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CONNIE: What do you do when you “just can’t seem to get there from here”? If you know God has a mission for you, He’ll help you fulfill it—as we’ll see as we continue our journeys with the apostle Paul today.

Giving God’s trumpet a Certain Sound for 75 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I’m Lonnie Melashenko. And I have a message today for everyone who is experiencing frustration in their life.

CONNIE: In other words, a message for just about everybody?

LONNIE: I suppose that’s right, because all of us experience frustration in one way or another, in big things or small, almost every day. But I’m thinking today of the big frustrations that seem to hinder our lives. Things that keep us from being able to go to the places or do the things that we feel called to do for the Lord.

CONNIE: Even the apostle Paul had some times like that, didn’t he?

LONNIE: He did indeed—and today we’re looking at his long journey to Rome. The book of Acts tells us a lot about Paul’s journeys, but it ends with him in Rome—to me that says something—it indicates that Rome was an important focus of Paul’s life, and that in some sense when he finally got there; his life had reached its goal.

CONNIE: It took a lot to get him there, though, didn’t it?

LONNIE: It sure did. We mentioned last week that he could easily have gone to Rome directly from Corinth, but instead he detoured to Jerusalem, and ran into more roadblocks there. It must have seemed to him that even though he was sure God wanted him in Rome, nothing was working out according to God’s plan.

CONNIE: But eventually it did work out.

LONNIE: In bigger ways than Paul had expected. And that’s why today’s message is addressed to anyone out there who is experiencing frustration in their Christian in or in life in general. The portion of Paul’s life we’re looking at today can be a real encouragement to just hang in there—and wait and see how God is going to work things out.

CONNIE: With that in mind, let’s turn to our interview segment, where we talk with Professor Ivan Blazen about just what made the journey to Rome such an important part of Paul’s life and ministry. Ken Wade spoke with Dr. Blazen.
KEN: I want to welcome Dr. Ivan Blazen to our show here today.

IVAN: Well, nice to hear from you, Ken.

KEN: It’s good to be back with you. I remember taking classes from you, and we were just reminiscing about…well, more years than we would like to admit, at the seminary. Now, you are professor of biblical interpretation and theology here in California at Loma Linda University. Now, we’re talking today about a fascinating aspect of Paul’s life. He wanted to go to Rome in the worst way, why?

IVAN: Let me just mention first that…you say that he wanted to go in the worst way, yeah he wanted to go for the longest period of time. In the first chapter, where he gives some of his travel plans, you know? Then in chapter 15 he lives some more. Why, he says he had wanted to come for a long period, and he defines that in chapter 15 as a period of many years. So, this is really important to Paul, and I think that being the apostle to the Gentiles, and Rome being the capital of the empire, he just had to get to Rome. He had purposes for going there specifically, but that would be one of the big ones.

KEN: So, I think both chapter 1 and chapter 15 of Romans he talks about this. But he talks about it a little bit different in each of those chapters, doesn’t he?

IVAN: That’s right! In chapter1, remember that Paul had never visited the Roman church, so he concentrates on the Romans themselves and what he wants to do when he gets there, and why he’s coming to them. In chapter 15, after 15 chapters in between where he outlines his gospel, he finally tells them that he’s going to come to them, after a visit to Jerusalem, as he is on his way to Spain. Apparently he doesn’t want to mention that he is going to Spain, as he is going to go somewhere else from Rome until he has developed his gospel. He wants to tell them, in other words in chapter 1, I really love you, you, you, you, you…

KEN: Right. And his reason for going to Jerusalem on the way there is kind of interesting too, in conjunction with reading the book of Romans.

IVAN: It’s really important because as much as he tells them that he wants to come to them, and finally you think, well he’s just going to get on a ship and come there…

KEN: Yeah, he’s in Corinth for heavens sake, it’s no that far!

IVAN: It’s not that far, and they may have thought that he was going to come right away, and he says, well, I’ve wanted to come for years, but now I have to go to Jerusalem first.

