Acts 9:1-31
A spacious place for the church
Do you know anyone who is very antagonistic towards Christians and the Christian faith? Saul was like that. John Newton was like that. I was like that. When we read the account of Saul’s conversion it gives us hope that God can change the most unexpected people.
In this passage we see a double rescue. The church is rescued from the darkness brought about by Saul’s attacks, and Saul is rescued from his own inner darkness (13:9). God’s transforming power changed Saul from a persecutor of the church into the great church leader, evangelist and apostle Paul.
Saul had a privileged background. He was a Roman citizen from Tarsus. He was a highly educated intellectual. He was a qualified lawyer. He was a deeply ‘religious’ man with a strong belief in God.
Yet, Saul was living in darkness on a road that led to destruction. He was ‘out for the kill’ (9:1, MSG). He was trying to arrest Christians and put them in prison (v.2). He had a terrible reputation among the Christians because of ‘all the harm he [had] done to [them]’ (v.13) and the fact that he wreaked ‘havoc’ among followers of Jesus (v.21).
On the road to Damascus, Saul ‘was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light’ (v.3, MSG). Jesus appeared to him and said, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ (v.4). As Saul had never met him before, how could he be persecuting Jesus? In that moment, he must have realised that the church is Jesus. It is his body. In persecuting Christians, he was in fact persecuting Jesus. Later, he was to develop this understanding that the church is the body of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 12–14).
Saul’s physical blindness symbolised the spiritual darkness in his life at that point. When Ananias laid hands on him, his sight was restored and he was filled with the Spirit (Acts 9:17): ‘Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again’ (v.18). He was rescued from physical and spiritual darkness.
Not only did Jesus rescue Saul from darkness, but he also appointed him as his ‘chosen instrument’. He said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel’ (v.15).
However, God did not promise him an easy life. With great privilege would come suffering, ‘for I will make it clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for my name’s sake’ (v.16).
At once, Saul began to preach that Jesus is the Son of God (v.20). He grew ‘more and more powerful… proving that Jesus is the Christ’ (v.22). Like a lawyer, he produced the evidence to show that something had in fact happened in history. Jesus had been crucified, raised from the dead and is the Christ.
Through the rescue of Saul, the church was also rescued: ‘Things calmed down after that and the church had smooth sailing for a while. All over the country – Judea, Samaria, Galilee – the church grew. They were permeated with a deep sense of reverence for God. The Holy Spirit was with them, strengthening them. They prospered wonderfully’ (v.31, MSG). God had brought the church into a spacious place and they enjoyed a time of peace and blessing.
Lord, I pray that you will bring the church in our nation into a spacious place, that strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it will enjoy a time of peace and grow in numbers.