“Acts 9:1-18”

Sunday, January 03, 2016

“Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.’ The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.’ But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.’ So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Saul was a man on a mission. He was driven with the intensity and relentlessness of the winds of a category five hurricane. Paul was determined to destroy the work of Christ Jesus and he pursued that purpose with all the energy he had within him. Until that fateful day on the Damascus road when he came face to face with the Lord that he was fighting against. This story never ceases to amaze me no matter how many dozens of times I read it. God took the church’s greatest nemesis and turned him into arguably its greatest champion. Saul was a marked man and he didn’t know it. Jesus had chosen him to do His work (verse 15), and I am convinced it was because He knew that Saul would pursue the truth with the same vigor that he sought to destroy it. Do we serve an awesome God or what?!

Since this is the story of the conversion of Saul, let’s consider the steps he took to be transferred from the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13). After appearing to Saul in a blinding light, Jesus told him to, “get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do” (verse 6). When Ananias came to Saul and placed his hands on him, Saul received his sight back (verses 17-18). But that’s what Ananias did, not what Saul did. Saul had been in a house in Damascus, where he hadn’t seen anything, eaten anything or drank anything for three days (verses 8-9). What was he engaged in during all that time? Jesus tells us in verse 11. Saul was doing a whole lot of praying. We aren’t told the subject matter of that prayer, but I think it’s safe to assume that he was sorry for what he had done and, at some point, he prayed to be forgiven. But at what point did he have his sins forgiven and acquire salvation? Not during his prayer. If anybody ever prayed “the sinner’s prayer” it would have been Saul! But God didn’t forgive Saul’s sins until he did what Jesus told him to do. Saul’s sins were forgiven when, “he got up and was baptized” (verse 18).

Ananias told Saul, “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name” (Acts 22:16).

Please read Acts 9:19-31 for tomorrow. Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

- Louie Taylor

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