PAUL OBSERVES A FEAST IN JERUSALEM
AND CONCLUDES HIS SECOND MISSIONARY
JOURNEY
Paul stayed in Corinth for good while indeed, but the time
came for him to move on again. He sailed to go to Syria, but
first came to Ephesus. He brought with him Priscilla and Aquila.
He had shorn his head in Cenchrea; for he had a vow.
Cenchrea was the eastern sea port of Corinth. The vow was
probably the Nazarite vow of Numbers 6. We must remember that
there was a transition of Old Testament and New Testament. The
Temple still stood in Jerusalem. The priesthood still functioned.
It was not wrong for Christians to observe Old Testament rites
such as the Nazarite vow, and even Temple rituals and Temple
sacrifices. We shall come to Temple rituals observed by some in
the Christian church in a later chapter of Acts. But we also need
to remember that no Christian was obliged to observe any of those
physical rites.
Ephesus was a celebrated city in Ionia, Asia Minor, about
forty miles south of Smyrna. It was chiefly famous for the temple
of Diana. In the time of the Romans it was the metropolis of
Asia. The Jews, according to Josephus, the Jewish historian of
the first century A.D., were numerous in that city
As was Paul's custom he entered the synagogue and reasoned
with the Jews concerning the Scriptures. They were willing to
listen to what he had to say and wanted to hear more, they wanted
Paul to stay around for a while, but he was not about to do
so this time. He said goodbye to them saying, "I must by all
means observe this feast that is coming in Jerusalem; but I will
return again to you, if it is God's will."
Some believe the feast that Paul was wanting to observe at
Jerusalem was the Passover, but we cannot be sure what feast it
was, for Luke does not get specific in recording exactly which
feast it was. Observing God's festivals of Leviticus 23 was very
much still the custom and tradition of the Church of God during
apostolic times. Jesus observed the festivals as we saw from the
four Gospel records. They truly are God's feasts as clearly
stated in Leviticus 23.
Paul landed at Caesarea and went up to Jerusalem, observed
the festival and visited the church at the same time. He then
departed from Jerusalem and returned to his home base, the city
of Antioch in Syria. (Acts 18: 18-22).
PAUL'S THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY
BEGINS
Paul once more spent some time in Antioch, the length of
time we are not told. Then he departed again and went over the
areas of Galatia and Phrygia to once more strengthen spiritually
the brethren in the churches there.
Now Luke tells us about something that was going on back in
Ephesus, where Aquila and Prescilla had been left by Paul when he
only departed for Jerusalem. A certain Jew by the name of
Apollos, comes on the scene. He was born in the city of
Alexandria, a celebrated city in Egypt, founded by Alexander the
Great. You may want to read about that city in some of the Bible
Encyclopedias.
Apollos, had been instructed in "the way of the Lord" - that
is he had certain knowledge of the things concerning the Messiah.
He was fervent in attitude of mind, he spoke and taught very
diligently the things of the Lord, but he was only familiar with
the baptism of John the baptist. He was then "not up to date" as
we might say. But he went to the synagogue and spoke very boldly
what truth he did know. Quila and Prescilla met him there and
then took him privately and expounded the way of God and the
Messiah more perfectly to him.
Apollos was led to think that he should go to Achaia, so the
brethren at Ephesus wrote a letter exhorting the disciples there
to receive him. And they indeed did so. Apollos was a great
blessing to them, for in visiting there he helped them
tremendously in spiritual matters, helping all who had believed
through grace. And it is said he mightily convinced the Jews,
right out in a public way, showing from the Scriptures, that
Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. We are told nothing else about
this man and the work he did in any specific way. Paul does
mention him in his letter to the Corinthians, as one that had
gained such popularity and "fame" shall we say, that some were
making him as a kind of "cult" leader for themselves, while
others made other apostles their "cult" leader, which Paul said
was wrong for them all to do (1 Cor.1:10-13). Paul said he
planted the Gospel seeds and Apollos watered, but it was God
behind it all anyway, and it was God who gave the increase (1
Cor.3:5-9).
While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed over to Ephesus
(Acts 19:1). We are never told if Paul and Apollos ever met.
Maybe they did, maybe they did not. But we are told that both men
were used mightily in doing God's work.
Paul now again in Ephesus finds certain disciples and says
to them, "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed in
the Messiah?" They replied, "Why, we have not been instructed in
whether there is a Holy Spirit." And when Paul heard that, he
asked with a somewhat puzzled look on his face, "Well then, into
what were you baptized?" Their answer was immediate, "We have
been baptized with John's baptism." Then Paul realized what had
not been instructed to them, and answered, "John truly
baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people,
that they should believe on Him that was to come after himself,
that is on Christ Jesus."
On hearing this there was no question in their minds that
they wanted to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When,
after baptism, Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came
upon them; and they were given the gift of speaking in a
different language as well as speaking under the inspiration of
the Spirit. There were about twelve of those disciple we are
informed (Acts 19:1-7).
We can note here that anyone who had ever been baptized with
John's baptism, did need to be baptized in the name of Jesus.
John's baptism was good up to a certain point only, but only to
lead people to believe on the Him that would come after his
ministry was over - who was Jesus the Christ. We see again the
teaching of the "laying on of hands." We see also in this case,
two gifts of the Spirit given. But other people were baptized,
many, even thousands, where no such gifts were given, at least we
are not told that any gifts of the Spirit were given at that time
of their baptism.
Paul, yes, as his custom was, went into the synagogue, and
for three months spoke very boldly, disputing and persuading the
things concerning the Kingdom of God. Some became hardened and
began to speak evil of "the way" that Paul was teaching, and they
influenced others, quite a large group, and so Paul departed from
them, and took the disciples with him. He went to dispute in a
school owned by a man called Tyrannus. Paul continued teaching
and disputing in this school for two years. So successful was he
that just about all in Asia Minor heard the word of the Lord
Jesus in some way, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:9-10).
A SPECIAL MIRACLE BY PAUL
It was also at this time that God did special miracles by
the hands of Paul. He sent out handkerchiefs or small aprons to
the sick and they were healed every one of them, and those that
were possessed of demons, were released form their power, as the
demons withdrew from them (verse 11).
It is important to note in this, that Luke wrote God "did
SPECIAL miracles by the hands of Paul." This was a special
miracle for that time and for a certain duration only. The
account in Acts as well as the whole New Testament says nothing
about Paul doing this miracle for the rest of his life. We can
also note that nothing is said about those handkerchiefs being
anointed with oil.
I mention all this because some think this miracle done by
Paul was something the Church of God was doing as a whole, or
that the Church of God today should be doing this. It was NOT
something all the church apostles or elders of the church back in
Paul's day were doing. It is said God did this special miracle by
Paul, and no one else is recorded as being able to perform this
special miracle.
This is clearly NOT an example for the Church of God as a
whole to try to duplicate today. We are instructed in James 5
what is to be the GENERAL practice for the healing of the sick in
the Church of God. That instruction is for the sick to call for
the elderS (more than one) to come and pray for the sick, and to
anoint them with oil. If for some reason no elders can come (i.e.
say distance being a factor), then disciples of Christ should
mention their sickness to other disciples and have them pray for
them (James 5:16).
USING JESUS' NAME INCORRECTLY
Some vagabond Jews, ones who travelled from town to town
casting out demons, tried to add some more power to their
undertaking. They were not disciples of Christ. They knew or had
seen what Paul could do by using the name of Jesus, so they
thought they would try a little "Paul to Jesus incarnation" -
they said, "I command you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come
out."
Seven sons of a leading priest called Sceva, were trying
this incarnation on a man possessed by and evil spirit, and the
spirit replied, "I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you
fellows?" And the man leaped on them and attacked them with such
violent strength that they fled from the house, naked and badly
injured (Acts 19: 13-16).
Those unbelieving Jews were just trying to see if the power
used by Paul could be used by them. They thought they could
enlarge their popularity and prestige if more instant miracle
power could be had by the name of Jesus. Their hearts were not at
all in the right place, they were as we say, "trying to cash in
on a good deal." And of course they could not fool God in heaven
for one second.
MORE BECAME BELIEVERS
The story of what happened to those seven sons of Sceva,
spread like wildfire throughout Ephesus, both to Jews and Greeks.
A solemn fear came upon all the people of that city, and the name
of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored. Many who became believers
and disciples confessed their sinful practices, often in an open
way. Some who had been practicing various magic rites brought
their instructive incarnation books and burned them in a public
bonfire. The value of all the books was about 50,000 pieces of
silver, which today would have been several million dollars. One
piece of silver was about a day's wage at that time.
So the message of the word of God spread near and far, and
had a very powerful effect on people's lives (Acts 19:17-20).
THE RIOT IN EPHESUS
The Holy Spirit impelled Paul to go to Macedonia and Achia
before returning once more to Jerusalem. And then Paul thought it
would be time to go from there to Rome, which he had not as yet
done. He sent two of his fellow workers in the Gospel, Timothy
and Erastus, on ahead to Macedonia while he stayed for a while
longer in the province of Asia Minor.
