THE LEAST OF THE APOSTLES (ACTS 9:1-9)
Do you have zeal for religious, political and social causes? Here are some quotes on zeal:
Let a good man do good deeds with the same zeal that the evil man does bad ones. Jewish Proverb
Zeal without knowledge is fire without light. Thomas Fuller.
Nothing spoils human nature more than false zeal. The good nature of a heathen is more God-like than the furious zeal of a Christian.
There is a holy, mistaken zeal in politics, as well as in religion. By persuading others, we convince ourselves. Junius
Let us not become so intense in our zeal to do good by winning arguments or by our pure intention in disputing doctrine that we go beyond good sense and manners. James E. Faust
The disgrace of the church in the twentieth century is that more zeal is evident among Communists and cultists than among Christians. William MacDonald, True Discipleship
One of the most important persons in the Bible is Saul, later known as Paul. Paul was a Pharisee, a persecutor and a pioneer. He wrote 14 of the 27 books in the New Testament and traveled over 10,000 miles to dozens of cities proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Further, he was the greatest writer of the New Testament, the greatest missionary in the Bible and the greatest enemy of the church, but the least of the apostles (1 Cor 15:9).
What is your passion and purpose in life? How do you know if your motivation or zeal is honorable or dishonorable, pure or impure, upright or unrighteous, in God’s eyes? Why is God’s salvation and sanctification not exclusive to saints but extended to sinners, likable and unlikable people as well?
Free the Monster
1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
Oliver Wendell Holmes was a Supreme Court Justice who was very respected, very intelligent, but a little bit absent-minded. Holmes was on a train one day, when the railroad ticket-checker began walking down the car, checking tickets. As the ticket-checker approached, he watched Holmes search his wallet, unable to find his ticket. Frustrated, Holmes then checked each of his pockets. Still no ticket. Holmes was more and more agitated with himself as he went through his briefcase, still unable to find his ticket.
The ticket-checker had finally made his way to Holmes’ seat. “Justice Holmes,” he said, laughing, “I know who you are. Everyone knows who you are. There’s no need to show me your ticket.”
“No, sir, that’s not the problem,” said Justice Holmes. “The problem is that I can’t remember where I’m going.”
https://www.workforce.com/news/oliver-wendell-holmess-train-and-your-companys-direction
Saul had the wrong pursuit, purpose and plan in his zeal. The three previous occurrences of Saul’s name in the book of Acts was violent and bloody, from the “stoning” (Acts 7:58) and death of Stephen (Acts 8:3) to the “destruction” of the church (Acts 8:3). Into chapter 9 Paul continued with breathing out “murderous threats” (“threat” and “murder” in Greek) against the Lord’s disciples (v 1).
The participle “breathing out” (em-pneo), with the added preposition “en,” occurs for the first time in the Bible even while the shorter version “breath/blow” (pneo) occurs several times before. Saul was breathing, blowing and beaming threats against the church and believers. Murderous threats is “threat and slaughter” (both singular) in Greek, with the noun “slaughter” translated as murder (Matt 15:19), slaughter (Acts 9:1) and slain (Heb 11:37). He was harassing disciples, hunting and hurting them for retribution, recreation and religion.
The first main verb, however, of the chapter is not “breathing out” or “went” (both participles), but “ask/desire” from the high priest letters to the synagogues of Damascus. Letters and synagogues are plural – Saul’s targets were all Jews in all the synagogues, men or women, starting from the central and chief city, Jerusalem. This Pharisee from Tarsus hated Christians so much that he would travel from Jerusalem to Damascus, a distance of around 150 miles (double the distance of Hong Kong to Guangzhou) or two weeks by foot, way out of town, region and country, crossing Israel’s borders into capital of Syria today. He had this cross-border treaty to bring them tied like a hog to Jerusalem.
Saul’s most ambitious project to date was to obtain official sanction, seal and support in letter form as allowance, authorization and appointment for him to enchain, execute and exterminate Christians. The noun “letter” make its late debut in the Bible. Saul was the hunter, hound and henchman of God whose purpose and pleasure was not only to detain believers but to drag hem (Acts 9:14, 21) by hand, feet or both, with ropes or chains! Unfortunately, unlike other versions, NIV dropped the verb “bind.” Binding them makes things and more painful, personal and paralyzing. The victims have little to no freedom, flexibility or feasibility of movement.
Face the Mistakes
3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 5 "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6 "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
Samuel Colgate, the founder of the Colgate business empire, was a devout Christian, and he told of an incident that took place in the church he attended. During an evangelistic service, an invitation was given at the close of the sermon for all those who wished to turn their lives over to Christ and be forgiven.
One of the first persons to walk down the aisle was a well-known prostitute. She knelt in very real repentance, she wept, she asked God to forgive her. Then she stood and testified that she believed God had forgiven her, and wanted to become a member of the church. For a few moments, the silence was deafening.
