By the Lord’s sovereignty Paul was rescued from the hand of the rioting Jews into the hand of the Roman commander (21:27-39). After Paul defended himself before the Jews (21:40—22:21), was bound by the Romans (22:22-29), and defended himself before the Sanhedrin (22:30—23:10), he was encouraged by the Lord. Concerning this, 23:11 says, “But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, for as you have solemnly testified concerning Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” This was a word of strong assurance to Paul. Surely Paul was afraid. If he had not been afraid, there would have been no need for the Lord to tell him to take courage. Paul certainly had been in a very frightening situation. But sovereignly the Lord rescued him from that situation, and then He came to assure him that he would testify of Him in Rome. In this way Paul’s desire to see Rome would be fulfilled.
Let us consider again the picture of the situation in which Paul found himself. The church was weak, compromising, and lacking in light. With the church in Jerusalem there was not a genuine testimony. The religious people in Judaism were blind, devilish, and full of hatred, and the Roman politicians were corrupt. Against such a background we see Paul, a man burdened for and saturated with God’s New Testament economy. As Paul considered the situation involving the church, Judaism, and the Roman government, he knew that what was needed most was God’s New Testament economy.
What is God’s New Testament economy? God’s New Testament economy is to propagate the processed Triune God in the Person of the all-inclusive, resurrected Christ. Only the propagation of this resurrected Christ is the answer to the pitiful situation on the earth. What is needed is for us to allow God to carry out His New Testament economy in propagating the resurrected Christ. Paul must have considered this very much during the two years custody in Caesarea. Therefore, when he was brought to Rome, he began to write the last eight of his Epistles: Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, 1 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, and 2 Timothy. These Epistles give us a clear view of the carrying out of God’s New Testament economy.
Not long after Paul presented a clear view of God’s New Testament economy by completing his writings of the divine revelation, he was martyred. Approximately a quarter of a century later, the book of Revelation was written. In the seven epistles of Revelation 2 and 3 we can see that the churches, which had been established mainly by Paul for the accomplishment of God’s New Testament economy by propagating the resurrected Christ, had become degraded. The degradation consisted of the loss of the all-inclusive Christ and the taking in of other things as replacements of Christ. With the exception of the epistle to the church in Philadelphia, we see that in these seven churches various things had crept in to replace Christ.
Almost nineteen centuries have passed since the book of Revelation was written. Throughout these centuries a struggle has been taking place between Satan and God. Satan has been trying in different ways to replace Christ. As a result, many of us, including me, were born into an organized Christianity that had very little of Christ. For example, how much of Christ is there in the celebration of Christmas? In today’s Christianity there is a mixture of truth and falsehood. Very few believers know the truth in a deep and thorough way.
After I was saved, I immediately began to love the Bible and study it. Gradually the light has come through the Word concerning God’s New Testament economy. Through the Lord’s enlightenment we can see that Paul was burdened for the full revelation of God’s New Testament economy. The accomplishment of the divine economy involved Christ’s incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension so that He might propagate Himself by imparting Himself into God’s chosen people. In this way God’s people may become His sons and the members of Christ to be a corporate Body to express Him. This expression is in local churches in this age and will be in the New Jerusalem in eternity.
This is the vision Paul saw, and this is what we need to see today. Paul’s vision concerning God’s New Testament economy is fully revealed and developed in his last eight Epistles. Therefore, with the help of the Life-study Messages, we need to study these Epistles, especially Ephesians and Hebrews. Studying Paul’s Epistles will enrich our experience of the propagating Christ in God’s New Testament economy.