But at that time serious trouble developed in Ephesus
concerning "the way" as it was now often called. It began with
Demetrius, a silversmith who had a large manufacturing business,
making silver shrines of the Greek goddess Diana. He employed
many a craftsmen. He called the craftsmen together one day, as
well as other skilled men of related trades, and said to them:
"Fellow tradesmen, you know that our wealth comes from this
trade with the worship of Diana. As you have seen and heard,
this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods
aren't gods at all. And this is happening not only here in
Ephesus but throughout the whole province. Of course I'm not
just talking about the respect we have lost for our trade,
but I also worry that the temple of the great goddess Diana
- this splendid goddess worshipped throughout Asia and all
around the Roman world - will have her prestige
disappearing."
At hearing this fact, it hit them as never before as to what
was happening concerning their goddess Diana. They boiled with
anger and started to shout as loud as they could, "Great is Diana
of the Ephesians!" They shouted more, "Great is the goddess
Diana!" And on and on they went with, "Great is Diana of the
Ephesians!" Soon a crowd gathered around them, then more and more
people, until the whole city was in an uproar and utter confusion
everywhere set in. Then they all rushed to the Amphitheater,
their football stadium of their day. They dragged along with
them, Gaius and Aristarchus, who were Paul's travelling
companions from Macedonia.
Paul wanted to go after them, to try and rescue his friends,
but many of the disciples prevented him from doing so. Some of
the officials of the area, friends of Paul, also sent messages to
him, begging him not to risk his life being taken by entering the
Amphitheater.
Inside their stadium all the people were shouting out, some
one thing, some others another thing, the whole place was in
total confusion and bedlam. The fact was that most of the people
there did not know why they were there in the first place, they
followed the crowd, some just looking for an excuse to riot. A
man by the name of Alexander was pushed forward by some of the
Jews, who encouraged him to explain the situation to everyone. He
motioned for silence and then would have made his defence, but
when the crowd realized he was a Jew, they started shouting again
as one voice, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians! Great is Diana of
the Ephesians!" And they kept up those kind of shouting for two
full hours.
Finally the town mayor was able to appease the people so he
was able to speak.
"Citizens of Ephesus," he said: "Everyone knows that Ephesus
is the official guardian of the great temple of Diana, whose
image fell down to us from heaven. As this is the fact,
you should not be disturbed, no matter what is said. Don't
do anything in a senseless rash way. You have brought these
men here but they really have done no harm to you.
They have stolen nothing from the temple, and they have not
spoken against your goddess. If Demetrius and the craftsmen
with him have a case against these men, the courts are in
session and the judges can hear the case immediately. Let
them go through the legal channels of our city. And if there
are other complaints about other matters they can be brought
before the courts in a legal way. I am afraid we are in
danger of the Roman government charging us with rioting,
since there is no justifiable cause for all this commotion
and disturbance that is taking place here. And if Rome
demands an explanation, we will not know what to tell them."
With this sensible and logical speech the crowd dispersed
and went back to their normal everyday living.
After all this near riot was over Paul called for the
disciples, and exhorted and encourage them, and then said goodbye
and left for Macedonia (Act 19:21-41; 20:1).
While Paul lived in Ephesus most scholars believe he wrote
his TWO epistles to the Church at Corinth - the epistles called 1
Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. We shall in the next chapter, take
a look at the overview of those epistles.
.............................
April 2004
TO BE CONTINUED
  Chapter Seventy-Six:Acts 20 - Elders of Ephesus
PAUL MOVES ON DURING HIS THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY
Acts 20
The books of Galatians and Romans is thought to have been
written by Paul while in the city of Corinth. We pick up his
travels in Acts 20 verse 4. Several men were travelling with Paul
and the names of some are given, Timothy is no doubt the most
well-known name, as Paul wrote two epistles to him, that are
preserved for us in the Newt Testament.
We are told they went ahead and waited for "us" (probably
meaning Paul and Luke as it was Luke who wrote and compiled the
book of Acts), at Troas. As soon as the days of Unleavened Bread
were over (indicating they still gave honor and respect to those
days of the Passover season. We have seen in 1 Corinthians 5 that
Paul told the church at Corinth, they should observe those days
with a new spirit of heart), they (Paul and Luke) boarded a ship
at Philippi in Macedonia and five days later arrived at Troas,
and there they stayed for a week.
This was about the year A.D. 57 or 58 as best we can gather,
but the exact year is really unimportant, as Luke does not put
any emphasis on the exact chronology of most events he recorded.
It was on the first day of the week that Paul and many
disciples (as well as many interested locals) gathered together
to "break bread" - which simply meant they gathered to have a
meal together, and has nothing to do with the observance of the
"Lord's supper" or "communion" as many today call the remembrance
of Jesus' death. It was the first day of the week and Paul was
preaching and teaching. He was going to leave the next day, so he
continued preaching until midnight, wanting to make the best of
every minute he had with them, in giving instructions and
explanations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now, some have jumped to the conclusion that this preaching
"till midnight" was a Saturday evening, saying the Bible counts
days from evening to evening, so, as this was the first day of
the week, it must therefore have been Saturday evening. It is
true that the Lord does count days from evening to evening as we
see in the first chapter of Genesis, but sometimes writers of the
Bible wrote within the time setting of the general society they
lived in. And that society Luke lived in was under Roman rule and
influence. It is then quite possible Luke wrote within Roman
usage of the day, which if that is the case here, then this
meeting look place on Sunday evening, not Saturday evening, and
Paul was going to leave on Monday not on a Sunday.
The case cannot be proved either way. Those who want to
insist it was a Sunday evening "church meeting" use it to try and
say Sunday was now the New Testament weekly Sabbath. This is
merely the wishful thinking of those who hold that theological
teaching. The rest of the whole New Testament gives no weight to
that theological belief, and secular recorded history certainly
does not back up that teaching. There is no indication or
straight-forward talk by anyone in the New Testament that at the
death of Christ and His resurrection in the first hours of the
first day of the week (what we call Saturday evening - I refer
you back to the last chapters of the Gospels we have covered
already), the FOURTH commandment of the great Ten Commandments
was changed from the SEVENTH day of the week (Saturday) to the
FIRST day of the week (Sunday).
Not ONE verse in the New Testament ever calls the first day
of the week, HOLY, or BLESSED, or SANCTIFIED, or a day of REST
from secular work. How easy it would have been for any one writer
of the New Testament to have said somewhere in all they wrote,
"We sanctify and keep holy the first day of the week in honor of
our Savior's resurrection" or "God has now commanded us to keep
holy the first day of the week because His Son was resurrected on
that day." Such words or such a sentence would have been so easy
for anyone to have somewhere incased in their epistles and
letters of the New Testament, but SUCH WORDS CANNOT be found.
Acts 20:7 and 8 CANNOT be used to support a sanctified or
holy day for the first day of the week!
Paul was speaking on and on, as we have seen, he spoke till
mid-night. A young man named Eutychus was sitting on the
windowsill, and became very drowsy, heavy eyed, and kept nodding
off to sleep. Finally he just went into a deep sleep and then
fell three stories down to his death. Paul immediately ran over
to him, took him in his arms and said to them all, "Don't be
alarmed, he is alive." It was a miracle, Luke tells us the
young man HAD died, was killed from his fall, but Paul through
the power of the Holy Spirit, had brought him back to life. They
were all overjoyed. It was a good time for Paul to now stop his
preaching, and they all "broke bread" and had some food together.
Paul though was not finished talking to them about the Lord
and the Gospel. After they had had the refreshments, he again
continued talking to them right up to the break of day. Then Paul
departed. The young man we are told was taken home completely
unhurt, and all were joyous and relieved of any worry or sorrow
over his fall.
Yes this was an all-night preaching and teaching seminar we
might say today. No doubt every one was pumped up with excitement
and enthusiasm, and except for the one young man, all were able
to be awake and attentive. When you are in this frame of mind the
body is able to go through the night without sleep, but I'm sure
they all had a good sleep the next day after Paul and his
companions left (Acts 20:4-12).
PAUL MEETS WITH THE EPHESIAN ELDERS
Paul actual went on by land to Assos, while all the rest of
his companions went on by ship ahead of him. Paul did join them
there and they all sailed on together to Mitylene. Why Paul went
by land and the others by sea is not told to us. Luke just
records the fact of it. The second day of sailing they passed the
island of Kios. The day following they crossed to the island of
Samos, and a day later they arrived at Miletus (Acts 20:13-15).
Paul had decided not to stop at Ephesus this time, he did
not want to spend any time in Asia, as he was hurrying to get to
Jerusalem for the great feast of Pentecost. The Greek can be
understood to read that he was wanting to "observe" to "keep" to
"celebrate" the feast of Pentecost at Jerusalem. Not that
Jerusalem was still the only place to observe the Feasts of the
Lord. We saw in past chapters how that Paul at one point in his
life had NOT BEEN in Jerusalem for FOURTEEN YEARS! Obviously
being in Jerusalem this time for Pentecost had certain important
designs for Paul, all of which we are not told.
When they all landed at Miletus, Paul sent a message to the
Elders of the church at Ephesus, asking them to come and meet
with him. They did come.
