Acts 9:1-31: The Damascus Road Experience

Acts 8:1-3 introduced us to Saul of Tarsus, a radical Pharisee, who was bent on destroying “The Way”. His job was to catch all the followers of Jesus who were fleeing Jerusalem and Judea. When Stephen was stoned, they laid their coats at the feet of Saul. Notice that Saul was not heeding the advice of Gamaliel in Acts 5:34ff, but choosing the more radical approach. He would be just as radical a follower of Jesus Christ after his conversion. Paul describes his attitude in Acts 26:10-11 (from The Message),

“I admit that I didn’t always hold to this position. For a time I thought it was my duty to oppose this Jesus of Nazareth with all my might. Backed with the full authority of the high priests, I threw these believers – I had no idea they were God’s people! – into the Jerusalem jail right and left, and whenever it came to a vote, I voted for their execution. I stormed through their meeting places, bullying them into cursing Jesus, a one-man terror obsessed with obliterating these people. And then I started on the towns outside Jerusalem.”

At the edge of Damascus, he has his stunning and blinding experience of the risen Christ. Alright, now I’m jealous. Who wouldn’t be a believer if you had that kind of experience?! There is very little doubt that Saul had a dramatic encounter with Christ. But very few have something like this. I had a friend in high school who used to make up experiences of Christ so that he could tell of a more dramatic experience than others. Each of us has his or her own experience of Christ and from it we have a very important story to tell. Most people’s stories of faith are not with blinding lights or audible voices or life-saving rescues. We must allow the Holy Spirit to draw people by a variety of means, because the variety communicates to a wide variety of people. The conversion of Saul is not a pattern for encountering Christ. It is an illustration of the power of God and what it can do. Your story of faith is the same.

How would you have liked to have been Annanias? I love the argument he has with God. Yet he not only cares for Saul in his blinded condition, he also prays with him to receive the Holy Spirit. Saul received his sight and was baptized. Notice in vss. 15-16 that Saul’s future service is described in terms of his impact and his suffering. Obviously, it would have been Annanias who introduced Saul to the believers in Damascus. Notice how the Holy Spirit is working in Acts through high-profile and low-profile people. What can happen in us when we are yielded Spirit-filled followers of Jesus Christ?

Saul, after his conversion, becomes a target of those who were his friends. He is sneaked out of Damascus in a basket by his new friends in “the Way.” But his welcome in Jerusalem is not warm at all. It would take a certain leader in the church to convince the leaders that Saul was trustworthy. His name? Barnabas. Soon they would become partners in ministry together. Verse 31 gives another progress report:

“The the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”