Chapter II. - Conversion of Saul.
The mind of Saul was greatly stirred by the triumphant death
of Stephen. He was shaken in his prejudice; but the opinions and arguments of
the priests and rulers finally convinced him that Stephen was a blasphemer; that
Jesus Christ whom he preached was an impostor, and that those ministering in
holy offices must be right. Being a man of decided mind and strong purpose, he
became very bitter in his opposition to Christianity, after having once entirely
settled in his mind that the views of the priests and scribes were right. His
zeal led him to voluntarily engage in persecuting the believers. He caused holy
men to be dragged before the councils, and to be imprisoned or condemned to
death without evidence of any offense, save their faith in Jesus. Of a similar
character, though in a different direction, was the zeal of James and John, when
they would have called down fire from heaven to consume those who slighted and
scorned their Master. {LP 21.1}
Saul was about to journey to Damascus upon his own business;
but he was determined to accomplish a double purpose, by searching out, as he
went, all the believers in Christ. For this purpose he obtained letters from the
high priest to read in the synagogues, which authorized him to seize all those
who were suspected of being believers in Jesus, and to send them by messengers
to Jerusalem, there to be tried and punished. He set out upon his way, full of
the strength
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and vigour of manhood and the fire of a mistaken zeal. {LP
21.2}
As the weary travellers neared Damascus, the eyes of Saul
rested with pleasure upon the fertile land, the beautiful gardens, the fruitful
orchards, and the cool streams that ran murmuring amid the fresh green
shrubbery. It was very refreshing to look upon such a scene after a long,
wearisome journey over a desolate waste. While Saul, with his companions, was
gazing and admiring, suddenly a light above the brightness of the sun shone
round about him, "and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the
Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest; it is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks." {LP 22.1}
The scene was one of the greatest confusion. The companions
of Saul were stricken with terror, and almost blinded by the intensity of the
light. They heard the voice, but saw no one, and to them all was unintelligible
and mysterious. But Saul, lying prostrate upon the ground, understood the words
that were spoken, and saw clearly before him the Son of God. One look upon that
glorious Being, imprinted his image forever upon the soul of the stricken Jew.
The words struck home to his heart with appalling force. A flood of light poured
in upon the darkened chambers of his mind, revealing his ignorance and error. He
saw that while imagining himself to be zealously serving God in persecuting the
followers of Christ, he had in reality been doing the work of Satan. {LP 22.2}
He saw his folly in resting his faith upon the assurances of
the priests and rulers, whose sacred
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office had given them great influence over his mind, and
caused him to believe that the story of the resurrection was an artful
fabrication of the disciples of Jesus. Now that Christ was revealed to Saul, the
sermon of Stephen was brought forcibly to his mind. Those words which the
priests had pronounced blasphemy, now appeared to him as truth. In that time of
wonderful illumination, his mind acted with remarkable rapidity. He traced down
through prophetic history, and saw that the rejection of Jesus by the Jews, his
crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension had been foretold by the prophets, and
proved him to be the promised Messiah. He remembered the words of Stephen: "I
see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God,"
and he knew that the dying saint had looked upon the kingdom of glory. {LP 22.3}
What a revelation was all this to the persecutor of the
believers! Light, clear but terrible, had broken in upon his soul. Christ was
revealed to him as having come to earth in fulfilment of his mission, being
rejected, abused, condemned, and crucified by those whom he came to save, and as
having risen from the dead, and ascended into the heavens. In that terrible
moment he remembered that the holy Stephen had been sacrificed by his consent;
and that through his instrumentality many worthy saints had met their death by
cruel persecution. {LP 23.1}
"And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou
have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it
shall be told thee what thou must do." No doubt entered the mind of Saul that
this was
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Jesus of Nazareth who spoke to him, and that he was indeed
the long-looked-for Messiah, the Consolation and Redeemer of Israel. And now
this Jesus, who had, while teaching upon earth, spoken in parables to his
hearers, using familiar objects to illustrate his meaning, likened the work of
Saul, in persecuting the followers of Christ, to kicking against the pricks.
