The end of Paul’s fourth ministry journey and ministering in Rome (Acts 28) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

 The end of Paul’s fourth ministry journey and ministering in Rome (Acts 28)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries : Biblical precepts & Gospel Music

 

Scriptures reading (Acts 28)

Paul in Malta and on to Rome

1 Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. ² The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. ^3lPaul gathered a pile of brush wood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. ⁴ When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. ⁶ The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

⁷ There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably. His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. ⁹ When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. ¹⁰ They honored us in many ways and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

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 who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome. ¹⁵ The brothers 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 men 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.

Paul in Rome

¹⁷ Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: “My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸ They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. ¹⁹ But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar not that I had any charge to bring against my own people.²⁰ For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.”

²¹ They replied, “We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. ²² But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.”

²³ They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening, he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.²⁴ Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. ²⁵ They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement;” The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet:

“Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” ²⁷ For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

 ²⁸ Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” ³⁰ For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. ³¹ Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Verse 9 On the sea in the storm, the Lord had made the apostle not only the owner of his fellow voyagers (27:24) but also their life-guarantor and comforter (27:22,25). Now, on the land in peace, the Lord made him furthermore not only a magical attraction in the eyes of the superstitious people (vv.3.6) but also a healer and a joy to them (vv.8-9). All during the apostle’s long and unfortunate imprisonment –voyage, the Lord kept the apostle in His ascendancy and enabled him to live a life far beyond the realm of anxiety. This life was fully dignified, with the highest standard of human virtues expressing the most excellent divine attributes, a life that resembled the one that the earth years before. This was Jesus living again on the earth in His divinely enriched humanity! This was the wonderful, excellent, and mysterious Godman, who lived in the Gospels, continuing to live in the Acts through one of His many members! This was a living witness of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and God-exalted Christ! Paul in his voyage lived and magnified Christ (Phil.1:20-21). It is no wonder that the people honored him and his companions with many honors (v.10), that is, with the greatest respect and highest regard! An ambassador sent by God should be treated by men with such respect and regard.

Verse 8-9 Paul and his companions were shipwrecked on the isle of Melita, what is now Malta. The father of the governor of the island was desperately ill, and Paul went in to see him. He laid hands on the sick man as a point of contact and prayed for him. And God healed him. Then many other sick people on the island came and were healed. According to the Greek in verse 8 and 9 have both been translated as healed. In verse 8 the word healed implies healing by divine means, while the same word in verse 9 implies healing by medical means. Luke, the physician and the author of Acts, practiced medicine side by side with Paul as he prayed for the sick, and the people were healed. In Colossians 4:14, the evangelist, and Luke, the physician, each followed their calling, but put their calling together merging medicine and prayer! Healing, whether or not comes through prayer or medicine, comes from our Source: God. I believe that there on Melita we have the first record of a healing team of the Christian faith. Paul, the evangelist, and Luke, the beloved physician, ministering by prayer and medicine to the sick and needy of the island. The city of faith is an extension of this concept established by Jesus in Paul and Luke.

Verse 15 The warm welcome of the brothers from Rome and the loving care of those in Puteoli (vv.13-14) show the beautiful Body life that existed in the early days among the churches and apostles. This life was a part of the heavenly kingdom life on the Satan-darkened and man-inhabited earth. Apparently, the apostle, as a prisoner in bonds, had entered the region of the dark capital of the Satan- usurped empire; actually, as the ambassador of Christ with His authority (Eph. 6:20;Matt.28: 18-19), he had come into another part of the participation in the Body life of Christ’s church in the kingdom of God on earth. While he was suffering the persecution of religion in the empire of Satan, he was enjoying the church life in the kingdom of God. This was a comfort and an encouragement to him.

Verse 15 took courage This indicates that the apostle was quite human. Although he had been encouraged by the Lord directly (23:11) and was very courageous throughout his voyage (27:22-25), 33-36), he still took courage at the brothers’ warm welcome. It was in his uplifted humanity with its human virtues that Christ with His divine attributes was expressed during his voyage. He magnified Christ continually in his adverse situation (Phil.1:20)

Verse 26 God the Father spoke this word to the stubborn children of Israel in Isaiah 6:9-10. God the Son quoted this word to the rejecting Jew in Matt.13:14-15. And now God the Spirit through the apostle repeated this word as He spoke to the hardhearted people. This indicates that in all the moves of the Divine Trinity the children of Israel were disobedient to the God of grace. Thus, He turned to the Gentiles for the carrying out of His New Testament economy in the spreading of His kingdom for the building up of the churches through the propagation of the resurrected and ascended Christ (v.28).

Verse 30 During this time the apostle wrote the Epistles to the Colossians (Col.4:3,10,18), Ephesians (Eph.3:1;4:1;6:20), and Philippians (Phil.1:7,14,17), and the Epistle to Philemon (Philem.22) he was expecting to be released from imprisonment. Probably after these two years he was released and visited Ephesus and Macedonia (1Tim.1:3). In addition, he visited Crete (1Titus 1:5), Nicopolis (Titus 3:12), Troas, and Miletus (2Tim.4:13,20).

Verse 31 This was the end of the apostle’s fourth ministry journey which began in 27:2.

 Verse 31 “The kingdom of God” The kingdom of God is one of the matters emphasized in this book. Luke’s writing here both begins (1:3) and ends with the kingdom of God. The book of Acts was not actually ended; rather, it was left open that more may be added. The reason for this must have been that the work of the Holy Spirit in preaching Christ for His propagation, multiplication, and spread through the believers of Christ was not yet completed and needed to be continued for a long period of time. Such an evangelistic work for Christ’s propagation, multiplication, and spread is according to God’s New Testament economy for the producing of many sons for God (Rom.8:29) that they might be the members of Christ to constitute His Body (Rom.8:29) for the carrying out of God’s eternal plan and the fulfillment of His eternal will. This is revealed in detail in the twenty-one Epistles and the book of Revelation, which follow this book. The church produced by Christ’s propagation and multiplication is the sphere in which God is expressed and in which He reigns in Christ; hence, the church becomes the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, along with Chrsit’s propagation and multiplication, grows out of and spreads from God’s life. Acts is a record of the spreading of Christ; it is also a record of the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is the expansion of Christ. The gospel that is widely preached in this book is the vary Christ as the gospel (5:42), the gospel of Christ and it is also the kingdom of God as the gospel (8:12), the gospel of the kingdom of God. The preaching of such a gospel will continue and advance until the whole earth becomes the kingdom of Christ (Rev.11:15).

 In the four Gospel God was incarnated, passed through human living, died, and resurrected, thus completing Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God (Col.2:9). In Acts this embodiment of God, as the life-giving Spirit (1Cor.15:45), spreads Christ into His believers. i.e., works the processed Triune God into His chosen, redeemed, and transformed people to make them the constituents of the church, through which God may be expressed. The ultimate issue of the church will be the New Jerusalem in eternity future as God’s full and eternal expression, which will also be God’s eternal kingdom as the sphere in which He reigns in His divine life in eternity forever and ever. This should be the reality and goal of all gospels preaching today.

 

Bibliography,

King James, The Holy Bible (KJV), Cleveland, OH: The world publishing company

Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV). Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.