KEN: Bit of a detour.

IVAN: But this really wasn’t a detour, because he’ s been collecting an offering from the Gentiles in Greece and so on, and he wants to bring this offering to Jerusalem, and he tells us about that in chapter 15. He’s going to bring the offering from the Gentiles to the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem, because I think he wanted to create a unity between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, lest Christianity become 2 movements instead of 1.

KEN: And that plays out very strongly in his letter to the Romans too, doesn’t it?

IVAN: Absolutely! It’s a very big thing. He wants the Jews to see that the Gentiles really do care about them. Just like in chapter 11 of Romans, he wants to make sure that those Romans do not thumb their noses at the Jews, but are fully supportive of the Jews, because spiritually, the Jews had been supportive of them before.

KEN: So as he wrestles with the issues of salvation that are so strong in Romans, he’s wrestling all the time with that issue as well, isn’t he?

IVAN: That’s right. It isn’t that he just wants individuals to be saved, as he surely does, but he wants a new people to be created out of diverse elements, out of Jews and Gentiles, he wants one church of God composed of everyone.

KEN: Now, he hasn’t gone to Rome yet, he says, because he’s wanted to work in territory. But now he is coming with kind of a pastoral interest to a place that already has a church.

IVAN: Right. He tells us in chapter 15 that he makes it his ambition to proclaim the gospel, not where Christ has been named, but where he has been unnamed. He’s been following that policy, and now that he has followed it for so many years, he can come to Rome, finally, and as you said, he has a pastoral interest. He says, in chapter1:11, I would like to share with you some spiritual gifts to strengthen you. That’s a pastoral purpose.

KEN: Well, you said something as we were discussing this before about, even if he couldn’t get there, that he wanted this letter to go as his stand-in as what?

IVAN: Well, remember that in chapter 15 he says that when he goes to Jerusalem with the offering, that he wants their prayers, because he could die there. Now if he dies there, then his letter will be his presence. A letter in which he talks about being saved through Christ and how that creates a new people and how we are to love all of the people of God.

KEN: It’s almost like Paul’s last will and testament, isn’t it?

IVAN: It is. I f you were going to write it up, it couldn’t be done any better than Romans.

KEN: Our time is up, but I thank you for your insights Dr. Blazin.

IVAN: Thank you! It was great to be here.

“How Cheering Is the Christian’s Hope”, Andrews University Singers, from We Would See Jesus CD, Track 7 (#) TIME: 1:30

CONNIE: : Amen! That was the Andrews University Singers, with a cheerful reminder that even when life seems dark and we’re facing difficulties on every side, we still can cling to our cheering hope in Jesus.

LONNIE: If you’d like to hear more of the University Singers’ music, might I suggest that you stop by our web page and click on the link that leads to “Music Heard on the Broadcast,” to learn about the CD and how you can obtain a copy.

CONNIE: That’s just one of the resources you’ll find on our web page, located at VOP.COM. You can also study the Discover Bible Lessons right there, and access transcripts of all of our programs.

LONNIE: And of course there’s a place to send us a personal email message—even ask Bible questions if you’d like—so why not join the thousands who visit VOP.COM every day and send us a note, just to let us know you listen to our programs.

CONNIE: You can also contact us by regular mail, of course, and this week if you’ll drop us a line and request a copy of the book Growing Through Life’s Toughest Times, we’ll get one right on its way to you.

LONNIE: This book is from our sister ministry, It Is Written, and it fits right in with the theme of today’s program.

CONNIE: You can write to us at Voice of Prophecy, Box 53055, Los Angeles, 90053. Again: Box 53055, Los Angeles, 90053, and after Lonnie’s message, we’ll share our Canadian mailing address as well, but right now, let’s listen as Lonnie shares his message, “The Road to Rome.”

The Road to Rome

“All roads lead to Rome.” We’ve all heard the saying, and in the days of the apostle Paul, it was literally true. Because the Roman emperors had built roads in every province to assure that their troops could move rapidly to put down revolts and attacks quickly. And the web of highways all had their roots at the capital city.

