A Time That Never Came
Acts 24:24-26
By Harold Dinsmore, M.Div.
© 2008 Harold Dinsmore

In this text, we have a story of a wicked couple who were told by the apostle Paul that, as a result of the finished work of Christ on the cross, righteousness could be received, self-control would be made possible and judgment could be rendered – justice and mercy.  Here we have a record of their response.

Felix was the governor and procurator of Judea in A.D. 52.  His wife Drusilla was one of three daughters of Herod Agrippa I.  Felix had induced her to leave her former husband Ariz, King of Emesa.  One of her sisters, Bernice, married King Agrippa.  Her father, Herod Agrippa I, murdered James, John’s brother, and sought to kill Peter.¹   Her great-uncle Herod Antipas slew John the Baptist and her great-grandfather, Herod the Great, killed the babies in Bethlehem and sought to kill Jesus.  Drusilla was Felix’s third wife.

Some scholars believe it was Drusilla’s curiosity to hear Paul that made her responsible for the interview.  Though she was a Jewess, she lived as though God had never given the Ten Commandments at Sinai.What they heard is in verse 24b.  Paul told them the story of Jesus, how God sent Jesus, the sinless Son of God, into this world.  He lived a perfect life and, at the age of 33, went to the cross and died.  But, on the third day, He got up!  Five hundred witnesses saw Him and after forty days, a cloud took Him back to glory.  Imagine Paul telling Felix, “I was on your side until one day, as I travelled the Damascus road, there shone round about me a light from heaven.  And it was on that day Somebody touched me.  I knew then it must have been the hand of God