You pick up your Bible and wonder, is there more here than meets the eye?
Is there anything here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right? Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink. Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own, as we ask God to meet us there in its pages.
Welcome to More Than Ink. Okay, here's a crazy question for you. Is it possible to be blind and not know it? You mean like when you can see something happening right in front of your face, but you don't recognize it because you don't want to see it.
Right, you don't want to see it. Well, today Saul, the enemy of the church, will discover that that's been his problem all along. Today on More Than Ink. Well, that's right, you've found us.
This is More Than Ink. I'm Jim. And I'm Dorothy. And again, we're glad you're with us. We are romping our way through Acts. Romping, is that a word? Romping is maybe not the best word.
Well, I don't like walking. We are adventuring through Acts. We're adventuring through Acts, yeah. And we've come up to Acts, a very famous section of Acts concerning Paul, the conversion of Saul to Paul.
So where were we last time before we come into this? We're at the end of Chapter 8. So at the end of Chapter 8 is the stoning of Stephen. Oh, that's right. Right.
And finally comes to an end. And Luke, who wrote Acts after some careful research, tells us that the witnesses of that stoning laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. Saul.
Right. And then he talks about the actual death of Stephen, that then in Chapter 8, Verse 3, he says, But Saul, ravaging the church and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. So something about the way Stephen died was particularly outrageous in Paul's view. Probably when he, Stephen said, I see, I see heaven open and I see the Lord Jesus. That's blasphemous enough from Paul's perspective. So Paul, being a young, zealous man that he was, it's interesting because that, Luke picks up the story here in Chapter 9, like nothing that we talked about the last couple of weeks about whoever we talked about, Philip, happened, right?
He just picks it up like Chapter 8, 3 was just right there. But Saul still breathing threats and murder. So he was so enraged he could think of nothing else.
He was the chief enemy of the early Christian movement. He was not only arresting people right there in Judea and Jerusalem, he was arresting them in other countries. He went to Damascus, Syria, which is where he's going today.
That's where we're going to see today. He actually goes beyond the borders of Israel. Right, right. Excuse me, Israel. So he thinks he's cleansing the Jewish community and even the larger community, it extends quite far away. So that's where he's on his way to today doing the righteous work of God to protect the Jews from this contamination of this Jesus guy. And that's a very interesting characteristic about him, right? That he would essentially travel to the ends of the earth to see through his convictions. And so we're going to see that become reality when it's shaped by the Lord Jesus later on in his life. But here he's just traveling full of outrage.
Right. And he is doing this not as a radical or some kind of Rambo. I mean, he has letters from the highest ranking Jews in the world. We're going to read today how he goes and asks for them. So he's representing the Jewish community. So here we are, if you're following, we're in Chapter 9 and we're starting off in verse 1.
We're back to Saul, not quite named Paul yet. So here we go. You want to read for us? Chapter 9, verse 1. Verse 1. But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Let's stop there for a minute. Isn't it interesting that he says men or women. This is not just a priesthood authority thing. This is anybody who claims to believe in this name.
It's a big cleanse. He's very convinced that Jesus is not who he says he is. He's convinced he's not the Messiah for sure. He's some kind of danger to the Jewish community.
And so he's out there basically protecting the Jewish community from this Jesus, this usurper. You know, I might add too, the high priest at this time is still Caiaphas. And a piece of trivia I forgot about. About 30, 35 years ago in Jerusalem, they found one of those bone boxes. Oh right. And it had the name of Caiaphas scratched on the side of it. Remember that?
I think it was in the early 90s, maybe 1990, 1990, 1991. But they saw the Caiaphas and then they date tested everything inside, the box and inside. And it dated to this period. And inside were the bones. These are bone boxes that they keep of people in the family. And they were the bones of a 60 year old man. And you know, if indeed this is one in the same Caiaphas, which it very likely is.
I didn't follow the story very much after that. But if it is, then this is one of the most remarkable finds from the names in the New Testament, this Caiaphas. But Caiaphas is still on the map right here. And Caiaphas is the one that's sending Saul out to do this cleansing.
And he's attacking these people who are known to belong to the Way. This is the first time it says that in verse 2. This is the first time that phrase is used of this movement of followers of Jesus, the Way. It's going to come back a few other times in Acts. Yeah, I looked it up.
It comes back, it's used five times in Acts. So this is what this first gathering of the believers of Jesus was called. It's called the Way, which I kind of like.
I kind of like. Well, and you know, whether that describes their way of living or whether it is a play on words of Jesus saying, I am the Way, the truth and the life. Well, you know, we really don't know. But there was something very peculiar about the way they lived that set them apart. So, you know, before we get into the details of the actual event with Saul, it occurs to me that this is a passage where it's very important to practice good observation, because we're given a whole lot of details. We're given not very many names, but they show up again and again and again. And we have lots and lots of references to the name, right, the name of the Lord Jesus.
