, in prisons, more frequent, and notice the last three words in verse 23, in death, often. Can you imagine to live your life often in a danger of death? They wanted to kill him in Asia Minor, wherever he was traveling, and now they wanted to kill him right there outside of the temple.

After they shut the door, they wanted to kill him. And the Apostle Paul said, I was in my life as a servant of the Lord, often time I experience near death. You remember earlier also in chapter 14, when they took him as if he was dead, after they stoned him. So, he was all his life under the danger of maybe he's going to leave this scene, because there was so much opposition to the message of the gospel, of the Messiahship of Yeshua. And he was the one that was used by the glorified Messiah to send him to the Gentile world, to preach the message of the gospel.

You remember, we were just talking in our Bible class, in the book of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, For the preaching of the cross to them that perish, it is foolishness, but to us that believe, it is the power of God. The world, look at the message of the Messiahship of Yeshua and the gospel message, the cross, the Messiah's death on the cross. For the world is like foolishness and the hatred towards that message, because by preaching that message, men have to recognize and to confess that he is doomed to eternal separation from God if he or she do not accept the message of the gospel. And Paul was preaching it without shame, without fear, and that's why we find him saying, I have often was in a situation that was near death situation in his life.

Or the life to live, or the edge, always at the edge, just the next, who knows what's going to happen in the next day, in the next moment. He was living for the Messiah, living for Yeshua, the glorified Messiah. So, the city was moved, and the people were about to kill him, verse 31a. And verse 31b to verse 33, he somehow, by the grace of God, was delivered out of their hands, and he was bound by the chief captain of the temple. Somehow, by the grace of God, he was delivered out of their hands. So, we read in this verse 31b, it says here, And tidings, or news, came unto the chief captain, and the band, and all Jerusalem was in uproar.

So, this chief captain, verse 32, he immediately took soldiers and centurion, and he ran down unto them. And when they saw the chief captain, and the soldiers, they left beating off Paul. You see? And then verse 33, we read, And when the chief captain came near, he took him, that is Paul, and he commanded Paul to be bound with two chains, and he commanded who he was, and what he had done. Now, that's also interesting, because this person, who was the chief captain, he heard, because he was responsible over the temple. And the chief captain was actually, and the chief captain was actually a commander of a thousand Roman soldiers.

And there were actually, I understand that there were about 6,000 Roman soldiers. There were six captains there, the Jerusalem area. When he was the chief captain, over 1,000 soldiers. And when he heard that there was a problem in the temple area, and that there was one man that was in danger of being killed, when he heard, immediately, he took soldiers with him. And notice he said, centurion, a centurion is a commander of a hundred. And because we have a plurality here, he may have taken two or three hundred commanders and their soldiers, maybe two or three hundred soldiers, and he brought them in. And you notice that it says he ran down.

He ran down from where? Well, apparently, brothers and sisters, that time, at the temple area, there was a castle that is called, really, the Antonia Fortress. It was a castle that was built by Herod the Great, and it was connected to the temple, and there were towers there. And out of these towers, the Roman soldiers could look into the temple, and they could see what was going on in the courts of the temple. To make sure that there is order, to make sure that things are okay, and there was not uprising and disorder. So he went down, so apparently he went down and sent those soldiers down from these towers of the Antonia Fortress into the outer court.

And there they saw the apostle Paul ready to be killed by those Jewish people who came from Asia, who have not acknowledged the Messiahship of Yeshua. So, when he sent them, the soldiers came in, and those people saw him, they stopped beating Paul. Can you imagine? They beat him, and they beat him, and he must have experienced, again, a near-death experience, as he has mentioned in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Oftentimes, in death often, in near-death experiences often. So, when they saw this chief captain and the soldiers, they stopped beating the apostle Paul. And then, the chief captain took him, and he commanded him to be bound with two chains, and he commanded who he was and what he had done.

