The day that the sailors prayed for finally came, but they did not recognize where they were when they saw the land. However, they did see a bay with a beach and tried to navigate the ship in that direction to run it ashore. In their efforts to “thread the needle,” they struck a reef, which immediately rendered the ship immovable. With the ship unable to move, the pounding surf began to destroy the ship from the stern side.
Given this dilemma, the Roman soldiers determined their best course of action would be to kill all the prisoners as they feared they would escape since they were now so close to land. But Julius intervened and thwarted their plan, desirous to keep Paul alive. Julius ordered the men who could swim to jump out first and swim for land and then the non-swimmers came afterwards floating on planks or other pieces of the ship. All 276 men were safely brought to the shore … an amazing display of God’s providence.
Now on the island, the men discovered they had reached Malta. Instead of displaying hostility, the natives of Malta demonstrated unusual kindness, welcoming the men who were depleted, cold, and wet and making them a warming fire. Paul immediately helped with building the fire and was suddenly bitten by a viper that fastened on his hand. Seeing this, the Maltese natives became convinced that Paul had committed some dastardly deed, such as murder, and that though he escaped the crazy storm at sea, their idea of the god Justice had intervened, ensuring that Paul would still die.
To their shock, Paul shook off the viper into the fire, none the worse for such a bite from a venomous snake. The natives waited for Paul to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after waiting for a long time, they saw no adverse reaction in his body … another amazing display of God’s providence! This surprising course of events caused them to completely change their opinion of Paul, and they now believed him to be a god instead of a murderer. This would set the stage for what Paul would do next.
You can listen to this teaching on Acts 27:39-28:6 by clicking on the following link: A Portrait Of Providence
