And it came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus.
The conversion of Saul
I.Saul’s misdirected energy. The immense energy of the man is apparent to us at once.
1. Energy is a splendid trait in any man’s character. It is great, and we love what is great. It is a grand thing to look upon the mighty sea, when the waves rise mountains high, and the great ocean breast is stirred with the wild commotion of the storm. There seems to be such Divine energy in it, and our hearts are filled with wonder and with awe as we gaze upon it. It makes us think of God. And it is a grand thing to see in a fellow man something of this great force of doing; a great soul full of active energy. We watch such a man battling his way through the host of opposing forces, overcoming every obstacle, trampling down every difficulty, until he reaches the point towards which he was striving. “There is energy,” we say; and we admire it from our hearts. We can never admire a man who altogether lacks this force of character; who is idle and listless; who never seems to have a definite object in view; who is never struggling for anything.
2. A distinction must be drawn between lovable energy and unlovable noise and show. Intense energy is often intensely quiet.
3. And so, although it is a splendid thing to have energy of character, it is withal a very dangerous thing.
4. See the unutterable importance for energetic souls of wise and holy guidance during their early years.
5. Think, too, how sad must be the closing days of a man of strong character who has never yielded himself to God.
II. God’s method of converting Saul’s misdirected energy. He was converted by--
1. A vision of Jesus (1Co_15:8).
2. Hearing the voice of Jesus.
III. The energetic soul’s inquiry after his conversion--“What shall I do, Lord?” (J. Kirk Pike.)
The conversion of Paul: its genuineness
How orderly and exactly does Paul after so many years know how to relate all the circumstances! This is a proof not only that all things occurred when he was in the full possession of his faculties, but also that the grace which befel him made an indelible impression upon him. Certainly he who is snatched from death to life will never forget what the Lord has done. (Apostolic Pastor.)
Suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.--
The heavenly light at Damascus
Thebright light it casts upon the paths of our life. It illuminates--
1. The dark ways of sin which we have traversed.
2. The blessed ways of grace by which the Lord has come to us.
3. The Christian ways of duty in which we are to walk in the strength of the Lord. (K. Gerok.)
Paul’s vision near Damascus:--
I. The material and external.
1. The great light.
2. The appearance of Jesus Christ.
3. The voice that spoke.
II. The internal and spiritual.
1. The cardinal truth announced--“I am Jesus Christ,” etc. The solemn remonstrance--“Why persecutest thou Me?” Paul had certain qualifications to be an excellent persecutor.
(1) Personal respectability.
(2) Learning and youth.
(3) Religious zeal.
III. The appointment to a grand commission. To be--
1. An apostle.
2. A teacher. (Caleb Morris.)
And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?--
Saul’s conversion
Note--
I. That man is the object of Divine inspection. Though Christ was now in heaven, yet His eye followed Saul. Little did Saul know that He whose name he endeavoured to blot from the earth not only marked his every footstep, but saw his every passing thought and feeling. That God knows all about man individually is obvious--
1. From His omniscience. He who sees all things, see each thing--the minute as well as the vast.
2. From history. Hagar in the wilderness, Jacob at Bethel, Elijah in the cave, and now Saul on his way to Damascus.
3. From the teachings of the Bible (Psa_139:1-24; Pro_15:3; Heb_4:13). This solemn fact should make us serious, circumspect, devout.
II. That Christ is the originator of moral reformation. What now gave the turning point to Paul’s life? The manifestation of Christ in the “light,” the “voice,” the address. Conversion does not originate with self; nor with the agency of man outside, but always with Christ. It is a resurrection. Who can raise the dead but He? It is a creation. Who can create but He? This fact agrees--
1. With the consciousness of the good. The good everywhere ascribe their goodness to Him. This is the burden of heaven’s anthem.
2. With the teachings of Scripture. “Of His own will begat He us,” etc. “When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me,” etc.
III. That humility is the condition of heavenly communion. Saul heard the voice of Jesus when he had fallen to the ground. Humility implies a deep sense of need, and without that the soul will never open its eye or ear to the Divine. We must take off the shoes from our feet, like Moses--fall to the dust, like Isaiah--smite our breast, like the publican, if we would hear what God has to say. “Unto that man will I look who is of a broken spirit,” etc.
