The outbreak of revival in Samaria was only one of the positive results that severe persecution brought to the Early Church. Saul, the young Pharisee who had held the stone thrower’s clothes at the death of Stephen, had become the most zealous leader of the persecution. To avoid being thrown in jail, beaten, and even killed the Early Church families fled Jerusalem in masse and dispersed throughout the regions of Samaria, Galilee, and outlying areas of Judea.

Realizing that the Christians were “getting away,” Saul went to the High Priest and asked permission to travel to the city of Damascus and arrest these Spirit filled believers and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial and punishment. He received permission and immediately set out for Damascus, a popular trade city approximately 60 mile northeast of Galilee. Saul was from Tarsus which was the capital city of Cilicia in Asia Minor and was quite a distance from Judea. Saul did not hesitate to pursue the Christians such a distance because he was well used to traveling such distances. After his conversion, God would use this familiarity with travel for His purpose. That Saul was traveling to Damascus to arrest Christians also shows to what extent the Early Church had scattered.

As Saul neared Damascus, a bright light shone around him, and as he fell to the earth, a voice called out to him from heaven. Notice that Saul was actually persecuting the disciples of Christ and not actually God Himself, but Jesus equated hurting His followers as hurting Him! We should be careful not to offend or hurt our brother and sisters in the Lord because God considers us to be hurting Him when doing so!

Hearing the voice from heaven, Saul asked God, “who art thou, Lord?” The answer was “I am Jesus.” Can there be any doubt that Jesus Christ is God?! To “kick against the pricks” was a Greek idiom which referred to a sharp pointed stick like object used to steer oxen while plowing. When an ox would rebel against the reins, and try to go a different direction, he would injure himself on the point of the “prick.” The harder the ox rebelled, the more self damage that he suffered. That God chose to use this analogy to speak to Saul is definite proof that Jesus had been dealing with Saul long before this incidence on the road to Damascus. We also have scriptural proof of this. Remember that Saul’s teacher Gamaliel had been the man who had argued against killing the disciples in case what they were teaching was truth. No doubt these misgivings had been passed on to his student, Saul. Also, Saul who had been present at the stoning of Stephen had heard Stephen’s claim of seeing Jesus ready to receive his spirit and had probably heard Stephen’s sermon. In Romans, we find that Saul (who would change his name to Paul) wanted to come to Rome partly to see his relatives who had served God before he had (Romans 16:7)! These relatives, named Adronicus and Junia, no doubt were trying to convert Saul while he was yet persecuting the church. For those Christians who have family who refuses to listen to the truth: keep witnessing, no matter how tough the circumstances, for God may have great plans for your relatives!

Saul, trembling at this experience, asked Jesus what he should do. In a moment Saul had realized his error in persecuting the church and was not doubt trembling in fear of the retribution that was going to come for it. To his amazement, Jesus told Saul to continue into the city of Damascus and then he would be given direction. The men who had come with Saul were speechless as they had heard a voice from heaven but could not see the speaker. It is interesting to note from Saul’s later comments in a letter to the church in Corinth, that Saul obviously actually saw Jesus at this time, even though it is not expressed here (I Corinthians 15:8).

Saul got up from the ground and discovered that he was blind! The blindness upset Saul so much that he fasted for three days as he was led into Damascus. The Pharisees considered any form of physical handicap as a sign of sin, so Jesus struck Saul blind to prove to him that he was a sinner (John 9:2). The pious Pharisees also considered their way of life as being the “illuminated” way to live, and could not stand for Jesus Christ to teach that He was the light of the world. Jesus was proving to this one Pharisee at least, that He was indeed the source of light and needed even by the most “religious.”

We know from Acts 22:12 that Ananias was a “devout man” and was of “good report” to all of the Jews in Damascus. Ananias was going about his daily routine when God interrupted him by calling to him! If this was not shocking enough, God then proceeded to give him specific directions to find Saul of Tarsus who was praying, and had already received a vision of Ananias coming to him and healing him!

Ordinarily, Ananias would have immediately obeyed God’s directions, but apparently word of the purpose of Saul’s coming had already reached Damascus. This shows us without a doubt the tremendous miracle of Saul’s conversion, for God took the most zealous enemy and made him the most zealous preacher!

God stated that Saul was a chosen vessel and then revealed His plan for Saul: to take the name of Jesus to the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. Saul definitely fulfilled his mission in life. When times got rough over Saul (Paul)’s ministry and he suffered persecution, no doubt he remembered that he had been the one dishing it out! God definitely has the final say in our lives!

Notice that Ananias called Saul, “Brother!” What faith to walk into the house with the most zealous persecutor of Christianity and call him a brother! Also notice the wording in verse 17 when Ananias said “the Lord, even Jesus.” The word “even” is not in the original Greek text and was errantly added by the translators. The New King James Version corrects this mistake and it reads “the Lord Jesus.” Ananias was not concerned with just the physical healing of Paul’s eyes, but also told him that he needed to be “filled with the Holy Ghost.” The cataracts or damage that had been done to Paul’s eyes fell off and his sight was completely restored. Saul, also arose and was baptized. We know that Saul did receive the Holy Ghost from his later writings. We also know that Saul was baptized in water, so the “baptism” here refers to both the baptism of the Spirit and the baptism of the Water. Paul later preached about his conversion and gave more details of his baptism and what Ananias commanded him to do:

Saul was baptized in water in the name of Jesus! Once again we see that the followers of Jesus only baptize “in the name of Jesus!”

