Title: In Jerusalem and in Rome/Acts 23
The evangelist Apostle Paul, the evangelist, is now in Jerusalem for the last time (Acts 21), with the urging of the love of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14), the direction and revelation of Christ, and the love of the gospel comrades who are bound with tears and bands of love (Acts 21). Witnessing Christ and heading to Rome via Caesarea.
1 “As you testified of me in Jerusalem, so you must testify in Rome” (11).
The driving force in the life of the Apostle Paul was the calling, guidance, and direction of Christ. “But I follow to seize that for which Christ Jesus took hold” (Philippians 3:12). The cause of Paul's missionary journey was the direction and revelation of Christ (Acts 9:15, 13:2, 16:7, 18:9, 23:11, 27:23). The apostle Paul even accepted the prophetic revelation God had given to the prophet Isaiah long ago as a revelation given to him (Acts 13:47). Could there be a more precious, rewarding, wonderful, and blessed life than a life that is moved by Christ, a life that is moved according to the direction and revelation of Christ? Paul had the encouragement, prayers, and support of the saints tied with tears and bands of love, and no one stood in his way. He was now seized by these two forces, and he did his last evangelism in Jerusalem, where he was trying to arrest and kill him, and he was going to Rome via Caesarea.
2 "I command you to strike his mouth" (2) "You shall neither eat nor drink until you kill Paul" (12).
The forces of hostility and persecution were always waiting in Paul's road ahead. In Lystra the Jews stoned Paul out of the city (Acts 14:19), in Philippi the Romans imprisoned Paul and beating him (Acts 16:23), and in Thessalonica and Berea, Jews in droves There was a commotion (Acts 17:5,13), and in Jerusalem the whole city was in a commotion, arresting Paul and dragging him out to kill him (Acts 21:30,31). Here in Jerusalem, the Jewish religious leaders again struck Paul on the mouth and oppose him. (Acts 23:2), and the Jews formed a party and tried to kill Paul (Acts 23:12). The surprising thing, however, was that Paul not only did not yield to any kind of hostility or persecution, but also took every opportunity of hostility and persecution as opportunities to preach the gospel. When Paul was beaten, he took the opportunity to testify of the death and resurrection of Christ, and when the Jews tried to kill Paul, he took the opportunity to go to Caesarea with soldiers escorted and preach the gospel.
3 "I have served God in everything according to my conscience" (1) "I am because of the resurrection of the dead" (6).
The message Paul preached everywhere and always was faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again (Acts 20:21; 2 Corinthians 1:1-4). The point of the apostle Paul's message was almost always the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul's personal earnest desire was "to make known the power of Christ's resurrection and his partaking of His sufferings" (Philippians 3:10), and "to always carry in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in the body" (Philippians 3:10). was (2 Corinthians 4:10). For Paul, it was Jesus to live, and it was Jesus to die (Phil 20:21). He was Jesus when he opened his mouth and Jesus when he struck him. Paul was crazy about Jesus (Acts 26:21-24). He was the happiest man in the world.