A look at the significance and meaning of the fourteenth night and the four anchors.
By W. D. Penfield. Originally published on Substack, January 3, 2022.
The Fourteenth Night and Four Anchors
We’re back to the story in Acts 27. A terrible storm is battering the Alexandrian ship carrying the apostle Paul and the rest of the passengers, soldiers, and crew.
27 But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country;
28 And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.
29 Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.
Wait. The fourteenth night? This passage is a picture of the Tribulation. The Tribulation will last fourteen years?
Yes it will. Actually, the Tribulation itself will last seven years, or a little short of seven years, the last three-and-a-half years being particularly rough.
But the Bible foretells those seven Tribulation years will be preceded by a seven-year period of plenty.
Those years of plenty are pictured earlier in this chapter in Acts when the crew and passengers noted that at first the south wind blew softly. Things seemed okay, and they assured themselves that they had not ventured into the Tribulation as Paul had warned.
The most emphatic picture of a fourteen-year period is found in Genesis 41. “At the end of two full years” says verse 1. That’s a picture of our current 2,000-year age coming to an end. At the end of those two full years, Pharaoh dreamed, and his dream—as interpreted by Joseph—was of seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine, for a total of fourteen years.
A fourteen year period is also suggested in Genesis 14:5, 1 Kings 8:65, 2 Kings 18:13, Isaiah 36:1, Ezekiel 40:1, Galatians 2:1, and in the Passover, which was kept on the fourteenth day of the month (Leviticus 23:5). “Christ our passover” (1 Corinthians 5:7) will return at the end of the Tribulation (Matthew 24:29–30, Mark 13:24–26).
The events of the story suggest many people will expect the Tribulation period to last just seven years. That expectation might result in quite a bit of discouragement and bewilderment. Some may even scoff and turn away from the faith when seven years pass, then eight, nine, ten, eleven, and more without Jesus returning. Some will say “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3:4), and “My lord delayeth his coming” (Matthew 24:48–51, Luke 12:45–46). 1
Four anchors, and they wished for the day.
“Sounded” means they threw a weighted, knotted line over the side of the ship and lowered it until it touched the seabed. They could then count the knots to tell how deep the water was. It was shallowing. They were nearing the end, the huge crescendo of the Tribulation. They feared they would fall on rocks, sharp and jagged hardship threatening them.
And “fall” will have big meaning in the Tribulation when it will be possible to fall away from the faith and lose one’s salvation. They feared things would get so bad that they might give up, renounce Jesus, and fall into condemnation.
They cast four anchors out of the stern of the ship. And they “wished for the day”. They wished Jesus would hurry up and return!
The anchors were probably sea anchors—parachute-like devices made of heavy fabric and dragged in the ocean to slow and stabilize the ship and keep its stern pointed into the wind and waves. This kept it from being slammed broadside, keeping them afloat, and, hopefully, enabling them to ride out the storm and survive.
Let’s look at the spiritual picture in those four anchors. What do they represent? What four anchors might they turn to keep themselves stabilized and persevering in the faith instead of panicking and fleeing to save themselves from hardship and physical harm?
They are all anchors of faith. They are deployed—and employed—by choice, by will, and by resolve. It’s about making a decision to believe something, sticking to that decision and that belief, and hanging on.
Faith in the atonement of Christ, that God accepted it fully, that their sins are forgiven, that what was occurring around them (and even to them) was not against them. Faith that whatever they might suffer, they would be rewarded and God would bring justice, and they were not forsaken or abandoned.
Continued faith in the imminent return of Jesus. (The “day” they wished for.)
Faith that they would not perish, that they were saved and would remain saved, and that God is able to keep them from falling (Jude 1:24).
Faith that the ship, the word, and abiding in the faith would keep them safe as promised and get them there safely, even though they were compelled to use an unreliable Alexandrian vessel that was not going to make it through the end.
Even with four strong anchors, things were so rough that some were weakening and losing their will to endure. The ship’s crew, leaders in the voyage, were on the verge of fleeing the ship to save themselves from all the frightening trouble. But they got a sober warning from Paul:
30 And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship,
31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.
There’s a reminder that Tribulation salvation is different from salvation in this age. In the Tribulation, in order to be saved one must endure in the faith until the end, whether the end of one’s life (Revelation 14:13), or the end of the Tribulation when Jesus returns (1 Peter 1:3–9). To leave the faith before then is to be counted as never having believed (Matthew 7:22–23).
The soldiers, the stronger ones among them, believed Paul. They intervened and stopped the crew from fleeing!
32 Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off.
Mutual support will be valuable in the Tribulation. That’s why Paul advised Tribulation believers to not forsake assembling together, and more so as the day of the return of Jesus approaches. (Hebrews 10:25)
They had made it through that crisis. The sky grew lighter. The Lord’s return was imminent. Paul offered words of comfort, encouragement, and assurance:
33 And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.
34 Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.
35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat
In effect, Paul told them that the day of the Lord is coming. Take heart! Having stayed in the ship, not one of you will perish. Not a hair will fall from your heads. Those are a reflection of Jesus’ own words in Luke 21:18.
Since this is all a picture of the Tribulation, Paul is in effect speaking of their living on even if they are physically killed. We know from other Tribulation prophecy (including in Luke 21) that saints will be killed.
The passengers took that meat and bolstered themselves with the words of Paul and Jesus. They strengthened and comforted themselves that even if they were to be killed, Jesus will raise them back up again, every hair of their heads still in place. Their enemies, who pursued and persecuted them, would not prevail.
37 And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.
This little side note informs us that this was a pretty big ship, carrying 276 people. Its loss would be significant.
But 276 souls is a small number compared to the population of the world at that time. Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.
39 And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship.
40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.
At this point the crew even wrote off the ship’s valuable cargo and tossed it overboard. This reminds us of Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:15–22 and Mark 13:14–16 about leaving everything behind when the last of the last days have come.
They discovered a creek with a shore. The Greek word translated “discovered” also means to perceive or see. They saw it by faith. The word translated “creek” also means bay, in this case described as a creek or bay with a shore—relief, safety, and shelter from the storm. By faith, their goal was in sight. They fixed their hearts and minds on the destination.
They “committed themselves unto the sea.” They faced the world’s raging turmoil and whatever threatened them. They stood in resolute confidence that Jesus is soon returning, and even if they are killed He will raise them up again.
41 And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.
The small band of believing shipmates is now caught between two seas, a clash of two social or political factions or movements, battering from both sides the Alexandrian ship they were relying on.
And here the Alexandrian vessel meets its end. It can no longer withstand the assault. The forepart sticks fast and holds together. But the hinder part is broken to pieces.
The Alexandrian Old Testament, the forepart, holds up, but the latter part, the Alexandrian New Testament, shatters in the assault. It ends up “broken with the violence of the waves.”
In the introduction to this series, I said the Bible has a surprisingly positive thing to say about the Alexandrian text family. Well here it is. Though the Alexandrian New Testament will be battered to pieces during the Tribulation, the Old Testament of Alexandrian text Bibles will hold up and remain unshakable, unmovable.
Why will the Old Testament hold up? We’ll look at that in the next chapter. After that, we’ll discover the fate of the apostle Paul and the rest of the passengers, soldiers, and crew.
The same events in the story also suggest there will be much awareness that our current age has ended and the last days have come, possibly a result of undeniable events and the return of open evidence of the Divine and supernatural. We can infer that many people will also expect a Kingdom age will follow the Tribulation. The great conflicts will be over who will establish the Kingdom, who will be allowed into it, how it will be established, and who will rule once it is established.↩
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