Daily Archives: August 15, 2013

Blinded and Blind!

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BLINDED AND BLIND!

“As I arrived on the outskirts of Damascus about noon, a blinding light blazed out of the skies and I fell to the ground, dazed. I heard a voice, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?’
“Who are you, Master?’ I asked.
“He said, ‘I am Jesus, the Nazarene, the One you’re hunting down.’ My companions saw the light but they didn’t hear the conversation.
‘Then I said, ‘What do I do now, Master?’
“He said, ‘Get to your feet and enter Damascus. There you’ll be told everything that’s been set out for you to do.’ And so we entered Damascus, but nothing like the entrance we had planned — I was blind as a bat and my companions had to lead me by the hand.” Acts 22:6-11a (The Message).

Blinded and blind! Paul’s vivid encounter with the alive and living Jesus outside Damascus was forever engraved in his memory and coloured his understanding of the ways of the God. Was he writing about himself when he penned the words, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God”? 2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV).

En route to Damascus, it was a spiritually blind Saul who was bent on wiping out the people who were following Jesus in a new way of living. Then a blinding light shone in his eyes, blinding him so that he had to be led by the hand into the city. Blind on the outside, it was the first time he had really “seen” the light. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV).

Jesus claimed the title, “Light of the World”. On the first day of creation, God declared, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. What was this light, since the heavenly bodies were only created on the fourth day? John gives us the answer. “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it…The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” John 1:3-5; 9 (NIV).

Before He made the physical lights, God assigned the earth to Jesus to be the light of understanding and truth in a world controlled by the prince of darkness. His presence dominates the Old Testament but His people were blind to Him. He tried to alert the religious leaders of His day to this truth in His encounters with them but they persistently rejected His claims because they were too blind to recognise Him.

“‘Your father, Abraham, rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.’
“‘You are not yet fifty years old,’ the Jews said to Him, ‘and you have seen Abraham!’
“‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!” John 8:57-58 (NIV).

That sent His opponents over the edge! They refused to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus.

This kind of blindness is a choice. “‘This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly, that what he had done has been done through God.'” John 3:19-21 (NIV).

“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 (NIV).

Ready To Kill For God

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READY TO KILL FOR GOD

“Standing on the barracks steps, Paul turned and held his arms up. A hush fell over the crowd as Paul began to speak. He spoke in Hebrew.

“‘My dear brothers and fathers, listen carefully to what I have to say before you jump to conclusions about me.” When they heard him speaking Hebrew, they grew even quieter. No one wanted to miss a word of this.

“He continued, ‘I am a good Jew, born in Tarsus in the province of Cilicia, but educated in Jerusalem under the exacting eye of Rabbi Gamaliel, thoroughly instructed in our religious traditions. And I’ve always been passionately on God’s side, just as you are right now.” Acts 21:40-22:3 (The Message).

And so Paul began his defense. This was the first time he was allowed to tell his side of the story. Throughout his missionary journeys, when he was falsely accused and hounded from city to city, he was never given the opportunity to speak for himself. The word of his accusers was believed and acted on and he was punished or had to flee on their word, lies or no lies.

Paul must have known that his own words would not be enough to put out the fires of hostility in the hearts of these fanatical Jews. They had already decided that he was guilty and must die. His defence meant only one thing — they were waiting for him to indict himself just as the Sanhedrin at Jesus’ trial pushed Him to admit His own guilt.

“‘I went after anyone connected with this ‘Way’, went at them hammer and tongs, ready to kill for God. I rounded up men and women, right and left and had them thrown in prison. You can ask the Chief Priest or anyone in the High Council to verify this; they all knew me well. Then I went off to our brothers in Damascus, armed with official documents, authorising me to hunt down the Christians there, arrest them, and bring them back to Jerusalem for sentencing.'” Acts 22:4-5 (The Message).

Not a pretty track record, when one reads Paul’s “Before Christ” CV! But so convinced was he that he was right that he though God needed help in defending His cause. Such is every religious system that needs human beings from preventing his kingdom from going under! The silversmiths of Ephesus had this problem on their hands. If they did not take action, the goddess Artemis would be robbed of her divine majesty?

Could Paul or any other religious zealot protect God from losing His divine majesty without his intervention? What kind of a God is that? This is sheer human foolishness. Isaiah mocked the gods of the nations around Israel that they were so keen to worship. ‘They are burdens you have to load on donkeys because they can’t even walk,’ he reminded God’s people. ‘Our God is not like that. He is the one who carries you, even when you are so old that you can no longer walk!’

Paul did not realise until his confrontation with the living Christ, that God did not need his help to protect Him, particularly since Paul had such a screw bald idea of God that he was fighting an entirely wrong cause. He thought Jesus was an imposter and that the best way to unmask Him was to exterminate His followers.

Every false religious notion uses the same argument for venting its spleen through its followers to try to silence the truth. But God’s truth will stand while every lie will fall. God has spoken. “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:11 (NIV).