And then there's, if you are observing and marking in your text, sight and seeing is a repeated theme all the way through the rest of this chapter. So I just want to kind of tweak your ears here so that you listen carefully and see how many times, even the word Damascus keeps showing up like emphasizing this is outside the borders of traditional Israel. This is a foreign country. It's a foreign country. But with a big Jewish population.
Big Jewish, yeah, that's exactly right. And, you know, if you've seen Damascus in the news today it's because it's the same Damascus. It's still there. It's still there, yeah. In fact, when you go up into the Galilee region, go up to some of the higher regions of Galilee, you can look out to the northeast and you can see Damascus. It's like right there.
Okay, so let's just back up for just a second. And that is that, you know, the reason Paul would go to the high priest and ask for papers is because all Jews everywhere recognize that there is one temple, one high priest, and he has authority over all the other priests, right? So Paul goes to the high priest in Jerusalem with letters of authority giving him permission to go and persecute Jews who are outside the box, right? So because, rightly so, as Jews they are subject to the authority of their high priest. Yeah, regardless of what nation they're in. Right.
Yeah, yeah. So let me just before we push on to the conversion, Paul himself talked about how righteous he was. And in a couple places, Galatians 1 is a good one, he says, You've heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people.
So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. That's in Galatians 1 where he's saying, this was the old me, this is what I did. And there's another famous place, I'm not going to read it in Philippians 3, where he talks about his old life too, how he was blameless, but as to zeal, a persecutor of the church. So he's not hiding his past here.
Okay, we need to read the story. When he wrote to the other places, he said, This is me before Jesus. Well, let's come to Jesus.
We're in verse 3. Here we go. Okay. Now, as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, which by the way is 135 miles away from Jerusalem, about a week's walk, six days. About a week, yeah.
Okay. So he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he 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 rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Oh, boy. Whoo! Yeah, yeah. Okay, so there's the gist of the story. Yeah, so he's just on the road going to Damascus. That week-long process, and then a light from heaven shone.
Some of his own firsthand accounts, he tells us a count a couple times in Acts when he's in Jerusalem, and once when he's with King Agrippa. But he gives us a few more details. You know this light that shines right here? He says that the time of day was noon. Right, this was brighter than the sun. Yeah, right, and it's brighter than the sun is what he told King Agrippa. So it's fascinating to characterize this light when you're out in the middle of the noonday sun, and it's brighter than the noonday sun. And I can't even imagine that kind of brightness. So this was really just an extraordinary light, which is clearly not natural. Something's going on here.
Right, right. Well, and we learn later from Paul himself that it was actually the Lord Jesus he was seeing, but the light was so extraordinary that he fell back from it, right? He literally falls to the ground. Not because the Lord knocked him to the ground, probably because he was so unable to stand against the intensity of that light.
Yeah, I would have fallen down on the ground. But when he says, not where's this light coming from, he says, who are you, Lord? Right, there's a voice coming to him out of the light.
So he recognizes I'm having a conversation with someone. Well, he hears a voice that says, why are you persecuting me? So then the question is, well, who am I persecuting? So who's talking? Right, who are you? Yeah, and he says, I'm Jesus. You're persecuting me, right? Right, yeah.
So rise and enter the city. Yeah, it's a fascinating thing because when Jesus first addresses him, he says, Saul, and every time in this era, when you hear someone say someone's name twice, it doesn't necessarily mean anger, but it usually means something quite emotional. Like remember when Mary and Martha come out to Jesus, it's Martha, Martha, you know. So it's an emotional thing. It's almost a touching, connecting thing.
He doesn't exclaim Saul once, like, it's more of a Saul, Saul. No, it's an emphasis on the personal connection. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, we still do this today.
We still do it today. Jim, Jim, Jim. Right.
Yeah, so don't go over that. It's really a very touching way that he starts the conversation. He's not yelling at him. He's appealing to Saul's heart, which is a fascinating thing because here's Saul who is actively against Jesus, and here's Jesus who is actively for Saul. That contrast has always just been great, and you hear it in his voice, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And with emphasis on why and me.
Why are you persecuting me? He doesn't wait for an answer. He just gives him an order. But get up, go into the city and you'll be told what you are to do. Like, you are not in charge here.
Right. It's interesting too, you know, that the men who are traveling with him, they heard something, but they didn't see who the conversation was with. And when Paul gets up from the ground, it says, his eyes were opened, but he saw nothing. That's kind of a synopsis of his entire character, isn't it? He's going through life thinking he sees what's real, but he sees nothing.
