Day 40 - Acts 9

Good evening, ladies and gents! Today we'll see that Saul will be knocked down to the ground and that his past leads people to distrust him and his present confidence almost gets him killed, TWICE!

Let's dig in together!


Acts 9 (Read it here)

Saul becomes more aggressive in his pursuit not only to disband the church but he is eager to kill the Lord's followers. (v. 1) He even wanted to ask local priests to assist him in arresting any followers of the Way that attended synagogue. (v. 2)

The Way was simply a nickname of the early church.  Its unclear exactly what the symbolism behind The Way is.  It could possibly refer to Jesus referring to himself as "the way, the truth and the life" in John 14:6 or it could simply refer to the didache (did-da-chee), which are the teachings, that Jesus initially taught and his apostles continued, of the way of God. The Way of God is mentioned in Matthew 22:16, by the "way."

Saul was heading to Damascus as a Pharisee on a mission to end this blasphemous movement.  A bright light from heaven points him out, he and the men traveling with him drop to the ground in submission. They hear the voice of Jesus asking, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?" (vs. 3-4, Paul mentions his companion falling to the ground in Acts 26:13-14) 

Notice how Jesus says that the persecution is directed at him? Contemporary persecution is no different, it still breaks God heart because not only does it rob his created beings of their freedom and/or lives but also the hatred is unmistakably directed to Him, too.  After all, believers are the Body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12) This is one of those things that should break our hearts because it breaks our Father's.  Check out more info about persecuted Christ-followers around the world at www.persecution.com.

Back to Saul.  The men that were with Saul were freaking out because they heard Jesus' voice but saw nothing. (v. 7) When Saul got up off the ground, he was blind. The man who was this ruthless leader on mission was now being led by the hand with the assistance of his followers.  Instant humility. (v. 8) 

He stayed in Damascus for three days and fasted from food and water. (v. 9) No doubt this was in response to learning of how he was going against God. He was in deep prayer and repentance.

Jesus sent a man named Ananias (not the same Ananias that was married to Sapphira, obviously; that dude is dead) to go find Saul and lay hands on him so that he may regain his sight. (vs. 11-12) I'm paraphrasing Ananias here, "Hold up, God! I know who this guy is! He's the one that's been arresting and trying to kill all the believers! And you want me to go to him?! That's ridiculous!"

Jesus lets Ananias know that the game has changed and Saul is now on their side.  Jesus had chosen Saul to be the man to take [God's] message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. Saul will also know what its like to be persecuted; he's about to walk in the believers' shoes. (vs. 15-16)

Ananias did as he was told; completely believing Jesus. Saul's sight was restored and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. (v. 17) Immediately after, he was baptized and had a meal (vs. 18).


Just a few days later, Saul changed his tune in no humble way. He went straight to the synagogues in Damascus and began to recant of his mistake and preach that Jesus is indeed the Son of God! (v. 20)

The chief prosecutor of Christianity has become one of its biggest proponents.

Everybody who heard him preach had the same reaction as Ananias, "Isn't this the same guy who caused such persecution and fear among Jesus' followers? Didn't he come to Damascus to arrest us?" (v. 21)  Even though Saul was saying all the right things, could it be a clever trick?

Saul kept preaching with so much power and authority that he was being targeted for persecution by Jewish religious leaders. (vs. 22-23) When Christ-followers learned of plots to kill Saul, they came to his rescue. In some cases they would notify him of the plots and in others they would help him escape the city unharmed. At least some believers began to trust him. (vs. 24-25)

The chief persecutor has now become the persecuted, just as Jesus said he would.

The believers didn't trust Saul in Jerusalem, though. (v. 26) However, Barnabus (who would become his traveling companion and had been with the church from the very beginning) came to his defense and told the believers about Saul's conversion experience with Jesus on the way to Damascus and how he had been preaching powerfully, too. (v. 27)


Saul began to hang with the apostles and preaching with them but he didn't mesh well with the Greek-speaking Jews (Saul was a Hebrew-speaking Jew, by the way) and we talked about the animosity that had been present there before in Acts 6:1 (apparently it hadn't gone way, either). To protect Saul, he was sent to his hometown to preach (v. 30)

Since Saul had been converted to the faith, the church experienced peace throughout the land. (v. 31)

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Peter is busy, preaching non-stop from town to town until he comes to this place called Lydda. (v. 32) There he heals a man named Aeneas and because of this amazing feat, (Aeneas had been bed-ridden for 8 YEARS!!) the whole population both Lydda and Sharon repented and believed in God! (vs. 33-35)

Before now, Jesus is the only one in the New Testament to have resurrected anyone, but now Peter is given that honor.  There are many similarities between Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (see John 11) and Peter doing the same for Tabitha.  They both are urged to come days after the person had died (Lazarus had been dead for 4 days, Tabitha for 2). Both Lazarus and Tabitha's bodies were prepared to be buried. And, of course, when they both arrived they experienced several mourners.

No doubt Peter was moved with compassion for Tabitha's friends.  Tabitha had spent a lot of time serving others.  Peter, being alone with Tabitha's corpse, prayed and demanded her to, "Get up!" (v. 40) And she did! Just as in Lydda and Sharon, many in Joppa came to know Christ after that day.


Questions

1.) How do you think Saul felt when he discovered that he was, in fact, persecuting Jesus the real Son of God? How do you think that reaction effected his preaching? How would you react if you were in his shoes?

2.) Saul goes from killing Christians to being nearly killed by other religious leaders and even Greek-speaking Christ-followers!!  If you have decided to follow Christ, have you experienced a separation from those you used to hang with?  If so, is your relationship with those people tense? Do you have tense relationships with certain other Christ-followers? If so, explain.

3.) Aeneas and Tabitha both had tragic things happen to them; paralysis and death.  Many would struggle with doubt and curse God, blaming Him for their misfortune. However, both of these tragic events were used by God in order to get many, many people to believe in God's power and goodness.  Have you seen something tragic be used for good by God? If so, what?  Are you willing to go through something bad to be used by God?  Have you been through something tragic that can be used by God? If so, what and how could it be used?