Acts 9:30

"And when the brethren knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus"Caesarea" (sees uh REE uh). Located 65 miles from Jerusalem on the Mediterranean, this was the major seaport in the region, from this point Paul could journey to Tarsus by land or sea. In addition, it was the headquarters for the Roman occupational forces in Palestine and the primary residence for the Roman governor of Judea. Hence, it afforded some measure of safety for Saul, who was. Roman citizen. "Sent him forth to Tarsus" His home town (Acts 22:3; Galatians 1:21).Much is left unsaid in the above verse. Paul is returning home, having abandoned the traditions of his family and ancestors, and. fugitive from two cities. Were his parents still alive? Did he see his family? Did they accept or reject him? During this time Saul will preach in this region, because churches already existed in this area as he embarked on his second journey (Acts 15:41). At this point Luke will leave Saul. We will not run into him again until Acts 11:25. Thus we have. period of silence over his life from about 37 AD to 40-42 AD, and during this time some of the sufferings of 2 Corinthians 11:24 took place. We tend to forget that long before Paul starts his first journey, he has already suffered much for the cause of Christ, in fact he has been preaching for over 10 years before his first journey (Acts 13:1; Acts 14:1). Stott reminds us, "As for the unconverted, there are many Sauls of Tarsus in the world today. Like him they are richly endowed with natural gifts of intellect and character; men and women of personality, energy, initiative and drive; having the courage of their non-Christian convictions; utterly sincere, but sincerely mistaken, hard, stubborn, even fanatical, in their rejection of Jesus Christ, but they are not beyond His grace (if they repent)" (pp. 179-180). This example should tell us that we must never assume that even the most vocal opponent of Christianity would never accept the gospel message.