Before we read the important words what Paul had to say to
them, we need to note that this church (and so naturally others)
DID HAVE "elders." Some in the Churches of God and other sects,
have the modern notion that "spiritual elders" are a thing of the
far past ages, and that all in the "church" today (men and women)
can be, and in their teaching, ARE, all "elders." We see here
that Paul did NOT call ALL the church members of Ephesus to come
and meet with him, but he called the "elders" of the church at
Ephesus to meet with him. And we shall see from the very words of
Paul to them, that he TAUGHT and he PRACTICED, the theology, that
there were spiritual "elders" over the "churches" of God, who did
indeed have the calling to be spiritual "shepherds" to the
flocks of God. Truly, all the apostles believed that this was so,
as we see the apostle James writing to the twelve tribes
scattered abroad (James 1:1), that NOT MANY of them should be
"masters" or "teachers" in the church (see the modern
translations on this verse (James 3:1).
Paul addressed the Elders of Ephesus and said:
"You know from the day I set foot in the province of Asia
until this day, I have done the Lord's work in a humble
manner. Yes, and at times, with tears. I endured the trials
that came to me from the plotting of the Jews against me.
Yet, despite all that, I never shrank from telling you the
truth, either publicly or in your private homes. I have had
one message for Jews and gentiles alike - the need to turn
from sin and to turn to God, and have faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Now I am going to Jerusalem, as the Holy Spirit has said I
must, yet not knowing exactly what is waiting for me there,
except as I've been informed by the Spirit, I'll have
suffering and many times be put in jail, in various places
and cities. But my life is really worth nothing if I do not
serve the calling and work of the Lord that I have been
called to do, which is to tell others of the Good News about
God's great kindness, mercy, and love.
I do know this though, none of you to whom I have preached
the Kingdom of God, will see me again in this life time. I
tell you that I have been faithful, and no one's
damnation can be blamed on me, for I did not shrink back to
declaring and teaching you ALL that God wants for you in how
to live, think, and practice.
Now, BEWARE! Be sure that you feed and shepherd the flock of
God - His called out ones - His church - that have been
purchased with His own blood. The Holy Spirit has
appointed you and made you spiritual Elders and OVERSEERS
over His flock. I know of a certainty that FALSE teachers
like wolves will come into the flock, not sparing them, but
attacking and devouring them. Yes, as shocking as this may
sound, even SOME OF YOU, will distort the truth to gain a
following. WATCH OUT! Remember the three years I was with
you - remember my constant watch and care I had over you,
day and night, and the many tears I shed for you.
I have never coveted anyone's money or fine clothes or
material blessings. You know my own hands have worked to pay
mine own way, and even supplied the physical needs of some
who were with me. I have been a constant example of how you
can help the poor by working hard with your skills. You need
to remember the words of our Lord, 'It is more blessed to
give than to receive.' "
When Paul had finished speaking, we are told he knelt and
prayed with them. Ah, it is good at times to kneel with some of
God's children and pray. There will indeed be times when this is
very important to do. Paul knew this was one of those times. We
are told the Elders "wept aloud as they embraced him in farewell,
sad most of all because he had told them that they would never
see him again in this life. Then they accompanied him down to the
ship" (verses 18-36).
We see in the last paragraph, that it is far from wrong for
God's people to show some emotions at times, even with loud
weeping. This was a very emotional time for Paul and the Elders
of Ephesus. A kind of special teaching and prayer meeting if you
will.
Then we again need to notice some up-front, even dogmatic
words of Paul. It should be very clear that God HAS APPOINTED
spiritual Elders as OVERSEERS (as the Greek puts it) over the
flocks of God, over the Churches of God. Not everyone in Paul's
mind was an Elder, and certainly not everyone was an OVERSEER
over the flock. It was the duty of the Elders of the flock to
GUIDE and SHEPHERD the flock in faithfulness, as Paul himself had
done among the church at Ephesus.
Then we also find the teaching here that it may be right and
proper and the best thing to do, in that Elders WORK with their
skills at a SECULAR job, and maintain themselves, even as Paul
said, helping others in the physical way also. We have seen
as we went through the books of Corinthians, that Paul knew it
was NOT wrong for those who preached the Gospel to "live off the
gospel" - to be supported by those to whom they taught and
preached the Gospel, supported in a physical way. This is very
clearly brought out in 1 Corinthians 9 and 2 Corinthians. Read
those books in a modern translation and the truth on this point
will become abundantly clear, if of course you are willing to see
it.
There are times, as in the life of Paul, when it is the
right and best judgment for an Elder to work at a secular job as
well as shepherding the flock of God. Paul found, as with the
Corinthians, that some groups of the flock of God, just were not
in the mind-set to support him with the physical needs of life,
so he gladly supported himself with the skill of being a tent
maker. Then as he shows the Corinthians there were other groups
of the flock who gladly helped him and his companions in the
physical needs of this life.
The THIRD very important teaching of Paul in this message to
the Elders of Ephesus it that FALSE teachers WILL arise among the
flock of God. It would seem there was nothing more sure in Paul's
mind than this sad fact - false teachers would come into
the flock of God, and would DEVOUR, and speak PERVERSE things
(KJV) to gain a following. The one trait it seems that false
teachers have is that they LOVE to be loved and to have people
following them. Jesus once said to His true faithful apostles
that when men shall say well of you, have you as some great
"religious figure or teacher" then BEWARE, for so they did to the
FALSE prophets of old.
The other startling truth that Paul gives is that MANY of
these FALSE teachers will COME FROM the VERY ELDERS to whom he
was speaking. Paul knew that many Elders, many shepherds of the
flock would GO ASTRAY, BECOME FALSE TEACHERS, SPEAKING PERVERSE
THINGS. We need to fully realize that just because a person
STARTS out as being called by God to be an overseer and a
spiritual Elder of the flock of God, DOES NOT MEAN, he
automatically and irreversibly, can never become a false
teacher. Paul was addressing those Elders whom at THAT TIME, were
true Elders of the flock. Paul did not say that some WERE and HAD
ALWAYS been false Elders, from the word go. No, those elders were
at the time Paul was speaking to them, true, faithful Elders and
overseers, BUT Paul knew SOME, later, would become FALSE
teachers, speaking perverse things, so thy could have "a
following" - "to draw away disciples after them" (KJV).
How does a person NOT fall prey to false teachers, one clear
answer is found in Isaiah 8:20.
Keep your nose and eyes in the Word of God, the Bible.
What an important chapter is Acts 20. The teachings and
lessons for us there are of major importance to our salvation.
................
Written October 2004
  Chapter Seventy-seven:Paul goes to Jerusalem
Paul arrives in Jerusalem Acts 21
After saying farewell to the elders of Ephesus, Paul and his
company sailed to the island of Cos. They reached Rhodes the next
day and then went on to Patara, and there they boarded a ship
sailing for the Syrian province of Phoenicia. They sighted the
island of Cyprus and passed by it on the left and then landed at
the harbor of Tyre, in Syria, where the cargo of the ship was
unloaded. There they went ashore and found the local disciples
and decided to stay a week with them. Through the power of the
Holy Spirit these disciples prophesied that Paul should NOT go up
to Jerusalem. When it was time for Paul and his company to leave,
the entire congregation, with wives and children , came down to
the shore with them. There they all knelt and prayed and said
farewell. Paul and his companions journeyed on and the saints of
Tyre returned to their homes (Acts 21:1-6).
We again see here an example that it is quite correct and
honorable at times, for a congregation to all kneel and pray
together. This was no doubt such a time, as they all knew nothing
good from the physical point of view was going to happen to Paul
if he went up to Jerusalem.
Paul and his co-workers went on to Ptolemais, where they
greeted the believers there, but only stayed for one day. Then
they went on to Caesarea and stayed in Philip's house. He had
become an Evangelist. He was one of the seven men chosen to "wait
on tables" or distribute food, as we saw back in Acts chapter
six.
Now, Philip had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of
Prophecy. In the early years of the New Testament Church of God,
this gift of prophecy usually included the ability to foretell
what would happen to a person or persons in a week, or month, or
whatever time frame. They could probably also foretell natural
disasters to come. All of those kinds of things they could
predict, as well as speaking things inspired by the Holy Spirit,
which the word "prophecy" can also be understood to mean (verses
7-9).
We can see from this that the gifts of the Spirit can be
placed upon ANYONE, men or women, and that is exactly what Paul
taught in 1 Corinthians chapter twelve.
We note also that the leading of the Spirit had guided
Philip, who at first was chosen by the people and the apostles
(Acts 6) to serve in a physical way, to become an Evangelist. The
details of all this happening to Philip we are not given. It is
given that by this time in the life of the Church of God, he was
known as an Evangelist, and that is sufficient for us to know. An
Evangelist is one who goes out in a public way at times to
proclaim the Gospel to the unconverted masses of the people.
During the time Paul and his companions stay with Philip, a
man named Agabus, who also had the gift of prophecy, came to them
from Judea. He took Paul's belt and bound his own feet with it.
Then he said, "The Holy Spirit has declared to me, that the
owner of this belt shall also be bound by the Jewish leaders in
Jerusalem and turned over to the Romans."
Paul's companions and those believers at Philip's house then
begged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. But Paul answered them
saying, "Why do you weep for me? You are breaking my heart! I am
not only ready to be jailed at Jerusalem but also to die if I
must, for the sake of our Lord Jesus."
All then realized it was useless to try and get Paul to
change his mind about going up to Jerusalem, so they stopped
trying and said, "The will of the Lord be done" (verses 10-14).
