Imagine that God wanted to send a message to your city … to your people. This thought blows my mind. I live in the city of Seattle, so if God sent a message to my city … to my people … and if it wound up as a book in the Bible, it would probably be called “Seattleites.”
Think of your city where you live. If God chose to send a message to your city … to your people … and if it wound up as a book in the Bible, what would it be called?
This is exactly what happened to the ancient city of Rome. God chose to send a message to the people of ancient Rome. Specifically, the people who had heard the good news about Jesus Christ and had put their faith and their trust in Jesus. God, through the Holy Spirit, told the Apostle Paul what to say, and the Apostle Paul wrote it down.
The people who received this letter from God walked on streets just like this:
Probably the streets these people walked on were constructed and built by human slaves.
Perhaps some of the people who were the recipients of this letter from God were the actual slaves themselves who labored in the hot sun all day building these streets.
The people who received this letter from God bought their bread from bakeries, which used human slaves to turn the grindstones to grind the grain into flour.
Some of the people who were the recipients of this letter from God might have been the actual slaves themselves who turned the grindstones in the bakery.
The people who received this letter from God had their laundry done at laundry facilities which used human slaves to tread the dirty laundry in big tanks.
Some of the people who were the recipients of this letter from God might have been the actual slaves themselves who were the ones in those tanks treading the dirty laundry.
The people who received this letter from God had previously only known the worship of the Emperor … and the worship of many different gods and goddesses. Such as the goddess Nike, as you can see here:
These people most likely grew up with household gods in their home. And when they became adults with their own jobs and their own homes, they probably had their own household gods as well. Such as these:
Somehow, someway these people had heard the good news about Jesus Christ – how Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. These people had put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
And God, the great almighty creator of the universe, had something to say specifically to them! Is this not mind blowing! What did God say?? What did God want these people to know??
“To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” – Romans 1:7
God loves these people! God wanted these people to know that he loves them!
Furthermore, God wanted these people to know that He has grace for them! It doesn’t matter if they have a tainted past … it doesn’t matter if they are a lowly slave … it doesn’t matter if they used to worship other gods. God has grace for them! And God has peace for them!
The same is true for you and me too!
The fact that God’s letter to the people of Rome is in our Bible means that God wants us to read it and to know that God loves us too! God has grace for us too! It doesn’t matter if we have a tainted past … it doesn’t matter if we feel like a lowly nobody … it doesn’t matter if we never believed in God before. God has grace for each one of us! And God has peace for us!
This grace and this peace is in Jesus Christ.
“God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Jesus Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8 God specifically wrote this to the people of ancient Rome. And it is God’s message for us today too!
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” – Romans 6:23 God specifically wrote this to the people of ancient Rome. And it is God’s message for us today too!
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. … Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:9, 13 God specifically wrote this to the people of ancient Rome. And it is God’s message for us today too!
