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SIXTEEN
Paul’s Path
But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb,
and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, that I might
preach Him among the Gentiles… (Gal. 1:15-16a).
Paul, first known as Saul of Tarsus, was another person of divine destiny, just
like you. His specific calling was to be an apostle to the Gentiles. You may not
be called to plant churches, but you are called to do something. You were “set
apart from your mother’s womb” for a divine purpose. The circumstances
of your life have not occurred by pure chance.
Unfortunately, many Christians have a sub-biblical view of their existence. If
you ask them, “Why are you here?” they respond with something like,
“When two people are married, they usually have babies. I was one of those
babies born into the world.” They see themselves as a number—another
product off the assembly line.
Stop and think about how supernatural the creation of a human being is. I’m
not just talking about the formation of a little body within its mother’s
womb. Where does the little spirit come from that lives within that little body?
It must come from God Himself, “the Father of spirits” (Heb. 12:9).
When God places that tiny spirit inside that tiny body, there is a divine destiny
that goes with it. You, just like Paul, were born for a reason. You are special.
I once told my oldest daughter, Charity, attempting to let her know how special
she is to me, “Charity, when your mother was pregnant with you, we were both
hoping it would be you. And the day you were born, we were so happy, because it was you!” That’s not easy for the average adult mind to grasp,
but my daughter seemed to understand what I meant! Can you grasp the fact that
God had something special in mind when He created you?
The Unsaved Apostle Paul
I’m sure you know Paul’s story. We know that he was set apart from his
mother’s womb to be an apostle to the Gentiles. In the Bible, we are first
introduced to him as a young man in the seventh chapter of Acts. Do we find him
there fulfilling his calling, preaching to the Gentiles? No, we find him holding
the coats of the folks who were stoning Stephen—the church’s first martyr.
That seems like a strange place to find an apostle! Why would a man who is called
from his mother’s womb to be an apostle be holding the coats of the men who
were stoning a saint? Because (you guessed it) Paul wasn’t exactly fulfilling
his divine destiny at that point in time. God, however, knew how to get the attention
of this zealous, yet misdirected young Pharisee. After being struck down by a
blinding light on the road to Damascus, Paul wisely decided to cooperate with
God from then on (see Acts 9:1-7).
Shortly thereafter, God began to reveal to Paul the destiny that he was to fulfill.
When Ananias, who was commissioned by God to go and lay his hands on Paul, protested
that Paul was not the kind of person whom Christians wanted to be near, God said
to him:
“Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles
and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer
for My name’s sake” (Acts. 9:15-16).
There you have Paul’s divine destiny in a nutshell. He was destined to bear
Jesus’ name before (primarily) the Gentiles, (secondarily) kings, and (thirdly)
the Jews. As a result, he would suffer a great deal for the cause of Christ. If
you know his story, you know that every bit of what God said came to pass.
Instant Apostles?
How long did it take Paul to fulfill his divine destiny? The rest of his life.
He began his spiritual journey as a believer who shared with others what God had
done for him (see Acts 9:19-22), which is the starting place for all of us.
Even as a young Christian, Paul did a very convincing job of proving from the
Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact, he was so effective that some
Jews in Damascus planned to ambush him outside the city. Upon discovery of their
plot, some of Paul’s own new converts let him over the city wall of Damascus
by night, and he escaped from his enemies. This initial episode prepared Paul
for the larger trials he would later face.
According to Paul’s own narrative, after escaping from Damascus he left for
Arabia, and later returned to Damascus. Three years after his conversion, he traveled
to Jerusalem and stayed with Peter for about two weeks. Following another threat
on his life, he traveled to Syria and Cilicia (see Gal. 1:15-21; Acts 9:28-30;
22:17-18). Fourteen years later, he went to Jerusalem again (see Gal. 2:1; this
visit to Jerusalem is either the one recorded in Acts 11:29-30 or 15:2).
Paul continued preaching all this time, and according to Acts 13:1, sometime during
those initial years he was called to the ministry of a prophet and a teacher.
