The Life of Paul Part 6 – Apostle Paul’s Early Ministry: Suffering, Calling & the Road to Antioch

Gaius does not like Jewish people. They do not pray to him. He does not understand one God, but he does know that there is a temple with a very secret building in it called the Holy of Holies, where God is to dwell. He orders that a statue be placed in the Holy of Holies made out of solid gold because he is the only God there is at this time. Gaius’s entire family and all others involved reject the idea; he becomes more determined than ever. Things are also growing very desperate for the Jews in Alexandria when a host of them were rounded up, put into the stadium, and forced to eat pork, a shame for any Jew.

Agrippa, the name of a man who only begins to emerge, is a Jewish grandson of Herod the Great, born in 10 BC. He’s in prison at the time that Tiberius dies because of deception, deceit, debt, and even a twisted testimony given against him that he had threatened the life of Tiberius. But during the time that he was in Rome and at Capri, his closest friend was Gaius. His second closest friend was a cripple descendant of Julius and Augustus Caesar, whose name was Claudius. It was at the time that Gaius took the throne that he released Agrippa from prison and gave him a golden key, indicating that he had unlocked the door to Agrippa’s cell. Pretty soon, Agrippa had become the governor of a small part of a much-divided Israel. He did everything in his pleading to try to get Gaius to understand that he cannot put a gold statue in the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem. It would call for instant rebellion, war, and death. Gaius seems to be utterly unmoved by anyone concerning this.

All of this is going on when Paul comes back to Damascus. He goes in a new man, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and always referring to the gentleman named Stephen. Once more, he speaks, once more he’s tied, and once more he’s beaten. Someday, his back will not only be scars upon scars but will be completely covered with calluses from his beatings. He decides that after that, he will go and see Peter for the first time. But there is a problem, and that is no one knows where Peter stays, nor does anyone know where John stays, for both of these men had been arrested, the twelve had been arrested, and Peter and John were under the penalty, an informal penalty of death if anyone ever found them.

So, he goes to Jerusalem. He does not meet the church. He finds one man who will listen to him, and that man decides that Peter should meet him. In order to do this, Peter will have to disclose the place where he’s hidden. Paul is talking to Barnabas. Barnabas decides that he’s going to have Paul meet Peter. And at that moment, it is Barnabas who says, “Come. I will show you.”

Suddenly, Barnabas reached down the corner of the room and lifted a door. He motioned for Paul to follow him, down a ladder, down into a deep hole that had been cut out of the ground, and then a tunnel so narrow you had sometimes to walk sideways. Barnabas, with a candle leading the way. Obviously, it passed over several streets and made several turns. Where they led, they did not know. You can even hear the dogs barking in the streets of Jerusalem above their heads. They reached the very end, and there was a ladder leading up to another door, and then the floor.

Barnabas signaled to Paul to go up first. He went up, tapped on the door, and the door opened. There, in the dark, Paul saw a hand reach down. Paul grabbed it. The two hands clasped one another, and a very strong arm lifted Paul up to another building, a house somewhere in Jerusalem without windows and without doors.

It was Simon Peter. They greeted and hugged, then John, then the brother of Jesus. Lights had been lit. They tell me you look like Jesus. Peter broke in, “The similarity is truly remarkable.” Then you must look like, and James answered, “I look a great deal like my mother.” So, they shared, they talked. Finally, hours upon hours, Paul told his story. While Barnabas sat and listened, the part about his being called to the Gentiles met a skeptical look on the faces of James, John, and Peter.

Finally, John said something to Peter. Peter turned to Paul. “We believe that you are a follower of Christ, but you have spoken of two beatings. I have never heard of a Jewish man beaten in a synagogue on two occasions, not in the same synagogue. Do you mind?” Paul said, “Of course, I understand. I am as amazed that one such as me is now a follower of Christ as you are.” Paul stood, turned, and dropped his shirt. James, John, Peter, and Barnabas…four men, instantly…one let out a long whistle, another a groan, another cried out, “Oh no!” Peter walked over and laid his hand on the back of Paul of Tarsus, making this statement. “The scars, the whip marks are so similar to our Lord’s.”

What Paul did not know was that before he would finish the fight, he would have been four, five times beaten with the Jewish whip, and there would be others. Most of the evening, the next day, and the entire two weeks were mostly John telling his story of Pentecost and Jesus, the words being quoted to Paul over and over again. At no time did anyone ask Paul a single question about what he believed, nor did he ever ask Peter, nor John, nor James.

He left at the end of those two weeks with a strong impression that James was still living in the era of the laws of Moses, whereas Peter had pulled free of that, except for the Gentiles; he was entirely Jewish in his vision of salvation. Paul wasn’t troubled, but he still wondered about those words, “I will send you to the Gentiles. I will send you to the Gentiles. And you will suffer; you will suffer for me.” That suffering would be from whom, he wondered. From the Gentiles, perhaps, perhaps Jews too, surely not. Or the world, the governments and principalities of this day. He simply did not know.

Paul said, “There is one thing I want to do while I am here. I want to go at the first possible moment to the free man’s synagogue, the libertine synagogue. “We never go there,” said James. Peter nodded. I understand, you did not grow up in a Greek world. Another voice. “I am often there,” It was Barnabas, “or I attend there from time to time. I believe that we have heard your story referred to many times in that synagogue, and most of the people have heard of your conversion, but not a one of them believes it. “Then I will change that,” said Paul, “for I intend to finish a message, a testimony,” said Paul, “the interrupted message. I’ll be going there tomorrow if tomorrow is open, and I will be giving them full assurance that I belong to the Lord above all else. It is He to whom I belong.”

So, after two weeks, the four men gave each other a hug and a Christian embrace, which is a kiss on each cheek, something that had been done by Christians in their first years in Jerusalem. The last words Peter said to Paul were, “I do not understand these words from God that you would be sent to the Gentiles. We only know Jewish salvation. Perhaps there’s something out there that will change all that.” Paul paused and said, “There must be, Peter. I heard those words; I will go to the Gentiles, and I will take Christ to the Gentiles.” And Peter added, “And you will suffer greatly if you do. You might even encounter discouragement from the words of those who are followers of the way.”