For Paul, the idea had special significance.

Somehow he knew that his road must lead him eventually to Rome. It was the center of the world that he lived in.

While he was still in Corinth, just before his fateful trip to Jerusalem, he wrote to the Roman church, “God is my witness . . . that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. . . . I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles” (Romans 1:9, 10, 13, NKJV).

Have you ever had a hope in the Lord—something you were sure God wanted to accomplish through you, but it just seemed like you could never bring it about? Time after time as you tried, something got in the way.

I think most of us have experienced that in our Christian walk.

It gives me courage to realize that Paul experienced the same sort of frustration of his dreams. And yet he didn’t grow discouraged or give up hope.

At the very beginning of Paul’s Christian walk, when the devout Ananias came to minister to him and restore his sight, I have no doubt that Ananias shared the message that God had given him in vision. Based on Acts 9:15, I can hear Ananias saying, “Paul, you’re a chosen vessel of the Lord. He’s called you to bear His name before Gentiles, Jews, and even the top rulers of this world!”

If the testimony about Jesus was supposed to go to the rulers of the world—well, then it had to go to Rome, didn’t it? That was where the emperor who ruled most of the known world lived.

But how could Paul ever manage to get the emperor’s attention long enough to bear witness to him?

Have you seen any of those television ads for the AARP? Like the one where the woman gets on the phone, calls the White House, asks to speak to the President, and is put right through? “Yeah, right!” we say when we see something like that. Things just don’t happen that way. And that’s the point of the commercial. If you’re going to get the ear of someone in power, you need powerful allies.

And that was just as true in Paul’s day.

What kind of powerful ally could he call on to get him an audience with the emperor?

Well, fortunately Paul had a very powerful ally. God.

But it’s not always easy to see how God is working things out for His glory in the world, is it?

When he wrote to the Romans, Paul’s desire to visit their fair city had already been frustrated a number of times. It would continue to be frustrated day after day, week after week, month after month, even year after year.

But not because God didn’t have a plan in mind.

God has marvelous ways of working things out.

If we have the patience to let Him do it.

Paul delayed his anticipated trip to Rome just long enough for a quick jaunt to Jerusalem. But his “quick” visit was soon interrupted by a mob that wanted his head. Next thing he knew he was under arrest by the Roman authorities, entrapped by the political maneuverings of the day.

The Romans really couldn’t figure out any reason why they should hold him in prison. After repeated questionings by the procurator Felix, the charges still weren’t clear, but the Romans apparently didn’t want to offend the Jewish authorities and stir up any more trouble than they had to, so Felix kept Paul in prison in Caesarea for two years, after which Felix was replaced by a man named Festus. Festus didn’t know what to do with Paul either, so he invited the Jewish leaders to come to Caesarea and present their case against him. But it soon became obvious to him that the problem had nothing to do with Roman law—it was a matter that needed to be heard in Jerusalem, and he offered Paul the “opportunity” to be tried there.

Paul knew it would not go well for him if he were to be sent back to Jerusalem. But as a Roman citizen he had another option. It was risky, but also presented an opportunity to fulfill his long-delayed dream of preaching the gospel in Rome. At the highest levels of governmental power.

Given the choice between being tried in Jerusalem or Rome, the great apostle to the Gentiles said, “‘I am appealing to the emperor's tribunal; this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you very well know. . . . I appeal to the emperor’ ” (Acts 25:10-11, NRSV).

It’s hard for us to imagine just how fraught with danger—and opportunity—this appeal would be. The emperor at this time was Nero—a mere boy hardly twenty years old—who had been proclaimed emperor at age 16 after his mother poisoned her husband (Nero’s step-father), the Emperor Claudius. To stand before such a man—well, certainly it was an opportunity. But it wasn’t without risks. To have your life placed in the hands of a man such as Nero—it had to be scary.

