A Faithful Builder & Unstoppable Mission
6/10/25 Bible Thought (Acts 28)
The book of Acts opened many chapters ago where the Gospel of Luke left off. It began with Jesus’ departure into heaven and a mission being entrusted to a rag-tag group of 11 disciples.
Jesus told them the promised Helper was coming (See Acts 1:8; Jn. 14:26) and they were left on mission. They would take the gospel to the ends of the earth. With such meager beginnings, surely no one would’ve guessed that the church would be here today.
Yet, the Lord Jesus had issued a promise to Peter and the disciples prior to His crucifixion,
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).
The book of Acts on page after page recounts how unstoppable the church’s mission truly is, and Paul’s life became a beautiful picture of this. Paul was persecuted, imprisoned, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, snake-bitten, and so much more, yet he kept going.
In Acts 28, Paul makes it to Rome, just as Jesus promised him. Interestingly enough, the gospel had already beat Paul to Rome, for there were believers there when Paul arrived (Acts 28:15).
In Rome, Paul testified before the Jews concerning faith in Christ and after being rejected once again, he would later turn his efforts to the Gentiles.
The Book of Acts then concludes on a positive note,
“He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:30-31).
Paul was still a prisoner as far as we can tell, chained to a Roman soldier. [1] Yet, Luke shows us that his ministry continued without hindrance.
The book of Acts ends on a positive note, but it ends rather anticlimactically. Luke doesn’t ever tell us the outcome of Paul’s trial.
Now, why didn’t Luke record this? We don’t know. According to the church historian, Eusebius, Paul would later be martyred under the reign of Nero by beheading.[2]
Perhaps Luke didn’t want to give us the end. Perhaps the goal was to show us that the gospel wasn’t going to die with Paul, or Peter, or James, or any of the rest. Perhaps Acts was a book that was never intended to be finished.
We saw at the outset that “Acts of the Apostles” is a good title, but an imperfect one. It would probably have been better to title it, “Continued Acts of Jesus through His Holy Spirit by Means of the Apostles and Others”—yet that might be too long.
The Gospel of Luke recorded all that Jesus began to do and teach (see Acts 1:1). The Book of Acts records all that Jesus continued to do and teach and that story is still unfolding.
The Lord Jesus still hasn’t returned from heaven for the consummation of the Kingdom. As such, the story is still being written. We’re a part of the same church, serving the same Savior, with the same mission, the same message, and the same Helper. We likewise have the same promise.
The testimony of Acts is the testimony of Jesus faithfully building His church, and we can see 2,000 years later that He is still faithful, truly there is no carpenter like Him.
This is the mission that we are a part of today and that is truly a privilege beyond our comprehension.
[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Acts, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, vol. 2B of Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 273.
[2] Eusebius of Caesaria, “The Church History of Eusebius,” in Eusebius: Church History, Life of Constantine the Great, and Oration in Praise of Constantine, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, vol. 1 of A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1890), 129.