Those forcible words illustrated the fact that it would be impossible for any
man to stay the onward progress of the truth of Christ. It would march on to
triumph and victory, while every effort to stay it would result in injury to the
opposer. The persecutor, in the end, would suffer a thousand-fold more than
those whom he had persecuted. Sooner or later his own heart would condemn him;
he would find that he had, indeed, been kicking against the pricks. {LP 23.2}
The Saviour had spoken to Saul through Stephen, whose clear
reasoning from the Scriptures could not be controverted. The learned Jew had
seen the face of the martyr reflecting the light of Christ's glory, and looking
like the face of an angel. He had witnessed his forbearance toward his enemies,
and his forgiveness of them. He had further witnessed the fortitude and cheerful
resignation of other believers in Jesus while tormented and afflicted, some of
whom had yielded up their lives with rejoicing for their faith's sake. {LP 24.1}
All this testimony had appealed loudly to Saul, and thrust
conviction upon his mind; but his education and prejudices, his respect for
priests and rulers, and his pride of popularity, braced him to rebel against the
voice of conscience and the grace of God. He had struggled entire nights
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against conviction, and had always ended the matter by
avowing his belief that Jesus was not the Messiah, that he was an impostor, and
that his followers were deluded fanatics. {LP 24.2}
Now Christ had spoken to Saul with his own voice: "Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me?" And the question, "Who art thou, Lord?" was
answered by the same voice, "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest." Here Christ
identifies himself with his suffering people. Saul, in persecuting the followers
of Jesus, had struck directly against the Lord of Heaven. Jesus declares that in
afflicting his brethren upon earth, Saul had struck against their Head and
Representative in Heaven. In falsely accusing and testifying against them, he
had falsely accused and testified against the Saviour of the world. Here it is
plainly seen that Christ suffers in the person of his saints. {LP 25.1}
When the effulgent glory was withdrawn, and Saul arose from
the earth, he found himself totally deprived of sight. The brightness of
Christ's glory had been too intense for his mortal sight, and when it was
removed, the blackness of night settled upon his vision. He believed that his
blindness was the punishment of God for his cruel persecution of the followers
of Jesus. He groped about in terrible darkness, and his companions, in fear and
amazement, led him by the hand into Damascus. {LP 25.2}
How different from what he had anticipated was his entrance
into that city! In proud satisfaction he had neared Damascus, expecting on his
arrival to be greeted with ostentation and applause because of the honour
conferred upon him by the high priest, and the great zeal and
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penetration he had manifested in searching out the believers,
to carry them as captives to Jerusalem, there to be condemned, and punished
without mercy. He had determined that his journey should be crowned with
success; and his courageous and persevering spirit quailed at no difficulties or
dangers in the pursuance of his object. He had determined that no Christian
should escape his vigilance; he would inquire of men, women, and children
concerning their faith, and that of those with whom they were connected; he
would enter houses, with power to seize their inmates, and to send them as
prisoners to Jerusalem. {LP 25.3}
But how changed was the scene from that which he had
anticipated! Instead of wielding power and receiving honour, he was himself
virtually a prisoner, being deprived of sight, and dependent upon the guidance
of his companions. Helpless, and tortured by remorse, he felt himself to be
under sentence of death, and knew not what further disposition the Lord would
make of him. {LP 26.1}
He was taken to the house of the disciple Judas, and there he
remained, in solitude, studying upon the strange revelation that had broken up
all his plans, and changed the entire current of his life. He passed three days
in perfect blindness, occupying that terrible time with reflection, repentance,
and earnest prayer, neither eating nor drinking during that entire period. With
bitterness he remembered Stephen, and the evidence he had given of being
sustained by a power higher than that of earth. He thought with horror of his
own guilt in allowing himself to be controlled by the malice and prejudice of
27
the priests and rulers, closing his eyes and ears against the
most striking evidence, and relentlessly urging on the persecution of the
believers in Christ. {LP 26.2}
He was in lonely seclusion; he had no communication with the
church; for they had been warned of the purpose of his journey to Damascus by
the believers in Jerusalem; and they believed that he was acting a part the
better to carry out his design of persecuting them. He had no desire to appeal
to the unconverted Jews; for he knew they would not listen to or heed his
statements. He seemed to be utterly shut out from human sympathy; and he
reflected, and prayed with a thoroughly broken and repentant spirit. {LP 27.1}
Those three days were like three years to the blind and
conscience-smitten Jew. He was no novice in the Scriptures, and in his darkness
and solitude he recalled the passages which referred to the Messiah, and traced
down the prophecies, with a memory sharpened by the conviction that had taken
possession of his mind. He became astonished at his former blindness of
understanding, and at the blindness of the Jews in general, in rejecting Jesus
as the promised Messiah. All now seemed plain to him, and he knew that it was
prejudice and unbelief which had clouded his perceptions, and prevented him from
discerning in Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah of prophecy. {LP 27.2}
This wonderful conversion of Saul demonstrates in a startling
manner the miraculous power of Christ in convicting the mind and heart of man.
