Paul's Trial

Paul was coming back to the city of Jerusalem. He met all his old friends, made new friends and sent letters to all those whom he could not meet personally.

 All of his friends warned him that Jerusalem would be dangerous. But he said - "You know that I must reach Jerusalem as I have to finish the work God has given me to do.  While I am gone, be careful of these people who would like to see all our hard work ruined. Protect the church here and carry on with the work God has given us."
 

His friends repeatedly warned him from going to Jerusalem as all his friends and Paul himself knew that Jerusalem had proved to be a dangerous city for our Lord Jesus. He knew that he will be thrown into prison for the sake of Jesus, but he still had to go where God wanted him to go.

Accordingly, Jerusalem turned out to be a dangerous city for Paul too. All the religious leaders led the people in a riot, trying to kill Paul. The Roman soldiers arrived just in time and arrested Paul, so that the crowd would not kill him. None of the soldiers knew what the matter was all about. Then, Paul took permission from the soldiers and spoke to the people regarding how Jesus had touched him, his conversion at Damascus and how God had sent him to preach both to the Jews and non-Jews.

When the crowd heard this, they started yelling, "Away with him! Kill this man!"

The Commander brought Paul inside the Fort and was about to beat him to find the mistake he had committed.

"Wait a minute!" Paul warned him. "Have you any rights to beat a Roman citizen without a fair trial?" This stopped the soldiers from doing anything to him. Then they spoke to the religious leaders regarding his trial the next day.

At his trial, once again he tried to explain everything, but the people shouted against him. That night Paul was back in prison. The Lord appeared to him and said, "Be brave, Paul! You are doing the right thing. You must tell about Me in Rome, just as you told people about Me in Jerusalem."
 

Q1) Why was Jerusalem dangerous for Paul? 

Q2) What was Paul's citizenship?