Tag: rome

  • Acts 8:1 Syria – Strategic Map into all of the world

    Acts 8:1 Syria – Strategic Map into all of the world

    Our cover photo may look like an intelligence map for a modern military operation in Syria. That’s right. War in Syria is hardly anything new under the sun.

    So you ask, what does this have to do with a first century Syria of the Roman Empire and Jesus’ great commission?

    Syria - strategic topographical map
    Some text on Talk of JESUS .com will appear in other languages for readers who translate our English language site for ease of reading.

    وَقَالَ لَهُمْ: «اذْهَبُوا إلَى العَالَمِ أجْمَعَ، وَبَشِّرُوا جَمِيعَ النَّاسِ.

    Click this for English and Hindi translations of Arabic above: Gospel of Mark 16:15

    Syria: A frequent field פַּדָּן of battle for all of the world

    Follow the link above and you will discover that we have journeyed to these fields of Syria many times in the Bible.

    • And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; H6307 and pitched his tent before the city. – Genesis 32:18 KJV
      • Padan or Padan-aram = “field”
        • a plain or tableland in northern Mesopotamia in Aram, a region of Syria

      Today’s lesson on Syria sets the scene of ACTS in maps and history.

      IF we are successful in this lesson in cartography from a former C-minus geography student, we may all learn something about how Syria became a most important ‘where’ to go on our mission journeys of the first century Church.

      From the shores to the mountaintops

      Credits & Disclaimer:
      I have taken due diligence to link sources of this publically available material; however, PLEASE NOTE: In spite of the reliable information included in these website sources, MANY write from an Anti-Christ and ANTI-GOD perspective, quoting theorized dates & other unsubstantiated editorial commentary as facts. Nevertheless you should gain an understanding of the lows and highs of these journeys on the roads of Acts through Syria. 

      War near Israel:

      DCS Syria Map:

      Historical and Geographical Introduction by 132nd.AssafB

      Syria dcs map

      This is presentation about the new DCS map: Syria made by Ugra Media, and it is focused on the area between the north of Israel and the neighbouring countries of Syria and Lebanon..

      The goal is providing a solid background, both for building realistic DCS scenarios and for historical interests.

      What struck the most was seeing places such as Tyre on the map, and many others that recur through history since ancient civilizations, I did not think about that!

      Source: Digital Combat Simulator
      Watch a little to see the terrain of Syria near Israel if you would like

      Contemporary Squabbles, Wars, Conflits, etc & so on..

      A picture shows the scene after an explosive device exploded in a taxi in Syria's town of Azaz in the rebel-controlled northern countryside of Syria's Aleppo province near the border with Turkey, on January 13. -/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

      [Read more]

      ARGUMENT An expert’s point of view on a current event.
      Syria Is Neither Stable Nor Safe
      An unfinished war has been almost forgotten by the West.
      By James Snell, a British writer.

      JANUARY 29, 2022, 6:00 AM

      At least three Syrian children are dead this month from inadequate protection against the snowstorms and subzero temperatures that have made 2022 the coldest winter in 40 years in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. Their mothers are among Syria’s 6.8 million internally displaced persons.


      THE JERUSALEM POST By HASAN ISMAIK
       Published: FEBRUARY 19, 2022 

      Perhaps you recall or have studied the Six-Day War, or Arab-Israeli War of 1967, War between Israel and the Arab countries of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.

      Again, these same areas at issue surrounding the Promised Land had become areas where opposing military groups could lay siege of terror from the heights above the fields and towns of Israel just as has happened for thousands of years.


      Meanwhile, returning to the Roman Empire and Syria

      roman routes into Syria

      WorldHistory.org

      Syria was an important province of the Roman Republic and, later the Roman Empire. Both Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great favored the region and, after the rise of the empire, it was considered one of the most essential regions owing to its trade routes and ports on the Mediterranean Sea.


      Fleeing another Empire

      Here in Acts 6 we discovered a Jerusalem divided by traditions of east & west.

      Acts 6 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, maps of empires impacting the Jews

      Truly, there was more than one Jewish diaspora;

      most notably the one where Israel and Judah fell and the Jews were sent to other lands, mostly to the east.

      These lands were later captured by Alexander of Macedonia to their west, riches of a world which Rome sought to control beyond Syria and the Jordan.