Finally, during a prayer meeting in Antioch, he was directed by the Lord to begin
his apostolic ministry (see Acts 13:1-2; 14:14).
How long was it from the time of Paul’s conversion until he entered into
his apostolic ministry? Scholars are divided on the answer because the scriptural
chronology is somewhat unclear, but as I see it, the absolute minimum time would
be eleven years. It could have been possibly fourteen or more. Paul was promoted
as he was found faithful, which is true of anyone else who works for God.
Paul later wrote to Timothy:
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered
me faithful, putting me into service...(1 Tim. 1:12, emphasis added).
In order for a person to be found faithful, he must of necessity be tested.
Accordingly, Paul also wrote to the Thessalonians:
For our exhortation does not come from deceit or uncleaness, nor was it in guile.
But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we
speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts (1 Thes. 2:3-4,
NKJV, emphasis added).
Notice Paul said that God had tested his heart, he had been approved, and, therefore,
had been entrusted with the gospel. You can be certain that Paul was tested in
the same manner that Israel, Joseph, David, and Jesus’ twelve disciples were
tested. Paul was tested in trials and temptations.
God’s Refining Pot
Solomon wrote in Proverbs 17:3: “The refining pot is for silver and the furnace
for gold, but the Lord tests hearts.”
What is the similarity between refining silver and gold and the Lord testing hearts?
When silver and gold are refined, they are heated up until the impurities rise
to the surface. Then those impurities are scraped off leaving behind a purer metal.
It is in the fire that the pureness of gold and silver are determined, and the
same is true for us. If you want to know how much faith a person has, put him
in a place of difficulty. If you want to know how much love a person has, put
him in a place where people hate him. If you want to know how much patience a
person has, put him in a place where he will be tempted to be impatient. If you
want to know how devoted a person’s heart is to God, watch him when he is
tempted to sin.
When we are assaulted by difficulties, that is when any doubts within us will
rise to the surface. It is when people mistreat us that any self-centeredness
within us will rise to the surface. When temptation beckons us, our true heart-attitude
toward God will rise to the surface.
If we understood this truth, we would realize that we are being tested all the
time. When the impurities in you rise to the surface during those times “in
the furnace,” do you recognize them and scrape them off, or do those impurities
just settle back into you when things cool down, leaving behind the same impure
vessel?
I once heard a well-known pastor relate some of his experiences in the first church
he pastored. After every service, a certain carping old lady would criticize his
sermon as she walked out the door and shook his hand. “You were dangling
your participles today, pastor,” she would say and so on. Beyond that, she
was generally a troublemaker in the church, spreading strife and gossip among
the members.
That pastor said he constantly had two prayer requests that he made to the Lord
each day: (1) “Lord, please make me more like Jesus” and (2) “Please
remove that obnoxious lady from my church!”
One day the Lord spoke to him after he reiterated those requests and said, I’m answering your first prayer by not answering your second prayer. I’m
using that lady to help you become more like Jesus. Furthermore the Lord said, I’ve trained several young pastors through that lady.
Back to the Apostle Paul
It took Paul at least fourteen years from the time his divine destiny was revealed
to him until the time he was commissioned as an apostle—that which God had
destined for him even before he was born. Isn’t it interesting that Joseph
and David also experienced approximately the same time span between revelation
of their calling and the beginning of the fulfillment? Paul had to be found
faithful, just as he said in his first letter to the Corinthians:
Let a man regard us in this manner, as stewards of the mysteries of God. In this
case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy (1 Cor.
4:1-2).
If I had a million dollars, and you were my steward, I wouldn’t entrust all
of my money to you. I might first entrust you with one hundred dollars to see
how you handled it. If you invested it wisely and made me some profit, I’d
be inclined to entrust you with more—say five hundred dollars. If you brought
me a good return on that, I’d entrust you with more. Still, it would be a
few years before I’d entrust you with all my money! Do you think God
operates the same way? Of course He does, and He’ll test us to see if we
can be trusted.
As Paul was found faithful, God entrusted him with more and more. We read that
many years after he entered into his apostolic calling, God anointed Paul to an
even greater degree:
And God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so
that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases
left them and the evil spirits went out (Acts. 19:11-12, emphasis added).
