hom God had ordained to teach His truth. Thus Jesus
gave sanction to the authority of His organized church, and placed Saul
in connection with His representatives on earth. The light of heavenly
illumination deprived Saul of sight, but Jesus, the great Healer, did not at
once restore it. All blessings flow from Christ, but He had now established
a church as His representative on earth, and to it belonged the work of
directing the repentant sinner in the way of life. The very men whom Saul
had purposed to destroy were to be his instructors in the religion he had
despised and persecuted.
The faith of Saul was severely tested during the three days of fasting
and prayer at the house of Judas, in Damascus. He was totally blind, and
in utter darkness
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of mind as to what was required of him. He had been directed to go
to Damascus, where it would be told him what he was to do. In his
uncertainty and distress he cried earnestly to God. “And there was a
certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord
in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the
Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight,
and enquire in the house of one Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus:
for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen a vision of a man named Ananias
coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.”
Ananias could hardly credit the words of the angel messenger, for
Saul’s bitter persecution of the saints at Jerusalem had spread far and near.
He presumed to expostulate; said he, “Lord, I have heard by many of this
man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints at Jerusalem. And here
he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on Thy name.”
But the command to Ananias was imperative: “Go thy way: for he is a
chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings,
and the children of Israel.”
The disciple, obedient to the direction of the angel, sought out the man
who had but recently breathed out threatenings against all who believed
on the name of Jesus. He addressed him: “Brother Saul, the Lord, even
Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me,
that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he
received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.”
Christ here gives an example of His manner of
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working for the salvation of men. He might have done all this work
directly for Saul; but this was not in accordance with His plan. His
blessings were to come through the agencies which He had ordained. Saul
had something to do in the line of confession to those whose destruction
he had meditated; and God had a responsible work for the men to do
whom He had authorized to act in His stead.
Saul becomes a learner of the disciples. In the light of the law he
sees himself a sinner. He sees that Jesus, whom in his ignorance he had
considered an impostor, is the author and foundation of the religion of
God’s people from the days of Adam, and the finisher of the faith now so
clear to his enlightened vision; the vindicator of the truth, and the fulfiller
of the prophecies. He had regarded Jesus as making of none effect the
law of God; but when his spiritual vision was touched by the finger of
God, he learned that Christ was the originator of the entire Jewish system
of sacrifices; that He came into the world for the express purpose of
vindicating His Father’s law; and that in His death the typical law had
met its antitype. By the light of the moral law, which he had believed
himself to be zealously keeping, Saul saw himself a sinner of sinners.
From Persecutor to Apostle
Paul was baptized by Ananias in the river of Damascus. He was
then strengthened by food, and immediately began to preach Jesus to the
believers in the city, the very ones whom he had set out from Jerusalem
with the purpose of destroying. He also taught in the synagogues that
Jesus who had been put to death was indeed the Son of God. His
arguments from prophecy were so conclusive, and his efforts were so
attended by the power of God, that the opposing Jews were confounded
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and unable to answer him. Paul’s rabbinical and Pharisaic education was
now to be used to good account in preaching the gospel and in sustaining
the cause he had once used every effort to destroy.
The Jews were thoroughly surprised and confounded by the
conversion of Paul. They were aware of his position at Jerusalem, and
knew what was his principal errand to Damascus, and that he was armed
with a commission from the high priest that authorized him to take the
believers in Jesus and to send them as prisoners to Jerusalem; yet now
they beheld him preaching the gospel of Jesus, strengthening those who
were already its disciples and continually making new converts to the faith
he had once so zealously opposed. Paul demonstrated to all who heard
him that his change of faith was not from impulse nor fanaticism, but was
brought about by overwhelming evidence.
As he labored in the synagogues his faith grew stronger; his zeal
in maintaining that Jesus was the Son of God increased in the face
of the fierce opposition of the Jews. He could not remain long in
Damascus, for after the Jews had recovered from their surprise at his
wonderful conversion and subsequent labors, they turned resolutely from
the overwhelming evidence thus brought to bear in favor of the doctrine
of Christ. Their astonishment at the conversion of Paul was changed into
an intense hatred of him like unto that which they had manifested against
Jesus.
Preparation for Service
Paul’s life was in peril, and he received a commission from God to
leave Damascus for a time. He went into Arabia; and there, in comparative
solitude, he had ample opportunity for communion with God and for
contemplation. He wished to be alone with God, to
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search his own heart, to deepen his repentance, and to prepare himself by
prayer and study to engage in a work which appeared to him too great
and too important for him to undertake. He was an apostle, not chosen of
men, but chosen of God, and his work was plainly stated to be among the
Gentiles.
While in Arabia he did not communicate with the apostles; he sought
God earnestly with all his heart, determi
