I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I can hear the blood pounding in my ears as my heart beat rises and adrenaline begins to flow. Looking around the dark and dusty cell, I take in the others around me. At the back of the cell, sits my mother, with her back against the wall and my two young twin brothers, one on each side of her. I watch her as she whispers in their ear. I know she is praying with them. The others around us, all cling to one another. The lump in my throat grows larger and larger as I watch mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, totally shaken, and petrified, tears filling their eyes. These were my church members, my family, the body of Jesus Christ, so Paul had told us, so why were we here…why were we about to become a spectacle of entertainment. Turning, I face the light, and begin pushing my way past the people to the door of the cell. Before I can even make my way all the way to the front, I already begin to hear the roar of the people outside the cell, it’s almost deafening. The sun shines brightly, all of my other church members have pushed themselves as far back into the cell as possible, to avoid the doom as long as possible, but here at the gate, with his hands wrapped tightly around the bars, ready to face his foe, this fate, is my father, the shepherd of this flock. Swallowing past the huge lump in my throat, I walk right up to him, “I won’t cry…I’m strong enough…just like him.” I place my hand on his shoulder, remembering back to a time when I barely reached his knee. Now I stand at least a foot above him.
He turns, his brown eyes set, with that stubborn sheen and determination. “Marcus, my son, I love you!” With these words he embraced me.
“Father, why…why does Nero do this? Why does God allow him to do this to us?” My father’s face got a look of shock that quickly turned to stubborn determination. His answer was not at all what I expected, but it was just the thing I and all the people with us needed to hear.
“We should count ourselves worthy to suffer for the cause of our merciful God and Savior Jesus Christ. We face this foe today for but a moment, then we shall all be in the presence of our God and Savior! I pray that you along with the rest of our people count this a privilege and blessing from God Himself.” He said these words loud enough for all to hear and by his words they were encouraged and all the men rose to stand at the front with my father and I. “May we men die first, leaving the women and children a bit more time.” I was shocked at my own words. Father’s eyes beamed with pride as he put his hand on my shoulder, “For Jesus Marcus, for Jesus.”
Suddenly the crowd went even wilder, and the doors of the cell were opened, but we were ready, the soldiers did not even have to pull us out, we all ran out with one accord, ready to face the lions of the coliseum.
Standing in the bright sun, my head spins. The roar of the people is so loud we can hear nothing else. Scanning the thousands of people in the stands, I spot the great Emperor. With head high, his haughty attitude permeates his whole being, and much to my surprise our eyes meet. Even from so far away I could see the hate in his eyes, and feel it, like a burning sensation. He smiled, one of the most sinister smiles I had ever seen, and raised his hand high. With that mere motion the lions were set free, and the chariots came rushing out of their place of waiting. Turning my eyes away from Nero’s chilling gaze, I face the foe. “This is it men, for our Lord!” I could barely hear the sound of my father’s yell, as we charged forward to meet our doom.
Not many years before this, Pilate stood before his very Maker, the One Who was at that very moment allowing Pilate’s heart to keep beating so that he was alive to make this sentence on Jesus. Pilate had the audacity to think that he had total control of Jesus’ life and death, but he was sadly mistaken! Jesus quickly put Pilate in his place:
and he (Pilate) entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above;” ()
Pride was the first sin ever committed (Satan), and since that time it has been rampant on the earth and has oft been the driving force behind some of the most heinous
( humanly speaking) crimes. We see it here in the heart of Pilate; and we have seen it over time in the hearts of some of the worst of men we can think of : Nero, Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and even Sadaam Hussein!
One cannot even begin to fathom what kind of darkness was in these men’s minds. But we do know one thing, the driving force was pride. They all had power and sway, and they used it in such a way to bring glory to themselves and to further their ideas and wishes. When we look back on there deeds, the lives lost, the pain felt and the damage done, we have a hard time seeing anything good of it. But that is because we have forgotten about the fact that they had this power, this sway, only because of God, for that was the basis of what Jesus told Pilate: the authorities only have authority because God Almighty has given it to them. While this may be disheartening, if it is coupled with the truth that God does only good (Rom. 8:28 ), it is actually enlightening and a blessing! Because no matter who comes to power, or what they do, we know that ultimately God is in control and has only good as its end!
So in other words, while these men had awful and sinister things at heart planned (Pilate, Nero, Adolph, Joseph, and Sadaam to name a few) ultimately their plans were thwarted before they started, because God was in control the whole time, taking their bad and bringing good about through it! So in the end evil really does always fail, and not only fail but ends up being worked against its own self! Now that’s real power!