PAUL ARRIVES AT JERUSALEM
Some believers from Caesarea accompanied Paul and his
companions to Jerusalem. They arrived and stayed with a man named
Mnason, who was originally from Cyprus, and one of the very early
disciples. They were all welcomed very cordially by the believers
in Jerusalem.
The next day Paul and his co-workers went on to meet with
James and all the Elders of Jerusalem. Greetings were exchanged
and then Paul gave account of all the things God had accomplished
among the Gentiles through his and his companions efforts.
The Elders of Jerusalem praised God on hearing all this news, but
then after a little silence, with concerned looks on their faces,
they all said with one voice (but probably it was James who did
the speaking for them all):
"You know dear brother there are many thousands of Jews who
have also believed, and still take all the laws of Moses
very seriously. The Jewish Christians here have been told
that you are teaching all the Jews in the Gentile world to
turn away from the laws of Moses. They say that you teach
people NOT to CIRCUMCISE their children or follow Jewish
customs. Now what can be done about this? For those Jewish
Christians will certainly hear that you have come to
Jerusalem. Here is our suggestion.
We have four men here who have taken a vow, and are
preparing to shave their heads. Go with them to the Temple
and join them in the purification ceremony, and pay for them
to have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that the
rumors about you and your teachings are all false and that
you yourself are willing to observe Jewish laws and rituals.
As for the Gentile Christians, all we ask of them is what we
have already told them in a letter, that they should not eat
food offered to idols, nor consume blood, nor eat meat from
strangled animals, and that they should stay away from all
sexual immorality" (verses 15-25).
This is an extremely interesting passage of the New
Testament. It shows that false ideas and rumors that are
incorrect, can and do often float around and get passed on,
that come from a misunderstanding of what someone may say in a
certain context. Often the context is not thought about, only
certain words that are said, are clung to, and from there ANOTHER
context is added, which perverts the original context and the
words spoken within the original context.
Paul taught that certain physical rites and "rituals" (like
the rite and ritual that went with circumcising an eight day old
male child) such as physical circumcision was, under the New
Testament, NOT required for spiritual salvation. But he NEVER
taught it was WRONG or that such a law of Moses, should NOT BE
DONE, if you desired to do it. He simply taught that such a
physical rite did nothing for your salvation. He taught that
doing a physical rite like circumcision, neither added to the
grace of salvation, nor took away from the grace of salvation. In
other words Paul said, you did not acquire more "brownie
points" in God's eyes if you circumcised or if you did not
circumcise.
We have seen (as we covered Acts 15) that SOME "Jewish"
believing people taught that circumcision WAS needed in order to
be saved. Many other Jewish believers also practiced the Temple
rituals and vows such as the Nazarite vow of Number 6. It may
well have been the Nazarite vow that these four men had taken
which the Elders at Jerusalem wanted Paul to participate in, at
the Temple, with them, as they ended their vow.
But the context of this passage is certain - it is physical
and ritual laws of Moses, which many Jewish believers, still
desired to practice, even having enthusiasm to still practice
them. The Temple still stood, the Levitical priesthood still
functioned in the Temple. All this was instituted by God under
Moses, so hence it still in that sense, belonged to the Lord. It
was not NOW something "evil" or "bad" or "contaminated" just
because the New Testament was in effect, and because the Messiah
had now come to die for the sins of the world. Some thought that
Paul did teach that the rites and rituals of the laws of Moses,
including physical circumcision, was "evil" or "bad" and should
be kept at arms length, avoiding them like the plague.
The Elders at Jerusalem knew Paul did NOT teach such a
theology concerning the Temple ritual laws of Moses, as some
thought he did. And those Elders wanted Paul to literally
demonstrate to all in Jerusalem that he was not against partaking
in Temple rites IF they so still desired to do so.
Again, let me make it clear. Paul did not teach that a
believer in Christ HAD TO partake of Temple ceremonies and rites
under the New Testament. He taught that such physical rites
(including physical circumcision) did NOT have to be performed
under the New Testament, that those rites gained no favor or
grace with God as such. You were neither "more saved" or "less
saved" or to put it in modern terminology, you were neither
a "better Christian" or a "worst Christian" by doing or not doing
physical Temple rites of Moses.
It comes as a shock to many Christians to realize the truth
of this passage in the book of Acts. The truth that Paul DID go
to the Temple and with other believers did partake of performing
Temple rites, which included Temple sacrifices. Many today think
that as Christ had been sacrificed on the cross for the sins of
the world, that doing literal animal sacrifices in the Temple,
with the Levitical priesthood, would be a terrible affront to
Christ, would somehow even be evil or sin, to do such a thing as
what Paul and these four men did in the Temple ritual. But as we
can plainly read, this was not the case at all, Paul and the four
men, did go to the Temple, they did partake in Temple rituals,
and God did not rain fire and brimstone down on their heads for
so doing.
If today there was a Temple in Jerusalem, if today there was
a Levitical priesthood officiating the Temple sacrifices and
rituals, it would NOT be wrong, evil, or sin, for a Christian to
partake of those rituals. It would NOT make you a better
Christian, or a worst Christian, if you did or did not partake of
Temple rituals. You would not find more grace or less grace with
God by participating in Temple ceremonies and rituals, even
Temple animal sacrifices. It was not bad or sin for Paul and the
four men to participate in the Temple laws of Moses, and it
would not be bad or sin, for you to do likewise IF the Temple
conditions were the same today as it was in Paul's day.
As for the Gentiles, or none Jewish people, we have the
clear instruction in both Acts 15 and in this passage of Acts 21,
that they were never to feel they ever needed to perform Temple
rites, ceremonies, rituals, including physical circumcision. They
were to particularly watch and be careful about FOUR points
given. We covered all this in some detail as we went through Acts
15. It was four areas where the Gentiles had specific LARGE
problems with. Most can see that of sexual immorality, being a
large problem, with the people who never had God's word to guide
them on the matter of sexual conduct, but the other three ....
people could question, from the point of "Are not these
also physical laws of Moses?"
Yes, I guess you could say they are to some degree, or at
least many people classify them as physical laws of Moses, and so
as the Temple ritual, sacrificing, ceremonial, laws of Moses are
not required for salvation, so then these other three laws
of Moses should not be required. But we have the Elders of
Jerusalem saying the Gentiles should take care NOT to defile
themselves by practicing the breaking of these three laws of
Moses (the fourth being accepted by most Christians as right and
correct to be not sexually immoral). So, in the mind of many,
there is a seeming contradiction or ideas, or teaching here. But
the truth must lie then in the understanding, that NOT ALL
physical laws of Moses are the SAME. Some are NOT important for
Christians to practice today under the New Testament, but SOME
ARE STILL to be observed by all Christians (Jews or Gentiles)
today.
I did cover this aspect of the question and seeming
contradiction in detail in Acts 15. I ask the reader to refer
back to that section of the Bible Story, for the full answer.
PAUL IS ARRESTED
So it was that Paul agreed to the Elders request and the
next day he went through the purification ritual with the men in
the Temple. The he publicly announced the date when their vows
would end and when the sacrifices would be offered for each of
them.
The seven days were almost completed when some Jews from
Asia saw Paul in the Temple and roused a mob of people against
him. They took hold of him, saying, "Men of Israel! Help us! This
is the man who teaches against our people and tells everyone to
disobey the Jew's laws. He speaks against the Temple, and even
defiles it by bringing into it Gentile people [They had earlier
seen Paul in the city with Trophimus, the Gentile from Ephesus,
and they assumed Paul had taken him to the Temple]" (verses
26-29).
Ah, see what "assumption" can do - it can cause blindness of
heart to the point of wanting to do harm, literally or mentally
and emotionally, towards whom you have falsely assumed has done
what you consider they should not have done, even if what you
consider is evil, is not evil at all. Nothing in God's word said
a Gentile could not come into the Temple of God, but the Jews had
set boundary markers and walls with the Temple structure to keep
Gentiles in only one part and out of another part. They even had
boundaries set up where Jewish women could not cross over within
the Temple. All man made ideas and practices. So these Jews truly
had an assumption and compounded it by adding to it practices and
traditions of their own making, all ending up to bring a great
evil upon the Apostle Paul.
The whole population of the city was rocked and rolled by
these accusations, and a great riot broke out. Paul was dragged
out of the Temple, and the gates closed behind him. They were now
trying to kill him, so hot was their anger at him. Word reached
the commander of the Roman regiment that all Jerusalem was in a
riotous uproar. He immediately called out his officers and
soldiers who ran into the crowd. And it was only this action by
the soldiers that caused the mob to stop beating Paul. The
commander arrested Paul and had him bound with two chains. He
then asked the crowd who this man was and what had he done. Some
shouted one thing and others shouted another thing. He could find
no truth in all the shouting and accusations, much of it
confusing and contradictory, so he ordered Paul to be taken to
the fortress.
As they reached the stairs to the fortress, the mob
grew so violent the soldiers had to lift up Paul to their
shoulders, and carry him aloft, to protect him. The crowd
followed behind shouting, "Kill him, kill him!"
PAUL SPEAKS TO THE CROWD
As Paul was about to be taken inside, he said to the
commander, "May I have a word with you sir?"
