And he said, “Who are you Lord?” – Acts 9:5a
Do you know someone who makes you think, They will never come to Jesus, or It would take a miracle for them to come to Jesus? The Apostle Paul was just such a person. Prior to his conversion Paul was known as Saul. Unsaved Saul was a well-educated member of the Sanhedrin,[1] a Pharisee. He attended the school of Gamaliel one of the foremost schools of his day (Acts 22:3). He was a teacher of the law. He cast his vote against Christians condemning them (Acts 26:10). Saul was there, approving, when Stephen was stoned to death (Acts 7:58 and 8:1). He was feared by Christians (Acts 9:13-14, and 26). He was the Jewish version of Zohran Mamdani.[2]
I imagine that you have to be pretty angry and pretty heartless to stand by and watch approvingly when someone is stoned. Jewish law required the person sentenced to stoning be taken outside the city walls to a place at least twice the height of the person being stoned, and that they be pushed off. If the fall did not kill them, the witness or witnesses to the person’s offense would be called upon to cast the first stone. Then the gathered crowd would finish the sentence by casting rocks at the offender until they were dead. It was a brutal form of execution.
Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:5; 7:55), was taken outside the walls of Jerusalem. There people laid their cloaks at the feet of Saul (Acts 7:58). Free from the entanglements of their dress, they, with Saul’s approval, cast stones at Stephen until he was dead. They did this as Stephen followed in the steps of His Savior Jesus saying, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60). They stoned him, bludgeoning his flesh, cracking his bones, collapsing his skull. Yes, you have to be pretty angry and very heartless to do such a thing. You have to be pretty dead to the love of God, dead to His mercy and grace, to approve of such a thing. It takes hard stony hearts to cast stones and crush the life out of another human being. Yet, that is the kind of person Saul was.
I’ll bet Christians at that time were not only grieved, but maybe some of them gave into the temptation to call on God in imprecatory prayers to crush Saul their enemy. Have you ever been driven to such praying by someone who has hurt you deeply or has hurt someone you love deeply? I want to suggest a different road to take, a Damascus Road.
Politics in the last few years has become the go to answer for all our ills. I’m political. I’m patriotic. I love my country and though I have never served in the military or a political office, I am vigilant and willing to stand and protect my country from enemies both foreign and domestic. Today there are certainly a lot of enemies to America, both foreign and domestic, both inside and outside. There are those elected to office who disregard their sacred vow and who seek to bring down our Constitutional Republic and change it to something socialistic, communistic, something it was never meant to be. But I want to tell you something here. The solution to our national ills, our community problems, our people problems, is not merely political, it is deeper than that.
In the ancient world in the precincts of Rome there was a Via Sacra, a “Sacred Way.” This “Way” was a road associated with politics. It ran through the heart of the Roman Forum. It connected key civic and religious buildings. It was a route used for processions of victorious generals returning in their glory of victory. Political speeches and public gatherings were made along the way of the Via Sacra. There were “religious” and state ceremonies held on this Sacred Way. But I think it is not by accident that the followers of Jesus in earliest times referred to themselves alternatively as “The Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9; 22:4; 24:14 and 22). Followers of Jesus were known as “The Way” before they were called “Christians” (Acts 11:26). Maybe in some Way the Spirit was trying to speak to us through their name. Maybe the Spirit was trying to say, better than the Sacred Way of politics and religion, is the true Way of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Laws are important because they are government’s means of keeping the peace and maintaining justice (Romans 13:1-7). I believe God calls some people to be involved in government and politics as a means to be salt and light, to infiltrate and influence communities, states, and nations for the glory of God. We might not be a “Christian” nation any longer, but there is much evidence that our nation was founded on and deeply influenced by Christian and Biblical truth.
Have you ever read the prayer given at the first Continental Congress? It was delivered by Rev. Jacob Duche on September 7,1774 who was invited by those representatives gathered to discuss the future of the colonies. The prayer was recorded for the annals of history as follows:
O Lord our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of kings, and Lord of lords, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the Kingdoms, Empires and Governments; look down in mercy, we beseech Thee, on these our American States, who have fled to Thee from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only on Thee. To Thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause; to Thee do they now look up for that countenance and support, which Thou alone canst give. Take them, therefore, Heavenly Father, under Thy nurturing care; give them wisdom in Council and valor in the field; defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries; convince them of the unrighteousness of their Cause and if they persist in their sanguinary purposes, of own unerring justice, sounding in their hearts, constrain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle!
Be Thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the councils of this honorable assembly; enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation. That the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that order, harmony and peace may be effectually restored, and truth and justice, religion and piety, prevail and flourish amongst the people. Preserve the health of their bodies and vigor of their minds; shower down on them and the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seest expedient for them in this world and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior. Amen.
