Paul Ashore on Malta and Arrival at Rome - Acts 28

28 Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. ² The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. ³ Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. ⁴ When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. ⁶ The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

God has used Paul through his perceptions of the future to show everyone on the ship that God is real.  Because of Paul, everyone on the ship has lived.  Now, after two weeks of battling a storm at sea and surviving a shipwreck, prisoner Paul is bitten by a viper trying to make a fire.  He was indeed appointed to suffer for Christ sake.  We would say that he was, “snake-bit”, literally.  Everywhere he went bad things were happening, yet God is using them to show who He is through Paul.  The same is happening here.  God is using this snake bite experience so Paul can witness to these people who God is.

⁷ There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. ⁸ His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. ⁹ When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. ¹⁰ They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

Paul, who had not died from the snake bite, now heals the ruler’s father and all the sick on the island.  God is honoring Paul by continuously filling him with His Spirit.  I have no doubt that Paul witnessed to Jesus as he is being used to heal. 

There just aren’t enough words to describe the work of God through Paul.  Sure, he has been through an extraordinary shipwreck, bitten by a snake, and he’s still a prisoner of Rome.  All of these are seemingly bad things.  Any one of these and we might have a shaky faith.  But Paul presents God through them all.  Because of his faith, all the sailors live and all the islanders are healed.  Is it no wonder Paul could write that everything is done according to God’s purpose.  He had lived it.

¹¹ After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island—it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. ¹² We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. ¹³ From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. ¹⁴ There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome. ¹⁵ The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. ¹⁶ When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.

After all the events of getting to that island, they have no problems at all getting to Rome.  They travel uneventfully there and quickly.  God obviously wanted Paul in Malta to share the gospel.  It is also noteworthy that Paul received encouragement from other believers.  He had great faith and God's power was evident in Paul, yet he still needed encouragement from fellow Christians.  What an important lesson to each of us to be in constant encouragement for one another.