So with all that in mind, as we look now to Nero, a sick and demented man, may we not forget that God was working behind the scenes, using what Nero planned for evil, to bring about good: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” (Gen. 5:20)
Coming to Throne:
Nero was not actually born of royalty, so in all actuality he, from a human standpoint, should never have come to the throne! So we see even here at the very outset of his life, that God had a plan! God wanted Nero to come to the throne, it was God’s plan all along, and because God is always only good, we know that this was exactly what was to be, nothing more or less would have done!
Nero was born to a well off family, and things started well for him. But sadly they took a turn for the worst, when the Emperor Caius Galigula at that time banished his family, and seized the family’s entire fortune. Nero’s father died after that when Nero was but three years old. His future looked bleak, with a single mother now trying to raise him and all their fortune gone. But it took a turn for the better when his mother married her uncle, who happened to be Emperor Claudius. Agrippina (Nero’s mother) had an agenda from the outset, but God was working in and through that too: “Agrippina convinced Claudius to adopt Nero and in 50 AD he (Nero) became the probable heir to the throne, even ahead of Claudius's own son! In 54 AD Agrippina murdered Claudius and Nero became ruler at the age of 17.” (www.thenagain.info, accessed 2-17-12 ).
So we see that really, he never had a good example set before him, his mother loved money and wealth, and was willing to do anything to get it, and this most likely had a great impact on Nero as well. Being only seventeen, he most likely was not ready to take the throne, and having such a horrible example of a mother, it’s no wonder he became the man he was, but again this was all used of God!
Steps to Destruction:
Like many bad leaders, Nero started off well:
“Biographers cite that up until 59 Nero was known for his generosity and mildness. During this period he forbade capital punishment and contests involving bloodshed in the circus. He even reduced taxes. This side of the emperor disappeared when he ordered the murder of his mother, who was accused of treason in 59.” (www.thenagain.info, accessed 2-17-12 ).
So one has to wonder how he got from being totally against blood shed and capitol punishment, to hosting mass bloodshed of Christians and others in the coliseum and crucifying Christians and lighting them for his parties at his garden.
The road to destruction and sin is often not a like a slide at the park, where we push off (or slip) once and descend very quickly down, but rather it is a series of steps to the slide. These steps are often times small steps, so small no one even realizes where they are going, before it is too late, and then they have hit the slide. So too was this sudden change in Nero. It was not one decision, but most likely a series of them, that ultimately lead him down the path to the spiraling slide of sin.
The Last Straw Step:
One of these steps was what we know of as the fire in Rome Rome 2-17-12 ). Nero was not even in the city where the fire started, so why in the world could the people have blamed Nero for this? If a women’s husband dies, and she remarries only days after the death, people are suspicious and rightly so. So to, the actions of Nero following the fires, were cause for suspicion, for “when Nero returned he started to rebuild the city, which caused some to suspect Nero of planning the fire in order to make room for a new city
“Nero, always a man desparate to be popular, therefore looked for scapegoats on whom the fire could be blamed. He found it in an obscure new religious sect, the Christians.And so many Christians were arrested and thrown to the wild beasts in the circus, or they were crucified . Many of them were also burned to death at night, serving as 'lighting' in Nero's gardens, while Nero mingled among the watching crowds.” (www.roman-empire.net, accessed 2-17-12 ).
The two very things that Nero, when he first came to the throne, was against: capital punishment and the circus, he now was using to kill Christians (Crucifixions and the circus).
Many of these elements seem almost “coincidental”: Nero coming to throne, though he was not even born of royalty, a fire that may have even been caused naturally. But ultimately we know that God was at work in and through it, and we know that it was for the greater good of all and the furtherance of His glory and kingdom, which in the end are the only two things that matter anyways!
Stark Contrast:
Here in the book of Acts we find Paul coming before Nero. What a stark contrast this is! I mean here we have a man who used to persecute Christians, until he met the Savior on that road to Damascus
Often we are tempted to think that we are above certain sins, dare I say even better than Nero. But we are forgetting that it is only by God’s grace, for “apart from the grace of God, there go I!” In all actuality we are no better than Nero, and at the heart (which is where it really counts) we are fundamentally no different than him, just a sinner, the difference is the grace of God!
