Acts 9:28

And he was with them going in and going out of Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord: and he spake and disputed against the Grecian Jews; but they were seeking to kill him. And when the brethren knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.

In the purpose of the all-wise God, Paul the apostle was not destined to be accepted in Jerusalem; rather his was a call to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. Therefore the circumstance of the hatred which naturally arose against Paul in Jerusalem was not removed by the Father, but was made the occasion of sending him to Tarsus.

We should not pass this by, however, without noting the dauntless courage of Paul. Jerusalem was the city where he had led the persecutions against the church; there he had stood consenting to the death of Stephen; there he was acquainted with those implacable foes of the Lord and of his kingdom who had formerly been his allies, friends, and fellow-persecutors. He knew their bitterness and their unwavering hatred of Christianity; and yet, to that city, before those people, and in the presence of those very same individuals, he boldly and unequivocally preached the gospel of the Son of God. For sheer courage, history has nothing at all to compare with this.

To Caesarea ... This city figured prominently in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul.

CAESAREA

This magnificent city was built by Herod the Great on the site of Strato's Tower, and was located on the Mediterranean shore, some 23 miles south of Mount Carmel and 65 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Ludlow pointed out that Palestine had no adequate seaport until this city was built. God's purpose of containment for the chosen people in Palestine was served by the fact that no seaport existed during the greater part of Israel's history. But when, in the fullness of time, God had at last brought into the world his glorious Son, and at a time following the conquest of the whole world by Alexander, and the establishment of a single language, known and understood all over the world; after those events, and after the Christ had suffered on Calvary and the gospel was ready to be preached to all men, God had but lately made ready the marvelous harbor of Caesarea as a portal by which the word would travel to the ends of the earth. Note this:

Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, found this to be his port of departure from Jerusalem, his port of landing on his return from both the second and third missionary journeys; and here his fateful decision to visit Jerusalem was made (Acts 21:13); here he was tried before Felix (Acts 23:23ff); here he suffered imprisonment for two whole years; and here was his defense before Festus and Agrippa. It was here that he appealed unto Caesar.[26]

Many other important events in the New Testament are likewise associated with Caesarea. It was the home of Cornelius (Acts 10:1); here Peter baptized Cornelius the Gentile and all his house; here a king was destroyed by an avenging angel (Acts 12:1ff); and here Philip the evangelist with his family labored in the spread of the gospel (Acts 21:8f). Also, it is extremely probable that it was here that Luke made his base of investigation while Paul was imprisoned, and while Luke did the research leading to the precious gospel that bears his name. Apart from Jerusalem itself, Caesarea may well be accounted the most important New Testament city, certainly one of the most important.

Caesarea was the residence of Roman procurators, a strongly garrisoned town with a military presence numbering at least 3,000, and by far the key city in Rome's relationship with Palestine. In fact Tacitus said, "Caesarea is the capital of Judaea."[27]

[26] New Bible Dictionary, op. cit., p. 174.

[27] E. M. Blaiklock, op. cit., p. 74.