On My Way to Rome

Bound and in Chains # 1

He was tall. He stood head and shoulders above everyone else. His body was a golden brown as it had been tanned from the sun. He was strong and muscular. I could see on his face that he was exempt of fear. His features were hard and he never smiled or laughed. I had seen eyes like his before. Eyes full of the horror of murder. My eyes were once full of that same murder. Rumour has it that he was fierce and ruthless in battle. He had scars, lasting wounds on his body to prove he was a warrior. He had survived many battles. He was zealous and passionate about advancing the kingdom of Rome to the ends of the earth. He was loyal to the Emperor as he would gladly die for him and for Rome.

He was a Praetorian Guard, an elite body guarding unit consisting of nine thousand men. These men were the best of the best. These Praetorian Body Guards had made an agreement, they had signed their names with their own blood, agreeing to die for the Emperor, for Rome and for the person they were protecting. He claimed that the god’s had kept him alive for some reason. It was miraculous how he had frequently escaped death on the battlefield. He should have died a thousand times but he didn’t.

How could I ever forget the first day that I met him? It was in Jerusalem when my fellow countryman, the Jews wanted to kill me. That was the day he was assigned to me as my personal body guard. I had travelled from the city of Caesarea to Jerusalem. I was accompanied by some of the Lord’s disciples from the church there. They brought me to the home of a man with whom I was to stay, Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple. He had been with the disciples since the early days. The brothers in Jerusalem welcomed me and my companions’ warmly.

The following day, my co-workers and I went to see the Apostle James. All the church elders were present. After greeting them, I described in detail the things that God had done among the Gentiles through my ministry. On hearing it they praised God, but they also said to me, “You see brother how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Jews. All of them are zealous and enthusiastic upholders of the Law of Moses. Now what they have been told about you is that you are teaching all Jews living among the Gentiles to turn away and forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children and not to follow our ancient traditions.”

The apostles and church elders in Jerusalem didn’t want an uprising, neither did I. The unbelieving Jews had been a thorn in my side everywhere I went. James suggested, “What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come here. So do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them with you and be purified with them in the Temple. Pay the expenses connected with having their heads shaved and pay for the temple offering. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to these rumours which they have heard about you. Then you yourself walk in observance of the Law. With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent them a letter with our decision.”

I agreed to come under the Law, not to be a slave again to the Law, but to keep the peace and prevent an uprising. I was dead to the Law. The next day I took the men and I went through the rites of purifying myself along with them. This was the purification of the Law of the Nazarite, a vow as ordered by God to Moses. We entered the Temple to give notice of when the period of purification would be finished and when the offering would have to be made for each one of us. The seven days of purification were almost up when some unbelieving Jews from the province of Asia saw me in the Temple. They stirred up all the crowd and grabbing me, shouted, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who goes around everywhere teaching everyone things against the people, against the Law, and against this sacred place. He has also brought Greeks into this temple, he has polluted and defiled this holy place!”

They had previously seen Trophimus from the city of Ephesus with me. They assumed that I had brought him into the inner court of the Temple, which was forbidden for the Gentiles to enter. A man looks very different after he has shaved his head. The whole city was aroused by this, and people came running at me from every side. They seized me and dragged me out of the Temple, and at once the gates were shut. While they were attempting to kill me, word reached the commander of the Roman battalion that all Jerusalem was in turmoil. It was becoming a habit that my presence continually caused an uprising everywhere I went. Immediately he took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to us. When the Jews saw the chief captain, the commander of the Roman battalion and the soldiers, they stopped beating me.

The commander approached me and arrested me for my own safety. He ordered that I be tied up with two chains. I was bound in chains by both my hands and my feet, just as Agabus had prophesied when he acted out the parable with my belt. He then inquired and asked who I was and what I had done. Everyone in the crowd shouted something different to the commander. Since he couldn’t find out what had happened because of the uproar. He ordered me brought back to the barracks. When I got to the steps, I had to be carried by the soldiers, because the mob was so wild. That’s when I first saw him. He grabbed me by my belt with one hand and by the scruff of the neck with the other and hoisted me up the stairs. He was a brute of a man. The crowd kept following me and screaming, “Kill him, kill him.” I hated being bound and in chains. I detested being in custody and in prison.

A few decades earlier, those same cries echoed out from those very same steps. The Messiah had stood upon those very steps before a hostile crowd, just like me. They had shouted out in unison, before Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator, “Kill Him, let Him be crucified!” The same mobsters that crucified Jesus now also wanted me dead.

