< Acts 9 >

Saul of Tarsus was a strict observer of God’s law through Moses and a zealous persecutor of Jewish Christians because he thought they had departed from God’s ways. Obtaining authority from the priests to take these people into custody, he travelled to Damascus to bind them. However, unknown to him, he had an important role in God’s plan of salvation, as Jesus said: “he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel”.

The dramatic conversion of Saul occurred as he made his way to Damascus. Jesus appeared to him in an exceedingly bright light which blinded him and directed his thinking into the right way. Jesus instructed him to proceed to Damascus where he would be told what to do. Saul was very knowledgeable in the scriptures and would know the truth concerning the coming kingdom of God and the Messiah (Christ) who would reign on God’s throne in that kingdom. Previously, he refused to accept that Jesus of Nazareth was that Messiah but he was soon convinced once Jesus himself appeared and spoke to him. Having believed, like all the disciples, he had to be baptized, so when Ananias told him this, he “arose, and was baptized”.

Saul immediately became a supporter of the very people he had persecuted so severely. This caused consternation, both among the disciples and the Jews. The disciples were wary of him, suspecting a trick, but were soon convinced of the genuineness of his faith, while the Jews were outraged and sought to destroy him. The Jews of the city believed in the coming of the Messiah (the Hebrew equivalent of Christ) to establish God’s kingdom, and Saul proved to them concerning Jesus “that this is very Christ”. Like most Jews, they refused to accept this truth and reacted by seeking to take Saul’s life, but he escaped over the city wall during the night.

Saul was then taken to Jerusalem and met with the apostles but, persecuted by the Jews, he returned for a while to his own city of Tarsus. Saul and the twelve apostles had the Holy Spirit in large measure and were able to perform extraordinary deeds even, as in the case of Dorcas at Joppa, raising the dead. The purpose of these miracles was to confirm the word of God which they spoke, and this miracle “was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord”.