Looking back now 250 years since our nations’ beginnings, I think it’s safe to say that God answered that prayer. The United States of America is arguably the most powerful nation in human history. The USA is not perfect, as is true of all nations in this fallen world. We have skeletons in our closet. But we have in good conscience sought to rectify injustices when discovered within our borders.
We were willing to fight a civil war to maintain our Federal Republic and to put a halt to slavery. We counted the cost and were willing in that war to spend from our national treasury not merely, but the precious human blood and life. In the end it’s been estimated that between 620,000 and 850,000 soldiers died. We have also been willing to withdraw and spend upwards of 521,915 more soldiers to protect the world from world enemies in World War I and II. We have been the go-to nation this world looks to when liberty is threatened or injustices threatened.
You would be hard pressed to find a nation that has given more of its blood, sweat, and tears for people outside its borders, as well as those who have left their homelands to make this nation its new homeland. You would be hard pressed to find a nation that has invented more technology and machinery that has profited not only our own citizenry but the world. And you would be hard pressed to find a nation that has sent more Christian missionaries into the world in obedience to the Great Commission. This world influence for the good should not surprise us. It should motivate us to a healthy national pride and a desire to continue in even more exceptional ways.
It shouldn’t surprise us that this is who we are as a nation given our roots. Our first president George Washington, in his farewell address given in 1796 stated, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” John Adams, the second president of the United States, wrote in a letter to the Massachusetts Militia, “our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Patrick Henry, the Virginian is best known for his powerful rallying words of the Revolution “Give me liberty or give me death!” But did you know he also said, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” So, from the very beginning of our own nation it seems clear that our national patriarchs saw that there must be something more than merely a Via Sacra of political and religious solutions to life issues.
Beginning after 1917, and in particular after World War II, there has been a particular “sway of the wicked one” growing in the world. “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). The year 1917 is the year Marxism aka Communism rose to power. Communism, with the help of its intermediary facilitator Socialism has led to the genocidal death of some 85-100 MILLION deaths according to the Black Book of Communism. Communism is atheistic. It perpetuates its tyranny through the idea of equality through class struggle and racial conflict. It infiltrated our own nation in the 1960s and today it has metastasized to a point where you have citizen hearts not only darkened and infected with such devilish worldviews, but you have “elected” government officials propagandizing and promoting Communist favorable causes in our land.
In November of 1956 communist Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev, at a reception for Western ambassadors in Moscow, boasted, “We will bury you!” Another quote attributed to him but which is unverified and almost certainly spurious, more legend than truth, is one that lays out the strategy of burying us as follows:
Your children’s children will live under communism. You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept Communism outright; but we will keep feeding you small does of socialism until you will finally wake up and find you already have Communism. We will not have to fight you; we will so weak your economy, until you will fall like overripe fruit into our hands. . . The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
As I mentioned there is no verifiable evidence this was actually said by Khrushchev. I want to be clear about that. It is more apocryphal than reliable. But it does speak truth in the sense that it lays out more than fifty years ahead of time, what has actually become a considerable reality in the United States of America today.
My point in all of this is that the political Via Sacra is not the solution to our problems. Politics is not the solution because, while political ideology and movements can influence the minds and hearts of people, it can only do so in deception and the limited scope of this horizontal world. Saul’s religion led him to stone a Spirit-filled loving Christlike servant of a man. All religion, and politics get you is where it got Saul, “breathing threats and murder” (Acts 9:1).
Have you noticed the escalating hatred spewed in the political arena in recent years? We are rapidly approaching the anniversary of the September 10th Charlie Kirk assassination. So deep is the hatred of those who opposed Charlie Kirk’s message, that they actually cheered and applauded his murder. Thin about that, people actually applauded his murder. People actually applauded his murder, though he was a married man and father of two children. People actually applauded his murder and have gone so far as to blame his wife Erika as being complicit in a conspiracy to assassinate her own husband and father of her children? That is right up there with stony hearted stoning of people if you ask me. Hatred is the venom of a hard heart. Hatred is the rotten fruit of hopelessness. Hatred and the loveless insensitivity we see in the political realm is proof positive that we need more than a political solution to our problems.
While there is hate on both sides of the political aisle, it cannot be denied that the greater proportion of hate flows from those infected with the darkness of Marxism and its conglomerate factions that denigrate Biblical values that hold society together like Biblical Christianity, marriage, and family. It’s not enough to live and let live when it comes to gender and sexuality debate. You must comply with proponents’ views or be tarred as a “hater.” Despite having fought the bloodiest War in our history to deal with racial inequality, and though great strides have been made to eliminate this injustice from our national life, there are those who persist in using racism to divide and conquer us. These are complicated issues. There are arguments and discussions to be had. But our attitude should be, “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26). That attitude is only found in something more than religious or political studies. Such an attitude only comes with a changed heart.
