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Jesus said to the Apostles…
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19, ESV).
Easier said than done. If Jesus had given this commandment just 50 years earlier, it would have been impossible.
Augustus Caesar ruled the Roman Empire from 27 B.C. to 14 A.D. and during his reign built 50,000 miles of roads, bridges, and tunnels. He was so thorough in smashing resistance to Roman rule in conquered countries that the “Pax Romana” began. Augustus established the necessary peace and roads, allowing relative ease of international travel for the first time in history!
Augustus then created a golden milestone in the ancient Roman Forum, and with thousands of miles of roads now connected to it, the phrase became known that “all roads lead to Rome.”
When Jesus commanded the disciples to “Go,” it was the first time in history that both the means and the peace existed for world travel. For those who understand God’s providence, we know God timed the gospel, the roads, and empire-wide peace so that, when Jesus said it, God made it possible!
Let’s consider Acts 1 to 8…
The interval between Acts 1 and Acts 8 was likely three years. During that period, thousands of Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judeans, Cappadocians, Pontians, Asians, Phrygians, Pamphylians, Egyptians, Libyans, Cyrenians, Cretans, and Arabians, who suddenly accepted Jesus in Acts 2, had lingered, not traveling back home, but learning and being discipled by the Apostles’ teaching.
Then Acts 8:1…
There arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
This scattering was initially limited to Judea and Samaria and eventually extended to the entire known world. Augustus had finished his roads and established the Pax Romana, just in time for the early church to obey the Great Commission.
Today, we take world travel for granted. In 2 Timothy, Paul’s last letter written while imprisoned in Rome, note the following phrases:
- Do your best to come to me
- Get Mark and bring him with you
- Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus
- When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas
- Erastus remained in Corinth
- I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus
- Do your best to come before winter
In the final verses of 2 Timothy, Paul mentions by actual words or inference at least seven locations throughout the Roman Empire, establishing Paul as the first great missionary and the first world-traveler for the gospel.
It was all made possible by Roman roads and the Pax Romana, and by a God who works in a timely fashion what was previously impossible!
What the Appian Way (the most famous Roman road) looks like today.
A Roman bridge, still in use today.