Empire's End (35 page)

He nodded. “I've heard Mother and Father talking about you for a long time. When she told us you were coming, I wanted to ask you something, but now I know the answer.”

“Tell me, Uzziel, because if you heard us, you know that you and I aren't likely to get many more opportunities to talk.”

“Well, it's just that everything you have said about Jesus and the prophecies makes sense to me, and I know I cannot say this to anyone else. I don't want to be thrown out of my house or my family or my temple. But I believe Jesus is the Messiah.”

I tried to respond, but I could not.

“I want to hear more, to learn more. And I understood, at least I think I did, when you told the rabbi that you can be a Pharisee and still be a follower of Jesus.”

Rabbi Daniel appeared at the door of the synagogue. “Uzziel! We are about to begin! Stop listening to him!”

Again the boy stood in the cart. “I'm coming, Rabbi! And I am not listening to him! He is listening to me!”

It took everything in my power not to explode with both laughter and tears. “You'd better go, Nephew,” I said. “You are wise and you are brave. I will be praying for you. The Lord has told me I will be in Tarsus for three years, and I already have friends here who will help me start telling others the gospel of Jesus. Maybe someday you will be one of those. That would be a great gift of God to me.”

I thought it best that the rabbi not see me embrace my nephew for fear of the message that might get back to his mother. So I merely reached
for Uzziel's small, dark hand and we shared a firm grip. I prayed, “May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, and that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance, the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to His mighty power.

“And I pray He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in your inner man, that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to understand the width and length and depth and height of the love of Christ that passes knowledge, and that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Amen.”

Uzziel grabbed hold of my hand with both of his and drew it to his face, pressing a kiss on my knuckles. I stepped out and he drove the colt on, whirling to wave and smile before I turned away, my heart full.

I settled my bag of parchments over my shoulder and started walking toward town, in search of the residence of my new friends, Kaduri and Nait. Whether they could secure me an audience at their temple so I could plead my case for Jesus as the Messiah, I did not know. But I was confident they would provide a meeting place to which we could invite the curious, and I was certain they would work alongside me to begin spreading the gospel in this great city of my youth.

For this evening at least I knew they would offer me a place to lodge until I could find somewhere to ply my trade and pay my own way. Besides a bed, all I needed tonight was a table and a lamp where I could pen a letter to my beloved, telling her of young Uzziel, who—in the face of disowning, banishment, and shunning—stood on the shore of my future, shining a bright beacon of hope.

TO SEE WHAT BECAME
OF THE NEPHEW OF PAUL,
READ ACTS 23.

Dr. James S. MacDonald (
JamesMacDonald.com
), founding and senior pastor of the Harvest Bible Chapel, is a Bible teacher
nonpareil
. Access to his inexhaustible mind and research was a treasure, as is his friendship.

Thanks to Dr. Laurie Norris, formerly of James's staff and now a member of the faculty of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, who so ably and quickly tracked down every detail I needed.

Dr. Charlie Dyer was another always at the ready with a thorough response to any question about the Holy Land.

I'm grateful to the following for their helpful input on the New Testament at various stages: Dr. Wallace A. Alcorn, Joe Buonassissi, Dr. Michael Easley, Dr. Gene Getz, and Dr. Grant Osborne.

Christopher (Kit) Denison served as nautical consultant.

Chuck and Krissie Cilano helped with the Italian for the prequel,
I, Saul
.

Thanks to my agent, the delightfully irrepressible David Vigliano of New York.

Thanks to Worthy Publishing CEO Byron Williamson for green-lighting the project.

Jeana Ledbetter, editorial vice president at Worthy, has been steadfast in her support and encouragement throughout.

Copyeditor Holly Halverson added her deft review to the make the final product the best it could be.

More than three hundred people came alongside from the first
announcement of this project and agreed to pray for and encourage me. I cannot think of
I, Saul
or
Empire's End
without a deep sense of connection to that team, too numerous to list here but wholly appreciated nonetheless.

Thanks to my executive assistant, Debbie Kaupp, and her husband, Lynn, our properties manager, whose innumerable acts of service and kindness seem to double my productivity every day.

I could not be a writer, and certainly not a novelist, without my wife, Dianna. It would take another book as long as this one to list all she does for me and means to me.

Jerry B. Jenkins
's books have sold more than 70 million copies, including the phenomenal mega best-selling Left Behind series. Twenty-one of his titles have reached the
New York Times
bestseller list, including seven that debuted at number one, and also the
USA Today, Publishers Weekly
, and
Wall Street Journal
bestseller lists. Jenkins has been featured on the cover of
Newsweek
magazine. He and his wife, Dianna, live in Colorado. Jerry coaches writers at
JerryJenkins.com
.

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