If we merely travel the Via Sacra, we will find more hate, more division, destruction and death. If we settle and lazily decide to be satisfied with political victory, we will no doubt experience another Civil War. This time a civil war will rip us open from top to bottom and there will be no repair. Even if we were able to survive a civil war, what do you think our enemies would do while we fight against ourselves? Do you think they would stand by and do nothing? They would wait and watch us exhaust ourselves, and then, when we are weakened to their level, they would attack and likely defeat us.
I say “likely” because there is no record of the United States of America in God’s prophetic plan given to us in Scripture. That should give us pause. That should terrify every patriot as well as antagonist in our country. Yes, it should even terrify those who “hate” America. That is because the true haters of this nation need to realize they are only pawns, cannon fodder, “useful idiots” to the enemies of our nation. Satan is on the prowl, and he does not discriminate who he will devour, he just wants red meat.
The Damascus Road. The only true and reliable solution to our problems today is the Damascus Road. What do I mean when I say that? Let me walk you through the Damascus Road passage in Acts 9 to show you what I mean.
Acts 9:1–31 (NKJV)
9 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Notice a few things here about pre-conversion Saul. He was motivated by “threats and murder,” the rotten fruit of hatred in his heart. His hatred drove him to target Christians, people “of the Way.” And he was a bureaucrat in that he “asked letters” from the priests to give him the authority he needed to arrest and bind up Christians. This is the typical set of characteristics and tactics of those who have a coal dark hard hating heart.
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
When Saul was at the height of his earthly power and authority, he was confronted by the light of God. While those being persecuted may have been praying for Saul’s demise, there were apparently others who were praying for his conversion. But even if there were none praying for Saul, Jesus broke into the hateful self-righteous religious plans of Saul. Light from heaven enveloped Saul. God is able to do that. That is what we need to be praying for God to do. “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, . . . Shine forth! . . . Restore us, O God; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved!” (Psalm 80:1 and 3).
4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
Only Jesus can bring such tyrants to their knees. The path to a new heart begins with God knocking us down, humbling us, and bringing us to our knees. A political argument or religious command may be able to force us to our knees, but I contend that when Saul heard Jesus utter his voice, right then and there his hard hateful heart was cut open so the venom of hatred could be drained out.
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”
Notice the first response of Saul to Jesus is to call Him “Lord.” The Bible states, “. . . no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). Instantly there is something going on in Saul’s heart. Only Jesus can turn a Christ-hater into a Jesus-lover.
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
Jesus tells Saul who he is dealing with, and he does so loud and clear. Political stances are limited to earthly opponents. But for people to really change they need to understand that this world and worldly authority is not the only authority they need to answer to. We will all stand before God one day and be judged (Hebrews 9:27).
A “goad” was part of a beast of burden’s harness. It was located behind his legs so that if he kicked back at his master, it would be painful. Saul thought he was serving God, but he wasn’t. That he was described by Jesus as kicking against the goads is an indication that Jesus had been speaking to him and he had refused to listen. Jesus had probably been speaking to Saul since he watched and approved of the stoning of Stephen. That’s right, that fire breathing, hateful, hurtful, oppressor was being talked to by Jesus. The Holy Spirit is convicting the haters of their sins right now (John 16:8-11). The belligerent would be wise to listen, because one of two things will happen if they don’t. Either they will, like Saul, be humbled and knocked down off their high horse. Or they will get to a point of no return when they become so hard that they cannot believe (John 12:39).
6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”
Only Jesus can bring holy trembling to the sacrilegious sinner. Only Jesus can bring astonishment and reality to the one who proudly thinks they know all and are on their own right path. Only Jesus can bring the hater to their knees so that they submit and say, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” It is here that I believe Saul was converted. It is here and with these words that I believe Saul realized he was a sinner and on the wrong side of God. It was here and with these words that I believe Saul was given a new heart and found forgiveness and spiritual life as a gift of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. What we see here in Saul’s conversion is something no religion or political ideology can do. There is power in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16). “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26; 11:19; Jeremiah 31:33; Psalm 51:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17). The gospel of Jesus Christ is the means to have that happen.
Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
My confidence that verse six marks Saul’s conversion is based on Jesus’ command to him. This was not merely a writing on the wall that terrified like we see in the Old Testament with the Babylonian king Belshazzar. Belshazzar was so terrified by the hand of God that his knees knocked. But nothing else followed. Saul on the other hand was knocked down off his high religious horse and then was called to do something. Jesus calls those he cleanses from sin.
