Providentially, Paul’s nephew hears of the plot to kill him (v.16). In vv.16-20 we see that news travels fast and the information ultimately reaches the tribune:
“The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as if they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him. So do not let them persuade you to do this, because more than forty of them are lying in ambush for him. They have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink anything until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for you to agree to their request.”
(Acts 23.20-21, NET)
The tribune swears Paul’s nephew to silence (v.22) and prepares to have Paul moved out of town (vv.23-24). He wants no part in this plot and will not let himself be complicit in the assassination of a Roman citizen by a group of Jewish zealots.
Whilst the narrative here is action-packed enough to make a pretty decent movie, hidden in all of this we see that the plans and the Word of the Lord always come to fruition. Back in v.11, Paul was told that he would testify in Rome but just one verse later there is a plot by forty assassins to kill him. God needed to make a way for Paul to avoid this and made sure his nephew learned of the plot and passed it on.
The exact details might not be the same for you and for me (hopefully they aren’t) but the principle in play is as true as ever. What God says about you is always true and will always happen (Philippians 1.6, for example). The schemes or the plans of evil that are formed against you are powerless compared to Him who has said that He will never leave nor forsake you (1 John 4.4, principle of Joshua 1.9).
James Travis 