The remarkable vision with which Paul first began was by no means the only one; we learn here of another on his return to Jerusalem. 2 Corinthians 12 speaks of them also in a more general way. But what happened in Jerusalem he himself now proceeds to tell in detail. “And it came to pass that when I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw Him, saying unto me, Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not receive of thee testimony concerning Me. And I said, Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those that believe on Thee; and when the blood of Stephen Thy witness was shed, I also was standing by and consenting, and keeping the garments of those that slew him. And He said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee forth far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word; and they lifted up their voices and said, Away with such [a fellow] from the earth; for it is not fit that he should live” (Acts 22:17-22).
The incident at Jerusalem is full of interest spiritually, because it communicates the perfect ease and intimacy in which scripture sets forth the relations of the servant with the Master. It would have been easy to have suppressed the account, if it had not been of standing moment and general value. The statement of it had the most distressing effect on the Jews who had listened till then. This excited their indignation to the highest. Nevertheless, as we see, the apostle brought it plainly out to vindicate the direction of his labors without limit as apostle to the Gentiles. We may be quite sure that naturally he had as great a reluctance to go at the word of the Lord on such an errand as the Jews had to hear about it. Traditionally the Jew was everything in the matter of religion; all this feeling and the ground of it was overthrown in the cross of Christ. How true, as the apostle wrote to the Corinthians in his Second Epistle 5:17, “The old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new; and all things are of God, Who reconciled us unto Himself by Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation.” The power of such a ministry is especially shown, not in abiding at Jerusalem, but in going out toward the Gentiles wherever they may be; for we are not Israelites, nor yet the lost sheep of that house. We are not the people, but rather in comparison “dogs” according to the law. Now, however, all is changed. It is the gospel; and all things are become new. As the mission of our apostle is for heaven, so is his direction towards the Gentiles.
No wonder that he himself shrank even in the presence of the Lord; but so Paul is to learn in his trance at the temple of Jerusalem. “Make haste,” said the Lord, “and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not receive of thee testimony concerning Me.” This was very painful to the apostle’s heart; others had tasted similar sorrow even before Christianity. Moses knew it in early days, though the stiffneckedness of the Jews then was as nothing compared with what it was proved at the cross. And afterward Jeremiah and others of the prophets drank enough of this cup to feel the bitterness and grief. But Paul was as remarkable as Moses for the love of Israel, and tasted the bitterness of the Jew more than any of their prophets. In divine ways he was just the more to be sent as Christ’s ambassador to the Gentiles. Had he loved Israel less, he had not been so fit for the new and heavenly mission. In everything it must be above nature to represent grace in any measure aright.
How little those that saw or knew of Paul evangelizing the Gentiles appreciated the feelings with which he had entered on the work! “And I said, Lord, themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believe on Thee.” His heart yearned over Israel, his burning desire was to have labored in their midst. When the Lord had told him to retire from Jerusalem, because the Jews would not receive of him testimony concerning Christ, he even pleads that he was just the man to go to Jerusalem, that themselves knew how he had hated the way, how he had imprisoned and beat in every synagogue the believers. Yea more, he summons up the most terrible tale of persecuting zeal as the crowning reason to be allowed to preach to the Jews, and as a reason why they must surely welcome him if no other preacher of the gospel. “And when the blood of Stephen Thy witness was shed, I also was standing by and consenting, and keeping the garments of those that slew him.” It is evident that Paul used all this as standing him in good stead to labor among the Jews. But He that made the heart knew best, better far than Paul, and He said unto him, “Depart; for I will send thee forth far hence unto the Gentiles.” The determining word was spoken: whatever might be Paul’s feeling, he now learns the will of the Lord concerning his labors. It was not merely now, Get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, but “I will send thee forth far hence unto the Gentiles.” No Israelite more fervently sought to commend the gospel to the Jews; no servant pleaded for it more earnestly with his Master. The freedom with which he appeals is a standing lesson to us of the liberty into which the gospel brings us. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” But we should also learn that the gospel leaves no uncertainty for the path and the service. The true light shines. Christ is the way, as well as the truth and the life, and He is not mere truly the way to the Father than in Paul’s case toward the Gentiles. The gospel is heavenly light shining into the heart and on the path here below.