At Iconium, bold Gospel preaching brought about the conversion of many Jews and Gentiles together. This preaching was done by Jewish believers to both Jews and Gentiles. But then, unbelieving Jews tried to shut down Paul's Gospel preaching! They poisoned the minds of some unbelieving Gentiles against Christ. Paul and the brethren didn't stop. For a long time, they continued to preach boldly the Gospel to all the people of Iconium. God honored their faithfulness by giving signs and wonders, to testify to the truth of what they were preaching, even under opposition by lost men. So the city was divided between Jews and Gentiles who believed in Christ, and those who opposed the Gospel. The unbelieving Jews and Gentiles assaulted Paul and other Christians, plotting to abuse and murder them, and trying to stop the spread of the Gospel. Notice the parallel with the murder of Jesus: recall how reprobate Jewish leaders co-opted the Roman tyrants to put our Savior to death on the cross! This cooperation between wicked Jews and Gentiles had been explained by Christ to His disciples beforehand. First, Jesus said, the Jewish rulers would corruptly condemn Him to death. Then secondly, they would turn Him over to the Roman governing authorities, to be mocked, beaten mercilessly, spit upon, and murdered by crucifixion. Sure enough, what Jesus described came to pass: the wicked Jewish leaders condemned Him to death, and the Romans carried it out at the cross. While initially crushed in spirit by this dreadful turn of events, the disciples, soon after Christ's resurrection, recalled that the Scriptures had foretold that lost Gentiles would believe on Jesus also!