seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 28:11 After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island—it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. 12 We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. 13 From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. 14 There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome. 15 The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. 16 When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.
I started to buzz right past this paragraph and get on with Paul's big speech. Then I opened the commentary and found this.Landing at Syracuse: This was the first stop from Malta. Syracuse was a famous city in the ancient world, being the capital city of the island of Sicily.
i. Archimedes, the famous mathematician, had lived at Syracuse. When the Romans conquered the island, a soldier put a dagger to his throat as he worked on a math problem, drawing in the dirt. Archimedes said, “Stop, you’re disturbing up my equation!” and the solider killed him.
When we came to Rome: Finally, the promise of Jesus was fulfilled. Paul determined that he would go to Rome as early as his third missionary journey (Acts 19:21, Romans 1:15). At Jerusalem, Jesus promised Paul he would make it to Rome (Acts 23:11) and repeated the promise during the two weeks of storm at sea (Acts 27:23-25).
i. “Now, at the very end of the book, the apostle comes to Rome. Thus Jesus’ prophecy that his disciples would be his witnesses ‘to the ends of the earth’ is fulfilled.” (Boice)
ii. When Paul came to Rome, the city had existed for almost 800 years. The famous Coliseum was not yet built; but the prominent buildings were the temple of Jupiter, the palaces of Caesar, and a temple to Mars (the god of war). At the time, Rome had a population of about two million — a million slaves, and a million free. Society was divided into roughly three classes: A small upper class, a large class of the poor, and slaves.
The centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: This was a happy moment for Julius the centurion, who fulfilled his duty and successfully brought all the prisoners from Caesarea (Acts 27:1) to Rome — with much help from Paul.
The soldier who guarded him: Paul wasn’t in a normal prison. He was allowed to dwell by himself and provide his own living space (a rented house according to Acts 28:30). Yet he was constantly under the supervision of a Roman guard, and often chained. The rotation of the guards gave him a constant supply of people to talk to.
OK.... Paul is in Rome. Apparently, there are a lot of "gods" being worshipped in Rome. There are temples for Jupiter and Mars [Bend and stretch... reach for the stars]. So, Paul is going to introduce them to the One True Living God. Remember when Elijah battled all the gods in 1 Kings? Remember when Elijah asked them if their god "was asleep"?
Jesus said Paul would make it to Rome. God also knew, in advance, that Paul would hold those coats during the murder of Stephen. Paul was not going to get off lightly. Paul murdered a child of God. So, don't worry.... if Paul accepted Jesus as his Savior, then Paul will enjoy eternal life.... but he's gotta accept Jesus.... really.... and apparently, he has to pay for the murder. No one gets a free pass. We are forgiven.... but we still pay some consequences.
Denise the Menace comes to mind this morning. His mom and dad love him dearly.... but he spends a lot of time sitting in the corner! Paul's been sitting in a corner for years. I wonder if he's learned anything.
What did Paul learn?