After receiving the Holy Spirit, being baptized in the name of Jesus, and having his physical sight restored, Saul was ready to eat! Saul then stayed a while with the disciples in Damascus. Even though Saul was a Pharisee and had thoroughly studied the scriptures under the best teachers all of his life, he still needed to be taught by the Christians at Damascus! What a difference the Holy Spirit makes! A person can have every theological degree and be very intellectual and knowledgeable when it comes to scriptures but without the light of the Holy Spirit living inside of them, they tend to miss the point. Saul himself later wrote to the church in Corinth and explained the difference having the Spirit of God inside makes:

God has many great things in store for the believer, but they are revealed to us by His Spirit! The deep things of God are taught by the Holy Ghost and some things in God’s Word will never make sense until a person receives God’s Spirit! Our natural mind cannot understand why some things are important to God, but when we receive God’s Spirit, then the Word of God can teach us the importance behind every verse because they are “spiritually discerned.” A preacher can have every degree in the world and if he lacks God’s Spirit, then he lacks spiritual discernment and tends to miss the point. The reason so many churches can have service and preaching and singing and yet not realize the importance of Jesus’ name baptism, or the importance of living a holy lifestyle is because they do not understand the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit! They miss the point! If I live a perfect life and do good to my fellow man and still miss the Rapture of the Church then what have I profited? Yet Paul clearly taught that to go in the Rapture of the Church, we must have God’s Spirit living INSIDE of us (Romans 8:11)! In like manner, if I am faithful to church for long periods of time and yet my relationship with God never grows deeper, then what is the point? Yet Paul taught that the “deep things in God” are spiritually discerned! If you are a believer but have not received God’s Spirit or been baptized in His name, then you need to move forward in your relationship with God because only then will you realize the depths of God’s Word!

Saul began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God in the Jewish synagogues! The Jews that heard him were amazed because they realized that this man preaching was the very man that had come to destroy the faith. Notice that Saul “increased the more in strength.” As he taught and used the scriptures, he became much more proficient in presenting the Gospel. At first, you will not have every answer to questions that people bring you, but if you will study, and USE THE SCRIPTURES that you do know, then you will too increase in strength! Saul was able to use the scriptures and arguments that he had used against Jesus being the Messiah to prove that Jesus was the Messiah! What a difference the Holy Spirit makes!

There is about a three year gap between verse 22 and verse 23 in Acts 9. Saul wrote mentioned the events of this gap in his later letter to the Galatians:

During these missing years, Saul went into Arabia for a while. The scriptures are not very clear exactly what Saul was doing during this time, but think about the following points. First, Saul was still greatly feared by the majority of the Christian world who would naturally think that he had faked his conversion to infiltrate them. Second, this fear would only subside through time and a lack of persecution and Saul’s venture into Arabia solved both problems. Third, Saul was very well versed in the scriptures by his training as a Pharisee, but now the scriptures had taken on a very new light. He needed time to study and get his theology straight. Fourth, Saul was probably getting very tired of being the object of attention in Damascus. Fifth, if Saul was going to fulfill his calling by Jesus to be the light to the Gentiles, then he needed to prepare for his ministry by prayer and fasting. Whatever the reasons for Saul going to Arabia, he then returned to Damascus.

When Saul returned to Damascus, his preaching infuriated the Jews so much that they decided to try to kill him. Saul found out about it and realizing that they were watching the gates to the city day and night had to come up with some other way to escape. The disciples of the city took him by night and using a big basket and some rope, lowered Saul out of the city!

Saul returned to the very place where he had greatly persecuted the church! The disciples in Jerusalem were afraid of him and did not trust Saul until Barnabas took him to Peter an James and told him of how he had boldly preached about Jesus Christ in Damascus (Galations 1:19). Saul then was accepted and all of Jerusalem was astounded to see the persecutor now a Christian! Saul stayed in Jerusalem about 15 days (Galations 1:18). Notice that even though it was three years later, the Jews in Jerusalem had still not heard about Saul’s conversion. There are several reasons for this: First, communication did not travel near as fast then as it does today. Second, the Jewish converts in Damascus would not have returned to Jerusalem often because of the persecution there and the realization that they did not have to partake of the feasts anymore. Third, Herod had married the daughter of Aretas the ruler of the area of Damascus and then divorced her, creating a very unstable relationship between the political area of Judea and the area around Damascus. At this time, trade and commerce had all but ceased between the two regions.

Remember the Grecian-Jewish Bible colleges in Jerusalem with whom Stephen had disputed? Because of his knowledge of their teachings and material, Saul was able to confound them and rebuff their doctrine even more effectively. Like Stephen, they then laid plans to kill Saul.

When the disciples found about the plan to kill Saul, they shipped him out and sent him back to his home town of Tarsus. Just as Jesus returned to Nazareth in His ministry, so was it also fitting for Saul to return to his family and friends and share with them his new found experience! With the head persecutor of the Early Church now their most effective, Spirit-filled preacher, the churches in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria now enjoyed a time of brief rest from the persecution. Because of the great witness of the conversion of Saul and the revivals that were breaking forth because of the Grecian evangelist’s work, the churches grew and were greatly “multiplied!”