      Roman Empire AD14 with Parthia to the east beyond Roman Syria
      Syria – between two empires AD 14

      In the early days of Judea, Herod the Great negotiated with Rome to build a shaky autonomy. But a generation and several Caesars later, Judea’s political alliance would be decimated by Rome with its imposing brand of a military peace.

      So another diaspora (of sorts), one of Jews AND these new Messianic Jews or Christfollowers would take place.

      Roman, Greek and Syrian towns would eventually try to send them all away.

      Christ followers would read Luke’s account of ACTS 7 & 8 at a time of new persecutions to both Jews and Christians after A.D. 60.

      Jerusalem, too, would once again fall to Rome’s Legions in A.D. 70.


      In the Timeline of ACTS

      If you had been following events back in Jerusalem (during the time Philip strategically fled to Samaria, ended up in Gaza and then amazingly found himself in Azotus), you would have observed several political attempts by Jerusalem’s rulers to follow such disciples of Jesus into all of the world
      anywhere these men might threaten the rule of Judea-ism [sic].

      Roman soldiers, as in years prior, were never far from the political wrangling between the Sanhedrin and Christians like Peter and Stephen who stood against Judea’s adopted Jewish traditions.

      • 27 BCE – Tarsus is capital of Roman province of Syria-Cilicia Phoenice
      • 66 CE – 73 CE – Syrian troops participate in the First Jewish-Roman War.
        • source [additional detailed timeline below]

      This second diaspora occurs after Rome tramples Jerusalem, when Christians have already fled to gentile and Roman cities. Disciples of Jesus in these places hear encouragement or read the record of earlier events in ACTS, which have taken place a generation or so earlier [30+ years].

      map of Syria, ruled froj Tarsus
      Roman cities of Syria

      “anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi”

      Historical ACTS ‘in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ’

      A.D., as world calendars denoted for nearly two millennia when men dared not overtly call any era 'common.' i.e. the anti-Christ designations of: BCE or CE
      ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
      
      Dates below approximate from multiple sources:
      - including Historical Atlas of the Bible
      • AD 6-AD14 – Judea is a ‘prefectorial’ province of Rome
      • AD26-AD36 – Pontius Pilate is Procurator of Syria-Cilicia Phoenice and its client states
      • AD27 – John the Baptist, a prophet-preacher popular in Judea is jailed then beheaded by Herod
      • AD30 – Pontius Pilate agrees to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, who surrendered to the Temple police, was subjected to a mockery of a public trial and attracted multitudes of men and women wherever He taught in Syria’s towns and deserted places, not to mention this troublesome town of Jerusalem.
        • AD30 JESUS appears to more than five hundred men in various places for forty days RISEN from death!
        • The APOSTLES remain in Jerusalem, working miracles and challenged by the Sanhedrin.
      • AD34 – AD36 EVENTS RECORDED BY LUKE IN ACTS 7-8
      • AD37 – Caligula becomes Caesar of Rome
      • AD38 – Persecution of Jews in Alexandria in Aegyptus [Egypt}
      • AD39 – Mission of Peter in Samaria (More on that later from ACTS)
      • AD41 – Claudia becomes Caesar of Rome and Herod King of Chalcis [Lebanon]
        • AD44 – Judea returned to status as prefectorial province of Rome
      • AD45 – Paul begins his first of three mission trips (Much more later in ACTS)
      • AD48 – Famine in Judea [SEE above & current similar situation in Syria]
      • AD54 – Nero becomes Caesar of Rome
        • AD50’s – Gospel of Mark most likely written, shared and preached
          • More mission trips of Paul, finally ending in Rome
      • AD60 – Estimated date Luke’s Gospel first published;
        • also Paul’s hearing before Portius Festus, Procurator of Judea, who hearing his appeal to Caesar sent him to Nero in Rome, where he writes and sends many letters to the Church throughout the Empire until he is beheaded in Rome in AD67.

      ~AD 64 – ACTS of the Apostles published

      Acts Apostolos - Acts of the Apostles - the chronicles of Christ's Apostles - a history of Christ's Church including early leaders like Stephen, Philip the Evangelist, Paul, Barnabas and many others
      Acts of the Apostles + a History of Christ’s Church
      Most readers of Acts reading about Persecution beginning with Stephen have already experienced more persecution in the ensuing generations.
      the stoning of Stephen in Jerusalem

      “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

      “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”

      Acts of the Apostles 7:59b,60b – CSB


      ACTS 8:

      Starting with that day, there arose intense persecution against the Messianic Community in Yerushalayim; all but the emissaries were scattered throughout the regions of Y’hudah and Shomron.