Thinking he's the guy who really sees things, but he's not. So it's really poetic that God would say, you're not going to see for a few days so you can kind of mull over this. And so humbled, they have to lead him by the hand into the city for three days without sight, neither eating nor drinking. So that, you know, we're told later whose house he goes to. But it occurs to me, he arrived at that house and couldn't see for three days. Was that a punishment or was that something else?
I think, no, I don't think it was a punishment. I think it was like I was saying, it's kind of poetic. It's like you think you're the guy who sees and knows all and you don't know anything.
You can't see anything. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, if you are rendered helpless for a period of time, whether by injury or whatever, it causes some quiet for deep reflection. Yeah. And I think that's what's going on here. Yeah.
I think that's why he's not eating or drinking either. I think he's like, it's like he has committed his life to persecuting the followers of Jesus. And now in one fell swoop, he realizes he's totally wrong. That takes a little readjustment. Right.
His beliefs and his actions. Yeah. Well, let's push on.
So I'll read from 10. So now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, here I am Lord, which by the way is the perfect response. And the Lord said to him, rise and go to the street called straight. And at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he's praying. And he has seen a vision, a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, and naturally so, Lord, I've heard from many about this man, how much evil he's done 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 carry my name before the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.
Oh, did you hear it? The name, the name, the name, the name, right? Who call on your name. I've made him or chosen him as an instrument to carry my name. He must suffer for the sake of my name, right? The name he tried to stamp out.
Yep, yep. So here's, this is a very natural telling. Ananias knows the reputation of Paul. And so, and God says to him very clearly a message from God, you need to go and find this guy.
He has some great specifics. He's on the street called Strait, which by the way, we've archeologically know where that is in Damascus. It still exists. It still exists.
It's actually been continuously occupied. Yeah, yeah. So specifically not on that street, but then look on that street for a house of Judas, and you'll find inside a guy from Tarsus named Saul. It's very specific. And you'll find him praying. There's a lot of details. It's a great confirmation for Ananias that when he finds the guy, you know, he's hit the mark.
This is the one. But then again, it doesn't stop Ananias from voicing his fears and says, look, I know about this guy. I don't understand what's going on here. And then God explains it to him. And very interesting in verse 15, he says, look, this guy that you know his reputation, you don't know the half of it, go for he's a chosen instrument to mine. Like before all of this happened, God had already chosen this man.
So he overrules Ananias' fear by saying everything's going according to plan. You know, I think it's in Galatians 1 where Paul says, when he chose me before my birth. It is where it is. It was newly before I was born. So you know, Paul himself, when he later is known as Paul, comes to this recognition.
This predates my birth. Yeah. And it's just reassuring when you understand that everything's going according to plan. This is not an accident. And so he gives Ananias these great confirmations of exactly where to go. And sure enough, he goes, 17, I'll just pick it up there. So Ananias departed and entered the house. He found the house. And laying his hands on him, he said, brother Saul.
Whoa. Brother Saul? Call him brother. Brother Saul.
Isn't that interesting? So Ananias has so believed what the Lord has told him. He's way in. He's prepared to address this persecutor as brother. God says he's my chosen instrument. So he's my brother.
Okay. So brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. And then he rose, was baptized and taking food, he was strengthened. And just as simple as that.
Just as simple as that. Here we have sight again. Right? But something literal, like scales fell off of his eyes.
Like something he will never forget. Something literally fell out of his eyes. Yep. Yep. So here's Ananias coming to him. And exactly like Paul, Saul had seen it in a vision, this guy named Ananias. And exactly as Ananias had heard from the Lord, I mean everything syncs up.
So it's clearly the Lord has orchestrated this. And he comes in and he allows him to regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And that filled with the Holy Spirit is not a, that's not a foreign phrase, Paul uses it all the time in his letters. But the contrast here is just so great because clearly not until Paul had been Saul, had been broken and emptied of that pride and that arrogance, that know it all kind of attitude. Not until that was emptied was it possible for God to fill him with his Holy Spirit. Well we're still going to see that he has this characteristic of know it all. He does.
That's going to continue to be a problem for him. It takes a while for that to go away completely. But you know what really attracts my attention is the fact that he was three days in the dark and then redeemed, filled with the Holy Spirit, the scales fall off and he just immediately, he sees it all, he is baptized and he eats. It's like I have essentially experienced a resurrection. Three days in the dark, waking up to a new life.
Yeah, yeah. It's fascinating too, while he was in those three days of being blind, he had no reassurances that this wasn't permanent. I mean it could have been permanent. He really didn't know what his future was all about. You said he had reassurance? He had no.
No, that's what I was saying. He had no sense of reassurance. He had no assurance. I might have said that wrong. He had no assurance.
