Acts 9:1-20, Psalm 30:1-12, Revelation 5:11-14, John 21:1-19.
A). THE CONVERSION OF THE APOSTLE PAUL.
Acts 9:1-20.
Saul of Tarsus was a Jew from the city of Tarsus in Syria. This was a Roman garrison city, and as a tent-maker Saul had a good market for his trade. Quite possibly Saul’s father had been a tent-maker too, and Saul is known to have been born into the privileges of Roman citizenship. Tarsus was a flourishing cultural centre, too, challenging both Alexandria and even Athens as a centre of Greek philosophy.
Paul himself tells us that he was a member of the tribe of Benjamin, initiated into the Jewish faith at the age of eight days, and that he was a member of the sect of the Pharisees (Philippians 3:5).
The Pharisees had their roots in the era between the writing of the Old Testament and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. They were known for their piety and their strict devotedness to the Law of God. Their zeal came into conflict with those Jews who allowed Greek thought to have a place alongside their own faith.
Saul was sent from his home in Tarsus to study the Jewish Scriptures at the feet of Gamaliel in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3).
The teacher Gamaliel was a respected member of the Council who, despite being a Pharisee, showed mildness and restraint when the Apostles were on trial (Acts 5:34-39).
We first hear of Saul of Tarsus at the stoning of the deacon Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian church. Saul was a young man who consented to this execution (Acts 7:57-8:1).
After this, Saul set out on a crusade to destroy the Church, obtaining letters from the high priest to arrest those in the synagogues of Damascus who professed Christianity.
A more unlikely candidate to become an Apostle of our Lord could not be imagined. But Saul of Tarsus went through a conversion experience in which he embraced Christ and Christianity, and was renamed as the Apostle to the Gentiles!
As Saul and his companions made their way to Damascus, a light from heaven surrounded him. He fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Saul replied, “Who are You, Lord?”
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
You see, dear friends, to oppose Christ’s people, is to oppose Jesus Himself. By resisting the Church, Saul was refusing the goading and guidance of the true and living God whom he professed to worship.
The next words on Saul’s lips are the words which are uttered by many awakened souls. “What must I do?”
It is hard to accept that our salvation does not depend upon anything we can do, but rests in the completed work of our Lord Jesus Christ who died for the sins of His people. However, Saul’s request might have been related to the high calling which he says he received by revelation at this time: that he should preach Christ amongst the Gentiles (Galatians 1:11-17).
Saul was told to continue on his journey to the city, and there he would receive further instructions. When we think we have some task to fulfil for God all that is required of us is to continue on our present journey until He makes it clearer.
The magnitude of the flash of light, and of the vision which Saul saw, left him temporarily blinded. For three days he could not see. His companions led him into Damascus, and he refused food or drink, fasting and praying until God should reveal His purposes to him.
In Damascus there was a Christian man named Ananias. This man received a vision from the Lord, in which he was instructed to seek out Saul. “Behold he is praying,” he was told.
When we want to know what God's will is, it is important that we also are found praying. In prayer we dare to approach the throne of the living God in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, making our petitions to Him. In answer to prayer God reveals Himself to us in many surprising ways.
At first Ananias was reluctant: after all, was not this Saul a persecutor of the Church, with letters even now in his hands to arrest all the Christians in Damascus?
The Lord assured Ananias that Saul was a chosen vessel to bear the Lord’s name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. Also Saul, as the Apostle Paul, was to suffer many things in the name of Jesus.
So Ananias obeyed the vision which the Lord had given him. He found Saul, and laid his hands upon him. Saul had his sight restored. Not only his physical sight, but the scales of spiritual blindness which had made him a persecutor also fell from his eyes. Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit.
As for many a convert to Christianity, for Saul everything suddenly seemed to make sense. All that he knew of the Old Testament Scriptures found its ultimate fulfilment in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without delay, he arose and was baptised.
After this, Saul received food, and was strengthened. Whilst there is a time when fasting is appropriate, we need our strength to serve the Lord. We must seek the right nutrition for our bodily health.
Immediately after his conversion, Saul was found preaching in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. He knew his Scriptures, and he knew how to present his case, and was able to confound the Jews with his arguments. In this he was following the example of Jesus, who after His resurrection “began at Moses and all the Prophets, expounding in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:25-27).
Saul’s hearers were astonished to hear this message from the very one who had sought to destroy Christianity!
