“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” Philippians 1:20
Paul wrote: “I saw the transcendent beauty of the gate through which the heirs of that Kingdom will enter, which was like unto circling flames of fire; “Also the blazing throne of God, whereon was seated The Father and The Son. Although Paul accepts the intrinsic value of the universalistic eschatology, he clearly sees the life in Heaven as the life for the believer who receives the glory from God. It is for those with God. They will receive the fullness of glory.
Or am I wrong? We read: Jesus told His listeners, “…render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” —Matthew 22:21 (NASB). Jesus was clearly teaching obedience to the Roman laws and also to obey God’s laws.
We are on a ‘brief’ journey… ‘Time’ in essence is Created by The Creator of ALL things Who exists outside the boundaries of ‘Time’!
We are sharing about Paul’s joy at being sent Home! We have shared about the ‘prodigal son’: In the gospel of Luke, Jesus tells the well-known parable of the prodigal son. A son asks his father for his inheritance, then squanders it recklessly as he lives a life of indulgence. With nothing left of his fortune, he is forced to work as a hired hand for a pig farmer.
In those days, prisoners were removed from the chamber to be executed, although some faced their end inside the chamber itself.
Paul Martyred
Paul was executed in Rome in about 67 AD. According to ancient sources such as Clement, Dionysius, Eusebius and Tertullian, Paul was executed by beheading, a death befitting a Roman citizen. Ancient records suggest that Nero knew Paul personally, so it’s likely that he had Paul beheaded through order of the prefects of Rome.
The Church of Saint Paul at the Three Fountains is one of the oldest churches in Rome, and the traditional site of Paul’s martyrdom on the Via Laurentina. The symbolic legend that passed down is that when Paul was beheaded, his head bounced three times, and at each spot a fountain appeared. Although excavations established that the original three springs on the church grounds pre-dated the execution of Paul, it is still considered a dramatic memorial to the courageous apostle that dates back to the 5th century.
Christian friends took Paul’s body up the road to the second mile marker on the Ostian Way, buried him in the family tomb of a Roman woman named Matrona Lucilla, and put up a grave marker near the road. It was there in the fourth century that the Roman Emperor Constantine built the first church commemorating Paul’s martyrdom. It was also during the fourth century that tradition tells us Paul’s remains were moved into a marble sarcophagus and buried in the church’s crypt. The tombstone reads:
PAULO APOSTOLO MART (Latin for PAUL APOSTLE MARTYR)