"Do you know Greek?" the commander surprisingly asked when
Paul spoke in Greek to him. "Are you not the one, the Egyptian
who led a rebellion some time back and took four thousand members
of the Assassins out into the desert?"
"No," replied Paul, "I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia,
which is an important city. Please, let me talk to these people."
The commander agreed, so Paul stood there on the steps and
motioned to the people to be quiet. Soon a deep silence did come
over the crowd, and he addressed them in their own language,
Aramaic, which was the common Hebrew dialect of the people of
Judah (verses 30-40).
............................
Written October 2004
  Chapter Seventy-eight:Paul speaks to the Jews in his Defence
Paul's Defence from the Jew's Accusations
Acts 22 and 23
Finally the mob of people who were calling for Paul's death
were somewhat silent in order to allow Paul to speak to them.
"Men and my brethren and honorable fathers, hear my defence which
I make unto you," Paul began to say in the Hebrew dialect to
them, and as he spoke in their native language they became even
more silent.
"I am truly a man who is a Jew, " Paul continued, "and I was
born in Tarsus, a city in the province of Cilicia, yet I was
brought up in this city of Jerusalem, as a student at the
feet of Gamaliel (who was one of the great Jewish teachers
of that day). I was taught according to the perfect manner
and traditions of the fathers of Judaism, and I was surely
zealous towards serving God, as all of you are this day. I
persecuted THIS WAY even to some dying as I hounded them
down. I put many in chains and delivered both men and
women into prison, both the High Priest and many Elders can
bear witness to those facts.
I received letters from the aforementioned to give to the
brethren Jews at Damascus, to bring them which I had bound
and chained unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. And it
came to pass, that as I was on my journey to Damascus and
was about there, that around noon, there was suddenly a
great light from heaven around me. And I fell to the
ground hearing a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are
you persecuting me?' I answered, 'Who are you Lord?' And the
voice said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, who you are
persecuting.'
They that were with me saw indeed the light, and were
terrified, but they did not hear the voice of Him that spoke
to me. And I said, 'What shall I do Lord?' And the Lord
replied, 'Arise, get up, and go into Damascus, and there it
shall be told you concerning all the things that are
appointed for you to do.'
I could not see, I was blind, from the glory of the light,
and I had to be led by hand into the city of Damascus, by
those who were with me.
Then a man by the name of Ananias, a devout man according to
the law of Moses, a man who had the respect of all the Jews
at Damascus, he came to me, and said, 'Brother Saul,
received your sight.' And within the same hour I was able to
see him. And he further said to me, 'The God of our fathers
has chosen you, that you should know His will, and
understand the Just One, and should hear the words from His
mouth. For you are to be a witness to all persons of what
you have seen and heard. Now, wait no longer, get up
and be baptized, and have your sins washed away, as you call
on the name of the Lord.'
And it came to pass as I was come again to Jerusalem, as I
was praying in the Temple, I was in a trance, and I saw Him
saying to me, 'Make haste, get out of Jerusalem quickly,
for the people there will not receive your words concerning
Myself.' And I said, 'Lord, they know that I had many in the
synagogues who believed on you, beaten and imprisoned.
and when the blood of your martyr Stephen was spilled, I
also stood by and consented unto his death, I was holding
and watching over the clothes of those who were stoning
him.' And He answered me, 'Depart, for I will send you far
away to the Gentiles.'" (chapter 22:1-21).
At the sound of the word "Gentile" they broke their silence.
Once more their angry emotions took over, and they shouted out,
"Away with such a fellow as this, he should not walk this earth,
it is fitting that he should not live."
They continued to cry this out and as they did so they cast
off their clothes and threw dust into the air, a sign with the
Jews of deep emotional upset, but the emotion in this case was
anger at Paul and a desire to have him put to death (verses
22-23).
We must always guard against the bad side of our emotions.
Emotions are not wrong of themselves. Our heavenly Father has all
the emotions we have. This can be seen from a careful reading of
the entire Bible, but our Father's emotions are always in
perfect control and with righteousness. We can also see from this
account that the Jews had "prejudice" - a preconceived notion or
idea about something that can cause a wrong action, even a
hurtful action to others. The Jews here hated the Gentiles
overall. It had become with them, not just a matter of hating
many of their sins and practices, which indeed were contrary to
the word, and commandments of God, but even the mention of
the word "Gentile" brought revolt and disdain and anger. The
wrong side of those emotions were again manifested as they
shouted out that Paul should be put to death.
The chief captain of the guards ordered that Paul should be
brought inside the castle, and be whipped, to see if he might
admit as to why the Jews were crying out for him to be put to
death.
They were binding Paul's hands with thongs of leather, when
Paul said to them, "Is it lawful to whip a man that is a Roman
citizen, before a trial, to see if he should be condemned?" When
the centurion (a soldier in charge of a hundred men) heard this
he quickly ran off to the captain and said, "You need to be very
careful with this man, for he claims he is a Roman citizen."
Then, with haste, the captain came over to Paul and said,
"Tell me the truth now, is it true that you are a Roman citizen?"
Paul answered, "Yes, it is indeed true, I am." The captain
muttered, "Why, it is with a great sum of money that I bought
this freedom of being a Roman citizen."
Yes, like today in some quarters, as they say, "With money
you can buy anything." You could with enough money "buy" yourself
a citizenship in the Roman Government. And with that citizenship
you were entitled to many things that you could not ask for if
you were not a citizen of Rome. Going through a "court" hearing
before being physically punished if found guilty, was one of
those things.
Paul was now claiming his rightful Roman citizen privileges
of a court hearing before any physical punishment could be
enacted upon him, if he was indeed guilty of a crime. The captain
had acquired Roman citizenship by buying it with a great sum of
money. Paul answered him on the other hand that he was BORN a
Roman citizen - he was born free - with Roman citizen privileges,
and one of them was that a Roman citizen could not be whipped
without first a trial to see if he was guilty of something that
deserved a physical beating under Roman law (verses 22-28).
Everyone now departed from Paul. They got together and
talked among themselves, even now being very afraid, because the
captain had bound up and was about to allow physical whipping to
be administered to a Roman citizen, without first having a trial.
The next day the captain, took off the bonds from Paul's
hands, set him free, but wanting to know if the Jews had a true
cause in saying Paul had done some evil, he called the chief
priests and the Jewish Sanhedrin (the Jewish court allowed under
Roman rule to function on certain religious matters) together. He
set Paul in their midst (verses 29-30).
PAUL ANSWERS THE JEWISH SANHEDRIN - ACTS 23
With an earnest steadfast look at the members of the
Sanhedrin, Paul spoke: "Men and brethren, I have lived in all
good conscience before God unto this very day." The High Priest
Ananias then commanded someone standing close to Paul to smite
him on the mouth. Paul immediately said with a stern tone of
voice, "God shall smite you, you whited wall (black underneath,
but looking white and righteous to onlookers). Do you sit
to judge me after the law, and then command that I be smitten,
which is contrary to the law?"
Those that stood by cried out to Paul, "Do you revile and
speak angry to God's High Priest?" Then Paul said, "I did not
know brethren that it was the High Priest; for it is written,
'You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people" (verses
1-5).
Paul is quoting Exodus 22:28. But the whole Bible must be
taken into account with such a verse. When the judges and rulers
are judging and ruling according to God's commandments and
righteousness, then they rule and judge correctly and so must be
shown respect at all times. Under the ideal of God's government
they are living, acting, thinking, and administering, correct
judgment, in the correct godly manner. In so doing God gave
instructions, that all people then should honor the judges and
rulers.
In this case with Paul, it is very clear that the High
Priest and the members of the Sanhedrin, were FAR from acting and
thinking and practicing according to God's righteousness. The
High Priest had commanded that a physical action to done to Paul
that was indeed NOT according to any law of Moses or law of God.
The High Priest was way out of line here and in the whole context
of this episode with Paul. Did Paul really not know that it was
the High Priest standing there? I very much doubt he did not.
Paul was a highly educated man, and coming to Jerusalem, being
there for a while, going through all the trouble he was
experiencing with the Jews, I would fully expect that Paul
knew very well who was High Priest.
Did Paul have a right to protest, even with no uncertain
words, against the High Priest's command to have him stricken on
the mouth. Yes, of course he did. No where in God's word does the
Lord teach that "evil" men, who are NOT fulfilling their function
as supposedly being a judge and ruler in righteousness for God,
over His people, must be respected no matter how they behave and
no matter what commandments they broadcast out to others to
perform against righteous individuals (and Paul was certainly
in full and right standing with God here, it was the High Priest
and the members of the Sanhedrin who were opposed to the Lord
here, and it was they who were really in the hot seat with God,
not Paul).
Jesus spoke at times with very open and frank words to
"religious leaders" of His day, who were anything but the correct
righteous judges and rulers of religion in Israel. Once more just
read Matthew chapter 23 and hear the blistering words form Jesus'
mouth to religious judges and rulers, which would have included
the High Priest and the members of the Jewish religious council
of the Sanhedrin.
So, what of Paul kind of apologizing here, and saying "I did
not know it was the High Priest" and quoting from Exodus 22:28?