Not every Christian has the same experience as Saul of Tarsus. We are not all called to the high office of the Apostle Paul! But everybody needs to have an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ in order to find forgiveness of sin, and rest for our souls.
For some the path is gradual. Perhaps brought up at the knees of a godly parent or grandparent, it becomes impossible to think of a time when they did not believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Others of us had to be confronted with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as a new thing, challenging our thought patterns and our whole way of life.
If you are not a Christian today you are under the condemnation of God. I appeal to you to embrace Christ and His Gospel. Accept Him as the only Saviour of sinners. Obey His call, and surrender your life to Him.
Saul of Tarsus did this, and testified afterwards as the Apostle Paul that there is hope even for the chief of sinners: “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1:15).
If there is hope for the chief of sinners, then there is hope for every one of us.
B). A JOYFUL TESTIMONY.
Psalm 30.
The junior members of the drama group were playing the part of carol singers in the musical play Toad of Toad Hall. I can still remember hearing their sweet voices singing just one line: “Joy shall be yours in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). I did not know the Lord then, but for me this is one of many evidences that the Lord was already graciously planting His Word inside me, even in the midst of a rebellious youth.
Like so many of the Psalms, this is a song of reversals. King David is drawing us through the ebbs and flows of the life of faith, through pain and loss - and death itself (Psalm 30:3) – to the place where we can give thanks and praise to the LORD “forever” (Psalm 30:12). There is a strong suggestion of Resurrection: both that of Jesus (Psalm 30:5), and our own (Psalm 30:11).
The initiative is with the LORD throughout (cf. Isaiah 54:7-8). However, that does not excuse us from the life of prayer: in fact, it encourages us to more diligent prayer, and greater faith in prayer (cf. James 5:16). If God has delivered me up to this point, then why should I allow my knees to droop and my hands to hang down (cf. Hebrews 12:12)?
In the midst of his prayer David takes time out to exhort others to join him in praise and thanksgiving (Psalm 30:4). It is with this that the Psalmist begins (Psalm 30:1), and ends (Psalm 30:12). Furthermore, the “And in my prosperity I said…” (Psalm 30:6) also brings in the element of confession, – which is not unlike the ‘But as for me…’ of Psalm 73:2.
The superscription of the Psalm suggests that this was a song from the dedication of the house of David. It reflects a time when David was “secure in his mountain” (Psalm 30:7; cf. 2 Samuel 5:10-12). However, the danger comes when we become self-sufficient and self-reliant, trusting in past experience and present resource rather than in the LORD Himself.
The Psalm itself falls into five parts.
1. David praises the LORD for lifting him up (Psalm 30:1) from the grave, and from the gates of death (Psalm 30:3). This has confounded his enemies (Psalm 30:1), bringing honour to the LORD. In his plight David cried to the LORD his God, and the LORD healed him (Psalm 30:2).
2. David exhorts the congregation to sing praise to the LORD, and to give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name (Psalm 30:4; cf. Psalm 29:2). Although Jesus twice warns us against too simplistic a view about the relationship between sin and suffering (Luke 13:1-5; John 9:1-3), the Psalmist is in no doubt that what he got he deserved: it was God’s anger that did this (Psalm 30:5; cf. Isaiah 38:15). Yet God’s anger is brief, and His favour is life-giving, lifelong, and eternal (Psalm 30:5).
3. David outlines the instance of backsliding that he feels led to this stern chastisement from the LORD. First, he found himself relying upon what God had given, rather than upon the LORD Himself (Psalm 30:6). Secondly, he became presumptuous, mistaking self-sufficiency for trust (Psalm 30:7). Suddenly he lost his sense of the presence of the LORD, and it seemed as if all his props were gone!
4. Yet David did the right thing: he “cried to the LORD” (Psalm 30:8) and prayed for mercy (Psalm 30:10). In fact, the Psalmist pleaded with the LORD, and argued that it would be against God’s own glory for Him to allow David to go down prematurely to the pit of death (Psalm 30:9; cf. Isaiah 38:18-19). Jesus did, in due time, go into ‘the heart of the earth’ (Matthew 12:40), but He on our behalf prevailed over death, and for those who follow Him, ‘death has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55).
5. Thus we are brought full circle to the praises with which we began. David yet again wonders at the reversal he has experienced (Psalm 30:11), and commits himself anew to a life of praise and thanksgiving (Psalm 30:12).