And I'm sure, as he was speaking and wanted to know, who is this man, what he had done? Why is it that so many people are against him? And you and I know very well that what the apostle Paul did, he had done nothing wrong. He simply accepted that Yeshua was the Messiah, and that he was called to be a servant of the Messiah, to share with the world, including his people, the message of the gospel. So, he had done nothing wrong. He simply came to have the vow of the Nazarite to show his brethren, his people, that he is not against the law, he is not against the temple, he is not against the Jewish people, but he is a believer in Yeshua the Messiah.

So, the captain wanted to know who he is, what he had done, in verse 33. And so now, as we're moving on towards the end of this portion, we find out in those last verses here, that verse 34, 35, and 36, there was a crying against Paul, and a violence against our pastor Paul. You can see that it is brought into the surface here. Some cried one thing, some another thing, among the multitude. And when he could not know the certainty for this confusion, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. So, when he came down out of the castle, and the steps down from this tower of that castle, he came into the outer court, that would be the court of the Gentiles.

And he wanted to know who the apostle Paul, what he had done. So, people were saying, oh, he did this, and others, we did this. They were accusing Paul right there in that outer court. And I've seen various things such as this happen. Some of my trips, I've seen people accusing one person, and shouting at him, and speaking against him. In fact, I've experienced this right in Israel, where there were some Jewish believers having an outreach, and how they were accused, and one said this, and another said this. There's confusion. Some say things they don't even know, but they just join the crowd. Then you remember, brothers and sisters, how when Yeshua was walking into the city of Jerusalem, how they accused him.

In fact, again, we were talking of the Gospel of Mark, how everyone was accusing Yeshua, everyone. The soldiers were mocking at him. This is the Roman soldiers. The passers-by were raging at him, railing at him, speaking against Yeshua the Messiah. The priests were saying, oh, he saved others himself, he cannot save. And even the thieves on the cross were railing at him, as we read in Mark chapter 15. Later on, one of them recognized that he was wrong, and he stopped railing, and he confessed before, and he says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. But people were railing. Everyone was against the person of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.

And now we see how all the crowd was against the servant of the Lord. I don't know if you ever can imagine what it must be to experience such an experience, where everyone is around you, and accusing you, and beating you, and shouting at you, and condemning you. Can you imagine? You remember, that is exactly what the Apostle Paul said earlier. I am ready, not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of our Lord Yeshua. This is what he said in chapter 21, the same chapter in verse 13. So Paul was ready to give his life for the name of our Lord.

What a devotedness this servant had been. And so, there is a lesson to learn from the life of the Apostle Paul. So this chief captain, when he could not make out, what do they say? This one say one thing. The other one say another thing against Paul. He decided, and he said, you know what? Let's take the Apostle Paul. Let's take this man out of here. Again, I remind you, that castle is what Herod the Great had built, very near to the temple. And therefore, this Antonia Fortress was that they could overlook and see what was going on in the temple, and how things were going on.

The Romans were concerned that the Jewish people would rise against them. And so, they were watching very carefully what was going on in that temple. And so, the cry is in verse 34. Some say one thing, others said another thing. So, this captain told them, just take the Apostle, take this man, and bring him now into the castle. So, notice that. It was carried by the soldiers. Apparently, maybe he didn't have any more strength, maybe to stand or so. Or maybe if the soldiers probably surrounded him and protected him because they were really ready to kill him. So, it says in verse 35, when he came upon the stairs.

Notice that. Those stairs, it's towards the towers of this Antonia Fortress. When he came upon the stairs, so it was that he was born, notice, carried off the soldiers for the violence of the people. They just wanted to get him away from them, to do him out. They didn't want him anymore. And so, and that's why they earlier said those statements, this is the man that teaches all these things against the people, against the law, and against the temple. They really hated the Apostle Paul. And you know Paul, he knows that very well because he has done the very same thing to the early Jewish believers whom he persecuted, who he hated, whom he wanted to kill them, whom he was also pursuing them, bringing letters from the chief priests in order to grab them and to bring them and ultimately to judge them.

