Acts 9:1-6
Saul's Persecuting Jesus
1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6"Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
Saul, later to become Paul, was one of the biggest opponents of God...God could have chosen any apostle or believer in Jesus and used them as the vessel to teach the Gentiles...But God chose Paul...This seems to be God's style, to Think and Be as He does...
Paul went to the high priest and wanted the proper legal documentation to go the the synagogues in Damascus and find men and women, who followed and believed in Jesus, so he could legally take them back to Jerusalem and put them in prison...Saul was continuing to make murderous threats against the LORD's disciples...Yet, Paul had not yet met Jesus...Paul and Jesus meet on the road to Damascus...Jesus told Paul, that He was Jesus, and it was Him that He was persecuting...What makes this statement amazing is that Paul, up to this point had not met Jesus, and Jesus told him that he (Paul) was persecuting Him...We read in Acts seven that Saul assisted in the stoning murder of Stephen...By persecuting disciples of Jesus, by persecuting believers of Jesus -Paul was actually persecuting Jesus...
Paul, by being a chief opponent of Jesus, he would know what the Jewish leaders and know how God's primary opponents felt about Jesus...In some unusual way, this would help Paul in different ways...His background would help his ministering to the Gentiles and in understanding those Jewish officials who fought against him in many of his travels...God knew this and was part of His decision to have Jesus convert Paul in becoming His primary proponent...God's style uses those trained and in this case understood how His human opposition thought...
So when we talk about Christians, or talk down those who try to spread the Good News, or think negatively of evangelists, or think negatively of those who go door to door to spread the word, or those who are doing their best to spread His word, we are persecuting Jesus...Paul, no doubt, learned many things when Jesus converted Him on the road to Damascus...First Paul had to realized that Jesus is divine...Second Jesus has to come from God...He can appear anywhere, and anytime in our lives, even on the Damascus road...No doubt, Paul still had some thoughts of the Christian Stephen, whom he assisted in his stoning death...The Holy Spirit was working in Paul, and then Jesus arrives...
The grace of God pardons and forgives Paul...Paul was a Pharisee, who knew the Old Testament Books, probably as well as anyone ever, except his New Teacher, Jesus...God knew this, and would open Paul's eyes and would literally take the scales away so he could see...Paul would suffer through blindness...What a shock that would be for him...Paul was blind, but now he could see the light, and that light is Jesus...