The Life of Paul Part 5 – First Encounters with Christians and the Damascus Road

Exactly what happened after that remains a mystery. Suddenly, on the road due north, probably in the early evening, there is a blinding light. Paul hears a name, a voice that’s distinct to him. To the others who have fallen on their faces, all they hear are words they cannot understand. The light. It is the light that makes this unique. This cannot be Satan, it cannot be the devil, it cannot be demons. Nothing is so bright. Paul puts his hand in front of his face. He tries to find a place where it is not light. He looks again at the light, hoping to see some portion of his body, and he realizes the light is not shining on him; the light is going straight through him. It is though his hands were not there. The light is not around him; it’s penetrating him. It’s going past his arms, past his body, his face, and passing all the way through him. Paul is standing in a storm of blinding light that is not hindered by dimension whatsoever.

And so, he knows one thing. Whatever is happening to him and whoever this is, he says, “No, Lord.” And suddenly, stunned by all of this, he cries out instinctively because there’s somebody there, even though that person is nothing but solid, blinding, even killing light. His eyes are not looking at light; light is going straight through him. And he cries, “Who are you, Lord?” And the great revelation of Christ and His church begins. “I’m Jesus, whom you’re persecuting.” And Jesus had died on a cross. He had been dead now for seven years. Saul had never met Him, never heard Him, and certainly had never persecuted Him, but that was not the opinion of God. You are persecuting Me.

Understand the mind of God. God the Son does not distinguish Himself from those who have believed upon Him. And the man who is stark blind has nothing he can do but wonder which direction an utterly totally blind human being is. The Lord moves away. Or had he moved inside?

The others began asking questions, telling what had happened to them, but by looking in the very face of Paul, they knew he was utterly blind. And so, they led him by the hand, and they took him in pity to a room. And now we’re looking at a very involved and busy God here. And the Lord speaks to Ananias, a very common name in that day. It just so happens that it’s one of the names of one of the two high priests who live at this time. “Ananias, I want to give you the address of the one you are to go and see. Go see Paul.” He answers, “Lord, this man has a reputation,” and the Lord speaks to Ananias, and he speaks to Paul also. “Go find him. Go see him. Go talk to him. Put your hands on him. He is my servant now, and he will suffer greatly for my sake.”

“Paul, you will follow me from now on. Paul, you’re going to suffer for my sake. Do you understand? You are going to suffer for my sake.” And then he says something else to him. “Paul, I’m going to have you work.” Now, Saul could not be a more broken man, and he was open to anything, and he knew that everything he ever said or believed was wrong. He is a humiliated man; his pride is broken. He is so ignorant. And then the Lord says, “I’m going to send you, I’m going to send you to the Gentiles.”

For a moment, Paul is absolutely horrified; he has never touched one of those things. He’d been persecuting the Jews, and he’s going to the Gentiles? And he’s been a strict observer of the law and cleanliness, and is going to those unclean people, and he begins to laugh. What a Lord and what a statement. You are taking the most religious man alive, a Jew’s Jew, a Pharisee of Pharisees, every jot and tittle, and you’re going to send me to the unclean. Paul realizes he lives in a new world. Now he begins to laugh, and the thought overwhelms him, and he begins to cry, and then he cries at his laughter, then he laughs at his cry. He falls back and just laughs and cries and cries and laughs. I’m going to the Gentiles. I’m going to the Gentiles. I, going to the Gentiles. An uproarious laugh; a heart broken; a man shattered. A broken vessel crying convulsively. And after he settles down, someone comes to the door, knocks on the door, and says, “Saul.” And he remembers the words of the Lord. “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he remembers, “I am Jesus, whom you’re persecuting.” And now there’s no why. The why is gone. I’m not persecuting them anymore.

Ananias comes in. Saul? “Yes.” The Lord has sent me to you. He told me to pray for you. Saul grabs Ananias’s hand, fills his face, and draws him up close to him. Did you say God, the Lord, sent you to me? Yes. I have been persecuting Jesus. Ananias is stunned. I am now a believer in Jesus the Christ. And Ananias lays hands on Paul and prays for him, and to Saul’s astonishment, something falls out of his eyes and under his eyelids is like scales, and he can see, and oh, can he see. He was baptized by the body of believers in Damascus, the very ones he was about to haul back to Jerusalem, and they laugh, they cry, and they hug. And then he remembers Stephen and has something to say.

I want to go to the nearest synagogue as fast as I can, and he does. He asks for time to speak, for he has a Pharisee’s garment on, and such a man would always be asked to speak. He stands and begins to go over the message Stephen, which is throbbing within his brain, his heart, his soul, his being. And he tells them he was one of the people present; I was the persecutor. He gives his entire Damascus road experience, and they cut him short, indignant, angry, outraged, for these are people who have been rejoicing at the death of the church and the end of The Way.

And the men grab him and push him over to a doorway, and there his hands are wrapped around what looks like a hook on the facing of the doorpost. His hands are tied. The believers protest, saying, “No.” Paul screams, “No, let it be.” With these words ringing in his ears, “You must suffer for me.” Lord, let me bear the whip marks of you.