      2 Some godly men buried Stephen and mourned him deeply. 3 But Sha’ul set out to destroy the Messianic Community — entering house after house, he dragged off both men and women and handed them over to be put in prison. 4 However, those who were scattered announced the Good News of the Word wherever they went…

      14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they would receive the Holy Spirit…

      Philip the evangelist flees Jerusalem to Samaria, but then receives a command to go to Gaza, where he baptized an Ethiopian, is taken up from there to Ashdod and preaches along the coast in towns leading to Ceasarea

      .. the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away.. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.

      Meanwhile, Sha’ul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord’s talmidim, went to the cohen hagadol..

      Acts of the Apostles 9:1 Complete Jewish Bible
      syria in 30 BC

      ACTS:

      to be continued..

      (in Damascus)

      От Марка 16:15

      Великое поручение и вознесение Иисуса


    • Apocalypse 8 – Martyrs + the saints cry out

      Apocalypse 8 – Martyrs + the saints cry out

      “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth?”

      Revelation 6:10b NASB – the cry of the martyrs from beneath the altar

      Martyrs

      judge's gavel - quote: And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment

      UNANSWERED Questions of those who died for their faith in Jesus Christ:

      Where is JUSTICE for those who die by the hands of the evil?

      Who will JUDGE those who kill the innocent and oppress the righteous?

      Rembrandt-Lapidation-Saint-Etienne-MBA-Lyon
      the Stoning of Stephen- painting by Rembrandt

      And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

      “Are these things true? ” the high priest asked.

      “Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared..

      .. and Stephen proceeded to preach the Gospel until those who rejected the God of Glory and cut by Truth silenced him in rage, stoning Christ’s martyr by the weight of their own guilt.

      Roger @ talk of Jesus {dot}.com on Acts 6:8-8:3 excerpt from CSB
      foxe's book of martyrs

      Stephen, the Apostles & many more martyrs among the saints

      The Acts of the Apostles record the power of the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen, but also the suffering by the saints of the church for witness of the Gospel to those who would believe.

      Resource: https://www.ccel.org/f/foxe/martyrs/fox101.htm

      Acts of the Apostles:

      • 4:3-4 And they laid hands on them [Peter & John] and put them in prison.. and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

      “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.. and you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him; you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

      Acts 7:51-53 excerpt NASB – indictment of the Jews through the martyr Stephen
      • 8:1b And on that day [of the stoning of Stephen] a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.
        • DATE: ~A.D. 33-36
      • 12:2b-3a [Herod Agrippa I] .. had James the brother of John executed with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter as well.
        • DATE: A.D. 44
      • 14:19b20a .. they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city.
        • After many additional attacks, Paul would be executed in Rome – DATE: ~ A.D. 64-68
      • Simon Peter was also crucified in Rome during the persecutions of Nero – DATE: ~ A.D. 64-68 as were many other saints killed throughout the Empire both before and after the fall of Jerusalem.

      When will justice be served to those who crucify Truth and destroy the lives of the faithful?

      DATE ~A.D. 94–96 + John wrote the Revelation of Jesus Christ

      The deaths of martyrs mentioned had already taken place when John writes Revelation. The opening of the seven seals gives the Church a glimpse of Justice at the End of these last days.

      Jerusalem would fall in A.D. 70. The Sanhedrin would no more convict Christian or Jew.

      Rome would divide and crumble by the third century and the Empire would fall in A.D. 476.

      Even so, we realize now in A.D. 2021, the prophesy of the last days revealed by John is for a time nearer to US than that of the Apostles.

      The Fifth Seal

      the saints cry out!

      Revelation 6:

      9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained..

      It is the Altar of the Holy Throne Room of Heaven! The Lamb stands surrounded by seraphim and four living creatures, angels and elders of the heavenly court, hearing the prayers of the saints as these plead for justice.

      They cried out with a loud voice,

      “Lord, the one who is holy and true,

      how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

      Revelation 6:10 CSB

      Oh Lord, δεσπότης – despotēsas a bond servant addresses one’s Master, as one of the saints, bound to our Lord Christ as husband to the church.

      Jesus Christ is HOLY AND TRUE! –

      ἅγιος – hagios (an awful One) & ἀληθινός – alēthinosReal in name and resemblance, but the real nature corresponding to the name.

