Daily Thoughts from Acts: Power for Conversion (Acts 9:1-19)

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 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. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 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. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

   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.” 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, 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.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 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. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 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.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.

   For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.  (Acts 9:1-19 ESV)

Saul is like a shark who has tasted blood in the water and is in a feeding frenzy.  Nothing seems more important to him than hunting down and arresting Jews who belong to the Way.  The Way is the name these followers have come to be known as, perhaps because they echoed Jesus’ words to his disciples about being the way, the truth and the life.  Though all these Jews have remained attached to their people and to their expression of worship, the synagogue, they are following a “way” within Judaism that distinguishes them from all their fellow Jews.  They are claiming the Jesus is the Messiah, whom their leadership has had a hand in getting executed, and, like Stephen, are preaching this message with great power.  Saul wants them silenced.

We see the powerful reach of the chief priests of Israel.  They can command the synagogues of Damascus to yield up their members who follow Jesus.  And somehow, even though Saul has just received letters giving him this authority, the Jewish leaders in Damascus and those belonging to the Way already know that Paul is coming and why.

But God has other plans.  In recent days we have heard of many Muslims and Hindus being given dream-visions from God that direct them to Jesus (see https://thimblefulloftheology.com/reflections-on-india-1/).  Why He chooses to do this for some and not others we cannot say, but God was determined to reach Paul with the message of Christ.  Could Paul have chosen otherwise than to have believed?  His was not a dream but an awake-vision of Jesus himself.  He tells in a later rehearsal of his experience (Acts 26:14) that Jesus said Paul was kicking against “the goads”.  Goads were used to urge oxen forward.  Paul had been wrestling with the truthfulness of Christianity, the Way, and refusing to yield to the sharp prongs of his own conscience as to the validity of Jesus’ claims.  He had heard Stephen’s message and was resisting it.  But now, with this meeting with Jesus, his resistance collapses.

Luke doesn’t tell us everything Jesus tells Paul at this point, though at later testimonies to Paul’s conversion Paul tells us that Jesus commissioned him to bear witness to Him before Gentiles (and He tells Ananias that Paul will also bear witness to Israel) and suffer much.  But first, Paul (Saul) is to go into Damascus and await further instructions, which are delivered to him by the brave disciple Ananias, to whom Jesus also appears in a vision.  Ananias understandably is nervous but obeys.  He lays hands on his new “brother” whose sight is restored and who then receives the Holy Spirit.  Ananias says he will be filled with the Spirit, an indication, likely, of the speaking ministry he is going to have proclaiming the gospel.  Saul is water baptized, already a normal requirement for those who believe, a way of acknowledging their new allegiance.

Perhaps your conversion was not as dramatic as Paul’s.  We call dramatic conversions “Dasmascus Road Experiences” because they are conversions with unusual displays of God’s power in the life of someone who has been unusually resistant or in opposition like Paul.  But your conversion was still a display of God’s power.  No human will is ready to yield to God’s kingship, and is ready to defend its status quo belief system at all costs unless God does something to change that direction.  Jesus said it this way, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).  You and I were just as incapable of coming to Jesus as Paul was.  We were as much in need of the Father’s drawing action as Paul.  Our conversion was just as much miraculous as his.

For an amazing conversion story of a Muslim jihadi, read here, though be warned, some of it is hard to read.