“Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All these who heard him were astonished and asked,”Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on His name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?' Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.” Acts 9:19-22
“When God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, was pleased to unveil his son in me, so that I might announce the good news about him among the nations—immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.
Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas (Peter) and stayed with him fifteen days.” Gal.1: 15-18
The reassuring embrace from brothers like Ananias were few and far between for Saul. As Saul’s message that Jesus is the Messiah grew more powerful, it completely confused the Jews living in Damascus.
We need to go to Galatians to find the details after Saul’s revelation of Jesus Christ on the Damascus road— details that Dr. Luke omits. The account of Saul in Arabia for three years makes sense, before he ever goes back to Jerusalem. Saul had to make sense of the revelation according to the Scripture (the Torah), before he would ever “confer with flesh and blood.”
At the foot of Mt.Sinai in Arabia, we can only guess that Saul reviewed the prophecies of Messiah aided by the Holy Spirit. Saul thought long and hard in his self-imposed exile and saw how it all came together in Jesus. N.T. Wright lends his insight from his book Paul: A Biography :
He thought his way backward from the “new fact” as he saw it, of a crucified and risen Messiah, back into the world of Israel’s scriptures and traditions, back into the long, dark, and often twisted narrative of Israel that had been groping its way forward to that point without glimpsing its true goal. He reread Genesis. He reread ‘Exodus. He reread the whole Torah, and the prophets, especially Isaiah, and he went on praying the Psalms. With hindsight (and, he would have insisted, with a fresh wisdom that came with the Spirit), he saw Jesus all over the place—….as the infinite point where the parallel lines of Israel’s long narrative would eventually meet.”
When Paul returned from his three year hiatus in Arabia, he was more on fire than he had ever been! However, the Jews of Damascus who were once his friends now sought to kill him.
As Abraham Kuyper would say to future generations of Christians: “When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith.”
To escape the murderous plot to kill him, the disciples at night lowered Saul through an opening in the city wall, by a large basket .
From there Saul made his way to Jerusalem .
In Jerusalem it was not much better. The Christian community was afraid of Saul, not believing him to be a disciple. But Barnabas stood up for him and Saul was able to share his testimony with the other apostles. He moved freely about the streets of Jerusalem until he got into a heated discussion with some Hellenistic Jews— old “friends” who now conspired to kill Saul. But when the brethren learned of this new threat, they brought Saul down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus for ten years.
“The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous.” Psalm 146:8
Questions To Think About:
“When God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, was pleased to unveil his son in me, so that I might announce the good news about him among the nations—immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.
Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas (Peter) and stayed with him fifteen days.” Gal.1: 15-18
The reassuring embrace from brothers like Ananias were few and far between for Saul. As Saul’s message that Jesus is the Messiah grew more powerful, it completely confused the Jews living in Damascus.
We need to go to Galatians to find the details after Saul’s revelation of Jesus Christ on the Damascus road— details that Dr. Luke omits. The account of Saul in Arabia for three years makes sense, before he ever goes back to Jerusalem. Saul had to make sense of the revelation according to the Scripture (the Torah), before he would ever “confer with flesh and blood.”
At the foot of Mt.Sinai in Arabia, we can only guess that Saul reviewed the prophecies of Messiah aided by the Holy Spirit. Saul thought long and hard in his self-imposed exile and saw how it all came together in Jesus. N.T. Wright lends his insight from his book Paul: A Biography :
He thought his way backward from the “new fact” as he saw it, of a crucified and risen Messiah, back into the world of Israel’s scriptures and traditions, back into the long, dark, and often twisted narrative of Israel that had been groping its way forward to that point without glimpsing its true goal. He reread Genesis. He reread ‘Exodus. He reread the whole Torah, and the prophets, especially Isaiah, and he went on praying the Psalms. With hindsight (and, he would have insisted, with a fresh wisdom that came with the Spirit), he saw Jesus all over the place—….as the infinite point where the parallel lines of Israel’s long narrative would eventually meet.”
When Paul returned from his three year hiatus in Arabia, he was more on fire than he had ever been! However, the Jews of Damascus who were once his friends now sought to kill him.
As Abraham Kuyper would say to future generations of Christians: “When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith.”
To escape the murderous plot to kill him, the disciples at night lowered Saul through an opening in the city wall, by a large basket .
From there Saul made his way to Jerusalem .
In Jerusalem it was not much better. The Christian community was afraid of Saul, not believing him to be a disciple. But Barnabas stood up for him and Saul was able to share his testimony with the other apostles. He moved freely about the streets of Jerusalem until he got into a heated discussion with some Hellenistic Jews— old “friends” who now conspired to kill Saul. But when the brethren learned of this new threat, they brought Saul down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus for ten years.
“The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous.” Psalm 146:8
Questions To Think About:
- Saul went from a position of high status to being hunted by former friends and feared by new ones. How do you handle the “lonely middle” when you no longer fit into your old world but haven’t yet been fully embraced by the new?
- Saul had to reread the scriptures to see Jesus on every page. Is there a traditional “religious” view you hold that might need to be challenged or expanded by the Holy Spirit?
- Abraham Kuyper suggests that sometimes “peace has become sin” if it means staying silent about your convictions. Where is God calling you to speak up, even if it disrupts your personal comfort or “dearest peace”?
- Barnabas stood up for Saul when everyone else was afraid. Who has been a “Barnabas” for you, and who is your life currently needs you to advocate for them despite their past?
- After Jerusalem, Paul was sent away for another ten years, to Tarsus. How do you maintain the “fire of your faith” when the doors to active ministry or your goals seem temporarily closed?
Posted in Seeing With New Eyes