Meanwhile...Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples.
In yesterday's blog I talked about the apostles rejoicing that they had been counted "worthy of suffering disgrace" for the Name of Jesus. I'm sure there was fear in other believers' hearts, though, as Saul was out rampaging around, rounding up Christians to kill them.
What a turn of events when Saul "meets" Jesus in a stream of light. Jesus asks him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" Jesus identifies with His followers to the point of calling their suffering His own.
So, when the Lord called a man named Ananias in a vision, this guy's response was, ("You want me to do WHAT?!?) Lord, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem." It's like Ananias is trying to straighten God out. This one man's obedience set in motion something that quite literally changed the world.
Paul freaked out a lot of folks, of course, but was soon "baffling the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ."
That's cool. He must've had the knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures that came in handy once something in his heart clicked (like the "eyes of his heart being opened"). He was able to logically convince people that Jesus was the Messiah. That's something else...
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at November 18, 2005 11:19 AM