So, he had experienced what he experienced what he himself has done to his own Jewish brethren. Interesting that here the Jewish believer, once he was not a believer, he had done it to his brethren. And now as a believer, he has experienced this from his brethren. Very interesting to see how the table is turning. And it all happened when he made a decision for Yeshua, the Messiah. So, the violence of the people was tremendous. So, in verse 36, we see the rejection of Paul by the multitude. Look at this. The multitude of the people followed after. And look what they cried. They cried, away with him.

And if you notice, if you turn to chapter 22, in verse 22, they said it again later on. Away with such a fellow. You know, brothers and sisters, this is something that is sad to know about our people who do not want for us as Jewish people to believe in the Messiah. So, they think we have gone so much astray and have done so much wrong and said, away from such a person. And this is what we call fanatic view and action. Fanatic to the extreme. It happened among our Jewish people. It happened in various religious systems in the world. Then when a person changes ways or go in a different direction, there is that mob hatred against that person.

That they want to put him away totally. It's happened in many religious groups as well as we know that from history. You remember Paul as well, it happened to him in Ephesus, where they actually, the mob came in the arena there, and they wanted actually to kill him as well. It happened to him before, and it happened in many religious groups today because of religion, the hatred that comes, and it's so extremely sad and extremely troubling. So, they say, away with him. It's the same thing that happened to Yeshua the Messiah in Luke chapter 23 when they say, away with this man as well in the Gospel of Luke.

So, you see, they wanted totally to remove the Apostle Paul. They really wanted him actually to be killed. And so, this really brings us to the end of the chapter before the Apostle Paul is going to speak to the multitude. In verses 37 to 40, Paul requests from the chief captain to speak to his Jewish brethren. In verse 37, we read the request, first of all, to talk to the chief captain. Paul was to be led into the castle, so as he was going to go into the castle, on the way, he said unto the chief captain, may I speak with you? He kind of stopped there, and he said, can I speak with you?

He wanted to talk to the chief captain, so he will grant him permission to speak to his own brethren. So, the chief captain, in verse 37b, in verse 38, the chief captain said to him, can you speak Greek? Well, apparently Paul could. Can you speak Greek? And he says, are not you, or are not thou, that Egyptian, which before these days made an uproar and led out into the wilderness 4,000 men that were murderers? Apparently, he assumed, or he thought, that Paul may have been that Egyptian. Apparently, there was a man, an Egyptian man, that was very well known by the people of Israel, by the Jewish community, by the Romans.

He must have had something happen earlier, a certain Egyptian that came to Israel, into the temple area, and before these days, he made an uproar. And he led out into the wilderness 4,000 men who were murderers. These men, apparently, were anti-Romans. And they didn't like anybody who supported the Romans. And from what I understand, that they were actually Jewish men who came from Egypt, and they had a leader. And they did not support the fact that the Romans are in charge over the Jewish community. They didn't want the Romans to rule them. And therefore, they were kind of causing all kind of uproars in the city, in the temple, against those who supported the Romans.

And so he was thinking, that here's an uproar in Jerusalem. Here's again another one that's causing problems, that everybody's against them. So he thought, are you that Egyptian? Which, before those days, made an uproar. Are you that one that caused this uproar? And Paul was not that one. Paul was never using all sorts of means to hurt people. Even if he did not agree, he never used carnal means against anyone. He was never a hater. He was a lover of Yeshua, a lover of the nation, a lover of mankind. He spoke the truth in love. And so he thought that he was that Egyptian, that claim, I understand, he claimed to be a prophet.

And he wanted the Romans totally, not anymore, to rule over our Jewish people. So Paul said to him, and brothers and sisters, look at this. And we're going to conclude with this in verse 39 and verse 40. Look what Paul is saying to him, and I love that. He's saying to him in verse 39, Paul responding to him, and he says, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city. And I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people. Paul was saying to the chief captain here, he says, I'm a man which am a Jew. I told you this many times in the past when someone who met me years ago, a Christian man, a godly man, a Bible teacher.

He came and he said to me, are you the one who used to be a Jew? And I said to him, no, my dear brother, I am a Jew. Not was a Jew and now became a non-Jew, no. And you know, it is interesting that people know the Bible very well. And they need to take the scripture for what the scriptures say. Paul never was a Jew and became non-Jew since he became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah. No, he was a Jew, he remained a Jew, he will be a Jew, he will die a Jew, but he's a Jew who believe that Yeshua, he's Messiah and Savior and Lord.