He was probably saying it with tongue in cheek, kind of
"appeasing" them we could say. They were so far off from acting
the truth, that they even thought the High Priest had the right
from God to command anything, even that which was against the law
of God, and that it was approved of God. Yes, Paul I'm sure knew
it was the High Priest commanding something to be done which was
against the law of God, but when they wanted to abuse Exodus
22:28 as if no matter what the judge or ruler of the people
commanded against you, you were to take it like "blind faith
dogs" - then Paul appeased them with a kind of tongue in cheek,
"Oh, I'm so sorry, for I know what Exodus 22:28 says." Probably
under his breath he was saying, "but you guys are so far from
following the righteous way and laws of God, you don't even come
within acting as God commanded judges and rulers to act."
Many sects and cults, mis-apply this verse of Exodus 22:28.
They first, through various cunning ways get their followers to
believe the leader of the cult and his right hand men, are true
"prophets" or "apostles" or "ministers" of God, usually the
"head" leader is "THE prophet or apostle" of God. Then they
brainwash their followers to believe that anything done, spoken,
or written, by the "head" apostle is THE WORD of God,
directly coming from God, inspired by the Lord, even when it is
in utter CONTRAST and opposition to the laws and commandments and
teachings of the Lord in His word the Bible.
If someone then questions the correctness of "THE apostle"
of the cult, as not in accordance to God's word in the Bible, the
cult leaders throw Exodus 22:28 in their face. How many cult
leaders finally reach the point when they tell their followers
that THEY, the leader, are ABOVE the law, have new revelation
supposedly from God, that makes the written word of God obsolete
at times, is just about ALWAYS the case. Then they want you to
blindly obey Exodus 22:28. The reasoning goes in a circle. We are
God's judges and rulers, hence we can set whatever we want to
command and set as law, be it against God's law or not, and you
have to take it and say nothing, for Exodus 22:28 tells you to
respect us.
They want you to look at the Bible with tunnel vision and
fall in line with their reason of circulation. They fail to
realize and certainly fail to teach that the Bible often
speaks with "general statements" and general statements have an
exception side to them. The "whole world" came to be taxed in
Luke 2:1. Obviously this is a general statement. The people in
Argentina or China, or India, did NOT come to Jerusalem to be
"taxed." So it is with Exodus 22:28. The understanding from this
general statement, as expounded in the whole Bible, is that when
judges and rulers are acting in accordance to God's will and ways
and laws, then respect is to be shown to them .... if they are
not, but acting contrary to God's laws, then the verse does not
apply.
People did not have to respect or give honor or obedience to
Adolf Hitler of the 20th century. Nor did they have to keep their
mouth shut or their pen from writing about the wrongs and the
evils of that leader.
Paul now goes on to use common wisdom of the world, even
what we might say "psychology" on the people in the Sanhedrin
before him.
He perceived that one part of the Sanhedrin were Pharisees
and the other part were Sadducees. He tells them that he was a
Pharisee at one time, the very son of a Pharisee. And that it is
the hope of the RESURRECTION of the dead that he is called
into question over. Oh, what psychology he used, for when he came
from that point in his defence, with the doctrine of the
resurrection of the dead, he knew it would cause quite
a commotion. For The Pharisees BELIEVED in the resurrection of
the dead, but the Sadducees DID NOT! They, the Sadducees also did
not believe in angels or spirits, but the Pharisees believed in
both.
There was quite the cry raised up, the scribes from the
Pharisees section of the Sanhedrin, rose and said they found NO
EVIL in Paul, but that if it was a spirit or an angel speaking to
him, they did not want to fight against God.
A mighty tug-of-war broke out between the two rival
fractions of the Jewish Sanhedrin, so much so that it looked like
Paul would literally be torn apart between them. So the captain
ordered his soldiers to go down and take hold of Paul by force
and bring him back into the castle.
That night the Lord stood by Paul and said, "Be of good
comfort, Paul, for you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so
must you also witness about me in Rome" (verses 6-11).
PLOT TO KILL PAUL IS DISCOVERED
The anger some Jews (about 40 of them) had for Paul was so
intense that some actually banded together and put themselves
under a curse, or a vow, that they would neither eat food or
drink water till they had killed Paul.
We know that if they stuck to this vow, they themselves
ended up dying, for Paul was not to be killed by the hands of
them or the Jews of the Sanhedrin.
This band of 40 Jews went to the Sanhedrin, told them what
vow they had put themselves under, and wanted the Sanhedrin to
tell the captain in the castle to bring Paul to them, as if
wanting to question him more. Then the 40 Jews would jump on Paul
and kill him.
This plan became known to Paul's sister's son (yes Paul has
a sister living in Jerusalem) and he went into the castle and was
able to tell Paul about it.
Paul was able and allowed to appear before the captain of
the soldiers with this young man who had told him the secret plan
of the forty Jews. The captain took the young man off privately
and asked him what he had to say. He told him that the Jews were
going to ask him to bring Paul to them so they could ask him more
questions, but the forty would jump on him and kill him.
The chief captain thanked the young man for bringing him the
news of this plan, and told him to tell no one that he had told
the captain about it (verses 12-22).
The captain ordered two centurions to gather together two
hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, two hundred spearmen, and
horses for all, and at the third hour of the night, to escort
Paul to Felix the governor at Caesarea.
He wrote a letter after this manner:
"Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix,
greeting. This man Paul was taken by the Jews and should
have been killed by them; then came I with an army,
and rescued him, having understood he was a Roman citizen. I
wanted to know the cause as to why the Jews wanted him dead.
I perceived it was all to do with their law, and nothing
worthy of death or even of being bound up and imprisoned. I
was also informed how the Jews had contrived a plan to kill
this man, so I've straight away sent him to you. I have
informed the Jews they need to go before you to state what
they have against this man Paul, Farewell."
The soldiers did as they were commanded and brought Paul
during the night to Antipatris. On the morrow they left just the
horsemen to accompany Paul, and they returned to the castle. The
horsemen arrived at Caesarea and delivered the letter and
Paul before Felix.
Felix read the letter from Claudius, and asked Paul what
Province he was from, and was told Cilicia.
Felix told Paul he would hear him give his defence when his
accusers arrived. Until then Paul was to be housed in Herod's
judgment hall, a very fine and hospitable confinement (verses
23-35).
.....................
Written October 2004
  Chapter Seventy-nine:Acts 24-26 - Paul before King Agrippa
CHAPTER 24
Felix the governor would hear the case against Paul when his
accusers arrived. Till then Paul was imprisoned at Herod's
headquarters.
Five days later Ananias, the High Priest arrived with some
of the Jewish elders and an orator, by the name of Tertullus, to
press charges against Paul. They stated to Felix (through the
orator they had with them):
"Your Excellency, you have given much peace to the Jews
and have enacted reforms for us, to have this peace. For that we
are most grateful to you (during that time in the first century
the Roman government gave the Jews all the freedom they needed to
practice their religious faith). But not to bore you, please give
me your attention for a short time, as I outline our case against
this man Paul. We have found him to be a trouble maker, a man who
is constantly inciting the Jews throughout the Roman world, to
riots and rebellions against the Roman government. He is a
ringleader of a sect known as the Nazarenes. Further more he was
trying to defile the Temple when we arrested him (Some
manuscripts of the New Testament add; 'We would have judged him
by our law, but Lysias, the commander of the garrison, came and
took him violently away from us, commanding his accusers to come
before you.'). You can find this truth of our accusations by
examining him yourself"
Then the other Jews spoke up and said all that Tertullus
said was true (verses 1-9).
Now Paul was given a turn to speak. The governor motioned to
him to stand up and speak. Paul said:
"I know, sir, that you have been a judge of Jewish affairs
for many years, and so this indeed gives me confidence as I
speak to you in my defense. You can soon discover that it
was no more than twelve days ago that I arrived in Jerusalem
to worship at the Temple. I did not argue with anyone in the
Temple, nor did I incite a riot in any synagogue, or on the
streets of the city. These men from Jerusalem cannot prove
anything that they accuse me of doing. But I do admit that I
follow THE WAY, which they call a sect. I worship the God of
our ancestors, and I firmly believe all the words written in
the prophets in God's Scriptures given to us Jews. I have
hope in God, just like these men do, that He will raise both
the righteous and the ungodly. Because of this, I always try
to maintain a clear conscience before God and before
everyone else. After several years away, I returned to
Jerusalem with money and goods to aid my people and to offer
sacrifices to God. My accusers saw me in the Temple as I was
completing a purification ritual. There was no crowd around
me and there was no rioting. But some Jews from the province
of Asia were there - and they really should be here to
bring charges against me if they have anything to charge me
with. Ask these Jews here what wrongdoing the Jewish
Sanhedrin court found in me, except for one thing I said
when I shouted out, 'I am on trial before you today because
I believe in the RESURRECTION of the DEAD'" (verses 10-21).
Felix, who was actually quite familiar with THE WAY (though
we are not told by Luke how he was familiar with the group
following and teaching the about the Lord Jesus), adjourned the
hearing and said, "Wait until Lysias, the garrison commander
arrives, then I will decide the case." He ordered an officer to
keep Paul in custody but to give him some freedom and allow his
friends to visit him and take care of his needs (verses 22-23).
A few days later Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, who was
Jewish. Sending for Paul, they listened as he told them about
faith in Christ Jesus. As Paul reasoned with them about
righteousness and self-control and the judgment to come, Felix
became quite upset and fearful. "Go away for now Paul, when it is
more convenient, I'll call for you again," said Felix.
