Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, "You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go!" Acts 25:12

Paul had been in jail and in court for two years. He was there because of the Jewish religious leaders’ hatred of him, which was in fact hatred of Christ and the gospel. Though the Roman governors in Israel were wearied with the matter, Paul’s religious accusers were no less vitriolic in their demands for Paul’s death than when the whole affair began. They wanted the trial moved from Caesarea to Jerusalem where there was more Jewish animosity against Paul. Remember, their plan was to ambush the transport of prisoner Paul in order to kill him.

Paul wisely asked for the next phase of his trial to be held in Rome before the emperor—which was his legal right as a Roman citizen, and Festus agreed. How sad that Paul could get a fairer trial before a pagan Caesar in Rome than in Jewish Jerusalem!

Why did the Lord allow things to go this way? Why not just cause the local Roman authorities to dismiss the case and let Paul go free? While I cannot say for certain, there are three reasons that God in His providence wanted Paul to go to Rome.

The rest of the book of Acts tells us of great things that God did through Paul on the way to Rome.
While imprisoned in Rome, Paul was able to encourage the Roman Christians.
While still imprisoned in Rome, Paul wrote several letters that ended up in our New Testaments. (Thank God for Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon!)

God in His providence does not always do as we would desire, but what He does is always right. May we learn, as Paul had to, to rest in God’s good providence even when it is not what we would have chosen.