How many people do you know whom God is supernaturally using to that degree? I’m
not claiming that God wills that all of His children be used to the same degree
as the apostle Paul. I am certain, however, that there are some of God’s
children who are called to be supernatural church planters, and it is their
divine destiny to be used like Paul—if they will remain faithful and pass
the tests that come their way.
The Final Years of Paul’s Ministry
Up until the 24th chapter of Acts, Paul had not yet been given the opportunity
to testify before “kings” as God had revealed to Ananias a few days
after Paul’s conversion. Beginning in Acts 19, however, Paul began to take
some Spirit-led steps that eventually opened up an audience for him before a number
of kings, and even Nero himself, who, as Roman Emperor, would have been considered
as high as anyone could go.
After Paul had met with much success preaching in the city of Ephesus, the record
of the book of Acts tells us:
Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the spirit to go to Jerusalem
after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been
there, I must also see Rome” (Acts 19:21).
Notice that Paul “purposed in the spirit,” meaning that he knew in his
spirit that God was leading him to travel through Macedonia and Achaia, and then
to Jerusalem and ultimately on to Rome. Obediently, that is the course he followed.
On his way to Jerusalem, after spending several months in Macedonia and Achaia,
Paul stopped near Ephesus and gave his farewell sermon to the pastors there:
“And now, behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not
knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies
to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. But I do not
consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish
my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify
solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God (Acts. 20:22-24, emphasis added).
Notice Paul said he was “bound in spirit.” That means the Holy Spirit
through his own spirit was impelling him to go to Jerusalem. He had an inward
conviction, which is how God leads all of His children. He also said that he really
didn’t know what would happen to him when he arrived there, but that in every
city in which he stopped as he traveled toward Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit was
foretelling him that bonds and afflictions awaited him there.
We have a perfect example of what Paul was talking about in Acts 21. When Paul’s
ship landed at Tyre, he stayed with the disciples for seven days. The Bible says
that those disciples “kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot
in Jerusalem” (Acts 21:4).
Was the Holy Spirit trying to warn Paul not to go to Jerusalem? No, He was leading
Paul to go to Jerusalem, but the disciples in Tyre sensed by the Holy Spirit that
when Paul arrived in Jerusalem there would be trouble. From a natural standpoint,
however, they didn’t want their beloved Paul to suffer. William’s translation says it this way: “Because of impressions made by the Spirit
they kept warning Paul...”
This is a perfect example of what Paul meant when he said that in every city the
Holy Spirit testified that bonds and afflictions awaited him in Jerusalem. It
is also a perfect example of what is quite prevalent in some churches today—false
prophecy. Christians who are sensitive to the Holy Spirit sometimes receive certain
revelations, but they then put their own interpretations on these revelations,
like these people of Tyre did.
Paul also stopped in at Philip the evangelist’s house in the port of Caesarea.
While he was there, a well-respected prophet named Agabus came down from Judea:
And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and
said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem
will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles’” (Acts 21:11).
Once again the Holy Spirit was testifying that bonds and afflictions awaited Paul
in Jerusalem. Notice that Agabus did not say, “Therefore, Paul, the Lord
says that you are not to go to Jerusalem.” No, the Holy Spirit was only confirming
to Paul one more time what he had perceived in his spirit months before.
Of course, when everyone in Philip’s house heard what Agabus predicted, they
begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Paul responded:
“What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only
to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, “The will
of the Lord be done!” (Acts 21:13-14).
Paul, of course, knew he wouldn’t die in Jerusalem because God had already
told him he would go to Rome after he’d been to Jerusalem (as we have already
read).
God was leading Paul to a place that would result in hardship, but He had a divine
purpose. Paul’s divine destiny was to testify before kings. How could a person
in Paul’s day get an audience with Felix, Festus, Agrippa, and Nero? Would
he knock on the palace door and say to the guard, “I’m here to share
the gospel with the king. Does he have an hour that he can spare?” Hardly.