“The haughty monarch before whom the man of God was to answer for his faith, had reached the height of earthly power, authority, and wealth, as well as the lowest depths of crime and iniquity. In power and greatness he stood unrivaled. There were none to question his authority, none to resist his will. Kings laid their crowns at his feet. Powerful armies marched at his command, …Millions bowed in obedience to his mandates. The name of Nero made the world tremble. To incur his displeasure was to lose property, liberty, life; and his frown was more to be dreaded than a pestilence.”
So we see, Nero was powerful, and haughty, and full of wealth and had many people under his sway. What a stark contrast to the humble and poor Paul, who had no power over people, but rather entrusted them to God:
“Without money, without friends, without counsel, the aged prisoner stood before Nero--the countenance of the emperor bearing the shameful record of the passions that raged within; the face of the accused telling of a heart at peace” (www.preparingforeternity.com, accessed 2-17-12).
This is where raging passion and peace came to meet. Paul was totally at the mercy of this powerful and wicked Emperor, most would be petrified, too scared to even breathe. But not Paul, he opened his mouth and proclaimed the gospel to this man who, just like everyone else on earth, so desperately needed Jesus.
God’s Grace Extended:
Could there really be a place in heaven for people like Hitler, Stalin, Saddam and Nero? The answer is an emphatic yes! Jesus didn’t just die for the so called “petty sins,” He died for the so called “big ones” too! All sin is evil and on an equal level with God! If you are climbing a mountain and you are trusting in a chain to hold you, and many chains break, would you fall? The answer is of course! On the flip side, same scenario, what if only one chain broke? The answer remains the same, you would still fall! It does not take many and the overtly heinous sins to condemn someone, it takes but one! That’s all! Think about it this way, most likely there are people in hell today who have sinned less than you have! That’s a sobering thought! We are all sinners on the same equal scale to God, but praise Jehovah that we are all also redeemable! I am just as redeemable as Hitler, Sadaam, and Nero! No one deserves heaven, but praise Jehovah that it is offered to all (John 3:16 )!
So here at the throne of Nero, God extends His truth to Nero through Paul, giving Nero a chance for change:
“Never before had Nero heard the truth as he heard it on this occasion. Never before had the enormous guilt of his own life been so revealed to him. The light of heaven pierced the sin-polluted chambers of his soul, and he trembled with terror at the thought of a tribunal before which he, the ruler of the world, would finally be arraigned, and his deeds receive their just award. He feared the apostle's God, and he dared not pass sentence upon Paul, against whom no accusation had been sustained. A sense of awe restrained for a time his bloodthirsty spirit. For a moment, heaven was opened to the guilty and hardened Nero, and its peace and purity seemed desirable.
But we see from the passage, that Nero did not except this offering:
That moment the invitation of mercy was extended even to him. But only for a moment was the thought of pardon welcomed. Then the command was issued that Paul be taken back to his dungeon; and as the door closed upon the messenger of God, the door of repentance closed forever against the emperor of Rome 2-17-12 ).
Who knows, Nero may have repented, but it is highly doubtful, but what a wonderful picture of the grace of God in His life, who would have thought that God would have provided Nero a life-boat off the ship that was headed to destruction and ruin?
Complete Hopelessness
After Nero rejected God through Paul, the rest of his life was filled with horror towards the Christians, and then his own destruction and ruin in his end. His own people turned on him, his father had died as I said earlier when he was but three, and he had killed his own mother. He had no one left to help! He was in such utter hopelessness, without God, that in the end he took his own life:
“In this time of peril, Nero had not, like the faithful Paul, a powerful and compassionate God on whom to rely. Fearful of the suffering and possible torture he might be compelled to endure at the hands of the mob, the wretched tyrant thought to end his life by his own hand, but at the critical moment his courage failed. Completely unmanned, he fled ignominiously from the city and sought shelter at a countryseat a few miles distant, but to no avail. His hiding place was soon discovered, and as the pursuing horsemen drew near, he summoned a slave to his aid and inflicted on himself a mortal wound. Thus perished the tyrant Nero, at the early age of thirty-two.”
While this account of Nero is filled with utter hopelessness, and pain and horror, we also see God’s grace and goodness through it all! God used Nero, without Nero even knowing it, and even extended an opportunity for Nero to hear the truth and to turn in repentance! The grace of God is a mighty and powerful thing! Never to be taken lightly, for apart from it we would all be just like Nero! Filled with our own selves, our own agenda, sure our methods may look different, but when we get down to the heart of it all, we are all the same! Praise Jehovah then for His grace, and for His ability to take someone’s intent for evil and bring about good from it! As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” (Gen. 5:20)
