| “And as he (Saul of Tarsus) journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:3-4). |
| “He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). |
| The conversion of Saul of Tarsus (afterward the Apostle Paul) is one of the most remarkable events in the whole Bible. Here was a young man who hated the name of the Lord Jesus, and who was the leader among the Jews in seeking to stamp out Christianity. He had already been present when Stephen was stoned (Acts 7), and some time later he was on his way to the city of Damascus to arrest and imprison more believers in the Lord Jesus. |
| However, the Lord has His eye on that young man. Since Saul had been among those who killed Stephen, one of the brightest and best believers on the Lord Jesus, the Lord seemed to say, “All right; then you, Saul, will come and take his place, and I will make out of you an even greater servant than Stephen.” This is exactly what happened, for the Apostle Paul became the one to whom the Lord gave the special truth of the assembly, from a risen Christ up in heaven. |
| Can you imagine what it must have been like for Saul to be traveling along, probably on horseback, and then to be struck down by a light so bright that he fell to the earth? Many years later, when he was telling his story, Paul says that the light was “above the brightness of the sun.” As a result of this experience he was blind for three days, and did not eat or drink. But he was truly saved, and immediately began to preach the wonderful truth that Jesus is the Son of God. Paul became a real servant of the Lord, and went on to preach both the gospel and the truth of the assembly. |
| You and I have not had the kind of experience that Saul of Tarsus had when he was saved. The Lord saved him in a special way, for although he never saw the Lord Jesus while He was on earth, yet he saw Him in heaven on that day when the Lord struck him down on the road to Damascus. Seeing the Lord Jesus in heaven made a big difference to the Apostle Paul’s ministry, for he always thought of the Lord Jesus as risen and up in heaven. But you and I have sinful hearts too, and we need to recognize that our hearts, before we were saved, were no better than Saul’s. We too need a new heart, just as he did. We may not be called to do what Paul did in serving the Lord, but we all have something that the Lord has given us to do. |
