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ACTS - In the Triumphal Procession of Christ
Studies in the Acts of the Apostles
PART 2 - Reports About Preaching Among the Gentiles and the Foundation of Churches From Antioch to Rome - Through the Ministry of Paul the Apostle, Commissioned by the Holy Spirit (Acts 13 - 28)
E - Paul's Imprisonment in Jerusalem and in Caesarea (Acts 21:15 - 26:32)

4. Paul’s defense before his countrymen (Acts 22:1-29)


ACTS 22:9-16
9 Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they didn’t understand the voice of him who spoke to me. 10 I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Arise, and go into Damascus. There you will be told about all things which are appointed for you to do.’ 11 When I couldn’t see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus. 12 One Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus, 13 came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ In that very hour I looked up at him. 14 He said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth. 15 For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

When they arrived before the doors of Damascus Saul’s companions saw the beautiful glory of Christ, whose light was above the brightness of the sun. But they neither recognized the living, resurrected One, nor heard his voice. Likewise, it is probable that at the resurrection of the dead only chosen believers will truly see Christ and understand His voice. They alone recognize the Spirit of His love. His life is firm in them. Unbelievers and hypocrites will despair of His judging glory. They will only hear his voice in the thunder of the judgment.

When Christ appeared to Paul he immediately abandoned his own supposed righteousness, based on the works of the law, and trusted in the Lord Christ and in His grace. This Lord sent him to Damascus, to examine his faith. There he was to hear the fundamental will of God, and know the peculiar favor that the Lord Jesus had designed for him. Paul, the justified criminal, was about to be commissioned for holy service to the Gentiles.

Christ chose a simple brother out of the church to break the pride of this educated legal expert. Ananias was a believer of Jewish origin, and a member of God’s family through his faith in Christ. He came in the name of his Lord to Paul, and mediated for him to receive back his sight. Suddenly the blind Saul could see. The glory of Christ had blinded him, but the Holy Spirit broke through his profound darkness to bring him to repentance and faith. He regained his sight through Ananias’ laying hands on him, and was filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul´s eyes were opened and immediately he saw a brother in Christ, through whom he came to know the church of God, in which His Spirit dwells. This is the mystery of our own age, the age of the church.

Christ, however, did not open our spiritual eyes for our own enjoyment, but that we might recognize the will of God, and be converted according to His working in us. Paul heard from Ananias that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had chosen him, the murderous lawyer, to recognize the heart of His will anew and reveal it to the world. What is the original will of God? It is only our recognition of Jesus as the Just and Holy One, born of the Holy Spirit, and our belief that in Him was the embodiment of our God. Have your eyes been opened? Have you recognized in the person of Jesus the divine kindness, and His gentle love, His patience in bearing the cross, and His glory at present? Study the life of Jesus, so that you may know Him and hear His voice. Our Lord is not dead, but alive. He lives, speaks, comforts and commands. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Listen to the Savior’s voice, so that He may confirm you in His covenant and in His fellowship. In so doing you will become a saint according to His image, a humble witness to the will of God.

For you, Jesus, the Nazarene, is not an ordinary man, but a mighty Lord, whom you met in the Gospel. You see the splendor of His character, you know Him by the certainty of the Holy Spirit, His daily guidance you obey. Be aware that you are chosen by your Lord to be a witness to Him, to declare to all men who He is, what He did, and how He saves people today. This is the essential will of God: to proclaim the Lord Jesus through our testimony to all men.

Ananias did not give Paul time to philosophize, but immediately explained to him the principle will of God, and put the testimony of grace into his mouth. This divine work demands action, and not imagination. Yet there was still spiritual hindrance in Paul’s life, namely, his sins, which were many because of his fanatic ignorance, his enmity to God, and his killing of innocent people. But Jesus wiped out all those sins on the cross. Be sure, dear brother, that the blood of Christ washed away all his sin completely. Before his birth Paul was justified by grace. He had to accept this truth, however, believe in this freely offered justification, and give witness to this decision through baptism. The educated legal expert had to die to himself through the symbol of baptism. He had to confess his need of complete purification by seeking salvation in Christ alone, and abandoning himself to him unconditionally.

Dear brother, have you been baptized? Have you left your old life to enter determinedly and firmly into the expanses of Christ? You are righteous because of the cross. Believe in your salvation, which was finished and perfected in Christ. Accept the meaning of your baptism. You are accepted by the Holy God by means of Christ’s death and intercession. Pray to your Lord today that you may live forever through Him.

PRAYER: O Lord Jesus Christ, I thank You that You wiped out my sins completely. I confess before You my faults and wrongdoings, and ask You not to cast me away from Your presence. Reveal Your image before my eyes, that I may be regenerated and admitted into Your communion through the symbol of my baptism.

QUESTION:

  1. What is the essence of the will of God?

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