We begin by continuing the discussion of Luke’s travel narrative where Jesus is going to Jerusalem to be rejected. We see how Luke shows that Paul later travels to Jerusalem where he is rejected. Jerusalem will not be the “world headquarters” for Christianity during the church age. We have a discussion about the necessary distinction between God’s providential will and His revealed moral will. For example, it was God’s purpose that Jesus would be rejected and crucified, but those who rejected Him are morally culpable for their evil motives and actions. We see how persecution in Jerusalem had the effect of spreading the gospel to other places even as the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. God used this persecution to sow the seeds of the gospel eventually to far places in the Roman Empire. It is also ironic that Saul was one who persecuted Christians but after his conversion he becomes a key person who God used to bring the gospel to many places. We discuss the fact that God draws out the boundaries of the nations and has ordained that human leaders rule over the nations. This is God’s mercy in that we do not have to deal directly with the hostile powers in the heavenly realms. We strongly rebuke the false idea that creating “Christendom” with the church supposedly ruling over geographical territories was ordained by Christ. Many traditions from church history have no biblical validity, including many man-created liturgies and church hierarchies

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