I need to go to Rome

When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time. – Acts 19.21-22

Paul never ceases to amaze me. You could not hold Him down. No matter what happened Paul had to go on, had to keep sharing, and had to spears out with is preaching. He had preached to his Jerusalem and his Judea and his Samaria but now he had to reach out to the uttermost parts of the world. Here he had just come back from Macedonia and Jerusalem. But he had another goal in mind – ‘I must also see Rome.’

It made sense. Rome was THE city. Roughly one million people lived there. It was the centre of culture and society. If there was going to be a real impact on the Roman Empire it had to begin in the heartland – in Rome itself. If the gospel was going to impact the masses it had to go to Rome. God reaches out to ‘the one’ but He also reaches out to the multitude.

So it was to Rome that Paul must go. He had to the take the gospel there. At this stage Paul didn’t know how it was going to happen but he knew he had to go. If he could have an impact in Rome people would be saved and then they could carry the gospel as they traveled to the rest of the Empire.

Paul had a view of world missions that few, if any, have ever had. We are entering a new year today. May God allow us to have our eyes opened to the need of the gospel to the ‘ones’ we encounter every day but also to the masses. We may not be called to go to ‘Rome’ but we need to be driven to go where God leads us.