“I Appeal to Caesar!”

As I spent time in God’s Word this morning, I came across Acts 25:10 where the Apostle Paul declared: “I appeal to Caesar!”

He was standing in front of Festus, the governor. He had been falsely accused by the Jews of creating havoc in Jerusalem. When Paul realized he was getting nowhere with his arguments and a very real possibility existed of being sent back to Jerusalem, he claimed his privilege as a Roman citizen to stand before Caesar to plead his case.

Before Kim and I went to Israel this past summer, I wasn’t sure where all of these events took place. So, I will assume you do not either. That being the case, let me share a few maps, quite a few pictures, and a couple of videos that I took on our trip to help you visualize where the events at the end of Acts took place.

Let’s begin with Acts 23. Paul was in Jerusalem and had been taken prisoner by the Romans. He had been accused by the Jews of creating a riot. When a plot to kill Paul was discovered, he was transported at night 470 Roman soldiers to Caesarea (Maritima). Here’s a map of their journey.

When reading the Bible, some may get the two Caesareas mixed up. One was where Jesus said: “On this rock I will build My church” (Matthew 16:13-20). The other was where Paul was taken by the 470 soldiers from Jerusalem (Acts 23:23-24).

Here is a map to show the two Caesareas. Paul was taken to Caesarea Maritima which is on the Mediterranean coastline. Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi (about 30 miles north of the Sea of Galilee) when He said: “On this rock I will build My church.”

So when Paul was in Caesarea (Maritima) and said, “I appeal to Caesar” (Acts 25:11), he was soon transported to Rome. As a Roman citizen, he had this right. Soon, he would be taken on a 2,000 mile boat voyage to Rome where he would be able to plead his case before the Emperor.

Here is the map showing the vast Mediterranean Sea that Paul traveled on to get to Rome.

As I read in Acts 24-26 this morning, it all took place in Caesarea (Maritima) on the coast of the Mediterranean.

So, here are some pictures I took this past summer in this place. (Realize that this place has watched 2,000 years pass since the Apostle Paul was here. The Crusaders also did some major work to the place.)

The picture below details what the Promontory Palace might have looked like in the first century. As you look at the picture below, imagine that I am standing with the people in the picture looking out to the Sea. That is roughly where I stood to take the above picture. To my right is the hippodrome where the races took place.