7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
When Jesus breaks into a person’s life, those around them don’t always understand what has happened. But they do realize something has happened. Saul was blinded. Those knocked down off their pride are often kept for a time in a state of humility. Saul had to learn from the start that life and dealing with others wasn’t about going where he wanted to go. Saul had to learn to follow Jesus and that meant he would have to lean on others to assist him at times. When Jesus touches and uses a person, He teaches them that it’s not about them, it’s about Him. John the Baptist who prepared the way for Jesus encapsulated this truth when he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). This is exactly the opposite of the world’s philosophy. Religions and politics are all about “me,” and using others to serve “my” purposes.
10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.”
And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”
13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.
There is a lot that could be said about these verses but suffice it to say here that those of us who know Jesus as Savior must always be ready to welcome those who He saves. We must always be ready and willing to obey our Lord and help those who were previously our enemies. Jesus can change our enemies into friendlies.
We need to also recognize from these verses that Jesus didn’t send Saul out in his own strength. To serve the Lord and be used for His glory you need more, much more than mere human religious or political know-how. You need to “receive your sight,” your spiritual sight and understanding. And that means being “filled with the Holy Spirit.” What happened to Saul here is what Jesus had required to happen earlier to His disciples, to be empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). The Damascus Road is the superior road to the Via Sacra because it leads to God’s other worldly superior power of the Holy Spirit.
19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
Fellowship with other disciples is very important to the one who is newly converted to following Jesus. It is in fellowship that the newly converted are encouraged and discipled and familiarized with the ways of “The Way,” of those who follow Jesus.
20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.
21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”
As soon as he was converted Saul told others about Jesus. He went to those he was previously allied with and told them Jesus “is the Son of God.” Jesus had impacted Saul and turned him around 180 degrees. It’s an amazing thing to see what Jesus can do in a person’s life. That is the power of His gospel. We have no right to keep such truth to ourselves. We need to share it with everyone who has yet to experience it for themselves.
22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.
Notice that Saul “increased all the more in strength” because he got involved and served the Lord Jesus. If you want to grow in your faith, get involved in serving the Lord.
3 Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. 24 But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. 25 Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.
When Jesus gets hold of your life and you begin to serve Him, don’t be surprised if those who were previously your allies turn against you. But also don’t be fearful of their attacks. Jesus has a way of exposing the efforts against us so we can respond accordingly. There is strength in the fellowship of other disciples of Jesus.
26 And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 28 So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. 29 And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. 30 When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.
While some Christians may be wary of those who experience a saving life change from Jesus, Jesus provides a Barnabus who will step in and provide the needed encouragement until the others come around. Throughout this early life account of the conversion of Saul we see over and over again the importance of the fellowship of the body of believers in Jesus. There are no maverick or lone ranger Christians. Jesus saves us and makes us a part of His body the Church. That Church is composed of others who have experienced similar heart transplants and life changes through faith in Jesus. We need to stick together.
31 Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.
Finally, our prime objective is not merely to win arguments or achieve political victories, it is to walk in “fear” or reverence and attention to Jesus. We need to be mutually comforted with other Christians by the Holy Spirit. The end result will be the Church is multiplied and will grow and that is the true end product of all our problems. Politics may serve as an incidental part of the building up of the Church of Jesus Christ. But it is not the end-all. Politics is limited; Jesus and His Gospel are not.
It wouldn’t be until latter in the history of the Church that Saul is referred to as “Paul” (Acts 13:9). “Saul” means asked for. Paul means little. The man Saul was notable, he was asked for in religious and influential circles. But after Jesus knocked him down off his horse, he went by the name “Little.” There’s a message there for us to pay attention to. Religion is about what I have to do in order to get to heaven. Similarly, politics is about what I have to do to win an argument, achieve political victories, get in power and position and stay there. Such ambitions are a dead end. It would be better to be called “Little” and stand with Jesus and rely upon Him and His power, than to stand alone and be reduced to the causes of a fallen world that will ultimately end in nothing. The Christian standard is that in littleness and weakness, and admitting that humbly, that we will find true meaning and strength that will enable us to do whatever God calls us to do.
Join me in the following prayer:
Father in heaven we come humbly to You in Jesus name. We admit our littleness. Please save our enemies. Help us to love them into Your kingdom. Help us to always remember how You saved Saul. Help us to be mindful of Your Damascus Road plans. Help us to keep the Via Sacra in its right place. Please steer our enemies down their own Damascus Roads. Lord, You are truly our only Hope. Only you can change the hard hearts of people. Only You can humble and change the hearts of those in government. Only You can change the heart of our nation. Please help us to be ready to help the Sauls You make into Paul’s. Help us understand that the true solution to all our problems is Your Damascus Road solution. Please make us what we need to be, to do what You call us to do, for Your glory, until Jesus returns. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
[1] Not everyone agrees Saul/Paul was actually a member of the Sanhedrin.
[2] Zohran Mamdani is the Muslim Socialist Mayor of NYC who has been an outspoken critic of the United States.