Encountering the Truth
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Key Verse: “Immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.” Selected Scripture: |
PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF the Gentiles, was born of Hebrew parents, of the tribe of Benjamin, and given the Hebrew name of Saul. He was an inveterate enemy of Christianity, doing his utmost to root it out by persecuting all that embraced it, thinking he was doing God service.
“Breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” Saul “went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.”—Acts 9:1,2
As Saul “came near Damascus: … 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? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks [goads]. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” (vss. 3-6) Saul not only saw the light from heaven but he also heard a voice.
“The men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.”—vss. 7-9
In Damascus, there was a disciple by the name of Ananias. The Lord told him in a dream to inquire at the house of Judas, on Straight Street, for a man named Saul from Tarsus. Ananias objected, responding that he heard this man had been given power and authority to arrest any and all those of the Christian faith. “The Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”—vss. 15,16
Ananias went to the house as the Lord had instructed him, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, “Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.”—vss. 17,18
Ananias was sent for this very purpose to heal him. It was an instantaneous recovery and beyond all question a miracle. When Saul was baptized, he immediately followed the example of many early converts. (Acts 2:41) Saul stayed for some time with the disciples at Damascus, and began at once to declare in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. Those that heard him were amazed that he had been transformed from a persecutor to a believing disciple of Jesus Christ.