As I was about to be taken into the barracks, I asked the commander, “Is it all right if I say something to you? The commander replied in astonishment, “You know Greek! Say, aren’t you the Egyptian who tried to start a revolution a while back, and led four thousand armed terrorists out into the desert?” I replied, “No, I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of that important city. I beg you, allow me to address my people.” Having received permission I was allowed to speak to that hostile Mob. I could feel his fearless presence beside me. He was ready for a fight. He was wanting blood and hoping to get it. I felt confident having this veteran warrior beside me.

It was comforting to know that his sword was my sword, just like God’s two edged sword is our sword. God’s word in our mouth is as powerful as His own word in His mouth. We must just speak it, for the word is near you even in your heart and in your mouth. My life was in his hands and his life was in my hands.

I stood on the steps and motioned with my hand to the people, indicating that I wanted to speak. When they finally became still, I addressed them in Hebrew, their own native tongue.

When they heard me speaking in Hebrew, they settled down and became quiet. So I continued, “Brothers, fathers, hear my defense which I present before you now!” I opened my mouth, allowing the Holy Spirit to take control of my heart and my words. I said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus a city in the Province of Cilicia, but I was brought up and reared in this holy city. I was trained at the feet of Gamaliel and educated by him in every detail of the Law of our forefathers. I was a zealot for God, as all of you are today.” Gamaliel was held in great respect by the Jews, as he was the greatest mentor and scholar of the Law of Moses in our day. He was well educated in all our Scriptures and holy writings. Daily I sat at his feet learning the customs and traditions of our forefathers.

“I persecuted the ‘Followers of the Way’ of the Lord, even unto death,” I continued, “arresting both men and woman and throwing them in prison. The high priest and the whole council of the Sanhedrin can also testify to this. Indeed, after receiving letters from them to their colleagues in Damascus, I was on my way there in order to arrest the ones in that city, with orders to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment. But as I was on my journey and approaching Damascus, around noon, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven flashed all around me! I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul! Why do you keep persecuting me?’ I answered, ‘Sir, who are you?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, Whom you are persecuting.’ Those who were with me also saw the light, but they didn’t hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. I said, ‘What should I do Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up, and go into Damascus, and there you shall be told about everything that has been laid out for you to do.’ I had been blinded by the light, so my companions led me by the hand into Damascus.”

The people remained still and composed while I spoke. They had heard the story about my conversion from others, but they had never heard it directly from me, my own mouth. I was tired of having the unbelieving Jews harass me. I was prepared to purify myself according to the purification of Moses and put myself back under the Law in an attempt to satisfy their desires.

The grace of the Lord Jesus has made me a free man with no master. I’m not bound by anyone’s bidding. However, I have made myself a slave to all people to bring them to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who followed the legalistic perversion of the Jewish law, I too lived under that perverse law, even though I am not subject to the law. It was my intention to bring all those under the law to Christ. When I was with the Gentiles who do not follow Jewish law, who live apart from the law, I myself lived apart from the law to bring them to Christ. I do not ignore the Jewish law of God, however I obey the law of Christ above all else. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.

This made me speak with an even greater boldness, I said, “A man named Ananias, an observant follower of the Law of Moses, well spoken by all the Jews who resided there, came to me, stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, see again!’ In that very moment, I recovered my sight and looked up and saw him. He said, ‘The God of our forefathers has determined in advance that you should know His will, and to see the Righteous One, Jesus Christ, to hear His voice from His own mouth and a message from His own lips. For you will be His witness unto all men of everything that you have seen and heard. So now, what are you waiting for? Rise and be baptized, and have your sins washed away as you call on His name.’ After I had returned to Jerusalem then, it so happened that as I was praying in the Temple, I went into a trance, and I saw Him. He said to me, ‘Hurry, get out of Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept what you have to say about me.’ I said, ‘Lord, they know themselves that in every synagogue I used to imprison and flog those who trusted and believed in you. Also that when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there too, in full agreement. I was even looking after the clothes of the ones who were killing him!’ The Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away unto the Gentile nations!’”

They had been listening to me up till that point, but now they shouted at the top of their lungs, “Rid the earth of such a man! He’s not fit to live!” They were screaming, waving their garments and throwing dust into the air. I refused to have demonic dust cling to me. I wanted nothing to do with what this dusty earth had to offer. My old earthly man of dust was crucified with Christ.

His name was Cassius Catullus a Praetorian Body Guard. Again he hauled me by my belt, dragging me off to safety. He shielded me from the angry mob as best he could.

I am Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles. I pray and ask God to give you a complete knowledge of His divine will. So be it.