Acts 27:13-38--The Storm at Sea

Acts 27:13-38
English Standard Version

The Storm at Sea
13 Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. 14 But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land. 15 And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat. 17 After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along. 18 Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo. 19 And on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must run aground on some island.”

27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. 28 So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms. 29 And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go.

​33 As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” 35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. 36 Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves.  37 (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.) 38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.

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Last time we left Paul under arrest and on a prison transport (though with much liberty given to him and his companions who were there to attend to his needs), but the ships were not making the kind of progress that their captains and the Romans were hoping for.  While trying to sail for Italy, they were forced to take port in Asia and Macedonia and now they have been pushed back to the southeast towards Crete.  Once the winds shifted directions, they assumed that this would indicate more favorable sailing conditions and they prepared to leave port, but the Lord told Paul to warn the captain and the centurion that if they left now they were going to lose the ship, the cargo and put the life of everyone on board at risk.  The centurion will listen to the captain and the crew of the ship who claim expertise in knowing the waters and the weather patterns in the area and they will leave anyways against the counsel of Paul.

The ship comes up against a nor'easter that forces the crew to jettisoned all the cargo and the ship's tackle to make the ship lighter, but this didn't help at all.  They were tossed to and fro for several days with no view of the sun by day or the stars by night to guide them, and the text even says that they had lost all hope of being saved.  They were lost at sea in the middle of a storm that was making even these seasoned sailors scared for their lives.  Paul does say "You should have listened to me," but not as an "I told you so" moment, but instead because he has additional information to share with them now and he needs them to see that they need to listen to him this time.  An angel appeared to Paul to comfort him and tell him not to worry because his life must be saved so that he can stand before Caesar and testify (that is to share the gospel with him).  It was not enough for Paul to know that he himself would make it out alive and he pleaded with the Lord that the lives of all these other men with him would be saved as well--however, they must run the ship aground.  If they continue to try to stay out at sea to save the ship they will lose the ship and their lives as well, but there was another condition that everyone must stay on the ship.  No one was to try to save themselves by swimming to shore.  They must stay with the ship and cling to the driftwood when the ship broke apart and let the driftwood and winds and the currents take them to the place where God wanted them to end up.

The sailors halfway listen to Paul this time as they got the part about running the ship aground, but they are still trying to save the ship as they are taking sounding depths to see where the best place to put in is, and they are trying to put down anchors to secure the ship and try and save it against the very instructions that they had received, then the sailors tried to escape in the lifeboats which would have lead to their deaths of everyone.

Paul tells the centurion and the soldiers that, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved."  For the sake of being interested in saving their own lives, the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboats and let them go.  All the men had to stay with the ship!

After two weeks of them going through this storm, Paul encourages them by telling them that they should eat some food to gain some of their strength back for they will need it, but none of them will die and he took break and broke it and shared it with them.  Did he possibly share the gospel with them through the symbols used by Jesus at the Last Supper?  It's uncertain because the breaking of bread may refer to any normal fellowship meal, but it is often used in the New Testament to specifically refer to what we'd call Holy Communion.  It would at least be reasonable to assume that Paul and his companions that were believers with him were probably thinking of the Lord's Supper when they broke bread together even if it did not have the same meaning for the unsaved prisoners, soldiers and sailors.  God used these events to encourage everyone on the ship but it also changed how everyone saw Paul and they started to listen to him more.  This will not be the only sign that the Lord will use to validate the message of the gospel that Paul is going to preach to them.  Now imagine the testimony that the soldiers and especially the centurion will give when they finally deliver Paul to Rome and they tell their superiors and Caesar himself how this man of God who did nothing wrong prayed to his God for the lives of these Gentile, pagan soldiers, criminals, and sailors and that God, for some reason, respected Paul's request and saved them all when they were clearly in a situation where they had given up all hope of salvation.

In one final acts of faith, once they had all eaten their fill, which was a lot of food to feed the 276 people on board, they threw all their provisions overboard to make the ship as light as possible.  Typically you would want to hold onto your supply of food and water even if you were going to crash so that you wouldn't be left to forage for these things, but they knew that any efforts they made to save their lives would result in their lives being lost and that they had to lose the ship and all of its cargo to save the lives of the crew, soldiers, prisoners, and other passengers.  They may not understand it all, but God is teaching them some lessons about faith and salvation and how we think we can save ourselves by our own wisdom and strength and the provisions we have stored up, but none of those things can do anything to help us--in fact, reliance on them will certainly lead to our eternal death.  No, we must by faith fully rely on the Lord to save us and take us where He wants us to go by letting the ship drift into the rocks and then clinging to the driftwood when it breaks apart.  When there seems to be no hope we can have confidence and assurance that He has promised that He will bring us safely through, though we cannot come through if we are clinging to anyone or anything else.