Last time we saw Saul being relieved of his blindness by Ananias. Saul hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for three days. Before he ate, though, he was baptized. And now begins his ministry.
READ v. 19. As I said, Saul has spent three days without food or drink. He was drained and wrung out. He immediately received food. It’s like he was so weak that he HAD to be fed. Whatever the case, he was strengthened by the food and by the Lord. So the food and the Lord were actively strengthening him. He was being strengthened by the food and by God so he could do what God wanted him to do.
After this, Saul joined and became associated with other believers. What happened to Saul was critical because it holds a message for every generation of believers. Saul joined the other believers because now he was a TRUE believer. His old nature was gone, his new nature had started. This is probably why Paul could say later on, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
He was bound to join others now with common interests and beliefs. He wanted to share in their fellowship, their love, their beliefs, their study of the Word, their growth in Christ, their building up of each other, their witness, and their service. What a change had come over Saul?
He became associated with the church so that the world might know that he was a believer. He wanted to openly and publicly declare that he was now a new creation in Christ.
READ v. 20. Saul didn’t procrastinate or hesitate. He immediately began preaching. What did he preach—that Jesus is the Son of God. He no longer preached religion, tradition, ceremony, or ritual. He didn’t preach his testimony of his experience on the road to Damascus. He preached Christ and Him alone.
READ v. 21. Saul stood as a testimony to the community. The public as well as the leaders of the synagogue were astonished at what they were seeing. They were expecting the old Saul, storming the homes and meeting places of those who called on the name of Jesus. They knew he had been sent to arrest and chain no only the men, but the women followers and to drag them back to Jerusalem for treason or death.
Instead, they were witnessing a man radically changed—a man associating and identifying himself with those he had come to destroy. They witnessed a man preaching like an evangelists, proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah and the Son of God.
READ v. 22. Saul was faithful and steadfast no matter what they thought was going on. Note that he continued to grow spiritually, increasing more and more in spiritual strength. The Greek words used for “grew more and more” meant literally to get stronger within, to gain inner strength, to increase spiritually.
Did you notice that the more he grew in the Lord, the more he was able to confuse those who opposed and reveled against the gospel? And so he continued to preach that Jesus is the Messiah.
READ v. 23-25. It seems like the more faithful you are to Christ, the more worldly abuse and persecution you receive. Saul had apparently been witnessing in Damascus for some time, preaching Christ and proving that Jesus was the Savior promised by God. He was strong in the Lord. His spiritual strength was evident and his preaching confused those who rebelled against the Lord.
So the Jews plotted to kill Saul. Why did they hate him so much? Because they considered him a traitor to their religion and nation and cause? Do you remember how friends and family treated you right after you became a Christian?
Saul was sharper than they were in a debate. He out-argued them and they felt ashamed and embarrassed. They were unable to get the best of him mentally and spiritually, so they set out to retaliate physically.
The message of the gospel convicted and threatened them. They convinced the civil authorities, the governor of Damascus, that Saul was a fanatic, a threat to the peace of the city. The Jews were so convincing that the governor sent patrols out on a manhunt for Saul and posted guards all around the city to prevent his escape.
But Saul escaped. Somehow he heard about the plot to kill him. Patrols and guards were everywhere. The city was surrounded by a wall. The disciples put him in a basket and lowered him down outside the wall. Saul’s faithfulness to witnessing wasn’t hindered by him being called a fanatic or by the threats on his life. Go will always make a way to escape if we are faithful in our witness. He will either deliver us from the difficulty or carry us through the difficulty.
READ 26-28. Saul wanted fellowship with other believers but they rejected him. He fled to Jerusalem. He tried to join the disciples at Jerusalem but his past reputation haunted him. The believers were afraid it might be Saul’s plan to capture them. They didn’t believe his testimony.
Saul was befriended by Barnabas. Somehow Barnabas sensed that Saul was telling the truth. It seems as though Barnabas had Saul sit down with him and relate to him his testimony of his experience on the road to Damascus. Barnabas became convinced that Saul was telling the truth so he took Saul to the apostles. By Apostles, I mean Peter and James, the half-brother of Jesus, who was to become the pastor of the church at Jerusalem.
Barnabas, after introducing Saul to Peter and James, shared three things about Saul.
1. Saul’s conversion – that he had actually seen the Lord on the road to Damascus.
2. That the Lord had actually spoken to Saul.
3. That Saul had been preaching boldly in Damascus.
They finally accepted Saul. Peter was convinced and invited Saul to stay with him. Saul did stay for 15 days fellowshipping with the man whom the Lord Himself had chosen to be the first leader of His people. In Gal. 1:18 Paul said his primary purpose for coming to Jerusalem was to see Peter. This was important because it meant that he hadn’t come to minister, but to learn about Jesus from the leader of the apostles.
But while Saul was there, he wasn’t sitting around reveling in the fellowship of Peter and James. He still ministered, still bore witness of the saving grace of God. He went out and preached Jesus.
Note the great struggle Saul went through just to be able to worship and fellowship with other believers. There was no thought whatsoever about forsaking the assembly of believers—no thoughts about worshiping alone out in nature or wherever. He fought to fellowship with other believers—fought until they accepted him.
READ v. 29-30. Saul was faithful in his preaching even though there was an assassination attempt. Saul preached boldly in Jerusalem. He didn’t go there to preach, but he did anyway. It was dangerous for him to become too visible because it had only been 3 years since he had been commissioned by the city officials to be the arch-persecutor of the church. So why was he found preaching.
For one reason, he couldn’t keep quiet. Sharing the Lord and the message of salvation was in his heart, and he just had to share with all who would listen.
Another reason was that he felt pain over Stephen’s death and ached for the Grecian Jews he had aroused to murder Stephen. Being in Jerusalem gave him the opportunity to go back to them, confess his wrong, and proclaim Christ to them. He probably went into the very synagogue where he had argued against Stephen, trying to reach the very ones who had helped him stone Stephen. Our lesson from this is that we should try to reach those we may have offended or led astray before we were Christian.
The opposition was fierce. The Grecians refused to surrender to this one called “Jesus.” They argued with Saul. They became so infuriated with him that they tried to kill him. (A separate attempt on Saul’s life.)
Once again, the believers discovered the plot. But evidently the Lord also instructed Saul to go to Tarsus, his hometown. So the believers helped Saul flee the city of Jerusalem to go to Tarsus. It was in Tarsus that Saul would begin reaching the Gentiles of the world.
The major point to note in all this is Saul’s unswerving faithfulness to Christ despite terrible trial. Let’s close by noting the 4 commendable traits seen in Saul throughout these events:
1. A strong conviction in Christ as the true Messiah.
2. An iron determination to be obedient in witnessing—regardless.
3. An unswerving perseverance in purpose.
4. A strong, strong stamina and commitment to preaching.
Four traits we can pray to attain.
