Acts 9:1-19a--The Conversion of Saul

Acts 9:1-19a
English Standard Version

The Conversion of Saul
9 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; 19 and taking food, he was strengthened.

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As we mentioned at the end last time, Saul of Tarsus who was there giving his approval at the stoning of Stephen and who has been causing trouble for the Christians in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas is now going to take on the role of a bounty hunter as the Sanhedrin wants these Christians dead or alive.  The text tells us that he'd like to murder them, but he is going to ask for letters of extradition from the high priest so that he can go into the synagogues in Damascus (that's in Syria), find the Christians who were worshiping there, and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial and execution.  It also didn't matter to him whether those he found were men, women or children--all were equally guilty in his mind and he was willing to go anywhere and everywhere he needed to complete this task.  That same passion and tenacity will be at work still in his life once he is saved and his objective changes from persecution to evangelism, church planting, discipleship and more.

While on the road to Damascus, Saul sees a bright light that is blinding, and he is knocked to the ground (probably off a horse he was riding) and a voice from heaven says, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"  Saul does not recognize the voice of Jesus and says, "Who are you Lord?" and Jesus replies by saying, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting."

Notice that Jesus says that Saul is persecuting Him when Saul is persecuting the Christians.  Paul will later write how the Church is the Body of Christ and Christ is the head.  We all feel the sufferings of each other, but Christ also feels our sufferings because we are His Body.  Jesus does not immediately try to evangelize Saul with the gospel, but instead sends him into the city--the very city that he was about to go into to arrest the Christians who lived there--to meet one of the Christians that he was trying to arrest  In fact, God essentially gave Saul the address of the man telling him exactly what street the man lived on and his name so that others could lead him to the right neighborhood, but God is going to send Ananias to come search for Saul.  This is a beautiful picture of how we in our blinded state of sin can have others help lead us and show us the way, but they can only get us but so close, and we're never going to find the right house on our own--Ananias (representing Jesus in my analogy) has to come out of the house and search for Saul in the same kind of way that Jesus searches for all the lost sheep that belong to Him.

Luke then focuses on those that were accompanying Saul for a second and says they also saw the light and heard a voice, but didn't see the One who was speaking.  They were astonished at what they saw and heard.  As they were not blinded by the experience, they led Saul to the place that he was to go...first along the road the rest of the way to Damascus, then to the street called Straight.  As mentioned before, they get him in the right neighborhood, but then all they can do is wait.

As Saul is following Jesus' instructions, Jesus appears to Ananias.  The beginning of the conversation reminds me a little of the conversations that the LORD had with Samuel and with Isaiah in the Old Testament.  When the Lord speaks our name our proper response should be "Here I am."  Samuel told the LORD, "Speak LORD, for your servant is listening," and when Isaiah was confronted with the holiness of God and heard the LORD ask "Who will go for us?" he immediate responded, "Here I am LORD, send me."  Ananias is in the same position until he hears the task that the Lord has put before him, then he reminds me a little of the prophet Jonah, trying to make sure that God really wanted to save this man because he had heard how wicked he was.  Apparently everyone in Damascus knew that Saul was coming for them.

God gives speaks prophetically to Ananias, and I'm sure the information was shared with Saul that Saul would have to suffer many things for the name of the Lord, but more important than that, He would be God's chosen instrument to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.

Ananias goes to the exact address that the Lord gave him--the house of Judas on Straight Street--and there he found Saul fasting and praying, for he refused to eat or drink anything since his vision.  Ananias did as the Lord commanded and laid hands on him and prayed for him, and the scales fell off of Saul's eyes so that he could see clearly once again.  This really happened, but it's also indicative to us of God taking away Saul's spiritual blindness and giving him eyes to see the gospel that was about to be shared with him, for only when God removes the scales from our eyes are we able to clearly see and understand the gospel.

Ananias greets him by saying, "Brother Saul" and telling him that "the Lord Jesus" who Saul met on the road to Damascus had also spoken to him to send him so that Saul might receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now this is most interesting.  Ananias is not one of the Eleven, nor is he one of the Deacons chosen by the apostles, and yet he is telling Saul that he is going to pray for him so he might receive the Holy Spirit.  This does not mean that Saul's salvation is based on the prayers of another man, but isn't it interesting that the man that God uses to take this message to Saul is one we've never heard of before?  God did not send Peter, or James or John or even Philip to pray for Saul, he used someone in Damascus who apparently had no rank--he was just the one who was listening and obedient when the Lord spoke to him.  Be careful about thinking that the keys to the kingdom are guarded by a select few and that the door has not been made open to all.

God has certainly worked in a most mysterious way in the life of Saul by allowing Saul to hear the gospel through the mouth of Stephen and to hear Stephen ask that the sins of his murderers not be held against them.  He then sought to arrest those whom he thought were guilty of a crime worthy of death, but instead he met Jesus on that road and we see another divine appointment between Saul and Ananias.  This is setting the stage for much or the rest of the book of Acts (and much of the rest of Church history) as we will see the focus change from the gospel being given to the Jews to the gospel being given to the Gentiles.  We've already seen this a bit with the Ethiopian eunuch and we'll see it a bit more with Peter and Cornelius.  It is there that we'll see Peter involved as the Jews will somewhat listen to him for a while, though there is always going to be a sect of the Jews, even among those who claim to be Christians, that will continue to think that the gospel was meant only for them, the Jews, and not for the Gentiles or that somehow the Gentiles must first become Jews before they can have access to God and to the gospel.  We've seen this to not be true already with the Ethiopian eunuch, but it will become even more clear as we go throughout the book of Acts and the New Testament epistles that Jesus Himself is the one who fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the Law that we could never fulfill on our own so that both Jew and Gentile have equal access to salvation through Him.