April 11, 2022

The Year of our Lord, Jesus Christ

Acts 23:11

And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.

Jesus tells Paul that he must go to Rome to bear witness. From this time until arriving at Rome everything that could take away Paul’s life happened.

A band of Jews vowed to never eat or drink until they killed Paul.

He was in a shipwreck.

He was bitten by a viper.

But He didn’t die.

Of the abuse that Paul endured he said; II Corinthians 11:24-26 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

Paul’s life is earmarked by violence, hardships, and adversities any of which could have ended his life, but he was invincible until his race was over. But the bigger picture is, if Paul died before going to Rome to testify of Christ, the Word of God would be destroyed. For in Acts 23:11, our verse for today, Jesus said that Paul must go to Rome. If He died before that Jesus would have been wrong. If He were wrong about this, everything He said could be questioned as valid.

But Paul did make it to Rome. Once again, as always, the Bible proves itself to be perfect.

Until next time,

William T. Howe, Ph.D.