1463. Paul's Continuous Journeyings

Paul's Continuous Journeyings

"Whereupon, O King Agrippa; I was not disobedient unto the Heavenly vision:

"But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance" (Act_26:19-20).

God committed His Word and work of reconciliation unto Paul, and unto this commitment the Apostle was faithful. He was not disobedient when God first spoke to him on the Damascus road. He was not disobedient as the days and the years rolled by. On his last sea voyage, Paul could say: "There appeared unto me this night an angel of God, Whose I am, and Whom I serve." Indeed, "having obtained the help of God," he was faithful to the end.

As trustee of the Gospel, Paul proved himself faithful. His years of journeyings and preaching are summed up in our present chapter under a remarkable threefold statement:

1. "I * * showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem." Here we have the very essence of every believer's commission. "Beginning at Jerusalem." Jerusalem stands, of course, for the Jews. It is the city, loved of God; it represents the people beloved of God. We still have in the 20th century a Divine duty to preach the Gospel to the Jews.

2. "And throughout all the coasts of Judaea." Judea stands for a wider scope of Jewish testimony. It included the regions where most of the Jews lived. It brings to us the fact that none of God's people should be left out in the testimony of saints.

3. "And then to the Gentiles." We remember that Jesus Christ gave command that the Gospel should be preached, "beginning at Jerusalem and Judaea, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." There are those who teach that "Jerusalem" stands for your own home, and "Judea" for your own country, and that "the uttermost part of the earth" stands for the great outlying foreign fields. Perhaps so. We insist, however, that the words mean what they say, and that Paul was right in obeying them accordingly.

One other thing we would like to impress is who among the ministers or missionaries, of to-day, have traveled by land and by sea, as Paul traveled? Who has known the lack of comfort, the difficulties, the perils, the privations and the persecutions that the Apostle Paul knew? Are the words still true–"Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft"?

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR