Selected Scriptures from the Book of Acts
In this lesson we meet a persecutor of Jesus who became an apostle for Jesus.
If you had to choose someone to be the chief proponent and supporter of a venture you were starting, would you choose the person who had been your biggest critic and opponent? A radical transformation would have to occur first, the kind which comes only by the grace of God.
A member of the British cabinet, a man by the name of Lord Lyttleton, and a friend of his named Gilbert West, undertook to disprove the validity of Christianity. Lyttleton's mission was to discredit the conversion and ministry of the Apostle Paul, while West's purpose was to prove that the resurrection of Christ never took place, scientifically or historically. By the time they both concluded their studies, they had reached surprising results. They had both converted to Christianity, overwhelmed by the preponderance of evidence supporting what they had set out to disprove. They concluded that the Bible was indeed the Word of God and that everything it asserted about the Apostle Paul and Jesus Christ was true.
In this lesson, we follow in the footsteps of Lord Lyttleton, examining the amazing life of the second most important figure in Christian history, Apostle Paul. We, of course, are not setting out to disprove the biblical record concerning Paul. Rather, fully convinced of the Scripture's accuracy and reliability, we intend to study the turning point in Paul's life�his meeting with Jesus Christ on a dusty road between Jerusalem and Damascus. So critical was the meeting that God saw fit to give us three accounts of it in the Book of Acts. We have Luke's account in Acts 9, and then two retellings of the event by Paul himself in Acts 22 and again in Acts 26. More space is given to the telling of this story than to any other event except the crucifixion of Christ.
The encounter between Paul and Jesus was not only lifechanging for Paul, it was world changing. No person besides Christ has had a greater impact on history than Paul.
SAUL'S CIRCUMSTANCES
In order to appreciate the profound change that ultimately occurred in Paul's life, we have to know something about his religious background. In Philippians, chapter three, Paul rehearses for the Philippian believers a summary of what he considered important in his life before meeting Jesus:
1. Circumcised when he was eight days old, as every Jewish male was supposed to be.
2. He was born a Jew, not a convert to Judaism from paganism.
3. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, the aristocratic branch of the Israeli family.
4. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was born Hebrew, spoke Hebrew, lived by Hebrew customs, schooled in Hebrew traditions, and he was taught Hebrew law by the renowned Gamaliel. He was as Jewish as one could get.
5. He was a Pharisee, a member of the strictest and most conservative of the Jewish sects.
6. He was a zealous persecutor of the church.
7. He was blameless before the law. He could not be accused, outwardly at least, of breaking any of the laws of God as given through Moses.
Because the Gospel preached by Jesus Christ undermined the authority of the Pharisees, and in their minds, was blasphemous against the God of Israel, it was no wonder that this "Hebrew of the Hebrews" was so intent on wiping out the followers of Jesus. Judaism was Paul's life before he met Jesus�but Jesus was about to become his life.
SAUL'S CRUSADE (ACTS 9:1-2)
Paul was so zealous for Judaism that he considered it his personal mission to wipe out the followers of Jesus, whom he considered to be traitors to their Jewish faith and an intellectual and spiritual insult to Judaism.
His Persecution Was Incessant
Paul breathed threats and murder against the disciples of Jesus. Breathing is a natural way of life to all living human and animal beings. Just as breathing gives life, threats and murder against Christians were Paul's life following the resurrection and ascension of Christ. Just as living creatures do not cease breathing, so Paul did not relent in his attacks against the church.
His Persecution Was Intense
In Acts 26:9-11, Paul relates in his own words how intense his activities were against the followers of Christ. He received authority from the chief priests to put believers in prison, and he always voted to put them to death. Many believers apparently died as a result of the influence of Paul. Those who weren't killed were punished in synagogues and made to blaspheme against the name of Jesus. Paul pursued believers even to foreign cities; he was journeying to Damascus when he was confronted by Jesus.
This man was on fire with a turning passion in his heart. He went to bed every night thinking about the Christians he would persecute the next day, and woke up every morning with onevision: To destroy the upstart religion which he viewed to be an affront to Judaism. Paul wasn't a nice man who once in a while got upset with Christians. He was a Jewish patriot who lived every minute of his life (before his conversion) to destroy the Christian witness by enery means he could.
His Persecution Was Intentional
Acts 9:1-2 savs Paul went to the high priest to ask for letters of introduction to the synagogues of Damascus. Acts 22:5 adds that his purpose in going to Damascus was to bring back to Jerusalem in chains those believers whom he found there�for the purpose of punishing them. This was not an occasional, happenstance thing with Paul. It was his intentional purpose and passion in life. He was proactive about this. He wasn't waiting to be asked by the high priests to go and search out believers. He was going to the high priests, initiating the request for letters of introduction to synagogues in other cities. Paul was a mover and a shaker when it came to punishing Christians and destroying the fledgling movement called The Way (Acts 9:2).
His Persectltion Was Insolent
In 1 Timothy 1:12-14 , Paul uses this very word about himself in relation to his pre-Christian lifestyle of persecution: ". . . I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor; and an insolent man." Let me tell you how insolent he was.
1. Distance meant nothing to him.
When Paul left Jerusalem to go to Damascus, he was embarking on a 160 mile journey. Today we would consider that a short trip�a half-hour by plane, less than three hours by car. But for Paul, it was a six day trip on foot. But Paul's insolence was so pronounced that he considered it nothing to walk six days (one way) for the privilege of persecuting Christians.
2. Paul had no respect for gender.
In both Acts 9:2 and 22:4 the text notes that Paul persecuted believers blindly whether men or women. It meant nothing for Paul to persecute, punish, throw in prison, or even vote to kill women just for the "crime" of following Jesus. Paul's arrogance and presumption were truly amazing in his days before meeting Jesus.
His Persecution Was Ignorant
Paul recounts for Timothy, near the end of his life, that he received mercy from God for what he had done to the church because he had acted ignorantly in unbelief. It wasn't that Paul was a hateful, murderous, evil man in his heart. He was zealous for God, and he thought that Judaism, as delivered to Israel through Moses and the prophets, and practiced in his day by the Pharisees, was godly. In his heart of hearts he thought he was doing something that God would be pleased with, because he thought God was surely not pleased with Jesus and His followers.
It is necessary to understand Paul's background so that you will understand the profound change that he experienced. No human explanation can account for the change Paul experienced. No twelve-step program, no therapy, no educational process can explain the profound transformation that Paul underwent. He was about to become the leader of the very people he had been punishing, persecuting, and putting to death.
SAUL'S CONVERSION (ACTS 9:3-9)
Paul never could have imagined what was about to happen to him as he journeyed to Damascus to persecute the followers of Jesus. The Lord Himself confronted Paul and his life was changed forever. The first thing that happened was illumination�not only a bright physical light but the illumination of Paul's understanding as well.
Illumination
Acts 9-3 says a light from heaven shone around Paul as he traveled. We don't know what this light was, or how it looked. Perhaps the words of Ananias' are the best explanation: Tt was the appearing of the Lord Jesus (Acts 9:17). This bright light was probably the Shekinah glory of the Lord God Himself. Later in his ministry, Paul referred to the fact that he had seen the Lord Jesus personally (1 Corinthians 9-1), and this must have been that occasion. Remember, Christ was no longer present on earth when this happened; it was some time after His ascension into heaven. Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15 how many people had seen Christ after the resurrection, while He was still on earth�as many as 500 people at one time saw Him. The apostles saw Him, and then, "last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time" (1 Corinthians 15:8). He is referring to having seen Christ at a different time than everyone else. Christ left His position as mediator at the right hand of the Father and came to the Damascus road and met Paul personally.
Why was Paul singled out? We don't know, except that God took a man who was His enemy and transformed Him into His chief evangelist. If the power of God was to be seen in any manner, surely it would be seen in this. Paul was shown the glory of God in such brilliance that it made every other light Paul had ever thought was bright�including the light of his oven Jewish pedigree�pale by comparison.
Interrogation
Paul was blinded by the great light he saw (and remained so for three days; Acts 9:8-9). He could see nothing so all of his attention was focused on what he could hear. And the first thing he heard was the voice of Jesus�though he didn't recognize it as such. He knew he was hearing from "heaven," but you can imagine the confusion he felt.