May we never forget all that the LORD has done for us, and may we never cease to give Him the praise due to His name. Now, and always, and throughout eternity.
C). CHORAL SYMPHONY No. 1.
Revelation 5:11-14.
Introduction.
If I was looking for a single motif for our readings in the Apocalypse in the Easter season, it would be that of a slain Lamb, STANDING in the midst of the throne (Revelation 5:6). There is evidence here of the Resurrection.
As well as here (Revelation 5:11-14), the Lamb is the focus of the praises of the redeemed in Revelation 7:9-10. We shall find the Lamb ranked beside the Lord God Almighty as the Temple and the Light in the city of New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:22-23). There, in New Jerusalem, the throne (singular) is inhabited by God and the Lamb, and His (singular) servants shall serve Him (Revelation 22:3).
Context:
Revelation 4.
John was conveyed spiritually to the throne room of heaven (Revelation 4:2), and beheld the One who sat upon the throne (Revelation 4:3). Seated around the throne are twenty-four elders, representing the whole of God’s people in Old Testament and New (Revelation 4:4) - who ‘fall down and worship Him’ (Revelation 4:9-11).
Four living creatures (also known as ‘beasts’) are introduced in Revelation 4:6-8:
1. The lion, the king of the untamed beasts, symbolising nobility (status);
2. The ox, foremost of the domesticated beasts, signifying strength (power);
3. The human being, the crown of creation, signifying wisdom; and
4. The eagle, the most majestic of all birds, a symbol of speed.
Revelation 5:1-10.
(1) The question: “Who is worthy to break the seals of the scroll?” (Revelation 5:1-4).
Until the seals are broken, the whole of redemption history is held in suspense. There can be no conclusion to the book of Revelation if we are stuck here at the first hurdle. To John’s great distress, no man could be found who was counted worthy to open the seals of the scroll which the LORD was holding.
(2) The Lion who is a Lamb (Revelation 5:5-6).
Given the grandness of Jesus’ appearance in the first scene of this epic vision (Revelation 1:13-16), it is somewhat surprising to find the dramatic change in His figure in the second scene. John was encouraged to look for a Lion, but instead he saw a Lamb: not only a Lamb, but a slain Lamb; and not only a slain Lamb, but a slain Lamb STANDING. In other words, John looked for a strong conqueror, but instead he saw a meek (but not weak!) man who had made the ultimate sacrifice - and conquered death itself!
(3) “Thou art worthy” (Revelation 5:7-10).
As the Lamb took the scroll into His hands, the whole of Creation burst into praise. A dead Saviour saves no-one, but the risen Lord Jesus is found worthy do all things - and thus He enables His people to “reign upon the earth” (Revelation 5:10).
Text: Revelation 5:11-14.
The Lamb engages the praises of an innumerable company of angels around the throne, and the living creatures (also known as ‘beasts’), and the elders (Revelation 5:11).
This is a continuation of the liturgy of Revelation 4:8-11 - but now the Lamb has been revealed, it is not sufficient for the congregation to sing their responses alone: we are joined by a myriad choir of angels. We are reminded of the multitude of the heavenly host that appeared to the shepherds when Jesus was born (Luke 2:13-14).
They are worshipping “the Lamb that was slain” (Revelation 5:12). To Him they designate the same glory and honour and power as they had already ascribed to the Creator (Revelation 4:11). Later, the Lamb will be designated ‘Lord of lords, and King of kings’ (Revelation 17:14.)
The “power” is the same ‘dynamite’ power, strength and ability which empowers the people of God. We are a resurrection people, with royal resurrection blood coursing through our veins.
To this attribute is added “riches” - wealth, opulence, abundance - He is the Lord from whom our blessings flow (Philippians 4:19).
“Wisdom” is also His prerogative: if we have any wisdom at all it is derived from Him.
“Strength” conveys might, and ability, which He in turn conveys to His people.
“Honour” puts a high value on Him, respecting His dignity, and regarding Him highly.
The “glory” of the Lamb is the glory of the Father. ‘We beheld His glory’ (John 1:14).
“Blessing” - we bless the one who blesses us, from whom all blessings flow (Ephesians 1:3).
Indeed, the cosmic choir is joined by a terrestrial choir (Revelation 5:13). Whereas the whole creation has been groaning (Romans 8:22), now creation joins in heaven’s song (Psalm 148).
