“I Am Jesus”: Introduced on the Damascus Road

“Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?  And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.  But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’” Acts 9:4-6 (ESV).

The eighth “I Am” statement of Jesus is in the account of Saul the Persecutor’s amazing conversion when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus as he was going there with the purpose of persecuting Christians.  It is significant that Paul’s immediate attention on the Damascus Road was gained through a light that flashed from heaven.  He would not have heard Jesus say to His disciples earlier, “I am the light of the world,”  but here, to this enemy of the church and one who was even then on his way to find and perhaps even kill Christians, the light of Jesus shone upon him, getting Saul’s immediate attention.  Paul was very much aware of the light and his response indicated that he knew the light was of heavenly origin:  “Who are you, Lord?”  I think of the prophecy the aged Simeon gave to Mary when she brought Jesus to the Temple for the required Jewish purification service:  “”Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel…a light for the revelation of the Gentiles…” (Luke 2:34, 32).  Next, Saul heard a voice.  It was “the Truth” confronting Saul with the terrible deeds he was doing.  It was time for Saul to stop fighting against the Lord Christ and persecuting those who believed in Him.  “I am Jesus” the voice from heaven declared to Saul.  What an awakening for Saul the persecutor!  The very one whose followers he was trying to kill was in the light and in the voice from heaven.  The name Jesus means “Jehovah is salvation,” and Saul, well-trained in Jewish law and scriptures, would have known the meaning of the name.  He was ready to obey the light and the voice, and was led as a blind man to Damascus where the light would be further revealed to him.  For Paul’s own testimony of what happened to him on the Damascus road and subsequently, read his defense before an angry Jewish mob in Acts 22:3-21, and in Acts 26:2-23, his defense before King Agrippa II and the Roman governor Porcius Festus.  When Jesus confronted Saul of Tarsus, his life was changed completely.  He was accosted as persecutor; he arose, temporarily blinded and having to be led the rest of the way to Damascus.  But once ministered to by Ananias whom the Lord had prepared to be Saul’s helper, Paul was ready to be the “vessel unto the Gentiles” that he became.  He was soon preaching in Damascus, the very place where he had intended to persecute Christians.  Meeting Jesus changed Saul completely.

“What will you do then with Jesus, Who is called the Christ?”  This is the question each person must face.  Our “Damascus Road” experience may not have been as dramatic as that experienced by Saul of Tarsus, but the experience of meeting Jesus comes to each of us.  We either hear and heed His voice, or we turn a deaf ear and reject His invitation to light, life and grace.  It is good for each saved  person to recall the time when he/she met the Lord and responded favorably to His invitation.  Such remembrance wells up as an offering of gratitude that Christ could love each of us enough to ask us to follow Him.  “I am Jesus!”  That knowledge and what we do with it makes all the difference in how we order and conduct our lives.  As Paul stated in Philippians 4:4-7, we too can:  “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.  The Lord is at hand:  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Peter Travels to Lydda and Joppa, Witnessing, Healing, Restoring Life

“Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.  There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years who was paralyzed.  And Peter said to him, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.’ And immediately he rose.  And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.  Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas.  She was full of good works and acts of charity.  In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, ‘Please come to us without delay’  So Peter rose, and went with them…But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body he said, ‘Tabitha, arise.’  And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up…Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.  And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.” –Acts 9:32-39a, 40, 42 (ESV.  Read Acts 9:32-43).

At this point in Dr. Luke’s account of the early church, we see a definite outreach to areas beyond Jerusalem.  The Great Commission of Acts 1:8 is occurring, and in an exciting and Holy Spirit led expansion, even into the Gentile world.  Peter is at the forefront of this bold mission, fulfilling Jesus’s prediction that the apostles would have ‘the keys of the Kingdom.’  Through the power invested in Peter by the Lord Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, Peter was able to heal Aeneas and raise Tabitha (whom we know better by her Greek name Dorcas) from the dead.  And because of hearing about these miracles, many came to know the Lord, receiving salvation for themselves.  Lydda is northwestward from Jerusalem on the main caravan road.  Scholars believe that the preaching of Deacon Philip had already resulted in a Christian church there.  When Peter arrived there he saw Aeneas who had been sick and bedfast for eight years with paralysis.  “Jesus Christ heals you, Aeneas,”  Peter said.  An immediately those ailing joints and limbs of Aeneas began to feel vital life and he got up from his bed which Peter commanded him to make.  The bed was probably the common sleeping mat which could be folded and taken wherever the infirm lay, to beg or be in a public place.  The result of Aeneas’ healing was a general turning to the Lord; the people were seeing a walking miracle and they wanted to encounter the miracle-working Lord for themselves.