And so he said to him, I am a man which am a Jew. In Romans 11, 1, he says, I am an Israeli. In Philippians 3, verse 5, he says, I am an Hebrew. He was a Hebrew. He was an Israeli. He was a Jew. I should say it this way. He is a Hebrew. He is an Israeli. He is a Jewish person who believe in the God of Israel through the person of Yeshua the Messiah. So, he responded in such a beautiful way. I am a man which am a Jew. And a Jew of Tarsus. Tarsus was in the province of Cilicia. And apparently, it says here about Cilicia.

Tarsus, by the way, in the present day Turkey today. And apparently he's saying, which is a citizen of no mean city. Now, I was looking to that. What does it mean no mean city? Really, it is no insignificant city. In other words, that city was a large city. There was a large population. It was a city that is a well-known city. The city of Tarsus. And that's where he came from. And Apostle Paul, while he was a Jewish person who was born in Tarsus, but he was constantly under the study of the Hebrew scripture, under the study of Gamliel, Rabban Gamliel. We're going to read about him a bit later.

And though he was born in the diaspora, yet he's saying he knew the language. He knew the people. He knew the religious or the religious activity of his people. He knew the law. He knew the word of God. I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, the city of Cilicia, a citizen of not an insignificant city, a well-known city. Now, would you want to speak unto the people who wanted just right now to kill you and to do away with you? You might say, I do not want to speak to them. But you see, Paul loves his brethren, love his people, and he wanted to speak to them, to share with them why he believed what he believed.

And in the last verse of this chapter, he opened his mouth and he began, notice, he began to speak to his Jewish brethren in the Hebrew tongue. We call it, in Hebrew we say, Be'ivrit, Basafa Ha'ivrit, in the Hebrew tongue. It says in verse 40, when he had given him license, he waited to get permission. Paul stood on the stairs. This is the stairs towards the tower of the Antonia Fortress. He stood on the stairs. He beckoned with his hand. He lifted up his hands like that towards the people, the multitude, the groups that were all waiting there. He wanted him to be getting away from there.

He lifted up his hands to the people. And when there was made a great silence, everybody was quiet. Then he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying. He spoke unto them in the Hebrew, in their mother's tongue, in his own mother's tongue. You know, some people say, no, he spoke Aramit. No, the Bible doesn't say he spoke in Aramit, even though he may have known Aramit. But here we read that he spoke in the Hebrew tongue, the Ivrit, the Hebrew language, which was the nation's language. And that gave him an opportunity to get their attention. You could see that by speaking in their mother's tongue, in his own brethren, in his own tongue, he received the attention of the people.

We read that there was a great silence. And he began to speak unto them in the Hebrew tongue. We find that expression, Hebrew tongue, mentioned a few times. It's mentioned in chapter 22 and verse 2. In fact, it's mentioned in chapter 26 and verse 14, where Paul was saying that he heard the Messiah speaking to him from heaven in the Hebrew tongue. Yeshua himself spoke to him from glory in the Hebrew tongue. We're going to get to that, beloved brothers and sisters, in the next chapters. But we are going to conclude today with this verse 40. He lifted up his hand in the silence among the multitude, and he began to speak unto them in the Hebrew tongue.

I wish I could hear that because this is my mother's tongue, and it's such a precious thing to be able to hear the message of the gospel in your own mother's tongue. And that's why there are missionaries and servants around the world who preach the message of the Messiahship of Yeshua in the very language where the people could listen to this voice of the Lord in the very language that is very dear to their hearts. Well, brothers and sisters, we're going to conclude here in verse 40. In the will of the Lord, we're going to continue as we study the book of Acts next time, next ministry meeting that I speak in chapter 22 on, so we can see what Shaul, what Paul said to his own Jewish brethren in the Hebrew tongue.

May the Lord bless his word to us all. Can we say amen to that? Amen.