The last “Amen” of this particular choral symphony comes from the four living creatures: and again, the twenty-four elders fall down and worship before the throne (Revelation 5:14).
D). I GO A-FISHING.
John 21:1-19.
The miraculous draught of fishes which took place on the shores of Galilee after Jesus' resurrection was not the first instance of its kind. It had occurred similarly at the beginning of His ministry, when He first used Simon Peter's boat as a pulpit. After enclosing a great multitude of fishes, Peter, James and John were immediately called to give up their nets and follow Jesus, for He was going to make them “fishers of men” (Luke 5:1-11).
This idea of catching men is quite literally “catching them alive” (Luke 5:10). The only other place in the New Testament where the same word is used is in one of the Pastoral Epistles, where those caught in the snare of the devil are seen as “taken captive at his will” (2 Timothy 2:26). A lot of water was to pass under the bridge (so to speak) between the first calling of the Apostles and the Great Commission.
John 21 follows on from the earlier post-resurrection appearances of Jesus mentioned in the previous chapter. Thomas had been convinced, and there were other signs which John does not innumerate (John 20:26-31). Perhaps now it was time for the disciples to stop sitting around in Jerusalem, and to make their way to Galilee as Jesus had earlier instructed the women to tell them (Mark 16:7).
This may or may not account for the fishing expedition. Maybe it was just active men at a loose end with the urge not to be idle. Either way, led by Peter, seven of them (including Thomas) made their way back to the sea of Tiberius (John 21:2-3).
On the occasion of the previous miracle, the fishermen had toiled all night without catching anything. Jesus made a command, and “at His word” they let down their net and caught a shoal (Luke 5:4-6). In the ordinary course of duty we may not always see great success, but when we let the Lord join in then the extraordinary occurs.
So on this later trip, they caught nothing all night, but in the morning a stranger appeared on the shore, and asked if they had any fish, as if He desired to buy from them. Then, strangely, He instructed them to try again, specifying where they would find their desired catch (John 21:4-6). Again they knew success, and they caught a total of 153 fishes, which John no doubt could remember painstakingly counting (John 21:11).
It was John who first recognised the Lord. It was impetuous Peter who dragged on his coat and swam ashore, at first leaving his friends to struggle with the catch (John 21:7-8), then doubling back to drag the net ashore himself. It is as if he wished to make sure that he “caught” the Lord, but was again drawn back to the task in hand (John 21:11).
Jesus, of course, did not need them to catch fish for Him: He had already caught His own (John 21:9)! However, the Lord graciously encourages our service, not because He needs anything from us, but because He graciously chooses to use means to accomplish His ends (John 21:10). Meantime there was not one of them who doubted the identity of the risen Lord (John 21:12).
As Jesus blessed the bread and fish (John 21:13), the disciples would no doubt have remembered the feeding of the 5000, and the feeding of the 4000. Peter may have recollected how he once paid the tax man on behalf of both Jesus and himself with a coin found in the mouth of a fish. The blessing may also have reminded them of how Jesus was known the evening after his resurrection by the two on the Emmaus road in the breaking of bread, and of the sacrament instituted on the night when Jesus was betrayed.
The conversation between Jesus and Peter was a reaffirmation of the fact that the Apostle's business was no longer to be about fish, but about pastoral work. This was a gracious restoration which was both gentle and firm. The question remains: do we love the Lord more than the trappings of our secular employment (John 21:15)?
In the first two times of asking Jesus enquired whether Peter (who he called Simon, son of Jonas) had agape love, that same kind of love which God has displayed towards us (John 3:16 etc.), which is attainable only by the grace of God. This is the kind of love that loves God with heart, soul, strength and mind, and loves our neighbour as ourselves (Luke 10:27). Both of these questions was answered with a different word for love: Peter would only admit that he had attained the duty of filial piety (John 21:15-16).
So Jesus brought the question down to Peter's level, and we can almost sense the Apostle's frustration. Are you sure you even have at least duty-love, because God has great things yet for you to do (John 21:17-19)? All along the Lord is reiterating: feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep (John 21:15-17) – no more fishing, Peter, but shepherding the flock of Christ.
In the end Peter is commanded to get right back to basics, and to follow Jesus at whatever cost to himself (John 21:18-19). We cannot minister to others if we are not following the Lord ourselves. After three years on the road with Jesus, the time has come for the fishermen to shepherd the flock of Christ.
