For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 

2 Timothy 4:6 – 8

In a way, I can relate to what Paul is feeling.  He is about 61 years old.  He knows that the wicked Emperor Nero, a hater of the followers of Jesus, and the one responsible for the chains that bound Paul in the Roman prison, will certainly have the Apostle killed.  It could happen almost any time.  Paul had just returned from his final missionary journey, visiting churches he helped plant in Turkey, a very, very difficult time for him as he saw the troubles the churches were going through.  One would have expected the churches to have received, praised and thanked Paul for pouring out his life for them.  We have no record of that happening.  Instead Paul was pursued by Emperor Nero, captured and returned to Rome as a common prisoner, in chains this time.

This letter was written about AD 66, probably the year that Paul was martyred and four years before the mighty Jewish Temple in sacred Jerusalem was destroyed, completely.

Clouds were gathering above the churches threatening the very life of the church.  As Paul pondered the situation he knew that his days of active ministry were over.  His appeal to young Timothy to step up and lead the body of Christ carries a weight of urgency.

My mind goes back to the time Paul was about 30 years old, an admired and powerful advocate for the strictest form of Judaism, Pharisee-ism.  That movement hated Jesus because his followers did not look to obedience to the Law as the way of redemption.  Further, Paul was not the product of Jerusalem Judaism, no, he was born and raised in Turkey where he was a Roman citizen, unlike those who lived in Jerusalem.  So when he appeared as a student of the renowned Gamaliel he was recognized by the Jewish leaders as a person who would exceed Gamaliel as the greatest Jewish theologian. The future looked bright for Paul.

Timothy knew Paul’s story, how Jesus encountered him and turned him around completely.  He was called to suffer with Christ.  Now, Paul is calling Timothy to follow Jesus, a path of joy but suffering as well.  While my sufferings because of following Christ were real to me, they were nothing compared to what Paul is talking about and experiencing.  But all of us who were called in the service of Jesus can relate to Paul who is putting all behind him and looking to life eternal with Jesus.