Acts 27 is so enthralling that it demands my attention in a unique way every time I read it. The experience reminds me of walking through a supposedly haunted place. There’s no Halloween-like ghosts and horror, but I feel on edge and can’t look away. The chapter is, however, haunted. It’s haunted with the story of Jonah, and the Spirit of Jesus plows through Paul in a way that provides a clear vision of the resurrected Lord.

The Story of Jonah

Paul’s role as prophet on board the ship begins in Acts 27:10, where he warns the sailors of coming loss. Unlike the sailors in Jonah, they don’t listen to him (yet). But in Acts 27:18–19, the sailors begin doing exactly what the sailors in the story ofJonah did: Paul’s sailors hurl stuff overboard (ἐκβολὴν ἐποιοῦντο … τὴν σκευὴν τοῦ πλοίου ἔρριψαν) to try to save the ship, like the sailors in Jonah 1:5 (ἐκβολὴν ἐποιήσαντο τῶν σκευῶν τῶν ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ).

Apocalypse in the Modern & Ancient Sense

Acts 27:20 adds an apocalyptic tone, as if Paul is living out the Jonah story at the end of the age: All the lights of heaven go out—sun, moon, and stars — and all hope is lost. We often distinguish between the modern meaning of “apocalypse,” tied to the idea of the end of the world, and the Greek work ἀποκάλυψις, which means revelation. But both ideas are present in this story.

The lights go out and all hope is lost in Acts 27:20, and then Paul has a revelation, a vision from an angel of God who gives him a message to deliver to the rest of the men on the ship. In Acts 27:23–24 the angel tells Paul that it’s necessary for him to stand before Caesar and “God has given to you all the multitude on the ship with you.”

Paul the Prophetic Guide

Paul delivers the good news (Acts 27:25) and becomes a guide for the crew (Acts 27:26). In the darkness and chaos of the storm, the captive prisoner becomes the only beacon of light and hope. The desperation of the crew is poignantly communicated in verse 27: “Fearing that we would run aground in this area, they threw four anchors off the stern of the boat and prayed for day to come.”

The crew is so desperate to get off the boat that some try to let down an emergency boat and sneak off, but when Paul recognizes what is happen he delivers another prophetic message:

Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “If these men don’t remain on the boat you are not able to be saved.”

This time they listen to him, cutting the ropes of the boat and letting it fall into the ocean. Like Jonah, Paul provides the prophetic insight as to how the boat and the sailors can be saved. Unlike Jonah, Paul must remain in the boat — everyone must remain in the boat — for anyone to be saved.

The Spirit of Jesus

Just before daybreak, Paul takes bread, eats, and encourages the rest of the crew to do the same (Acts 27:33, 35). The series of verbs sounds remarkably like Jesus taking bread, breaking it, and distributing the food to his disciples and the multitudes in the Gospels. Here at the end of Acts, like Jesus at the end of Luke (Luke 24:30), salvation and hope are tied to breaking bread and eating.

At the end of Luke and Acts there is a recognizable pattern:

• prophetic word
• taking bread
• resolution
  

Prophetic word: Paul and Jesus deliver prophetic words just before they break bread. Paul told the sailors about his vision in the night and how they would all be saved (Acts 27:21–26). Jesus explained to the disciples on the road to Emmaus the mystery of the faith, how all the Scriptures pointed to him (Luke 24:26–27).

Taking bread & resolution: In Luke and Acts, just after Paul and Jesus take break, their stories resolve. After Jesus breaks bread in Luke 24, the disciples realize who he is and are excited with renewed hope; Jesus disappears. After Paul takes and eats, the crew does the same, they are strengthened and encouraged (Acts 27:36–38), and their salvation is realized — they make it to shore (Acts 27:39–44).

Conclusion

Acts 27 is enthralling for multiple reasons. The eyewitness travel journey vibe is captivating. There’s danger and mystery and the genuinely scary thought of being trapped on the stormy open sea for days on end. There’s strange nautical vocabulary that you don’t see anywhere else. I think the strange vocabulary pulls me deeper into the haunting scene.

But then there’s the story of Jonah and the Spirit of Jesus that haunt the chapter. The narrative analogy between Paul’s story and Jonah’s story requires you to compare and contrast (as all narrative analogy does). There’s as much dissimilarity between the two characters as similarity. Ultimately, the closer narrative analogy is between Paul and Jesus. Because Paul is animated by the Spirit of Jesus, his story seems to be a sort of fulfillment of the Jonah story. Paul is on a mission similar to Jonah’s, to proclaim God’s word to the nations, but Paul’s the better prophet with the better Spirit.

Throughout the book of Acts, the Spirit of Jesus empowers his apostles to imitate their Lord in remarkable one-to-one ways. Jesus navigated the chaos waters of death “for us and for our salvation.” At the end of Paul’s story, he navigates arrest, trial, and a horrifying journey at sea and the result is that lives are saved. In Acts 27:41, when their boat hit a reef, the soldiers were about to kill all the prisoners lest they escape. Paul’s life on the boat — that’s what saves all the prisoners. The centurion recognizes the value of Paul’s life, and he therefore spares all the prisoners.

Let the reader understand.