TESTIMONY (PART 3)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.”

 “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.”

“Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’”

Acts 22:10-16

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

“What shall I do, Lord?”

It was a simple question, one grounded in complete submission to Jesus and spoken by Saul, Paul’s name at the time of his Damascus moment and first engagement with His Savior.

We saw this question end yesterday’s devotion as we are in the midst of this four devotion series on the Apostle Paul’s testimony to a crowd who just moments before had wanted to kill him and would have had it not been through the intervention of Roman officials who broke up the riot and took Paul into their custody. You’ll recall the Romans wanted to usher Paul into the safety of a barracks, shielding him from his Jewish attackers but Paul had other things in mind. For he saw every situation he was in as an opportunity to share the Gospel and we find him doing this in this series as he addresses the once murderous crowd in Aramaic.

We read earlier where the crowd had grown silent as Paul promised to offer up a defense for himself. He first told those gathered that he was a Jew like them, growing up in Jerusalem as many of them had. He also informed the crowd that he had been well educated in the Jewish religious customs and Mosaic law by a well respected Pharisee and rabbi named Gamaliel. Paul then testified that he became so fervent and passionate in the Jewish faith that he persecuted, arrested, and even executed Christians in Jerusalem before gaining permission to branch out and do the same in Damascus.

It was on that trip to Damascus that everything changed for Saul. Suddenly struck by light from heaven that drove him to his knees, Saul heard directly from Jesus who asked one simple question:

“Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?”

To which, Paul replied with the question we began this devotion with:

“What shall I do, Lord?”

Well, as we look at the verses that form the text for this third devotion in the series, we find Paul telling the audience about the answer he received from Jesus who said:

“Get up and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.”

Indeed, Saul was supposed to go to Damascus but the purpose the Lord had for his visit was starkly different from what he had in mind.

And so Saul tried to get up but he immediately realized there was a problem. For the brilliant light from heaven had not only enveloped him but blinded him as well. He would only be able to do as Jesus commanded, to go to Damascus, with the help of his companions who guided him by the hand into the city.

You see Saul had been spiritually blind to who Jesus was and so to get his attention, Jesus took away his spiritual sight as well. When Saul gained the privilege to see again, it would be with a completely different view of life.

This was an important part of this phase of his testimony. For when a person who was once blind to the ways of Christianity encounters Jesus, they like Saul have their eyes opened to a new way of living directed by the Jesus who is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). New Christians become new creations as Paul would write in his letter to the Corinthian church, the old left behind for a burgeoning new life in Christ.

But before Saul could become the new creation Jesus wanted, he had to regain his sight. Going back to his testimony, he tells of how this happened as he received a visit from a “highly respected” and “devout observer of the law” named Ananias. Saul then tells of how Ananias came up to him and gave the following order:

“Brother Saul, receive your sight!”

And just like that, Saul could see again. He could clearly see Ananias and he was about to clearly perceive what Jesus wanted him to do. For the Lord provided the answer to Saul’s earlier question through His spokesperson, Ananias, who said:

“The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name.”

Note here the main points of Ananias’ message:

1. God had chosen Saul.

Saul had fervently served God but he had not really consulted his Lord to make sure that persecuting Christians was what He wanted. Rather, Saul was on his own program, terrorizing the very people that God wished to save through His Son.

Ananias wanted Saul to know that it was God who was in charge and giving the orders that would follow.

2. God had chosen Saul to see Jesus and hear the words from His mouth.

The incident wasn’t just a random encounter. Rather, it was orchestrated by God and it was by His will than Saul encountered His Son and received the words from His mouth.

3. Saul now was to bear witness to all the people about what he had seen and heard.

Rather than attacking and abusing Christians, Saul was now ordained to tell everyone about Jesus and the salvation gained only by way of Him. He was to make sure that there was only one way to the Father and that was through His Son.

4. Saul was to do what he was told right away.

He had no time to ponder what he was being told to do. He wasn’t to delay but get to work immediately.

5. Saul was to be baptized, see his sins washed away, and then commit himself to calling on Jesus in whatever he did.

While Saul could confess with his mouth that he had become a follower of Jesus, baptism would put actions in place to equal his words. Although a devout Jew, Saul was a sinner and needed cleansed from his sin as much as any other sinner. And so he went under the water, died to his sins, and emerged a new man, a man who wouldn’t persecute Jesus but commit to Him in every way.

Friends, this is what conversion looks like when a person chooses Christ. Saul did so and found a whole new life and identity as Paul, becoming a new creation and serving Jesus loyally through three missionary journeys.

He had changed and his testimony was delivered to the gathered crowd in Jerusalem with the hope that his former attackers would change too, surrendering themselves to Jesus as well.

We all have our own testimonies of how Jesus changed our lives and how we responded to His call once we became the new creations He called us to be. Through Paul’s conversion confession today, we see how we too need to be sharing our own conversion story with others so they too might see their need for salvation through coming to the only Savior who can bring it to them.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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