Felix was also hoping Paul would try to bribe him and buy
his freedom, so he sent for him on a regular basis and talked
with him. Two years went by in this way, Paul coming before
Felix, but then Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. As Felix
wanted to gain favor with the Jewish leaders, he left Paul in
custody, a type of imprisonment, until Festus arrived to take
over from him (verses 22-27).
CHAPTER 25
Three days after Festus arrived in Caesarea to take over his
duties from Felix, he left for Jerusalem, where the leading
Jewish priests and elders met with him and made their accusations
once more against Paul. They asked Festus to do them a favor and
transfer Paul back to Jerusalem (they actually had planned to
way-lay Paul on his way back and kill him). But Festus replied
that Paul was at Caesarea and he would be returning there
himself soon. So he told them, "Those of you in authority can
return with me. If Paul has done anything wrong, you can make
your case against him" (verses 1-5).
It was about eight or ten days later that Festus did return
to Caesarea, and on the day after he arrived back, Paul's trial
began. When Paul was in court, the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem
made all kinds of serious accusations against Paul, which they
simply could not prove.
Paul denied all the charges, and said, "I am not guilty. I
have committed no crime against the Jewish law or the Temple or
the Roman government."
Then Festus, who wanted to try and please the Jews, asked
Paul, "Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before
me there?"
Paul replied, "No! I am not! This is an official Roman
court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well that
I am not guilty. If I have done something worthy of death, I will
not refuse to die. But if I am innocent, neither you or anyone
else has the right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I
appeal to Caesar!"
Festus then conferred with his advisers and then replied,
"Very well then Paul. you have appealed to caesar, and to Caesar
you shall be sent" (verses 6-12)
It was a few days later that king Agrippa arrived with
Bernice, to pay their tribute to Festus. During their stay of
several days Festus discussed Paul's case with the king. "There
is a prisoner here," he told him, "whose case was left for me by
Felix. When I was in Jerusalem, the leading priests and other
Jewish leaders accused him of many evils and wanted me to
sentence him. Of course I quickly pointed out to them that Roman
law does not convict people without a trial. They are given an
opportunity to defend themselves face to face with their
accusers. When they came here for the trial, I called the case
the very next day and ordered Paul to be brought in. But the
accusation made against him were not the accusations I expected
at all. It was all about their religion and some fellow named
Jesus, who died, but whom Paul insists is alive. I was perplexed
as to how to conduct an investigation of this kind, and I asked
him if he would be willing to stand trial in Jerusalem. But Paul
appealed to the Emperor. So I ordered him back to jail until I
could arrange to send him to Caesar."
Agrippa was by now very curious about the whole situation
and about this man called Paul and the man he preached about
called Jesus. "I'd like to hear this man Paul," Agrippa said to
Festus. "Very well then, you certain shall. I will have him
brought to us tomorrow," was Festus' reply (verses 13-22).
PAUL SPEAKS TO AGRIPPA
The next day Agrippa and Bernice arrived at the auditorium
with great pomp, accompanied by military officers and prominent
men of the city. Festus ordered Paul to be brought in. Then
Festus said, "King Agrippa and all present, this is the man whose
death is demanded both by the local Jews and by those in
Jerusalem. But in my opinion he has done nothing worthy of death.
However he has appealed his case to the Emperor and I have
decided to send him. But what shall I write to the Emperor? for
there is no real charge against him. So I have brought him before
you all, and especially before you king Agrippa, so that after we
have heard from him, I might have something to write. For it does
not seem reasonable to send a prisoner to the Emperor without
specifying the charges against him" (verses 23-27).
CHAPTER 26
Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You may speak now in your
defense."
So Paul, with a gesture of his hand started his defence:
"I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing
my defense against all these accusations made by the Jewish
leaders, for I know you are an expert on Jewish customs and
controversies. Now I ask that you listen to me patiently. As
the Jewish leaders are aware, I was given a thorough Jewish
training from my earliest childhood among my own people and
in Jerusalem. If they would admit it, they know I have been
a member of the strict Pharisees sect of our religion. Now I
am on trial because I look forward to the fulfillment of
God's promises made to our ancestors. In fact that is why
the twelve tribes of Israel worship god night and day, for
they share the same hope I have. Yet, king, they say it is
wrong for me to have this hope! Why should it seem
incredible to any of you that God should raise the dead?
I once believed that I should do everything I could to
oppose the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Authorized by the
leading priests, I caused many of the believers in Jerusalem
to be sent ot prison.
And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to
death.
Many times I had them whipped in the synagogues to try to
get them to curse this Christ man they believed in and
preached. I was so violently opposed to them that I even
hounded them in distant cities of foreign lands.
One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with
authority and commission from the leading priests. It was
about noon time, your Majesty, and a light from heaven
brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. We
all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in
Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard
to fight against my will.' 'Who are you, sir,' I asked. And
the Lord replied, 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.
Now stand up! For I have come to you to appoint you as
my servant and my witness. You are to tell the world about
this experience and about other times I will appear yo you.
And I will protect you from both your own people and the
Gentiles. Yes, I am going to send you to the Gentiles, to
open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to the
light, and from the power of satan to God. Then they will
receive the forgiveness for their sins and be given a place
among God's people, who are sent apart by faith in
me.'
And so, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to that
vision from heaven. I preached first to those in Damascus,
then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the
Gentiles, that all must turn from their sins and turn back
to God - and prove they have changed by the good things they
do.
Some of the Jews arrested me in the Temple for preaching
this and they even tried to kill me. But God has protected
me so that I am still alive today to tell these facts to
everyone from the least to the greatest.
I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said
would come to pass - that the Messiah would suffer and be
the very first to rise from the dead, as a light to the Jews
and to the Gentiles, alike" (verses 1-23).
When Paul said Jesus was the first to rise from the dead, he
was meaning that Jesus was the first human to ever gain eternal
life in glorious immortality. Not one other human as ever be
raised or given immortal like. No not Enoch, not Moses, not
Elijah, not any other human. That is made clear in Hebrews 11,
where we are told that all of God's children from the beginning
have died, and they without us will not be made perfect, or given
immortal glorious perfect life. Jesus, Paul said in his writings,
has PREEMINENCE in ALL things, and one of those all things, is
the first human to gain everlasting immortal life.
It was at this point in Paul's speech that Festus shouted
out with anger, "Paul, you are insane! Too much study has made
you a crazy man!"
But Paul replied, "No, I am not insane, Most Excellent
Festus, I am speaking the truth soberly. And King agrippa knows
about these things. I speak frankly, for I am sure all these
events are familiar to him, for they were not done in a secret
corner! King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that
you do...."
King Agrippa interrupted Paul, "Do you think you can make me
a Christian so quickly? A little more of your arguments and you
would probably make me a Christian I think."
Paul cried out at these words form Agrippa, "Whether quickly
or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this
audience might become the same as I except with no chains, as I
have at this time."
Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others
stood and left. As they talked it over they agreed, "This man has
not done anything worthy of death or imprisonment."
And it was Agrippa who said, "He could be set free if he had
not appealed to Ceasar" (verse 24-32).
.................
Written November 2004
  Chapter Eighty:Paul arrives in Rome
Paul in Rome - Acts 27 and 28
CHAPTER 27
When it was time Paul and other prisoners set sail for Rome.
They were placed in the custody of an army officer named Julius,
a captain of the Imperial Regiment. As well as Paul there were
some of his companions who chose also to go with him to Rome.
Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was also with them,
as Luke wrote. they left on a boat whose home port was
Adramyttium; it was scheduled to make several stops at ports
along the coast of the province of Asia (verses 1-2).
The next day after setting sail they docked at Sidon. Julias
was very kind and let Paul go ashore to visit with his friends
and so they could provide for his needs. We are not told what
those needs were.
Putting out to sea from there they encountered head-winds
that made it very difficult to keep the ship on course, so they
sailed north of Cyprus between that Island and the mainland. They
passed along the coast of the Province of Cilicia and Pamphylia,
landing at Myra, in the Province of Lycia. There the officer
found an Egyptian ship from Alexandria that was bound for Italy
and he put Paul and his companions on board it.
There were several days of rough sailing and only after some
difficulty did they arrive near Cnidus. The wind was against them
so the ship sailed down to the leeward side of Crete, past the
cape of Salmone. They struggled along the coast with much effort
and difficulty but finally arrived at Fair Havens, near the city
of Lasea. They had lost a lot of time. Now the weather was
becoming out and out dangerous for long voyages by then,
for it was just after the FAST of the feast of Atonement (which
was usually either in September or October on the Roman
calendar).
Paul spoke to the ship's captain, "Sir," he said, "I believe
there is trouble ahead if we continue on - it will be shipwreck,
loss of cargo, injuries, and danger to our very lives."
But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the
ship's captain and owner than to Paul. And since Fair Haven was
an exposed harbor - a poor place to spend the winter - most of
the crew wanted to go to Phonenix, which was farther up the coast
of Crete, and spend the winter there. Phonenix was a good harbor
with only a southwest and northwest exposure to the winter
elements (verses 3-12).