IV. That union with Christ is the privilege of the good. “Why persecutest thou Me?” So dear are His disciples to His heart, that their sufferings are His. He bears their infirmities, and carries their sorrows, even in heaven. They are “members of His body,” and no part can be wounded without quivering to the sensorium (Mat_25:40; Mat_25:45). (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The conversion of Paul,
as reflecting the image of every converted heart.
I. The zeal and striving of the natural heart and the Lord’s voice. “Why persecutest thou Me?”
II. The question of the obstinate heart. “Who art Thou, Lord?” and the Lord’s answer, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”
III. The question of the humbled heart. “What shall I do, Lord?” and the Lord’s reply, “Arise,” etc. (Gerlach.)
Conversion
is like, entirely and wholly refitting an old ship, and employing it in the service of a new and better master. By nature, a man is full of vanity, sailing under the colours of the world. Now, when Christ meets a man, and apprehends him in conversion, He takes him off all the ends he had in himself, takes possession of the ship, puts in a new pilot, a new compass, and turns its prow another way; and all the lading the ship contains which He dislikes, He throws overboard, and fills it with a better cargo. (G. S. Bowes, B. A.)
The matchless work of God in conversion
None of the fanciful transformations of which Ovid sang of old could ever rival the matchless work of God when He displays His power upon the human mind. Oh, what a difference between a sinner and a saint! between “dead in trespasses and sins,” and quickened by Divine grace! If God should speak to Niagara, and bid its floods in their tremendous leap suddenly stand still, that were a trifling demonstration of power compared with the staying of a desperate human will. If He should suddenly speak to the broad Atlantic, and bid it be wrapped in flames, we should not even then see such a manifestation of His greatness as when He commands the human heart, and makes it submissive to His love. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Conversion, a total change
Conversion is no repairing of the old building; but it takes all down, and erects a new structure. It is not the putting in a patch, or sewing on a list of holiness; but, with the true convert, holiness is woven into all his powers, principles, and practice. The sincere Christian is quite a new fabric--from the foundation to the top stone all new. He is a new man, a new creature. All things are becoming new. Conversion is a deep work, a heart work; it turns all upside down, and makes a man be in a new world. It goes throughout with men--throughout the mind, throughout the members, throughout the motions of the whole life. (R. Alleine.)
The method of conversion
When grace subdues a rebel man, if I may so speak, the citadel first is taken, afterwards the city. It is not as in those great sieges which we have lately watched with such anxious interest. There, approaching with his brigades and cavalry and artillery, man sits down outside the city. He begins the attack from a distance, creeping like a lion to the spring, with trench and parallel and battery, nearer and nearer to the walls. These at length are breached; the gates are blown open; through the deadly gap the red, living tide rolls in. Fighting from bastion to bastion, from street to street, they pass onward to the citadel; and there, giving no quarter, and receiving none, beneath a defiant flag, the rebels, perhaps, stand by their guns, prolonging a desperate resistance. But, when the appointed hour of conversion comes, Christ descends by His spirit into the heart--at once into the heart. The heart won, she fights her way outward from a new heart on to new habits. A change without succeeds the change within. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Christ and Saul
I.Heaven and earth are here united in the person of Christ. The Saviour here identifies Himself with the world which He had left, calling Himself by His human name, and associating with it the Galilean village where He lived. The name which was His reproach here has gone with Him to His heavenly throne.
II. Jesus of Nazareth is Lord of heaven. Saul gave Him this title, and He accepts it as His right. Two things especially engendered the conviction that He was Lord while on earth: His miracles (Joh_9:36) and His teaching, both from its matter (Joh_6:38) and manner (Mat_7:29). The miraculous light which shone forth upon Saul, with the rebuke of authority which accompanied it, convinced him of the dignity of the Person who addressed him.
III. Because the Lord of heaven is Jesus of Nazareth, He has a special sympathy with His people’s wrongs. The sympathy of Jesus arises not merely from His having while on earth passed through human suffering: His vital connection with His Church as its Head (Eph_5:23) makes Him now a sharer in their sufferings for Him. Lessons:
1. The powerlessness of death to destroy conscious identity. Christ has passed through death, yet is still “Jesus of Nazareth.”
