According to 20:5 and 6, Paul and his companions came to Troas, where they stayed seven days. “And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, about to go forth on the next day, and prolonged his message until midnight” (v. 7). The first day of the week was the Lord’s day (Rev. 1:10). Paul stayed in Troas for seven days, but it was only on the first day of the week that they gathered together to break bread in remembrance of the Lord. This indicates that at that time the apostle and the church considered the first day of the week a day to meet together for the Lord.
The New Testament does not say explicitly that there was a church in Troas. But by reading this short portion of the Word, we can easily realize that there was a good church there. Although Paul was very busy, he stayed with the saints in Troas for seven days, and on the Lord’s day he took the opportunity to minister to them until late at night. From this we see that Paul was truly burdened for the Lord’s Body.
While meeting with the saints in Troas on the Lord’s day, Paul prolonged his message until midnight. Then, after the situation involving the young man who fell down from a windowsill, they broke bread (vv. 8-11a). Following that, Paul “conversed for a considerable time until daybreak, and so he went away” (v. 11b). This indicates that Paul was fully burdened for God’s New Testament economy.
We need to see the picture of the apostle Paul presented in these chapters of Acts and also in such Epistles as Galatians, Romans, and 1 and 2 Corinthians. As we study these parts of the New Testament, we can see that in Paul the Lord had obtained an excellent vessel. Paul was a man fully constituted of God’s New Testament economy. Because he was constituted in this way, he was burdened concerning the church in Jerusalem.
Actually, the church in Jerusalem and the churches in Judea were not assigned to Paul for him to be burdened concerning them. In Galatians 2:8 Paul says clearly that the Lord assigned Peter to be an apostle to the circumcision, including the churches in the Jewish land, and He assigned Paul to be the apostle to the uncircumcision, that is, to the Gentiles. Therefore, it seems that it would have been sufficient for Paul to bear the burden of all the Gentile churches from Antioch to Asia and from Macedonia to Rome. Apparently there was no need for Paul to be burdened about Jerusalem. Nevertheless, he had seen the situation there. As one who had seen the situation and who was faithful, Paul could not be at peace concerning Jerusalem. Paul was concerned that the “poison” from the source, the “fountain,” in Jerusalem would contaminate the entire Body of Christ.
Even in ancient times there was a great deal of traffic in the area around the Mediterranean Sea. The Roman government had built many roads. In particular, there was traffic to Jerusalem from many different cities, especially at the time of the feasts. Because of this traffic, the religious mixture in Jerusalem could easily spread to the Gentile world.
As we have seen, Peter and James should have solved the problem in Jerusalem. However, they were somewhat weak and fearful and did not take care of the matter. As a result, eventually Paul became burdened to take care of the situation there.
In chapter fifteen of Acts Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem purposely to deal with the problem regarding circumcision. The problem was solved, but the solution was not absolute. Because of the compromising solution, the problem was not uprooted. Rather, the root was allowed to remain. Therefore, Paul was not at peace concerning the situation in Jerusalem.
James was compromising, Peter was weak, and a pitiful situation continued to exist in Jerusalem. Because of this, Paul, a faithful servant of the Lord, was burdened with a very weighty concern. Paul did not have the peace to go on in his ministry in the Gentile world because the poison from the source at Jerusalem was flowing out toward Asia, Europe, and even Rome. This was the reason Paul did not have the peace, assurance, and comfort to proceed further to carry out God’s New Testament economy in the Gentile world. His heart was for Jerusalem, and he purposed in spirit to go there to clear up the source of the mixture.
Paul went up to Jerusalem in chapter fifteen and again in chapter eighteen, at the end of his second ministry journey (v. 22). After he completed his second journey of ministry, Paul arrived at Caesarea. According to the route of travel, he should have gone directly back to Antioch. However, he purposely went to Jerusalem in order to do something gradually to clear away the poison that was there. Now Paul purposed in his spirit to go up to Jerusalem once again.
As we consider the picture portrayed in Acts, we see that while Paul was laboring to care for the Lord’s move in the area around the Mediterranean Sea, he was still burdened concerning Jerusalem, because it was the source of the poison that was spreading into the Gentile world. Therefore having no peace to continue his work in Europe and Asia, he endeavored in his faithfulness to go up to Jerusalem in order to deal with the source of the poison of religious mixture that was flowing out from Jerusalem to the Gentile world.