Acts 27:26

“But we must be cast on a certain island.”

However it will ‘be necessary' for them to be cast onto an unknown but determined island. In other words God has not just promised deliverance, He has filled in some of the detail. And He has a purpose for their landing on that island. Malta was awaiting the Good News. The calm assurance that in this wild and uncontrolled storm God had fixed on a particular island where He wanted to fulfil His purposes shines out through the narrative. Thus when the landing happens as God has described they will be able to know that it was the hand of God that has taken them there.

The Shipwreck (Acts 27:27)

In what follows we are given certain lessons for success in life, and which equally applied to the Ephesian elders. If they, and we, are to survive the storms there are certain principles that must be followed.

The first was obedience to what God told them to do. If the centurion had not obeyed God's voice through Paul there would have been great loss of life (Acts 27:31).

The second was to cut away the one hope that they seemed to have, the life boat. They must trust in nothing else but God and look to Him alone for deliverance.

The third was to trust Him and take food. This would strengthen them for their final ordeal. Christians would see in this the food of eternal life offered through the death of Christ. They would recognise that under every circumstance of life it is by partaking of Him that men can be saved and can endure.

And fourthly it was necessary to be observant and follow His instruction. He had said that they would be cast on a certain island. They had to look for that island and plan accordingly when it arrived.

And the guarantee was that all those who thus trusted Him would be saved. That this was to be seen as a parable as well as a reality comes out in the promise that not a hair of their head would perish (Acts 27:34 compare Luke 21:18), that they were to eat bread as illustrated by Paul in such a way as to suggest the partaking of bread at the Lord's Supper (Acts 27:35), and by the numbering of the saved (Acts 27:37).

There is no better picture of ‘he who will endure to the end will be saved'. These men were helpless and in a hopeless situation. Their endurance arose out of the necessities of the situation. But they did endure, for it was an essential part of their nature to fight for survival. They clung on and fought for life, even though they seemed to be all alone. But as they endured they discovered that God was with them, planning all that took place, keeping each one safe, and the result was that in the end all were saved. We too must sometimes hold on with gritted teeth, knowing that behind all is God, and if we are His He will see us safe through to the end. And those who are His will do so. It has become their nature.