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Details and authorities for the revision of the ancient map will be found in the second
of our three larger volumes entitles "The Apostle of the Reconciliation" pp. 73-81.
We must now press forward. Chapter 15: finds the apostle at Jerusalem. The
moment had not yet come for his independent ministry, and for some time he works in
fellowship with the Twelve, without however relinquishing his independence or the
peculiar character of his message (Gal. 2:, where Jerusalem and Antioch are the two
storm centres, see verses 1, 7-11).
For the sake of any who may be puzzled by the references to Antioch in the text of
page 28, and the name Antioch on the map, we would explain that there was one city
named Antioch in Syria, and another of the same name in Pisidia.
Toward the close of Acts 15: Paul proposed a second visit to the churches in
Asia Minor, though not then realizing that the Lord was leading on to wider fields
of witness. Asia and Bithynia being closed to the apostle by the Spirit of God
(Acts 16: 6 and 7), Paul pressed on to the coast town of Troas. There he had a vision
which diverted his course to the mainland, and at Philippi he preached the gospel for the
first time in Europe, surely an epoch fraught with tremendous issues for us all! From
Philippi he traveled to Thessalonica and Berea, and thence on to Athens. When these
chapters are before us we shall delight in following out their message, but we cannot here
stay to do so. From Corinth the apostle visited Cenchrea, thence on to Ephesus, and so to
Jerusalem. The apostle purposed that, after he had once again visited Macedonia and
Jerusalem, he must see Rome (Acts 19: 21).
The journey to Jerusalem occupies chapters 19:, 20: and 21:, many important
incidents occurring on the way. His arrival at Jerusalem ends in his imprisonment at
Cęsarea (Acts 23: 33-35), and after two years of weary waiting, the apostle is taken
by ship to Rome, where he arrives after an eventful voyage, including shipwreck
(Acts 28:).
While it is easy to overstress this aspect of our study, the geography of the book has
its due place, and we trust that our readers are now in possession of the essential
movement of the record: Jerusalem Antioch Rome.
To endeavour to point out the spiritual significance of these three geographical terms
will be part of the work that now lies before us.