Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him" (Acts 28: 31). The

revelation of the mystery therefore must be included in the kingdom of God, and

Col. 4: 11 does not hesitate to use the term to define the goal of Paul and his

fellow-workers.  It would appear, therefore, that we must understand the kingdom of

God to refer to that all-embracive sovereignty which includes all spheres of blessing,

all callings and all inheritances, and that dispensational truth, seeking to observe the

sub-divisions in that all-embracive kingdom, speaks of the Church, of Israel, and of the

Bride, as the case may be. The direct object of Paul's exposition and testimony was the

kingdom of God; the direct object of his persuasion was concerning Jesus. In the next

verse the word translated "persuade", peitho, is rendered "believe". It is the word used

by Agrippa and by those who charged the Apostle with having "persuaded and turned

away much people" at Ephesus. The way in which the word is used of the centurion in

Acts 27: 11, "The centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than

those things which were spoken by Paul", is rather a foreshadowing of the attitude of

Paul's own people, the Jews, in Rome, for it is recorded of them that "some believed the

things which were spoken and some believed not".

One further item of truth must detain us at verse 23. Paul persuaded them concerning

"Jesus". When the Apostle refers to the Saviour in his Epistles, it is his general practice

to give Him His title, "Jesus Christ", "Christ Jesus", "Jesus Christ the Lord", etc., but, on

occasion, he uses simply the name "Jesus". This he does in Hebrews eight times, and in

Thessalonians and II Corinthians, where the name occurs eight times, the subject

concerned being associated with the resurrection.  Romans and I Corinthians contain

one occurrence each, and in the seven Epistles written after Acts 28:, Paul uses the

name "Jesus" but twice. When we compare Acts 28: 23 with verse 31 we are struck

by two things.

(1) To the Jews, before their rejection, Paul used the name "Jesus".

(2) After their rejection the name is changed. While the kingdom of God is retained,

the teaching is concerning "the Lord Jesus Christ".

This change is not accidental.

There is another feature that demands attention, and which arises from an examination

of verses 23 and 31, but this must await the next opportunity of meeting together in these