2. The place where we have honestly toiled in this world will be remembered by us in the next. The carpenter’s shop at Nazareth was as much a part of the Saviour’s education (Heb_5:8) as His after experience. So is the scene of our lowliest work.
3. It is dangerous to harm a Christian, seeing his intimate relation with the Lord of glory.
4. The gentleness of the Saviour’s reproof of this bitter persecutor may encourage any who mourn over their past opposition. (W. Harris.)
I am Jesus of Nazareth.--
Jesus of Nazareth
This is the name by which our ascended Saviour would be remembered. It contains the gospel of condescension. Nazareth was our Lord’s early home, and remained His common abode until His personal ministry began. He might well say to startled Saul, “I am Jesus of Nazareth,” for with no other point on earth had He so close and continued associations. Twenty-one times was He styled Jesus of Nazareth--by His enemies in the garden, and in the Judgment Hall; by the people generally; by His disciples, both during His lifetime and after; by the angels at the sepulchre; by devils; yea, by Himself. We shall find in His name--
I. Precious doctrine.
1. The identity of Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth in heaven was unchanged from what He was below. But when you add to this the ability which He claimed on high to dispense the blessings received of the Father, how does the assurance of His sameness bridge the distance between earth and heaven!
2. The influence of His Nazareth experience upon His present condition. All the things through which He passed have made Him in the skies far different from that before His birth in Bethlehem. Before He was with God, then He was Emmanuel, God with us. Now is He with God and God with us; bringing God near unto each disciple, and bringing every disciple near to God. He had the crowns of creation, of providence, of kingly control, before He wore the crown of thorns; but in the redemption of man Jesus holds the sovereignty. The centre of all worship is a Nazarene, who has been exalted by the Father because of His Nazareth experience.
3. The basis of His work on high is His Nazareth experience. Whilst resting in triumph, He does not forget Nazareth. The least and the lowest are as much His care as the proudest and the most princely. An identity of experience has given a new, deep meaning to the word “sympathy.” But more, His qualifications, His plea in intercession, is in Nazareth. Our Advocate with the Father: “Jesus Christ the righteous,” and His righteousness was wrought out in the Nazareth life. Even so His kingly, His prophetical, His sustaining, His comforting offices are based upon this one experience which He sums up in the word “Nazareth.” Nazareth has long since become a ruin, but it is remembered in heaven.
II. Personal instruction. Doctrine is worthless unless it comes down to life. It is bread; let the poor man eat it. Stop talking about its chemistry. It is a house; the storm overtakes one while the admiring critic is telling about its architecture. Open the door and let the man in to the well-spread table. The true theologian is the living Christian. Here we have--
1. A warning to persecutors. “I am Jesus of Nazareth.” The wisdom and the hatred of men are this day in league against the Nazarene. An exalted Saviour, Himself maintaining a plea for men, is that which proud unbelief cannot endure. But let such listen. God hath thus exalted Him, and those who oppose Him will find it hard, as Saul did, “to kick against the pricks.” It will be hard in thy conscience; it will be hard, growingly hard, in thy experience; it will be harder for thee by and by.
2. Great comfort in perplexity. It is a perfect key to every lock of the Dungeon of Despair. It makes a full provision for every anxiety of the Christian. Art thou ignorant?--Jesus of Nazareth is thy Teacher. Art thou weak?--He is thy Strength. Art thou fearful?--He is thy Power. Art thou tempted?--He is thy Defender. Has the hour of death come?--now thou enterest into life. Tell me some want of the soul for which this Nazarene Jesus does not present Himself as a specific!
3. Assurance of our partnership in His triumph. The Head carries with Him the members. Where our Forerunner has entered, there shall everyone who trusts Him and loves Him at last appear. (S. H. Tyng, D. D. , jun.)
A significant voice from heaven
Christ was in heaven when He spoke those words, and they were addressed to Saul on his way to Damascus. Nazareth was the early home of Jesus. Though not born there, yet there He was brought up.
I. That a change of worlds does not destroy the personal identity of man. Christ had died, ascended to heaven, and yet He says, “I am Jesus of Nazareth”; I am the same Being that was brought up in Nazareth. Sublimely encouraging to us is it that Jesus, who was here on earth, so full of tenderness and love, is the same Jesus now in heaven. Nor does the change of worlds destroy the identity of men. Abraham is the same as when he dwelt in the tents of Mature. A man once, a man forever. Conscious personality will always be preserved. The words suggest--
II. That great natures are never ashamed of their origin, however humble. “Jesus of Nazareth!” “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Christ, though amidst the highest aristocracy of the Creator, was not ashamed of His origin.