The only way one could have opportunity to share the gospel with the king was
if God gave one the opportunity. That is exactly what God was going to do for
Paul.
Unfortunately, some who are non-sovereignists have a hard time accepting this.
They think God would never lead us into a situation that would result in hardship
for ourselves. Unless God takes us first class—they think it isn’t God
who is leading! We fail to realize that our own personal comfort is much less
important than the need of the lost to hear the gospel. Furthermore, God can use
adversity to perfect us. God obviously knew full well the suffering that Paul
would endure; He knew it before Paul was born—but He still led him to go
to Jerusalem.
Paul Arrives
As he had been warned, affliction awaited Paul in Jerusalem. A Jewish riot started
several days after he arrived, and the rioters would have killed him except for
the timely arrival of a Roman commander on the scene. No doubt Paul had perfect
peace through it all, having been so well-warned in advance.
A few days later, while in prison, Jesus Himself visited Paul in his prison cell,
and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at
Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also” (Acts. 23:11).
Notice that Jesus did not say, “Paul, what are you doing here in Jerusalem?
I tried to warn you not to come here! Now look at the trouble you’ve gotten
yourself into!” No, Paul was in God’s perfect will, and he had heard from God months ago when he felt impressed that he would go to Rome. Is
it possible to be in the center of God’s will in a jail cell? Paul was.
Now let’s think about this story for a moment. Jesus got into Paul’s
jail cell, and He also got out of Paul’s jail cell. No demon or devil could
stop Him. Do you think Jesus could have released Paul from that jail cell? Jesus
had freed Paul from prison once before in Philippi, so of cours, He could
have done it in Jerusalem. Jesus released all the disciples from jail once, and
on another occasion had delivered Peter out of prison (see Acts 5:17-21 and 12:1-19).
Jesus, however, didn’t free Paul from his jail cell this time. Why not? Because
that is where He wanted Paul. Behind the scenes, Jesus was arranging for Paul
to testify before a few kings.
This helps us to understand why God spoke to Paul through such spectacular means, through a prophet and through a vision of Jesus. When God speaks to us
through spectacular means, it is because things are going to get rough. He knows
we’ll need the extra assurance of spectacular guidance to bring us through
the hardships we’ll face. If you need spectacular guidance, you’ll get
it. Otherwise, just rely upon the inward witness of the Holy Spirit.
Paul remained in jail in Jerusalem for a short time, and then was moved to Caesarea,
where he was imprisoned for two years. During that time, however, Paul was given
opportunity to witness of Christ before governor Felix and his successor, governor
Festus. Finally, he proclaimed the gospel before King Agrippa and his wife Bernice,
which resulted in his being sent to Rome at the expense of the Roman Empire to
testify before Caesar.
Do you think Paul sat around and sulked in his jail cells in Jerusalem, Caesarea,
and Rome? No, I’m sure he had a wonderful time, fellowshipping with the Lord
and sharing his faith with the other prisoners. Paul later wrote from a jail cell
in Rome:
Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the
greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in Christ has become well
known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most
of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more
courage to speak the word of God without fear (Phil. 1:12-14).
Now there’s a guy who believed that “all things work together for good”!
(He should have, since he’s the one who originally coined the phrase!) I
can almost imagine the Lord saying to Paul, “You’ve been working so
hard for so long, so let Me give you some rest. I’m sorry that you’ll
have to be imprisoned, but there are some people in jail that I love very much,
and I want you to share the gospel with them. At the same time, there are several
kings you’ll get a chance to tell about Me. In your spare time, you can work
on writing the New Testament!”
What about the suffering Paul had to endure? Paul had a wonderful (and absolutely
proper) attitude about that:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that is to be revealed to us....For momentary, light affliction
is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison (Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17, emphasis added).
Glory be! When we suffer for the sake of the gospel, it just means we will have
all that much more reward in heaven! Jesus said:
“Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and heap insults upon
you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that
day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven...” (Luke 6:22-23, emphasis added).
Many times we feel so sorry for the persecuted Christians in other countries.
