Maybe you have visited Italy, and you landed in Rome in an airplane, but Paul did not come that way. Do you remember how he was shipwrecked on the island of Malta, and the whole shipload of 276 people stayed there for three months? When they finally left on another ship, the natives gave them lots of good things for their long, slow voyage to Italy.
The trip was slow because they were on a sailing ship, and it depended on good winds. They stopped for three days at Syracuse and seven days at Puteoli. Long trips by sailing ships were never easy, but they found a happy Christian welcome at Puteoli, and they stayed there a whole week.
Then on they sailed towards Rome. When their ship landed in Italy, there were no cars or buses to meet them and no taxis or commuter trains either. They had to walk all the way from the seaport to Rome, and it was more than 40 miles! Nobody welcomed them, and for the prisoners, the end of their long journey would be a prison.
But suddenly, there were loving, Christian faces smiling at Paul at a place called Appii Forum. Paul had never seen these people before, but when they heard that Paul was on that ship, they decided to walk the 40 miles to go meet him and then walk the 40 miles with him to Rome. Their hearts were full of the love that God gives. Paul was greatly encouraged as they walked with him on that long 40 miles to Rome.
Paul was still a prisoner when the centurion guard handed him over to the captain in Rome, and he was assigned to an ugly prison cell. However, somebody offered to pay for him to have his own hired house with a guard who stayed with him. That was bad enough, because his wrist was chained to the guard day and night. However, he was able to have visitors, and he did.
After three days, he invited the leaders of the Jews to come to the house where he was staying, and he explained to them why he was there. These leaders were puzzled since they had not heard of him before. However, they chose a day and came to hear what Paul had to say. Paul preached to them from morning until evening. He began first with Moses and all the prophets, and they knew these stories well. Then he told them of Jesus who had come exactly as God had promised and as Moses and all the prophets had foretold. Some believed what Paul told them, and some didn’t believe what he said.
You are hearing these stories from the Bible today, and you fit right in there too. You either believe what God wrote in the Bible or you don’t believe what He has written. Either you have accepted Jesus as your Saviour or you have not accepted Him as your Saviour. There is no middle ground. First Timothy 2:5-6 says, “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all.” And here is a warning if you have not believed what God has said: “How shall [you] escape, if [you] neglect so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:33How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Hebrews 2:3)). Time is running out.
As Paul watched the Jewish leaders leave, he remembered the words of the prophet Isaiah. He tells God’s messengers to speak, even if the listeners refuse to hear or to see or to love the One who died for them and lives again. The visitors argued among themselves and decided nothing at all. But Paul lived for two years in that house, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. He received everyone who came to him, and nobody stopped him from preaching and teaching.
You may read this story for yourself in Acts 28:11-3111And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. 12And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. 13And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli: 14Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome. 15And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage. 16And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him. 17And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. 18Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me. 19But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of. 20For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. 21And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm of thee. 22But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against. 23And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. 24And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. 25And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, 26Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: 27For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 28Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. 29And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves. 30And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, 31Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him. (Acts 28:11‑31).
ML-07/27/2014