While Peter was still at Lydda, two men came to tell him that Dorcas had died in Joppa, a port town westward on the Mediterranean Sea.  The ministering women had already prepared Dorcas’s body for burial, so she had been dead for several hours when Peter arrived.  He asked the “saints and widows” to leave the upper room where Dorcas lay in state awaiting burial.  It was there the women had recounted the good deeds of Dorcas the seamstress, showed garments she had made (probably the ones they wore, and more still in Dorcas’s house).

Peter asked them all to leave the upper room.  Then he knelt down and prayed.  After prayer, Peter said, “Tabitha, arise!”  And immediately she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.  He then took her hand and she got up, alive, well,  and ready to resume her good works in the Lord’s name.  Many have noted that Peter did not touch her until life had coursed through her dead body.  Maybe this was because of the Jewish taboo of not touching the dead.  Or more specifically, it could have meant that Peter wanted people to note that he had no power in his own touch that would restore life.  Tabitha’s resurrection came from Jesus, the Life-Giver.

These two miracles had great impact on the spread of the gospel, with Peter as the instrument through whom the Lord worked.  Healing and restoration of life had come to persons in Lydda and Joppa.  And following, “many believed in the Lord.”  The Way was spreading in Gentile territory!  Jesus was being made known to those outside the usual Jewish race.  They embraced the good news and believed.  And Peter remained there, lodging in the house of Simon, the tanner.   Peter was ridding himself of layers of Jewish restrictions.  A tanner would have, by profession, been “unclean” in the eyes of a pious Jew because his occupation necessitated his handling dead animals.  But with the new-found dimension of faith, these ancient taboos were falling aside and everyone Peter met was important to the Lord.  God help us to learn this lesson!

Ananias Chosen By God to Meet with Saul

“Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias.  The Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’  And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.’  And the Lord said to him, ‘Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” –Acts 9:10-12 (ESV.  Read Acts 9:10-31.)

Saul was dramatically stopped from his persecution of the Christians by meeting the Lord face to face on the road to Damascus.  He was physically blinded, and needed some help.  As he prayed in Damascus, he had a vision that a man named Ananias would be sent to him.  God appeared to that man Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, who was given a special assignment by God to go to the house of Judas where blind Saul was staying and lay hands on him.  Like many of us when we receive special impressions from God to do a specific task, we question and give excuses, as did Ananias. “I’ve heard how he has done much evil to the saints at Jerusalem,” Ananias said, “and he has come with authority from the chief priests to take prisoners those who believe here.”  How could Ananias put himself in jeopardy and go to this Saul?  But God was persistent in Ananias’ call:  “”Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel (9:15). Ananias was obedient to God’s direction.  He found Saul, laid his hands on him, and immediately Saul’s sight was restored.  The power came not from Ananias to restore Saul’s sight.  It was God’s doing.  But Ananias, the obedient servant of God, was the person through whom the miracle God had in mind was manifested.  After Paul ate—for he had not had food for three days—he was baptized, thus publicly declaring his affiliation with those of the Way who had faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.  Luke does not tell us who administered baptism to Saul. I like to think that it might have been Ananias, but we do not know this from scripture.  Ananias accepted Saul as a brother, calling him by that beloved title when he met him in the house of Judas on Straight Street in Damascus.

