And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
Pause over this verse for the sweetness of it. How very gracious was it in the Lord Jesus, thus to favor his servant with another vision, as he had done before! (see Acts 18:9 and Commentary.) And how blessed in the Lord, by way of shewing him that all the contrivances of his enemies for his destruction at Jerusalem, should not affect his life; that the Lord had business for him yet to perform at Rome. And this was peculiarly consolatory to the Apostle, because though Agabus by the Spirit had prophesied of his being bound at Jerusalem, yet now from the Lord himself he was taught, that at this time he was not to die there. Precious Lord Jesus! who shall count, yea, what imagination of men, or angels, can fully conceive the boundless love of thine heart? And, oh! how sweet to my soul is the recollection, (in the very moment of writing this Poor Man's Commentary), that to Paul, upon this occasion here recorded, and upon every other to thy Church and people, all that love of thine, and the communication of it, flows from thy double nature, thy God-Man love, to endear it ten thousand fold to our souls!