Paul’s Conversion as a Prophetic Illustration - Part 4

The Special Representative: About the Apostle Paul’s special assignment. Part 4.

The story of Paul’s conversion in Acts 9 also provides a summary of what he stood for in his life as an Apostle.

An Encounter with Jesus

It all began with Paul’s question: “Who art thou, Lord?” (Acts 9:5).

Someone once said, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” That’s exactly the philosophy that Paul made a reality in his life.

Paul had committed a great deal of evil, and it couldn’t be undone; he bore witness to it repeatedly. But he could begin anew and change his ending, and he did so radically.

Every Christian experiences this truth. There is suddenly interest in who Jesus is, who He truly is. And He doesn’t owe us an explanation. I still remember how my first steps toward Jesus, as well as my wife’s, began with similar questions: Who created everything? What awaits us after this life? Is there a judgment? Where is heaven? The answer was, “I am Jesus…” Suddenly, Jesus was standing before the door to my heart. Everyone’s experience with this is different and individual, but Jesus meets everyone personally.

Conversion Is a Calling

Paul’s second question followed directly from his first: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

A conversion is always a calling as well. You can’t separate one from the other. Paul was occupied with the Lord’s will from then on. Everyone who has utterly experienced divine love wants to give himself up to it completely. Not “what I want me to do,” but, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

Consider Jesus Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Not my will, but thine, be done.”

An English tombstone is said to contain the shortest biography: “Yes, Lord!” That’s the appropriate response to conversion: “Yes, Lord! My life is yours, along with everything that I am and possess. I say yes to Your will, and I want to learn to deny myself.”

Blaise Pascal said: “There are only three types of people: those who have found God and serve him; those who have not found God and seek him; and those who live not seeking or finding him. The first are rational and happy; the second unhappy and rational; the third foolish and unhappy.”

I once read the story of a young man who desperately wanted to serve the poor. His pastor asked him when he would make this dream come true, and the young man replied, “As soon as there’s an opportunity.” The pastor replied, “The opportunity is never coming; it’s already there!”

Reinhold Ruthe writes in “Daily Audience with God”: “A Russian legend tells of the Savior of the world having ascended to heaven, surrounded by angels. They point anxiously to the group of Jesus’ disciples down on earth. ‘Lord, what do You intend to do if they fail? If their efforts are in vain? What other plan does Your Father have then?’ Jesus replied: ‘God has no other plan!’”

When the Lord later called Ananias to help Paul, he replied, “Behold, I am here, Lord” (Acts 9:10). Facing the persecutor of Christians was no easy task. Ananias did bring this up, but he overcame in obedience, went out, and found strength and wisdom at the right moment.

Are we truly ready to represent the Lord’s interests? Ready to leave everything else behind, like Paul, and chase after the goal?

Bayless Conley says: “Who will go to them if not you and me? To say, ‘I don’t feel called to go to them,’ is equivalent to a strong swimmer standing on the shore of a lake saying he doesn’t feel called to save the man drowning before his eyes.”

At the beginning of Paul’s spiritual life, there was the question, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” And at the end of his life, he could say with conviction, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7).

Arise, Go, Listen, and Do

Jesus’ first invitation to Paul was: “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:6). The Lord was commanding him to do four things: first, to get up; second, to go; third, to listen; and fourth, to do.

Before Paul was given the enormous commission to become an Apostle, to go throughout the world of nations and write thirteen letters, and before his gospel would have great significance for the Church among the nations, he was ordered to do the obvious. What Paul heard next wasn’t told to him directly by the Lord, but was instead communicated through a person: Ananias.

Are we really ready to get up and go, and then to listen and do? Do we do the most obvious thing first—the thing right in front of us, the thing the Lord uses people to set before us? Maybe it’s service through visiting others; maybe it’s practical help around the fellowship hall; maybe you should speak to a certain person and encourage them, or donate a certain amount to someone.

We have a tendency to aim high, while overlooking the first necessary things the Lord is asking of us.

“Behold, He Prayeth”

Paul prayed (Acts 9:11). When the Lord called Ananias, He said of Paul, “Behold, he prayeth.” The Lord saw that Paul was praying, and from then on, Paul remained a man of prayer. That’s what the Lord wants! Prayer belongs in our lives like oil in an engine: Without it, you’ll soon be stuck.

When we observe Paul’s prayer life, it’s very moving. Someone once aptly said, “Let’s not fool ourselves: Our purity, strength, and holiness will only ever be as strong as our prayer.”

The Relationship between Baptism and Conversion

The passage continues: “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, 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 Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized” (Acts 9:17-18).

Reinhold Ruthe poses the question and then immediately answers it: “When are we revived? When spring drives away winter; when love takes hold of us; when Jesus turns body, soul, and spirit inside out; when His Spirit inspires us.”

