YOU MUST ALSO TESTIFY IN ROME
Acts 22:30-23:11
The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” (23:11)
chapter 22
30. The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.
chapter 23
1. Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day."
2. At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.
3. Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!"
4. Those who were standing near Paul said, "How dare you insult God’s high priest!"
5. Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ’Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’"
6. Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead."
7. When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
8. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.)
9. There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. "We find nothing wrong with this man," they said. "What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"
10. The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.
11. The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."
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1. It had been Paul’s vision to preach the gospel in Rome (Ac 19:21; Rom. 1:15). Paul was a great mission strategist; he planted churches in large cities to serve as strategic centers from which the gospel radiated out to the surrounding areas. A good example was his ministry in the city of Ephesus, where he spent at least two years and three months teaching the Bible and raising disciples (19:8-10).
2. There was no other city more important than Rome from Paul’s mission strategic point of view. His prayer for the gospel mission in Rome was so earnest that the Holy Spirit inspired him to author the book of Romans, to which there would be no comparison in its importance of affecting human history.
3. Paul probably did not have the whole picture of what his mission to Rome would mean to Christendom. What he did was to simply obey Jesus’ world mission command, “Go; … you must also testify in Rome” (11b) and teach the Bible in a rented house for two years (28:30).
Prayer: Father, thank you for Paul’s example of simple but absolute obedience to Jesus’ world mission command. I am one of those who have benefited from his obedience. Help me follow his example of obedience. Amen.
One Word: Obey Jesus’ world mission command and “Go!”