A Journey Towards Transformation: "The Damascus Road” Series

A Journey Towards Transformation?“The Damascus Road”

Acts 9:1-19

Thinking about this whole idea that we’ll be exploring in our Easter message, “God Will Make a Way,” the concept of the various roads that both Jesus and His disciples took up to and following His resurrection came to mind. We’ll look at two of those roads, the Jerusalem and Calvary roads in the following couple of weeks.

But I’d like to begin with the road that was taken not long after Jesus’s resurrection, “The Damascus Road.” The reason is because it goes along so well with our overall vision for this year, and that is 2024 is to be a year of change, or transformation.

And while these roads led to different destinations, in the end they all lead to Jesus’s resurrection, and the risen Lord, Jesus.

And this is true with this last road and the man we find traveling upon it. His name was Saul of Tarsus, who we also known as the Apostle Paul, and the road was the one leading towards Damascus. And while it led to Damascus, it was also leading him to an encounter with the risen Jesus, the one Paul was actually persecuting in his persecution of Christians.

Saul was born in the city of Tarsus in the province of Cilicia (Sy-LIS-ee-uh), which is located near Antioch a city in Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey. Saul was the son of a very prominent and wealthy Jewish family, and because Cilicia was a Roman colony, Saul could claim Roman citizenship.

Saul was a bright child and was sent off to Jerusalem to study under the noted Rabbi Gamaliel. He was instructed in all the laws and traditions of the Jewish faith and was very zealous for it. In fact, he was advancing in Judaism to a far greater degree than his peers.

So, Saul was born a Jew, grew up a Pharisee, held Roman citizenship, and lived and studied in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. Like the other religious leaders, he probably expected that the enthusiasm and teachings that marked Jesus’s followers would soon die out after Jesus’s death.

But that didn’t happen, instead not only did their enthusiasm grow, so did their numbers. Therefore, Saul took action and persecuted them, putting them either in prison or death. It was at the stoning death of Stephen that we’re first introduced to Saul as he held the garments of those throwing the stones.

And so, Saul was very zealous in his pursuit to eradicate Christianity, which at that time was known as “the Way.”

Describing himself later to the church in Philippi, Paul said that he was “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6 NKJV)

And so, at this time, Saul thought quite highly of himself and his mission which found him going from synagogue to synagogue punishing those who believed in Jesus until they began to leave Jerusalem, but even this was not enough for him. He got letters from the chief priests and followed the believers wherever they went.

And this is where we pick up our story as Saul was on the road to Damascus and His encounter with Jesus and the Transformation that took place.

Read Acts 9:1-19

Saul was a man full of vinegar, that is, full of hatred and bitterness. He was on a mission, but not for God, nor was it a mission of mercy, rather it was a mission of punishment and pain.

He was on a mission to confront and get rid of all those who followed Jesus, those he described as belonging to “The Way.” In the Hebrew this means a person’s walk, or way and manner of life. In other words, Christians stood out wherever they were, or in whatever situation they found themselves in.

These first followers of Jesus walked the talk; they lived as Jesus would have. Paul described what that looks like in his letter to the Philippian church.

“That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:15 NKJV)

In fact, the term “Christian,” came from how they conducted themselves. It meant, “little christs.”

In other words, they stood out. So, it really wasn’t hard for Saul to find them. They literally left a trail of new believers in their wake.

And so, Saul was on a mission to confront and get rid of these pesky believers, and nothing on earth would change his mind, or his direction. Yet, little did he know that while on this road to Damascus, on this journey of transformation, he wouldn’t confront the followers of Jesus, but rather Jesus would confront him.