Jesus' interrogation of Paul cleared up the point quickly: "Why are you persecuting Me? . . . I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:4-5). Paul must have suddenly put two and two together: To persecute the people of Jesus is to persecute Jesus Himself. And yet what was Jesus doing speaking to him from heaven? He wasn't supposed to have been who He claimed to be�and yet He apparently was! Paul had been persecuting the Son of God by his rampages through the Middle East, persecuting the followers of Jesus. Jesus was the Son of God. Woe be unto any today who persecute the church of Jesus Christ. To persecute God's people is to persecute God Himself. Paul must have been thankful to be blind and not have to look upon the One he had been persecuting. Jesus' interrogation had cut to the center of his heart.
Revelation
There were two revelations that took place on the road to Damascus that day, and they both involved Saul (Paul's preapostolic Hebrew name):
1. Jesus revealed Himself to Saul.
This revelation was on the level of factual clarification. Paul needed to know that the carpenter, Jesus from Nazareth, was indeed the Messiah of Israel, the Anointed One of God. Paul had thought the man Jesus was an imposter, a blasphemer, a heretic, a charlatan leading the ignorant and uninformed astray. In reality, Paul was the one who had gone astray. Jesus was the Son of God.
2. Jesus revealed Saul to himself.
At a more shocking and profound level, Jesus revealed Saul to Saul. We have seen in previous lessons in this study that Yesus knows what is in the heart of man. When Jesus meets a person He knows what is in their heart before they ever speak. And Jesus knew Paul's heart as well.
The statement Jesus made to Paul must have been difficult for Paul to accept: "it is hard for you to kick against the goads" (Acts 9:5). A goad was a long stick with a sharp metal point in the end of it that was used to motivate a stubborn animal to obey the commands given to it. Because it was painful, a stubborn beast might kick against the goad, lashing out with its rear leg against whatever was causing the pain. Paul had been kicking against where God had been taking him. He had heard the testimony of Stephen (Acts 7:59, 8:1) and doubtless many other believers, and yet he was still resisting what God was doing. He was kicking against the goads as evidenced by his increasing efforts to stamp out The Way. But Paul could not escape, and he was finally brought to his knees in the dust of the Damascus road. He finally saw what he had been doing.
Salvation
Paul's salvation came in the form of two questions: "Who are you, Lord?" (Acts 9:5) and "Lord, what do You want me to do?" (Acts 9:6). The first represented Paul's desire to know who the Lord was, and the second represented his desire to know what the Lord wanted him to do. True salvation is based on the truth about who Jesus is, and submission to His will as Lord of our lives. The deeper I get into my relationship with the Lord, the more I ask the question, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" Likewise, Paul would be asking that question for the rest of His life as he sought to fulfill the ministry that God Would give him. Those truly committed to following Christ will never lack for options in ministry. There is so much to be done. Rather, they will need specific directions on which options to pursue. Thus the question, "What do you want me to do?"
Transformation
The great glory of the story of the apostle Paul is knowing what he had been before seeing what he became. The greatest enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ in the first century became His greatest servant, most trusted apostles and a faithful friend. The same hand that wrote out indictments of heresy against the early church was the hand that wrote the letters upon which the early church was based and ultimately spread. The heart that rejoiced when Stephen was stoned to death became a heart that rejoiced at the privilege of suffering for Christ's sake. The noble statements of theology in Romans, the sweet lyrics of Christian love in 1 Corinthians 13, and the desire to reach the regions beyond with the Gospel all came from the former persecutor of Christ and His church.
If ever there was any evidence of the transforming power of the Gospel, it is seen in the life of Saul the persecutor who became Paul the apostle. Hopefully that same Gospel has transformed you as well. If so, like Paul, may you ask the Lord today "What do you want me to do?"
Did you know...?
Trouble seemed to follow Paul wherever he went. Before his conversion, he created the trouble himself by persecuting Christians. After his conversion, he was the cause of trouble created by others since he was was the one doing the preaching. Just days after his conversion, he had to be lowered over the Damascus city wall in a basket so he could escape with his life (Acts 9:25)! And later in Jerusalem, he was causing so much trouble that the brothers and apostles packed him off to his home in Tarsus to keep him from getting killed (Acts 9:30). The Gospel message is a sword that divides, Jesus said (Matthew 10:34). We should not be surprised when our lives cause division for the sake of the Gospel. Indeed, we should be surprised when they don't.
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