Paul, a Servant of the Lord
In Isaiah 66, which foretells the Gentiles’ making pilgrimage to Jerusalem, God’s servant is sent
to a series of cities beginning with Tarsus, Paul’s hometown, and ending in the far-off coastlands,
which was the designation of Spain in Paul’s day, the very place Paul ultimately desired to go after
visiting Rome (Rom 15:24). Paul saw himself as the servant of the Lord, and his mission itinerary
followed precisely that of the servant in Isaiah 66, whose work leads the Gentiles to worship the
one true God in Jerusalem, the place Paul aimed to bring the collected contribution for the poor.
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Conquering for the Kingdom
Augustus claimed to usher in a new era, a golden age. Several decades later, the
emperor Nero claimed to embody this age and built the largest palace known to Rome,
calling it his golden palace. Desiring to outdo Augustus in glory, Nero wrote his own
tragic epic poem entitled “Burning of Troy.” Unfortunately, Nero releases this poem on
the fateful day of July 19th, A.D. 64, the day a horrible fire breaks out in Rome, burning
ten of the fourteen regions of the city. Nero, who it seems was behind the fire, sought to
burn down what he considered a shabby and ill-designed city so that he could rebuild and
rename it Neropolis, the city of Nero. Word of this gets out, however, and social unrest
quickly grows. Nero, who needed a scapegoat, finds one in the young and little
understood Christian movement. Nero blames the burning of Rome on the Christians,
who claim a different gospel and Lord, and begins a horrific persecution.
While Acts of the Apostles ends without detailing Peter’s and Paul’s deaths,
Christian tradition has passed on how Peter and Paul were caught up in Nero’s
persecution and executed on the same day. According to Christian tradition, Peter asked
to be crucified upside down, not being worthy to die just as his Lord had. Because Paul’s
Roman citizenship did not permit his crucifixion, he was beheaded. In a prophetic
inspiration, several years before they suffered Nero’s cruel persecution, Paul wrote to the
church in Rome, proclaiming,
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For
thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be
slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
who loved us. (Rom 8:35–37)
The Greek word for “conquer” or “victory” is
nike. If you take the tour beneath St.
Peter’s Basilica in Rome, down in the first-century catacombs where Peter’s tomb was
discovered, you can see Christian graffiti written close to where Peter’s body was buried,
and among the graffiti is a word written in Greek,
nike. The Christians recognized that
Peter, Paul, the martyrs, and all who lived in fidelity to Christ are the ones who
conquered. By their deeds and their blood, they conquered the paganism and hatred of
the empire and became the seed for a new
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Rome that would swear allegiance to the
true Lord of all, Jesus Christ. Augustus was correct; a new age had begun, a golden age
founded on the rock of Peter with Jesus Christ as its cornerstone and built up by God’s
grace throughout the world in a global reach the Caesars could never have imagined.
While this final period of the story of Scripture recounted in the Acts of the Apostles
draws to a close, God’s story does not. It looks forward, as is clear in the book of
Revelation, to the time when the New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven and all
that began anew in Christ Jesus will be fully realized. As history works towards that
glorious moment, God calls each of us, just as he called Abraham, Moses, Ruth, David,
Mary, Peter, and Paul, to say “yes” to his invitation to enter into his covenant and take up
our role in his story as witnesses to Jesus Christ.
Index
A
Aaron, as fashioner of golden calf, 82; blessing of, 94; calls Moses “lord,” 97; challenge to
Moses’ authority of, 97; intercession of, 103; murmuring against, 75; priestly prayer
of, 94; priestly service of, 97; sons of, 178, 264; staff of 68, 81.
Abednego, 194–195
Abel, 20–21, 52–53
Abiathar, 148, 156
Abigail, 148
Abihu, 252
Abijah, 140, 241
Abimelech, 10, 130
Abishag the Shunammite, 156
Abner, 153, 155
Abraham, 2, 59; Abram’s name changed to, 40–41; as father in faith, 31; call of 30, 188;
conflict with Abimelech, 10; covenant with, 31, 41, 83; God’s command to, 71;
God’s promises to, 34, 39, 41, 46, 53, 73, 151, 152, 155, 238, 257; obedience of, 31;
sacrifice of Isaac of, 43–45; seed of, 39; sons of, 40–42; worldwide blessing through,
34, 45, 57
Abram, 30, 32–41
Absalom, 27, 154–157
Acacia, 80
Achaia, 286
Achan, 119–122
Achor, 121
Acts of the Apostles, 3, 65, 260–264, 267, 287–288
Adam, as made in image and likeness of God, 8; curses of, 254; questioning of God’s heart
by, 17; “New,” 18, 20, 23, 26, 72, 266; presentation of animals to, 14
Adonijah, 155–157
Adonizedek, 122
Adoram, 166
Adultery, 84, 94, 157, 244–245
Agag, 143, 148
Ahab, 172–174, 176–177, 183, 210
Ahaz, 178, 180–183
Ahijah, 164–165, 168, 170–171
Ai, 121, 126
Alcohol, 131
Alexander Balas, 225
Alexander the Great, 218, 220
Alexandria, 220–221, 228
Allegorical sense, 207
Almah, 181
Almsgiving, 245–246
Altar, 25, 45, 78–79, 159, 172, 175, 180
Amalek, 152
Amalekites, 102, 129, 143, 148
Amaziah, 178
Amen, 100, 181
America, 29, 295
Amin, 181
Ammonites, 131, 142, 161
Amnon, 154, 157
Amorites, 28, 105, 116, 119, 124, 126, 128–129, 131, 134
Amos, 192
Amoz, 179
Anagogical sense, 207
Anah, 175
Anak, 98–99
Ananias, 273
Ancient Near East, 10, 23, 110, 160–161, 209
Angel, 127, 129, 183; appears to Abraham and Sarah, 131; as comforter of Hagar, 42; as
guardian of tree of life, 155; gives instructions for taking of Jericho, 120; of death, 72;
stays the hand of Isaac, 45; releases apostles, 267, 271; role in infancy narratives, 237,
239
Anna, 192
Anointed one, 148, 150, 180, 197, 236, 243, 250
Antioch, 274–279, 282
Antiochus IV, 219, 222–225, 227–229
Antipater, 227
Anxiety, 92, 246
Apis, 82
Apocrypha, 220
Apollonius, 223
Apostles, the, 3, 65, 214, 252, 254–255, 260–268, 277–278, 287–288
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