I have been much struck with the comparison between the blessed Lord at the end of His life and Paul in his last visit to Jerusalem, faithful and blessed servant of the Lord as He was. Christ, aware of the purpose of the Jews, as indeed the disciples were, remains calmly at a distance when He had gone away from Jerusalem, moved by no human claim, touching as it was, till God His Father’s will was manifest, and then He goes up without fear; dismayed as the disciples were at the thought of it, He walked in the light, and stumbling was not before Him.
Paul, bound in his spirit, warned in every city of bonds and afflictions, and, not only so, but told by those who spoke by the Spirit not to go up, goes, no doubt under the hand of God overruling it all, but listening to the counsel of Judaizing Christians, to be taken. He is taken in a tumult and then seized by the Romans.
The blessed Lord delivers Himself up, saying, “If . . . ye seek Me, let these go their way.” In the temple all classes of the Jews come to prove and try Him, but they are judged one after another and, unable to answer Him, dare ask Him no more questions, and then He is condemned for the testimony to the truth He gave Himself, both before the chief priests and Pontius Pilate. All was simply perfect, as it became One who, if in grace among men, must have manifested His perfection among them.
If ever man was honored and blessed, it was Paul, but he was a man simply, a divinely raised up and divinely gifted testimony to Christ, and faithful in his walk. But Christ was the subject of testimony (through the Faithful Witness), Paul a testifier to Christ and, however prominent in service, a man as we are. Bible Treasury, Vol. 12:2