He could have been sitting there for those three days thinking maybe I'm blind for the rest of my life. This is it. Maybe I've offended God so badly that there is no future. However he does say to him in that first encounter, rise and enter the city and you'll be told what to do. Right.
So maybe there is a future. But even still, boy. Well told what to do and said go to this guy's house and sit there. And he could have thought maybe that's the extent of the instruction.
There are no instructions after that. Yeah. Could very well be. Well he does get strengthened and then to kind of finish this section for today we look in verse 19 again. So he took food, was strengthened and for some days he was with the disciples at Damascus, the followers of Jesus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues saying he is the son of God. Okay wait.
What? So this is within days he is in the synagogue where he was going to root out followers of Jesus standing among them saying this Jesus is the son of God. Again we have the name that he is now speaking.
Right, right, right. So yeah he's not mincing any words here. It's very, very clear.
It's very clear. In fact when Jesus was going through his trials late at night they asked him specifically are you the Messiah, the son of God. So those son of God means the Messiah without any you know loss of idea.
Well. So verse 21, and all who heard him were amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this very purpose to bring them bound before the chief priests? But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. So in those few days he connected a lot of scriptures that predicted the coming of Jesus.
Forcefully so. So that he could just quote those to people and say see I can prove to you. And that last word that proving it really is that's the Greek tradition of Socratic proof. I mean it's proof.
Connecting the dots and saying this means that. Right and the followers of Jesus are just as confused as Ananias was saying wait a second isn't this the guy who's created havoc in Jerusalem? Well yeah it's the same guy and look at the change. But Saul increased all the more in strength, confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving Jesus was the Christ. So this is like inside two weeks right?
Yeah it's very soon. It would have taken him a week to get to Damascus and then he's there three days in the dark and then for some days, now that's an indeterminate amount of time, but very very soon he's standing in the synagogue proclaiming the name that he had come to stamp out. That is an astonishing turn around. No wonder that people were amazed and a little bit afraid. And probably thinking it's a trick.
That's right it's a trick. But clearly he is eager to share what has happened so radically in his life which is how do you put it, a life changing encounter with the living Jesus. Well a movement from death to life. Right and then confirming as he studies the Old Testament that this indeed makes sense.
I'm not having a hallucinogenic moment, this actually makes sense. Same thing as when the guys who are walking away from Jerusalem to Emmaus when Jesus came to them and did basically the same thing to them from Moses and through the prophets showed them that this was supposed to happen, this is all according to plan. So you know some of that may have been happening during those days in the dark. Well I'm convinced they were. When scripture that he knew suddenly was connecting. Yeah I'm convinced that's the case.
I'm convinced that is. So he got that clear and then just started telling when he could find. Now the results of his telling people we're going to look at next time. Because whenever you twist someone's arm with logic and facts there's a certain amount of resentment that comes with that.
If their hearts are pre-softened by the Holy Spirit it's one thing but if they're not it can be a real backlash. But before we leave this I want you to understand who was the person responsible for this entire change. Was it Saul who went and studied the scriptures ahead of time and said whoops I made a mistake. It wasn't his study, it wasn't his works, it wasn't anything on Saul's part. In fact he was actually aimed against Jesus throughout this entire time.
So clearly without any kind of doubt you can say that everything about the conversion of Saul was done on God's part and God's part alone. God did it and there's just no way around it. God planned it.
God initiated it. God orchestrated the moment and really gave him no option. You know it gives me great hope for people who are very resistant to the gospel to this very day and even as they're breathing that resistance or aiming their arguments. You know I have to remind myself well Paul was even more expert at that than these people that are in front of me. So there's really great hope and great love on God's part for those people who are still actively you know just flaming at the mouth about against Jesus. Okay so Romans 5 says well we were doing exactly the same thing against him right? While we were helpless, while we were his enemies, while we were still sinners, he Christ died for us. So the gospel at its heart is not about what we do. It's about what God has planned to do and God executes in our lives and then we go with it. Well and what he empowers when the Holy Spirit comes in to change and rebirth us. And in some cases with some people like with Saul it's just as confounding to the people who are watching and in so doing testifies again to the power and the sovereignty of God to draw a heart to himself despite that kind of stuff. And you know there's also an interesting thing that Ananias is an interesting player here is that you know God did all this but God uses us many times like Ananias is to come alongside and to actually hold people's hands as they come into the kingdom. Well we're out of time for today I'm Jim and I'm Dorothy and we'll come back and see what happens with this Saul guy next time on More Than Ink. There are many more episodes of this broadcast to be found at our website morethanink.org and while you're there take a moment to drop us a note. Remember the Bible is God's love letter to you. Pick it up and read it for yourself and you will discover that the words printed there are indeed more than ink.
My phone just went black what a bad time to do that. This has been a production of Main Street Church of Brigham City.