THE STORM AT SEA
When a light wind began to blow from the south, the sailors
thought they could make it with no trouble, so they pulled up
anchor and sailed along the coast shore. But then the weather
changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon strength (a "northeaster"
they call it) caught the ship and blew it out to sea. They could
not turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run
before the storm. They sailed behind a small island named
Cauda, where with great difficulty they hauled aboard the life
boat they were towing behind the ship. Then they banded the ship
with ropes to strengthen the hull, like putting a bandage around
our ankle to strengthen our feet and legs. The sailors were
afraid of being driven across to the sandbars of Syrtis off the
African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor and were by this
means driven before the wind.
The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the
ship, the crew began to throw overboard much of the cargo. The
day following they even threw out the ship's equipment of various
kinds and a lot of anything else they could lay their hands on.
The mighty storm raged unabated for many days, blotting out the
sight of the sun and the stars, until at last nearly everyone had
lost all hope of living through that storm.
No one had eaten for a long time, too anxious and scared
they were. Finally Paul called the crew together and said, "Men,
you should have listened to me in the first place and not left
Fair Haven. You would have avoided all this injury and loss. But
take courage, None of you will die, even though the ship will go
down. For last night an angel of the Lord to whom I belong and to
whom I serve, stood beside me, and he said, 'Don't be afraid
Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Ceasar. What's more,
God in His goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with
you.' So, take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as He
said. But we will be ship-wrecked on an island" (verses 13-26).
THE SHIPWRECK
About midnight on the fourteenth night of the storm, as thy
were being driven across the Sea of Adria (in the central
Mediterranean, not to be confused with the Adriatic Sea), the
sailors sensed land was not near. They took soundings and found
the sea was about 120 feet deep. A little later they sounded
again and found the sea was 90 feet deep (Yes, they had some kind
of sounding equipment back then to discover the depth of the
sea - a lot more modern in those days than many would like to
think). At that rate of movement they were afraid they would be
soon driven onto the rocks near the shore, so they threw out four
anchors from the stern of the ship and prayed for daylight. Then
the sailors tried to abandon the ship, they lowered the life-boat
as though they were going to put out anchors. But Paul shouted
out to the commanding officer and the soldiers, "You will all die
unless the sailors stay aboard." By this time they were willing
to listen to Paul, so they cut the ropes and let the life-boat
fall off into the raging sea.
As the darkness gave way to the early morning light, Paul
begged everyone to eat. "You haven't touched food for two weeks,"
he said, "Please eat something now for the good of your health.
For not a hair of your head will perish."
Then he took bread and gave thanks to God, broke off a piece
and ate it. Everyone was then encouraged, and all 276 of the
people aboard the ship began eating. It is interesting how Luke
gives us the exact number of people on the ship, why he does
so is not told to us, then again a writer relating a story does
add fine details as times with no other reason than to make the
retelling of the story a little more personal and interesting.
After they had eaten the crew further lightened the ship by
throwing overboard the cargo of wheat. When morning dawned, they
did not recognize the coastline, but they did see a bay with a
beach and wondered if they could get between the rocks and get
the ship safely to shore. They cut off all the anchors and let
them drop into the sea. Then they lowered the rudders, raised the
foresail, and healed towards the shore. But the ship hit a shoal
and ran aground. The bow of the ship stuck fast, while the stern
was repeatedly smashed by the force of the waves and so began to
break apart.
The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they
did not swim ashore and escape, but the commanding officer wanted
to spare the life of Paul so he did not allow them to carry out
their plan. Then he ordered all who could swim to jump overboard
first and head for land. He told the others who could not swim to
try and head for land on planks of wood or other debris from the
broken ship.
It was as Paul had told them, all made it safely to land,
not one person lost their life (verses 27-44).
CHAPTER 28
PAUL ON THE ISLAND OF MALTA
Once all were safe on shore, they learned they were on the
island of Malta. The people of the island were very kind to them.
It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to
welcome them and to warm them.
As Paul was gathering an armful of sticks for the fire, a
poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, took hold of Paul's
hand. The people of the island saw it hanging there and said to
each other, "He must be a murderer no doubt, though he escaped
the sea, justice will not permit him to live." But Paul shook off
the snake into the fire and was completely unharmed. The people
all waited for him to swell up or drop dead, but when after a
long time he did neither, and was not harmed in any way, they
changed their minds and decided Paul must be a god (verses 1-6).
Jesus you will remember in the Gospels had said that
sometimes His followers would be miraculously saved from death if
bitten by poisonous snakes. This does not mean you deliberately
go out and seek poisonous snakes and have them bite you. You
will also remember Jesus said to Satan the Devil when Satan tried
to tempt Jesus to throw Himself off the Temple pinnacle (the
Devil quoting Scripture that God would send an angel "lest you
dash your foot against a stone"), that "you shall not tempt the
Lord your God." We should never put ourselves deliberately in
harms way just to try to prove God will save us. If we
deliberately do this it could very well be that God will NOT step
in and save us. We should not tempt God, as Jesus said. But in
this particular case with Paul, he was not trying to tempt God,
it was an unexpected snake bite that Paul encountered, and God
did intervene and worked a miracle, so Paul was not harmed in
any way.
Luke does not tell us about what Paul did about the
situation of the natives of the island now thinking Paul was a
god. But from other accounts in the book of Acts we can be
assured Paul would have told them he was in no way "a god" but
that he was in fact a servant of the one true God. I'm sure this
incident would have given Paul an opportunity to have preached
the Gospel of Christ and the Kingdom of God to them all.
Near the shore where they landed was an estate belonging to
Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed them very
courteously and gave them food for three days. As it happened
Publius' father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in
and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he was healed.
Then it was not long before all the sick on the island came to
Paul and they were indeed all healed. As a result they were all
showered with great honors, and when it came time to sail away
from there, all the people put on board the ship many things they
needed for the onward trip (verses 7-10).
PAUL ARRIVES IN ROME
It was three months after the ship-wreck that they sailed
away on another ship that had wintered in the island - an
Alexandrian ship with the twin gods as its figurehead (those gods
were the Roman gods "Castor" and "Pollux").
The first stop was at Syracuse (on the island of Sicily) and
they stayed for three days. From there they sailed across to
Rhegium (on the southern tip of Italy). A day later a south wind
began to blow, the day after that they sailed up the coast to
Puteoli. There they found some Christian believers, who invited
them to stay with them for seven days. Then after that they
arrived in Rome (verses 11-14).
The believers in Rome had heard they were coming and so came
to meet them at the Forum (which was about 43 miles from the city
of Rome) on the Appian Way. Others joined them at The Three
Taverns (about 35 miles from Rome). When Paul saw all the
believers he thanked God and took courage.
When Paul and his companions arrived in Rome, Paul was
permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was still
guarded by a soldier (verses 15-16).
PAUL PREACHES AT ROME
Three days after Paul's arrival in Rome, he called together
the local Jewish leaders. He said to them, "Brothers, I was
arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman Government,
even though I have done nothing against our people or the customs
of our ancestors. The Romans tried me and wanted to release me,
for they found I had done nothing worthy of death. But when the
Jewish leaders protested the decision, I felt it was necessary to
appeal to Caesar, even though I had no desire to press charges
against my own people. I asked you to come here today so we could
get acquainted, and to tell you that I am bound with this chain
because I believe that the hope of Israel - the Messiah - has
already come."
The Jewish leaders replied, "We have heard nothing against
you. We have had no letters from Judea or any report from anyone
who has arrived here. So we do want to hear what you have to say
and what you believe. Yet, we do know that this sect of
Christians is everywhere denounced by many."
So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people
came to Paul's house. He told them about the Kingdom of God and
taught them about Jesus from the Scriptures - from the five books
of Moses and the books of the prophets. He began
lecturing and teaching in the morning and went on into the
evening. Some indeed came to believe and some did not. But after
they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with
this final word from Paul:
"The Holy Spirit was right when he said to our ancestors
through Isaiah the prophet:
'Go and say to my people, You will hear my words, but you
will not understand; you will see what I do, but will not
perceive its meaning.
For the hearts of this people are waxed hard, and their ears
cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes, and cannot
see.
Their ears cannot hear and their hearts cannot understand.
They cannot turn to me and let me heal them ' (Isaiah 28:
26-27).
So I want you to realize that this salvation from God is
also available to the Gentiles, and they indeed will accept
it."
Some manuscripts add after these words from Paul to the
Jewish people, "And when he had said these words, the Jews
departed, greatly disagreeing with each other."
For the next two years, Paul lived in his own rented house
at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him, teaching and
proclaiming the Kingdom of God with all boldness and teaching all
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no person tried to stop him
(verses 17-31).
SO ENDS THE BOOK OF ACTS
It many seem strange to us that Luke abruptly closes his
writing of the book of Acts. There are probably good reasons why
God inspired him to write no more. But whatever questions we have
on the matter will have to wait until our Lord Jesus returns,
then they will all be answered.
The remaining books and epistles that Paul wrote are
believed to have been written while he was in the city of Rome,
at this juncture of his life.
We shall look at those remaining books next, then the other
letters of James, Peter and John. We shall give you some
interesting history that shows where the twelve apostles
travelled to in presenting the Gospel to the lost sheep of the
House of Israel, as Jesus told them to do, before He returned to
the Father in heaven.
Lastly, I will expound to you the truths of the great
prophetic book of Revelation.
So, onto the books of Philemon, Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews.
...........................
Written November 2004
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