Paul is sent away from the social network and reputation of his past life to preach to the Gentiles.

Acts 22:17-22

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
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“Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’” Acts 22:17-18

After Paul’s born-again experience, when he saw the great light, and his eyes were opened to see Jesus Christ clearly, and his sins were washed away, he went to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is about 135 miles from Damascus [where Paul’s eyes were opened]. In Jerusalem, he went to the temple [Jewish synagogue] to pray where he went into a trance and saw the Lord Jesus speaking to Him. Jesus said to Paul, “Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’”

God does not expect us to share the testimony of Jesus Christ where people are not receptive to Him. Even in today’s churches they do not want to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus says to us, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:4-5 “And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!” Matthew 10:14-15

“So I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’” Acts 22:19-20

Our Lord Jesus wanted Paul out of Jerusalem because He knew they would not receive His born-again testimony. His testimony was that of being a Pharisee and former persecutor of the way of Christ to becoming a member of the way of Christ. Paul’s reply to the Lord shows that he believed the Jewish people would have listened to him. If the Jewish people would have listened to anyone, it would have been Paul. After all, Paul imprisoned and beat those who believed in Jesus Christ. He also consented to the stoning of Stephen [Acts 7:54-60]. On the flip side, if there was anyone the Jewish people wanted dead it would have been Paul. That’s because Paul used his experience as a “Pharisee of all pharisees” to use the Old Testament to show how Jesus is the Christ and Son of God.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we shouldn’t think that He wants us to share His Gospel with the same people we knew before being born-again. They will associate us as their friends, which are friends who befriend the ways of this world, and we should break-off from them. Friendships that were rooted in the world are far from a guarantee that they will be receptive to the Gospel of Christ. There is a whole world of people who need to hear the Gospel of Christ without having to remain among people who are a part of the past, rooted in sin.

“Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!” Acts 22:21-22

After Paul replied to Jesus as he did, hoping to minister to those who knew him before he was born-again, Jesus repeated for Paul to depart from Jerusalem [to come apart from his past]. Our Lord Jesus ardently wants us to leave our past sinful lifestyle and the friends associated with it. God had a plan for Paul, which was to minister to the non-Jewish Gentiles. Likewise, our Lord Jesus doesn’t want us to remain around friendships rooted in the world but sends us far away from them. There are many people in this world who needs to hear the Gospel of Christ without flirting with friendships of the world, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” James 4:4

Paul was sharing his entire testimony with the Jewish people, who were recently trying to kill him [Acts 21:30]. Paul’s testimony is recorded in Acts 21:37-22:22. When Paul told the Jewish people that Jesus sent Him to bring the Kingdom of God to the non-Jewish Gentiles, they wanted to kill him. This is pretty much the reason that the Jewish people conspired to have Jesus Christ crucified. Jesus came exclusively to His own people, the Jewish people, but when they rejected Him, He gave the right to be the children of God to anyone who received Him, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:11-13

The last thing today’s atheistic culture wants to hear is a testimony of someone being born-again through Jesus Christ. Within them, they are saying, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!” That’s because conversion to Jesus Christ is to abandon the entity that replaces the conscience and spirit by giving people what to think, feel, say, and do. This entity gives life to the image of the beast to speak and live through people, and this empowers today’s culture, which is global. The masses of today’s culture are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do.

“And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelations 12:17

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1