Finally, Samuel Colgate arose and said, “I guess we blundered when we prayed that the Lord would save sinners. We forgot to specify what kind of sinners. The Holy Spirit has touched this woman and made her truly repentant, but the Lord apparently doesn’t understand that she’s not the type we want him to rescue.” Immediately, a motion was made and unanimously approved that the woman be accepted into membership in the congregation. (Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith For Ordinary Time, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.).
The verb “flash around” (v 3, peri-astrapto) occurs twice in the Bible, both times exclusively and exceptionally describing Saul’s conversion (Acts 22:6). It is literally “shined round about” in KJV, or “around” (peri) + “star” in the verb form. The light from heaven was oscillating, oncoming and overpowering. It was bright enough to bedazzle him, blind and break him. It was like flash and floodlights, skylight and sun ray, and laser beams and light bulbs, poking, penetrating, pelting, piercing and puncturing his eyes, nerves and vision.
Next, a conversation ensued: “Why do you ‘persecute’ me?” - persecute - is in the present tense, to which Saul spoke for the first time in the Bible: “Who (same as “why” above in Greek) are you, Lord?” The verb “persecute” occurs nine times in the book of Acts, eight of which is related to Saul (Acts 9:4, 5, 22:4, 7, 8, 26:11, 14, 15). Here is how Saul described how he persecuted believers:
“I persecuted the followers of this Way to their DEATH, arresting both MEN and WOMEN and throwing them into prison” (Acts 22:4)
“And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.” (Acts 26:11)
“Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them” (Acts 26:11)
What’s new in Saul’s admission? First, death was not discounted and he did not spare the ladies. (Acts 22:4) Second, he did not just take them to Jerusalem; he punished then IN every synagogue (Acts 26:11). Third, he coerced them to blaspheme, which makes Christians anti-God, anti-Judaism and anti-Pharisaism. The Lord, however, accused Saul of opposing, oppressing, offending, obstructing and ostracizing Him instead, which was unintentional, unimaginable, uncomfortable, unforgivable and unbearable to him!
The first acknowledged title out of Saul’s mouth was that Jesus was Lord. Lord means He is the chief of our lives commander of our hearts and captain of our souls. Not only is He our head, but our hope and help. The Lord is our Maker, our Master and Model; we are to learn from Him, listen to Him and live for Him..
Two commands were given to Saul: get up and go (arise and go, KJV). The two-fold imperative “arise and go” is rare in the New Testament but common in the Old Testament, the last time twice in the book of Jonah (Jonah 1:2, 3:2). It is no longer about healing but humility, not about overcoming others or oneself but obeying Him, not about one’s toughness but one’s teachability, because he was not told he would be healed. There was no promise made, no progress promised and no provision inserted.
Find the Mission
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
A pastor was doing a teaching for the children and began to ask them these questions. “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?" he asked the children. "NO!" the children all answered.
"If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?" Again, the answer was, "NO!"
He asked them again, “Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my wife, would that get me into Heaven?" Again, they all answered, "NO!"
"Well," the pastor continued, "then how can I get into Heaven?" A five-year-old boy shouted out, "YOU GOTTA BE DEAD!!!"
Why was it important to record that Saul’s travel companions were speechless (stood speeches, KJV). Because it was a personal experience, a personal relationship and a personal calling. First, the contrast was with Saul, who knew that he and not others was the target of the voice. Second, the text said the men heard a voice, but they did not hear the words. Third, the men were bystanders to but not beneficiaries of a miracle.
Saul’s future days were painful, but peaceable and praiseworthy. He could not see externally but he could see internally. He was a proud man who was brought low, brought down to earth, brought to justice and brought to his knees. For three days, he did not eat or drink, which had nothing to do with his blindness. He was trying to undo his past, understand the present and untangle the future - to excise his demons, examine his life and explore his options.
What do you think is the emphasis in verse 9 – without sight, or without food or drink? It is without (the stronger “me”) sight and not without (the normal “ouk”) food. Three negatives were used for emphasis in verse 9 – “he was three days without (“me”) sight, and neither did (“ou”) eat nor (“oude”) drink
Why is that so? Because the lesson was about spiritual rather than physical darkness.
Three days, to others, were forever. What did that do to Saul? For us, it would mean despair, defiance and deformity. To Saul, it meant praying (v 11) and praise. Later, Paul would testify in Jerusalem that he saw a great (Acts 22:6 KJV vs bright light, NIV) and glorious (Acts 22:11, KJV) light. It was a great and worthy light because John the Baptist introduced the adjective to readers when he said he was not “worthy” to untie Jesus’ shoes (Matt 3:11, Mark 1:7, Luke 3:16). He considered the light more praiseworthy than painful. It was a glorious light, not a brilliant or bright light, as in other translations – more for its godly presence than its physical property, because the Greek word used is “doxa” (Acts 22:11).
Conclusion: God can transform a sinner to a saint, from a wrongdoer to His workman, from a scoundrel to His servant. Has your zeal for the Lord turned better or turned berserk, turned bitter or turned bad? Have you freed yourself from hatred, hostility and hypocrisy to embrace humility, honor and humanity?