III. That the meanest spots on earth, when they become the scenes of holy lives, are famous in the universe. “I am Jesus of Nazareth.” No doubt sainted men talk of the varied scenes of their earthly life in the upper spheres of being. (Homilist.)
And they that were with me saw indeed the light … but they heard not the voice (Text in conjunction with Act_9:7).
The sights and sounds of life
The little discrepancy between the occurrence as given by Luke in chap. 9, and as stated by the apostle here, instead of invalidating, confirms the authenticity of the accounts. Identity of statement by two different individuals, after an interval of about twenty-five years, might justly awaken serious suspicion of collusion. You have here two things--
1. A voice heard by all, but understood only by Paul. The voice vibrated on the ears of his companions, and so shocked their nervous system that they fell “speechless”; but it conveyed no idea. Whereas it conveyed a wonderful message deep into Paul’s soul.
2. A light seen by all, but revealing nothing except to Paul. It was mere dazzling brightness. But in that radiance “The Lord, even Jesus, appeared unto” Paul. Now, this extraordinary circumstance indicates what is common in human life. Everywhere there are men, hearing the same voice, but receiving different impressions; seeing the same lights, but observing different objects. A “voice” fraught with deep meaning to some, is mere empty sound to others. A “light” revealing the grandest realities to some, discloses nothing to others.
I. Men’s lives in relation to material nature shows this.
1. The “lights” of nature, to the thoughtless, reveal just what they reveal to the brute, and nothing more. To the superstitious they reveal hosts of unearthly existences, dreaded as demons or worshipped as gods; to the sceptical philosopher nothing but a system of forces, working by its own inherent impulse; to the Christian, a wise and loving Father.
2. The “voices” of nature convey to some nothing but mere sensation, to others superstitious awe, to others scientific intelligence, to others thoughts from God Himself.
II. Men’s lives in relation to human history show this. To some history--
1. Is without any governing law at all. Its social, mercantile, political movements are ascribed only to blind impulse and capricious passions. There is no law seen shaping or systematising the whole.
2. Has only the governing law of human might, viz., that the strong preys upon the weak. The progress and decline of commerce, the rise and fall of empires, the fate of many battles, are all ascribable to superior strength.
3. Is governed exclusively by evil. The devil is absolutely the god of the human world. He is in the schemes of the trader, the thunders of the orator, the edicts of the despot, the craft of the priest, the rage of the warrior.
4. Is governed by the mediatorial plan of God. The restorative purpose of Heaven, as revealed in the Bible, is seen running through the ages, stimulating, shaping, and subordinating all things. Even the bitterest sufferings of humanity are regarded as parturition throes giving birth to a higher order of things.
III. Men’s lives in relation to the inspired oracle show this. Ecclesiastical history, theological polemics, religious life, are fraught with illustrations. The sceptic and the believer, the Papist and the Protestant, the Calvinist and the Pelagian, the Socinian and the Trinitarian, the Churchman and the Nonconformist, are examples as to how the same “light” and “voice” of the one Book affect different men. What is the articulate voice of God to one is mere hollow sound to another. And what is “a light” to one is either darkness or stupefying brightness to another.
IV. Men’s lives in relation to the gospel ministry show this. The sermon which, as a Divine “voice,” speaks to the conscience of some, has no meaning to others; or which, as Divine “light,” flashes moral conviction and reveals Christ to some, is either not seen at all, or regarded as a mere glare of human genius or blaze of human enthusiasm. Conclusion: This subject--
1. Reveals a distinguishing attribute of human nature. Men have the power of hearing and seeing with the soul, which brutes have not. Ezekiel, Isaiah, John, Milton, etc., show what men can see with the organs of the soul. “The pure in heart shall see God.”
2. Explains the great difference between spiritually and carnally-minded men.
3. Presents an object after which all should strive. Each should get the eyes and ears of the soul quickened so as to see and hear the Divine everywhere. When the servant of Elisha had his eye and ear open, he saw and heard the supernatural. So it will be with us. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
