Saul of Tarsus, persecutor of the church, is now a Christian.
"Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God." (Acts 9:19-20) Saul immediately begins telling the people, "Look what Jesus did for me! I used to be a man filled with hatred. I stood by and nodded with approval as I witnessed the stoning death of the Lord's servant Stephen. I came here to Damascus to arrest Christians and take them back to Jerusalem where they would have faced prison, beatings, trials, and perhaps even death. I despised the name of Jesus Christ and I despised everyone who believed in Him. But I'm not the man I was when I started out on the Damascus road! Jesus Christ has changed me! Now I too believe He is the Son of God and, because I believe, He has made me into someone new!"
When we first come to Christ and begin telling our family, friends, and neighbors about our conversion, we sometimes run into those who are skeptical of our dramatic change. This is what happens to Saul. "All those who heard him were astonished and asked, 'Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?'" (Acts 9:21)
I can't blame the people for being suspicious of Saul's sudden change of heart. They fear he is only pretending to be converted so he can infiltrate the church in order to betray the believers. We can't blame the people who knew us before our conversion for taking a "wait and see" attitude about our professions of faith, especially if our previous behavior was particularly sinful or illegal. The worse our pre-conversion behavior was, the longer it may take for those around us to be convinced we are sincere. I think we have to be understanding and forgiving about this. Our sins have affected those around us. Our sins have hurt others. Naturally they may be a bit reluctant to trust us, but with time the way we conduct our new life in Christ will convince them not only that we are changed but that Christ has the power to change anyone. This is what happens in Saul's case, "Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah." (Acts 9:22) Many of the Jews at Damascus are changed when they see that Saul has been changed. They think, "If this Jesus of Nazareth is able to change a wicked man like Saul, and if He is able to do such signs and miracles through Saul, then He must be the Messiah!"
Saul is in a position to understand the intense hatred the religious elite harbor against the Christians. After all, he was a Pharisee and a member of the council. He has letters in his possession signed by the high priest giving him authority to arrest any Christians he finds. He knows that proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ makes him "public enemy number one" to the Sanhedrin, but he does it anyway. This is how complete his conversion is. The man who once wanted Christians put to death is now willing to risk his own life to preach the gospel. "After many days there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him." (Acts 9:23-24) In Galatians 1:18 Saul says he preached for three years before he ever went to Jerusalem to meet the Apostle Peter, so during those three years he became one of the leaders of the growing church in the Damascus area. He performed miracles just like the apostles at Jerusalem. The power of the testimony of his changed life convinced untold numbers of Jews that they too should accept Jesus Christ as Lord. The enemies of the gospel decided he was becoming too dangerous to allow him to live, so they lay in wait for him outside the city gates. No doubt they were afraid to come inside the city to seize him; he had too many supporters there.
But God makes certain that Saul hears of the plot against his life. God has plans for Saul, and although someday those plans will include his martyrdom, this is not the time and this is not the place. "But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall." (Acts 9:25) Saul's enemies expect him to come walking out the city gates sooner or later. They don't expect him to escape by another route. These men are incapable of thinking outside the box. It doesn't occur to them that Saul might leave the city by unusual means. It doesn't occur to them that the Messiah might have come in a way they didn't expect. Jesus of Nazareth didn't do the things they wanted the Messiah to do and He didn't say the things they wanted the Messiah to say, so they rejected Him. They rejected His redemptive death and they rejected the proof of His resurrection. Now they intend to reject the testimony of all who preach in His name.
But here we are, more than two thousand years later, still proclaiming the name of Jesus. People are still coming to faith in Him every day, all over the world, even in countries where it can mean a death sentence to preach the gospel. As Saul's teacher Rabbi Gamaliel once said, "If this purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." (Acts 5:38-39) The message of the gospel has endured because it is from God. It is the truth. It is powerful. It changes lives. It changed my life, for I was once a person nearly incapable of feeling love or compassion for most of those around me. I was once a person who committed sins without feeling guilt. I was once a person who actually took enjoyment in being rebellious and in going against the moral code my Christian mother and my Christian teachers tried to instill in me. But I, like Saul, have been changed by Jesus Christ. I'm not perfect, but I'm not who I used to be, and by the grace of God I hope to continue to learn more and more about Christ and to continue to look more and more like Him, the One to whom I belong.
If none of these things were true the Christian movement would have failed long ago, likely in the first century AD. But we speak in the name of Jesus Christ today because He is exactly who He says He is and because He has proven it through people like Saul of Tarsus and through people like you and me whose lives have been transformed by the power of His name.
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