Day 293: Acts 28:1–6

They expected that he would swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds (v. 6).

One of the vipers indigenous to the region where Paul and his shipmates crashed is a small but poisonous snake. Interestingly, it looks similar to a dead branch when immobile, so in all likelihood Paul picked up the snake as he was gathering brushwood. (Doesn’t that just give you the creeps?) When he put the branches in the fire, the viper took the first way out: Paul’s hand. Can you imagine what Paul was thinking as the snake dangled from his hand? “Five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked” (2 Cor. 11:24–25 hcsb), and now this!

God used the creature, however, to reveal the beliefs of the islanders. Their response to Paul’s snakebite was, “This man is probably a murderer, and though he has escaped the sea, Justice does not allow him to live!” (Acts 28:4 hcsb). Even though their assumption was incorrect, they revealed a limited knowledge of the one true God. Depending on the Bible translation you have, you may have noticed the word “Justice” was capitalized as a proper noun. The original Greek word dikastes actually means “a judge, one who executes justice, one who maintains law and equity.” Although the island of Malta had presumably never been evangelized, its inhabitants revealed an awareness of a divine judge who maintains justice in the world.

Out of love for the world, God makes Himself known even in the most remote places on earth. Some call this self-disclosure “natural revelation.” God desires for people to seek the unknown through the known, discovering a greater knowledge leading to salvation. Paul penned the clear words verifying God’s universal declaration of His existence: “From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20 hcsb).

God is so merciful, isn’t He? He doesn’t just want people to be without excuse. He doesn’t want people to be without a Savior. Justice was the natural light through which the people of Malta first perceived the one true God.