Paul gives us an account of his conversion in Galatians 1:15-24.  The accounts in Acts 9 and that in Galatians 1 reveal this chronology:  (1)  He is converted on the road to Damascus. (2)  He preaches in the synagogue there.  (3)  He goes to Arabia.  (4)  He returns to Damascus and preaches for three years (Gal. 1:18).  (5)  Jews plotted to kill Saul, and disciples help him escape by night by lowering him in a basket over the city wall.  (6)  He goes to Jerusalem but the disciples would not accept him.  Barnabas testifies to Saul’s genuine conversion.  (7)  He preaches in Jerusalem.  (8)  Soon in particular the Hellenists (Greek speaking Jews) in Jerusalem sought to kill Saul. This was the group that had brought Stephen to trial and death by stoning.  The very Saul who had consented to Stephen’s death was now preaching about Christ, and these Jews were angry. (9)  The brethren helped him go to Caesarea and then to his hometown of Tarsus.  (10) Luke gives another summary in 9:31 by stating that the church in all Judea, Galilee and Samaria was built up, multiplied and had the comfort of the Holy Spirit upon it.

Paul could have started his preaching where he was not known as a persecutor of the Christians. But he wanted the Jews to know he was a changed man through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Ananias had his special assignment from God to facilitate Paul to begin his ministry.  Ananias was the first of the disciples to show a love for the former persecutor.  God works in His own way to bring people together for His purposes.  This lesson poses the question:  How can we be encouragers of God’s ministers as was Ananias in Damascus and Barnabas in Jerusalem?     

Saul’s Conversion on the Road to Damascus

“But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.  Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’  And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?  And he said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.  The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.  Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.  So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.  And for three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.” –Acts 9:1-9 (ESV).

The persecutor of the church was stopped in his tracks on the way to Damascus, meeting the Lord Jesus in a dramatic way in a blinding light and a voice from heaven asking, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (v. 4).  Much has been written about Saul’s conversion and why it came in such an unusual way.  Dr. Warren Wiersbe notes that the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, the leading persecutor of the Christians, was one of the greatest events in church history after the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost.  Others have noted that Saul’s persecution of the Christians was so heinous, God had to bring him down in a notable way.  His conversion is recorded here in the ninth chapter of Acts and again in Paul’s testimony before a Jewish mob (see Acts 22:3-11) and in his own defense before King Agrippa (see Acts 26:2-18).  On the road to Damascus Saul’s purpose was changed and, most importantly, he was changed and his life was changed.  From a zealous persecutor of the Christians, the Lord changed him immediately to one who was humbled in the presence of the Lord and recognized Him as Jesus Christ, Saviour.  The blinding was both real and symbolic.  Saul was a learned man, well-versed in the tradition of the Jews and in the law and the prophets.  Yet he was blind in purpose as he zealously consented to the death of Stephen and determined to bring those of the Way—the Christians—down.  So blind was Saul before his conversion to the will and purpose of Almighty God that his blinding on the road to Damascus became a symbol of the great change wrought in his life.  It did not take three days for Saul to be converted.  He instantaneously recognized Jesus when He appeared to him:  “Who are you, Lord?”  The three days of Paul’s physical blindness and fasting represent his complete change from his old life of stubbornness, rebellion and zealous persecution of the Christians to the new life in Christ and a new purpose. Some relate it to Christ’s three days in the grave.  Later Saul, whose name was changed to Paul, wrote in Philippians 3:12 that Christ “apprehended him” on the Damascus Road.  If “the chief of sinners” could be saved, he reasoned, than the grace of God can save anyone!

The men with Saul saw the light but they did not hear the voice nor see the Lord.  The message was for Saul, and he responded.  They led the blinded Saul into Damascus and found him a place to lodge.

He fasted and prayed for three days.  God was preparing him for an anointing through Ananias, the Lord’s servant.  Luke does not tell us the thoughts that might have gone through Saul’s mind during this three-day blindness, but we can imagine that he had time to repent of his atrocities against the Christians and to repent of  his past actions.  He no doubt considered what Jesus whom he was now acknowledging as the Messiah, the Lord and Savior, had in mind for him in the future.  He had faithfully practiced the Mosaic religion all of his life, “a Pharisee of the Pharisees,”  devout and zealous to a fault.  Now by the grace of God he was saved and ready to go in ‘the Way’ through faith in the living Christ whom He had met in person.  “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see!”  Isaac Watts’ words in “Amazing Grace” certainly describe Saul’s change.