Saul had verily believed that to have faith in Jesus was virtually to repudiate
the law of God
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and the service of sacrificial offerings. He had believed
that Jesus had himself disregarded the law, and had taught his disciples that it
was now of no effect. He believed it to be his duty to strive with his utmost
power to exterminate the alarming doctrine that Jesus was the Prince of life;
and with conscientious zeal he had become a persevering persecutor of the church
of Christ. {LP 27.3}
But Jesus, whose name of all others he most hated and
despised, had revealed himself to Saul, for the purpose of arresting him in his
mad career, and of making, from this most unpromising subject, an instrument by
which to bear the gospel to the Gentiles. Saul was overwhelmed by this
revelation, and perceived that in opposing Jesus of Nazareth, he had arrayed
himself against the Redeemer of the world. Overcome by a sense of his guilt, he
cried out, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Jesus did not then and there
inform him of the work he had assigned him, but sent him for instruction to the
very disciples whom he had so bitterly persecuted. {LP 28.1}
The marvellous light that illuminated the darkness of Saul
was the work of the Lord; but there was also a work that was to be done for him
by the disciples of Christ. The answer to Saul's question is, "Arise, and go
into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." Jesus sends the
inquiring Jew to his church, to obtain from them a knowledge of his duty. Christ
performed the work of revelation and conviction; and now the penitent was in a
condition to learn of those whom God had ordained to teach his truth. Thus Jesus
gave sanction to the authority of his organized church, and placed
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Saul in connection with his representatives on earth. The
light of heavenly illumination deprived Saul of sight; but Jesus, the great
Healer, did not at once restore it. All blessings flow from Christ, but he had
now established a church as his representative on earth, and to it belonged the
work of directing the repentant sinner in the way of life. The very men whom
Saul had purposed to destroy were to be his instructors in the religion he had
despised and persecuted. {LP 28.2}
The faith of Saul was severely tested during the three days
of fasting and prayer at the house of Judas, in Damascus. He was totally blind,
and in utter darkness of mind as to what was required of him. He had been
directed to go to Damascus, where it would be told him what he was to do. In his
uncertainty and distress he cried earnestly to God. "And there was a certain
disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision,
Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him,
Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house
of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus; for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen
in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he
might receive his sight." {LP 29.1}
Ananias could hardly credit the words of the angel messenger,
for Saul's bitter persecution of the saints at Jerusalem had spread far and
near. He presumed to expostulate; said he, "Lord, I have heard by many of this
man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath
authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name." But the
command to Ananias was imperative: "Go thy
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way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name
before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel." {LP 29.2}
The disciple, obedient to the direction of the angel, sought
out the man who had but recently breathed out threatenings against all who
believed in the name of Jesus. He addressed him: "Brother Saul, the Lord, even
Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that
thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost; and
immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received
sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized." {LP 30.1}
Christ here gives an example of his manner of working for the
salvation of men. He might have done all this work directly for Saul; but this
was not in accordance with his plan. His blessings were to come through the
agencies which he had ordained. Saul had something to do in confession to those
whose destruction he had meditated; and God had a responsible work for the men
to do whom he had authorized to act in his stead. {LP 30.2}
Saul becomes a learner of the disciples. In the light of the
law he sees himself a sinner. He sees that Jesus, whom in his ignorance he had
considered an impostor, is the author and foundation of the religion of God's
people from the days of Adam, and the finisher of the faith now so clear to his
enlightened vision; the vindicator of the truth and the fulfiller of the
prophecies. He had regarded Jesus as making of no effect the law of God; but
when his spiritual vision was touched by the finger of God, he learned that
Christ was the originator of
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the entire Jewish system of sacrifices; that he came into the
world for the express purpose of vindicating his Father's law; and that in his
death the typical law had met its antitype. By the light of the moral law, which
he had believed himself to be zealously keeping, Saul saw himself a sinner of
sinners. He repented, that is, died to sin, became obedient to the law of God,
exercised faith in Jesus Christ as his Saviour, was baptized, and preached Jesus
as earnestly and zealously as he had once denounced him. {LP 30.3}
The Redeemer of the world does not sanction experience and
exercise in religious matters independent of his organized and acknowledged
church. Many have an idea that they are responsible to Christ alone for their
light and experience, independent of his recognized followers on earth. But in
the history of the conversion of Saul, important principles are given us, which
we should ever bear in mind. He was brought directly into the presence of
Christ. He was one whom Christ intended for a most important work, one who was
to be "a chosen vessel" unto him; yet he did not personally impart to him the
lessons of truth. He arrested his course and convicted him; but when asked by
him, "What wilt thou have me to do?" the Saviour placed him in connection with
his church, and let them direct him what to do. {LP 31.1}
Jesus is the friend of sinners; his heart is touched by their
woe; he has all power, both in Heaven and upon earth; but he respects the means
which he has ordained for the enlightenment and salvation of men; he directs
sinners to the church, which he has made a channel of light to the world.
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{LP 31.2}
Saul was a learned teacher in Israel; but, while in the midst
of his blind error and prejudice, Christ reveals himself to him, and then places
him in communication with his church, which is the light of the world. In this
case Ananias represents Christ, and also represents Christ's ministers upon
earth, who are appointed to act in his stead. In Christ's stead, Ananias touches
the eyes of Saul that they may receive sight. In Christ's stead, he places his
hands upon him, and, praying in Christ's name, Saul receives the Holy Ghost. All
is done in the name and by the authority of Christ; but the church is the
channel of communication. {LP 32.1}