Paul had wanted to go to Rome to meet with the Christians there, share his faith with them, and appeal to them to help him in a planned mission to Spain. He probably hoped to slip into and out of the city without attracting the attention of the government.

But God had bigger plans for him.

Bigger than even he could have imagined.

And this brings up a question in my mind—one I think we all need to ask ourselves from time to time. Is it possible that sometimes the reason we don’t see our own prayers and aspirations fulfilled is that God wants us to dream bigger? He has something larger in mind for us, and we just need to be patient until He reveals His hand?

I think that’s what happened with Paul. He spent two long years in prison in Caesarea, and it must have been a frustrating time. But it was just preparation time for the larger mission God had in mind.

Do you ever feel like you’re imprisoned by your circumstances? Do you wonder why God would leave you stuck where you are? Well, maybe He’s preparing you for something bigger, and as you stay in tune with His will, the bigger plan will become visible.

I can’t help but think that that is what happened to Paul. Finally, after years in prison, he realized that God was calling him to something larger—and he made the appeal to Caesar’s tribunal.

And as a result he would have the opportunity to speak of the claims of the gospel to the highest authorities in the Roman Empire.

It would not be an easy thing to get to Rome, though.

A trip to Rome would require a trip by sea, and it was a bit late in the year for that. The shipping lanes closed down for most of the winter due to unfavorable winds, and winter was close at hand. Keep in mind too, that by this time in his life Paul had already made a number of sea voyages—three of which had ended in shipwrecks! (2 Corinthians 11:25). A trip to Rome was no “Mediterranean Cruise” in the way we think of it these days. It was a risky affair—and that may be part of why Paul bided his time for so long in Caesarea before appealing to the emperor’s tribunal.

Despite the lateness of the season, arrangements were made for the voyage, and Paul was entrusted to the care of a Roman centurion, who was given the job of finding a ship that could get them to Rome.

The story of Paul’s voyage, and especially of the shipwreck on the island of Malta, is well known to Christians, and we won’t take time to dwell on it at length here, except to notice some of the evidences of how God was working in Paul’s life to help him grow into an even better witness for Jesus.

Paul was a mere prisoner, but we can see, from the way that the centurion treated him, that he had earned the respect of the Roman authorities. When the ship made a brief stop in, Sidon, Paul was allowed to go ashore and visit with friends.

Later, when the crew was trying to decide whether to winter in Fair Havens or to move on to another port, Paul was even given the opportunity to give his opinion. At this point, Acts 27:11 tells us, “the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said” (NRSV). And that turned out to be a bad decision. So when things went from bad to worse and it seemed certain that the ship would sink in a storm, people paid more attention to what Paul had to say. Especially when he announced that an angel had assured him that everyone on board would make it safely ashore. Paul spoke out courageously for his God in these circumstances: “‘so keep up your courage, men’ ” he urged. “‘For I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told’ ” (Acts 27:25, NRSV).

Fortunately the centurion had the good sense to listen to Paul’s counsel this time, and many lives were saved as a result. And I think this reveals something important about Paul as well. Wherever he went, he was able to earn the respect of the authorities he had to deal with. Even when he testified about angels speaking to him, he wasn’t dismissed as some sort of religious fanatic. People who had watched how he endured fourteen days of storm-tossed seas recognized that here was a man who didn’t just talk about faith—he lived it.

The same was evident after the shipwreck. On the island, Paul was bitten by a snake—but he didn’t panic. He simply shook it off and suffered no ill effects. Better yet, he reached out his hand in healing to those who were ill.

Wherever he went, the peace and strength of Jesus went with him, and he changed his world for the better.

Can the same be said about me? Can the same be said about you?

I’m sure we all have some growing to do in our walk with the Lord, but as I study the life of Paul, I find it most encouraging to know that God was able to take this rough-cut diamond and polish and hone him until he shone like a brilliant jewel, disseminating light and life wherever he went.

Don’t you want that to be true of your life as well? I know that’s what I wish for mine.

“Jewels”, Tammy Larson, from Touch of Grace CD.