Acts 28:3-5

Read Acts 28:3-5

Helpful Background Information:  

• At the end of the book of Mark, what’s clear is that God promises to ensure the successful spread of His gospel. What’s less clear is how to make sense of the list of signs that are mentioned shortly after (Mark 16:17-18). One specific sign listed for believers has to do with taking up snakes without harm (Mark 16:18a). To better understand what this looks like, we can find a good example in the events recounted in the book of Acts.

• At the very end of Acts, the story centers on Paul’s journey to Rome as a prisoner but it’s upheld by his shipwreck on an island called Malta (Acts 27:39-28:1). Although Paul was put in a very vulnerable and dangerous position, God sustained him in several ways. 

• First, Paul received kindness from the local people as they built a fire for the shipwrecked crew to gather around (v.2). When Paul tries to help out with the fire, though, a viper springs out of the brush and latches onto his harm (v.3). As if things couldn’t get any worse, the local people saw this and assumed he must have been a murder because of his continued misfortune (v.4). Expecting Paul to swell up and drop dead, they are amazed to find that he shakes the snake off into the fire and suffers no harm (vv.5-6). Seeing all of this happen, the people change their minds and wonder if Paul himself was a god (v.6). While their verdict was well off the mark, they were right to recognize some evidence of divine activity behind the preservation of Paul’s life.
  

Reflection Questions: 

• Paul’s experience shows God’s protection in the midst of real danger—not the absence of it. How does that challenge the way you think about God’s presence in suffering or risk?

• God’s preservation of Paul ultimately served a larger purpose tied to the spread of the gospel. How might God be using your current circumstances (even difficult ones) for a greater purpose?

• The gospel advances not just through words, but through visible demonstrations of God’s power and faithfulness. In what ways can your life bear witness to who God is?