I’m telling you the truth—one day they’ll be feeling sorry for
us who were rarely persecuted as they compare their heavenly rewards with ours.
On to Rome
I’m assuming you know Paul’s story. If you don’t, I encourage you
to read the last seven chapters of the book of Acts. Paul was put on a ship for
Rome and perceived in his spirit that the ship was in danger unless it harbored
immediately before the winter arrived. The captain wouldn’t listen to him,
and the result was that the ship was caught in a violent storm. The crew jettisoned
all the cargo and waited to see what fate would bring them (they were all non-sovereignists).
Thankfully, at least one man on board (Paul) knew that he was on the path of his
divine destiny, and he stood before the rest to reassure them:
“Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from
Crete, and incurred this damage and loss. And yet now I urge you to keep up your
courage, for there shall be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For
this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before
me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold,
God has granted you all those you are sailing with you.’ Therefore, keep
up your courage, men, for I believe God, that it will turn out exactly as I have
been told. But we must run aground on a certain island” (Acts 27:21-26).
Paul boarded that ship as a prisoner and ended up being the captain!
If God could save the lives of everyone on that ship, do you suppose He could
have stopped that storm? Of course He could have.
I know some will say He couldn’t because Jesus gave His authority to the
church. All right, let’s say you are correct (which you aren’t), and
God couldn’t have stopped the storm because He gave His authority to the
church. But let me ask you: Why then didn’t Paul use his authority
and rebuke the wind and the waves? Or why didn’t the angel tell him to rebuke
the storm, rather than tell him that they were going to lose their ship and run
aground on a certain island?
Is it possible that God didn’t stop the storm or instruct Paul to rebuke
it because there were some people on an island whom He loved very much and wanted
to hear the gospel? That is exactly what happened. Just as the angel had told
Paul, their ship ran aground on a reef, was destroyed by the force of the waves,
and all two hundred and seventy-six people on board either swam or floated on
the ship’s planks onto the shores of the island of Malta.
If you look at a map of the Mediterranean Sea, you will see that from a natural
standpoint, there is about a one in fifty chance of a ship that is being blown
westward to land on Malta. (That is one more proof that God is sovereign over
the wind.)
Once ashore, Paul was bitten by a deadly snake while gathering firewood, but he
miraculously suffered no ill-effects. (He didn’t have to worry about dying
because God had promised him that he would see Rome.) The result was that the
natives of Malta thought Paul was a god. The apostle then had an opportunity to
pray for the ailing father of the chief of the island, named Publius, who was
consequently healed by the Lord.
The end result was that all the sick people on Malta came to Paul requesting that
he pray for them, and they too were healed. Although the Bible doesn’t give
us all the details, there is no doubt in my mind that quite a few native Maltese,
as well as many of Paul’s sailing partners, came to know Jesus as their Lord.
Once again, Paul could say that his “circumstances had turned out for the
greater progress of the gospel” (Phil. 1:12), even though his circumstances
(the shipwreck and the snakebite) could certainly have been viewed as devastating
tragedies. Yet God had caused “all things to work together for good.”
I’m convinced that God will cause all things (even bad things) to work together
for good in our lives, too, if we will cooperate with Him and trust Him. However,
we must look beyond the circumstances, the adversity, the devil, and selfish people—to
God who is in sovereign control.
Destiny Fulfilled
Paul was a person who fulfilled his divine destiny. A few years before his martyrdom,
as we have already read, he said during his farewell sermon to the Ephesian elders:
“But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order
that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord
Jesus” (Acts. 20:24, emphasis added).
It seems that even then Paul realized his divine destiny included martyrdom. He
wrote several years later to the Philippians:
That I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ
shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death (Phil. 1:20, emphasis added).
Finally, from a Roman jail cell, perhaps just days away from his death, Paul penned
these words:
The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me
on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing
(2 Tim. 4:6b-8, emphasis added).
Will you be able
to say at the time of your departure from this earth that you have finished
the course God planned for your life? Will you have realized your divine destiny?
How will you answer the great Judge when He asks you on that day, “Did
you follow My plans for your life or your own?”
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