The Last Steps, History in His Story: Isaiah #18
The Last Steps of Shimeon
Inspired by | Isaiah 60 - 66 | Isaiah 65: 17-25 | Revelation 21: 1-5 | Matthew 24 | Luke 21 : 12-19 |Acts 3:1-10 | 6: 8-15 | 7: 54 - 60 | 9: 1-19 | 10: 1- 48 | 12:1-3 | Matt 5:10-12 | Matt 28: 19-20 | John 15:18-20 | 2 Tim 3:12 | Jn 21: 18-19 | and see |Shimeon part 2 | Shimeon part 3 | Shimeon previous episode |
I never thought I would die like this.
But then again, I never thought I would live the life I have lived.
The memories come in flashes, like the sun breaking through storm clouds, even as I am dragged through the streets of Rome toward the place of my death.
I remember the first time I saw him. The lame beggar, outside the Beautiful Gate. He had sat there for years, calling out for alms, his voice so familiar it had become part of the city itself. He called out to Peter, to John, and I had been behind them, walking in the shadow of the temple walls.
“Silver and gold have I none,” Peter had said, his voice steady, his eyes burning with something greater than pity. “But what I do have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—rise up and walk.”
I had seen miracles before, but nothing like this. Not here, not in the very heart of the city that had rejected our Lord. The man’s legs—twisted and lifeless—suddenly held strength. He stumbled, then stood, then ran. The sound of his voice, laughing, shouting praise, was like a crack of thunder before the storm. It echoed through the temple courts, and people turned, stunned.
And then they came for us.
It was always the same. Joy, then persecution. Signs and wonders, then chains and lashes.
I had felt the heat of the Sanhedrin’s anger. I had seen the hatred in their eyes as they dragged Stephen into the streets, as they cast their stones upon him.
And I had seen Saul.
He had stood there, his face like flint, approving of the murder. His robes pristine while Stephen’s blood soaked the dust.
And now, as I stagger forward, bloodied and beaten, I remember the day I saw Saul again. The day he stood before us, no longer the enemy of the Church, but its most fearless voice.
He had come, humbled and blind, led by trembling hands. The man who had once hunted us, now hunted by those he once served.
“The Lord Jesus appeared to me,” he had said, his voice raw with wonder and sorrow. “I was blind, but now I see.”
How could it be? How could our greatest persecutor become our greatest preacher?
But then, had we not been the same? Once blind, now seeing? Once lost, now found?
And the fire spread.
The Spirit moved, and the unthinkable happened—households of Gentiles believing. Romans, Greeks, Syrians, even soldiers—men who had once bowed to Caesar now kneeling before Christ.
I remember the day Peter stood in Cornelius’ house. The way he looked around at the Gentiles before him. For so long, we had believed that the promise was only for us. That Israel alone carried the hope of salvation.
But Peter—oh, Peter—he had seen the vision. He had heard the voice of the Lord.
“I now understand,” he said, and his voice trembled. “God shows no partiality. But in every nation, anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.”
The Spirit fell upon them, just as He had upon us. And we stood in awe as we realized—this was always the plan.
Isaiah had seen it.
I had read his words, traced them with my fingers as we sat in hiding, waiting for the next wave of arrests.
“It is too small a thing,” the prophet had written, “for you to be my servant to restore only the tribes of Jacob. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
The ends of the earth.
And so we went.
We preached in houses and synagogues, in marketplaces and prisons. And the more we preached, the more they hunted us.
James was the first to fall. Beheaded.
Then others. Some stoned, some burned, some torn apart by wild beasts in the arenas while the crowds cheered.
And now, it is our turn.
The streets of Rome are wet with the morning rain as they push us forward. My body aches from the beatings. My mouth tastes of blood.
Peter walks beside me.
He is old now. We all are. But his back is straight, his face set like a man walking toward home.
“I am not worthy,” he says softly, as we approach the hill. “Not in the same way. Not as He was.”
And so they will crucify him upside-down.
As for me, I do not resist.
Isaiah had seen this too. He had seen what it would cost to stand for the truth.
And he had paid for it.
The prophet had spoken against the kings of Judah, against their false worship, their corruption, their blindness. And Manasseh—the wicked king—had made sure his voice was silenced.
They say he was sawn in two. (see Isaiah #9)
They say he died with his eyes fixed upon heaven, still seeing what no one else could.
A new earth.
A new Jerusalem.
A day of justice, when the Lord Himself would come, with His chariots like a whirlwind, when He would gather His people from the ends of the earth.
He saw it. And he died believing it.
And so will I.
The sky is red with the setting sun. The cross is rough beneath my hands.
They stretch my arms.
I hear the nails being prepared.
And I think of His words.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for My name’s sake. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”
The hammer falls.
Pain explodes through my body.
I cry out, but it is not a cry of despair.
It is a song.
A song of the redeemed.
A song of the martyrs.
And as the darkness closes in, I see—
Not Rome.
Not the jeering crowd.
Not the bloodied earth below.
I see what Isaiah saw.
A throne.
A King.
And a voice like rushing waters saying—
“Well done.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Extra-Biblical References
1. The Martyrdom of Peter (Together with Simon the Zealot)
• Eusebius, Church History (Book II, Chapter 25)
• Peter is said to have been crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero.
• Early tradition (Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 5:4-7) states that Peter was crucified upside-down at his request.
• The Acts of Peter (2nd Century Apocryphal Work)
• This non-canonical work describes Peter’s request to be crucified upside-down, believing himself unworthy to die in the same manner as Christ.
• Hippolytus of Rome (On the Twelve Apostles)
• Simon the Zealot is traditionally believed to have been martyred by crucifixion, though some sources say he was sawed in half like Isaiah.
2. The Death of Isaiah - Sawn in Two (see references here)
• The Martyrdom of Isaiah (A Jewish-Christian work, 1st-2nd Century)
• Isaiah is sawn in half, an event referenced in Hebrews 11:37.
• Talmud (Yevamot 49b)- Mentions Isaiah being executed under Manasseh’s orders.
3. The Roman Persecution Under Nero (64-68 AD) Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome and had them executed in brutal ways. Many were crucified, burned alive, or thrown to wild beasts.
• Tacitus, Annals (Book 15, Chapter 44)
• Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (Nero 16)
Confirms that Nero persecuted Christians, describing them as a “new and mischievous superstition.”