      “How long, O [Master], holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth?”

      • Do you not judge and avenge?

      Rest yet a while longer

      You servants of the Lord

      take comfort in His answer to you;

      for only He IS righteous in judgment

      and vengeance belongs only

      to the Lamb on the Throne.

      And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

      Revelation 6:11 KJV

      NEXT Unsealed :

      The Great Day of the Wrath of the Lamb

    • Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven, a Passing Witness

      Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven, a Passing Witness

      The Gospel of John

      We have nearly reached the conclusion of John’s Good News. Earlier we met ten Disciples in a room where the Risen Christ appeared!

      Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven

      20:26 A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

      Reminder to 21st. Century Readers of John’s Gospel:

      As I mentioned before, Christians to whom John writes understand events which have taken place after Jesus’ ascension, yet before John’s death.

      (We will add some of these following the next event of John’s Good News.)

      • Jesus was crucified around the year AD 30
      • John writes his Gospel to the churches after AD 85 [~AD 90-100]

      John 21:

      view of Sea of Galilee
      “I will make you fishers of men. – Mark 1:17

      After these things Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He revealed Himself in this way:

      Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”

      They said to him, “We are also coming with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.

      Fishing in Galilee

      Of course these Galilean Disciples of Jesus would travel from Jerusalem north to their homes along the Sea of Tiberias (Galilee). John recalls which Apostles were present.

      • Simon Peter
      • Thomas called Didymus (He will not miss seeing Jesus this time.)
      • Nathanael of Cana
      • James, John’s older brother
      • John, author of this Gospel
      • Two others of Jesus’ disciples

      They would have launched their two or three fishing boats from docks by Capernaum and proceeded out to sea at night, returning to port near daybreak and seeing a man on shore as they approached.

      4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

      He called out to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”

      John 21:5 – from NIV & ESV

      Children, you do not understand

      Our 21st century ears do not hear the Master’s call to His beloved servants in this way. In fact, 1st century men and women tended to be more willing to hear a fellow Jew (especially their Rabbi) or even a Roman responsible for their local Galilean town of Capernaum as humble servants.

      παιδίον – pi-de’-on

      Child – From dimin. of παῖς (G3816) can mean not only a child, boy or girl but a slave, an attendant, servant, and specifically a king’s attendant, one who ministers to the King.

      προσφάγιον – pros-fä’-ge-on

      From the King James Version: “Children, have ye any meat?”

      Strong's G4371

      But once again our overfed 21st century bodies don’t quite understand what Jesus asks if they have anything eaten with bread and spoken of fish boiled or broiled.

      These children of the Shepherd Christ Jesus return from a night of work, fishing — and they have caught no fish. In effect their Lord and Master, Provider of all things to His servants asks these dear ‘children’ in His care, “Are you hungry?”

      John in recalling the incident adds, ‘yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.’

      Obeying His command

      Yes, these seven men probably were hungry after an unsuccessful night of fishing. Yet hearing His command from the shore they obeyed Jesus.

      6 He said to them, “Throw in your net to starboard and you will catch some.”

      So they threw in their net, and there were so many fish in it that they couldn’t haul it aboard.

      It was then, John tells us, that he recognized Jesus.

      “It is the Lord!”

      So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. Since they were not far from land (about a hundred yards away), the other disciples came in the [smaller] boat, dragging the net full of fish.

      Once again in a third appearance to seven disciples, Jesus demonstrates that He IS both God and a risen ‘Son of Man.’

      John tells his experience as his small boat pulling nets full of fish comes near to the beach along the shore.

      9 When they stepped ashore, they saw a fire of burning coals with a fish on it, and some bread.

      10 Yeshua said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

      (Peter and the men have now been pulling the full nets ashore…)

      12 Yeshua said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”

      None of the talmidim (disciples of a Rabbi) dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

      Pause.. to ‘fast forward’

      We’ll now leave Jesus and the seven Disciples sharing bread and fish with the Lord and (in 21st c. parlance) fast forward to events known to many readers of John’s Good News, but possibly not known to most Christians in the 21st c. digital age.

      (Yes, it’s a ‘pop quiz’ – 5 questions.) How do you think you’ll do?

      Page TWO - Please click Page 2 below for the questions.

      Pages: 1 2 3

    Do you SHARE the Gospel by either email or text?