ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. Acts 13:36.

“But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son” Galatians 4:4.

The Cross is the intersection, the ‘Crux’ of history (‘Crux’ is Latin for ‘cross’). All the eyes of history look either forward or backward to the Cross.

The Cross is the focus of history and Israel is the focus of geography.

This was by Design. Jesus came during the Roman Empire, the largest, most stable government to date. There is truth in the expression “all roads lead to Rome.” Think of Houston freeways: three encircle the city, but, like spokes on a wagon wheel, ten freeways take you INTO the city.

In Houston, all roads lead DOWNTOWN. In the ancient world, all roads led to Rome.

And Rome built those roads. There are roads today in Great Britain (1200 miles from Rome) that were built by the Romans 2,000 years ago. (In England, some say ‘All Roman roads lead to Londinium’—London.) Moreover, Rome brought peace. Roman leaders may have been tyrants, but once they conquered the world, wars stopped. Hence the term, PAX ROMANA, or “Roman Peace.”

The Church was born into Pax Romana: ROMAN PEACE.

After his childhood in Egypt, Jesus never left Israel. But the Romans, the hated occupying force (like Russians in the Ukraine today), provided a critical service to the Gospel: peace and a highway system. Missionaries could travel from nation-to-nation with the permission of only one government—Rome—and the Roman highway system made travel much easier.

It was the perfect time to be a missionary: the “Fullness of Time.”

God immediately began sending people. Simon of Cyrene went home to North Africa. The Ethiopian Eunuch returned to Ethiopia. Peter is believed to have gone to Antioch. Paul traveled an estimated 10,000 miles spreading the Gospel throughout Greece and Rome. Traveling the early Silk Road, the Gospel soon reached India and China. It was the perfect time, “the fullness of time.”

God, You are sovereign over history. May we, like David ‘serve God’s purpose in our generation’ Acts 13:36.

ΑΩ