The Holy Spirit entered Paul’s life and took over from that moment forward. The order of events is interesting. Until then it had been: repentance, baptism, and then receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 8:12-16). Now the tide had turned. It was different with Paul and those who were converted afterward: He received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and was baptized as a result. The same was later true of Cornelius (10:44-47). And so it has remained through today. Cornelius’ conversion marked the official moment when the nations were added to the Jewish church. It was a mark of change in the course of redemptive history. With the Ephesians, who were disciples of John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit came once more through the laying on of the Apostle’s hands (Acts 19:1-7). But that was one of the Apostolic signs (Heb 2:4).

Acts 22:16 is a parallel passage in which Paul looks back on his own conversion. He remembers how Ananias said to him, “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”

This shows how closely linked baptism and conversion were then. The fact that we separate them today has no biblical basis. One must prove oneself regardless—with or without baptism. But proving oneself as a condition for baptism is inconsistent with biblical testimony. On the contrary: Baptism is part of confessing one’s conversion, and can greatly reinforce the assurance of salvation.

Testifying to Jesus

After Paul’s baptism, Scripture continues: “And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20). His alignment immediately became Christ-centered.

Whoever has seen Jesus and experienced His redemption, will want to proclaim His name. All other names fall to the wayside. Jesus by far surpasses any religion; His is the name above all names. Salvation isn’t found in any religion but in His person.

Paul has the courage to proclaim this name in the middle of the lion’s den: the synagogues. It’s such a wonderful sign of conversion that the Holy Spirit immediately urges us to testify to Jesus.

It’s so pleasant to see young people participating in evangelistic outreach, when church members are committed to evangelism, and when yet others are donating to reach people with the Gospel. We want to take as many people as possible to heaven.

Growing Ever Stronger in the Word

Next, we read of how Paul strengthened himself in the Word “the more” and proved that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 9:22).

Paul had studied the Old Testament Scriptures, and worked out in detail how they point to Jesus. Other rabbis throughout history have unfortunately done it the other way around; namely, by ensuring that texts pointing to the Messiah are not read in the synagogue.

The Holy Spirit also appeals to our minds. We are allowed to use arguments, proofs, and logical conclusions to show that Jesus is the Savior. The Spirit wants to use all of these in His power.

“Increased the more in strength.” For this to happen, it’s necessary for us to spiritually increase, grow, and be strengthened in the Word, for the reason that Paul later also invokes: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the sants, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power” (Eph 1:17-19).

One theologian commented on the Bible in this way: “We’ll find just as much in it as we’re looking for: grand and divine if we’re looking for grand and divine; paltry and historical if we’re searching for paltry and historical; and nothing at all if we’re not looking for anything at all.”

Someone else once said: “It’s all for me! We don’t have to read the Gospel like a notary reads out a will, but like the rightful heir reads it. With every sentence, the heir says to himself, full of joy and jubilation, ‘This is mine, this is all for me.’”

I’d like to add that even the parts not directly related to us (for example, promises made to Israel) belong to us in that we can learn from them; they strengthen our faith, and we better understand the context. We need the Spirit of revelation to help us know Him. Let us strive for this, because it is the only way we will be firmly established. Only then will we know the richness of our inheritance.

Persecution

“And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him” (Acts 9:23). The Lord had announced this suffering to him when he was called: “For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (v. 16).

Both extraordinary grace and extraordinary suffering were part of his spiritual life, and ran parallel to one another. There was, of course, a great deal of success, but it came with a great deal of suffering. What did Paul’s “victory march” with the Gospel of grace, which had been entrusted to him (1 Cor 3:10), look like? From Acts 9 through 2 Timothy 4, a road of pure suffering. If God encouraged him in between with a prophetic word, or through angels or brothers, it was because he was suffering so much: “except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me” (Acts 20:23).

Paul wasn’t promised: “I will be your power, give you extraordinary authority, and everyone will fall at your feet, cheering and marveling at you. I will give you such an abundance of material goods that you’ll never have to work again. I will smooth every path before you. And there will be great revivals wherever you go.” No, instead he was told: “Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me” (Acts 22:18). Suffering, deprivation, sickness, persecution, and tribulation accompanied him all his life. And in the end, he was executed. Regarding the Church, Scripture says: “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Miraculous signs ceased as the Gospel spread from Israel and became firmly established in the Gentile world. Miraculous works took a back seat, and prayer and practical instructions regarding healing came to the forefront. Therefore, we shouldn’t still be invoking the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, which report many miracles. With the end of the Apostles’ time, these miracles largely ceased. Hebrews 2:4 limits miracles to the time of the Apostles. Today, we have prayer. There’s no question that God still performs miracles, but it can’t be compared to that time. Because this reality is ignored, many Christians’ suffering is amplified, because they assume that things should continue just as they did during the days of the Apostles.

Greater Candor

“And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him” (Acts 9:28-29).

Our testimony for Jesus will be tested repeatedly. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit will give us boldness and wisdom; He will grant us an avenue and expand our boundaries. On the other hand, we may also face greater resistance. We need to be aware of this, and must not be surprised when it happens. This is especially true when we recognize, heed, and pass on the importance of the Gospel as it was entrusted to Paul.