Tag Archives: A great persecution

ACTS THE SEQUEL…ENTER SAUL – 17

Bible Study, ,

Samaria had now become the arena of new life. Jesus was building His church out of living stones…believers of every tribe and nation who were forming a new “race”…a “people” born of God…

…but…Stephen? His death caused an earthquake of hatred from the opposition, causing a tsunami of persecution that sent the believers fleeing in all directions. 

“…Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬ ‭

Now the persecution had a champion…a man with a cause. Not only did this young Pharisee…,Saul, fanatical in his religious fervour to do God’s work, to protect God’s law at all cost…approve of the “elimination” of Stephen, but he also set about systematically stamping out this fire…

“Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭9‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This is what religion does!  So determined to stamp out opposition…to be right at all costs…to defend a god that was unable to defend himself…that killing those who stubbornly refuse to comply serves a “righteous” cause. We see this pattern in religious fervour worldwide. 

This young Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, blind to the truth of the Scriptures he had studied from his youth, could not stomach the intrusion of a village artisan called Jesus of Nazareth, into his theological framework, especially as this man was being worshipped as God. This, to him, was blasphemy of the highest order. To crown it all, Jesus’ followers insisted that He was alive!

Saul took it upon himself, with the approval of his religious overlords, to stamp out these defectors from the faith he followed with such fervour. Like the Moses he revered, who thought killing Egyptians was the way to freedom, he took to destroying these people of “the Way”, one by one. 

Saul’s challenge was that the movement had spread far beyond the borders of Israel. Damascus, capital of the neighbouring Syria, was full of believers. Well! If that was so, he would go after them.  

Jesus also had an agenda. Let Saul get close to his goal, far from his own protective shield…his supporters in this enterprise…and He had him! Bang! Right in the middle of his anticipated achievement, Saul met his worst enemy…his nemesis…this Jesus Himself, the one who was supposed to be dead…His body lying in a tomb outside Jerusalem. 

“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭9‬:‭3‬-‭6‬ NIV

“I am Jesus…” Saul was shocked…so shocked that he fell off his horse…onto the ground…on his face before Jesus…the same Jesus he was determined to destroy! Shocked…humiliated…devastated! So devastated that every intention that drove him to Damascus evaporated. Gone! His entire life…all his training…all his ambitions…all his theology…all his past, his future plans, his entire life…imploded in an instant! Like Isaiah of old, Saul was “undone”.  

Who? Who was this whose light was so bright that Saul was blinded…permanently shut up into darkness with scales so impenetrable that they needed miraculous, divine intervention to remove. 

Saul’s finally humble, honest question received a simple but mind-blowing reply… “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting!” What? Alive? Saul’s mission…to stamp out the ones who believed this myth! “But I am going after the defectors…the people who are believing in this Jesus.” 

“No, Saul, you are persecuting me. You see, Saul, these people are me, my body of which I am the head. You cannot touch any of them without touching me.” Saul learned his second brand-new lesson about this “Way”. First, Jesus was alive. Second, He was not alone. He had a body of people joined inseparably to Him. “Touch them and you have me to reckon with…Saul.”

“Lord!” That is all Saul needed to say…to confess with his mouth…to change sides forever. 

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In that instant, he  had met the criteria for salvation, for the radical, supernatural rescue from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son. Jesus was alive…and He was indisputably Lord. 

In the years to come, Saul, later Paul, would hammer out, in his own experience, the truths of this “body of the faith” Jesus was entrusting to him. Through his written communications with churches and individuals, he would pass on to every succeeding generation what he was learning in these early days. As much as Paul’s writings were “theology”, they were also autobiography, prefaced by his repeated affirmation…”I have learned…” 

So, the newly converted Saul, now redirected by an encounter with the living Jesus he would never forget, went on to Damascus a changed man. Blind, weak, humbled and broken, he entered the city…to be found by the man whom Jesus had already detailed to “find” him. 

“In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” 

Suspicious and afraid, Ananias protested… but Jesus reassured him…

“But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” 

Armed with a commission for Saul from the mouth of Jesus Himself, Ananias obeyed.  Imagine his mission…to inform this brand-new believer, this once-murderous persecutor of Ananias’ fellow-believers, that his, Saul’s, calling was to stand before kings with the very message that would condemn him. “Jesus, not Caesar, is Lord!” 

Saul would have to learn, through the very suffering Ananias predicted for him, that suffering was grace, not punishment. He would learn that God’s grace, channeling strength for his weakness, would be the greatest victory of his life. He would learn, through everything he was called to suffer, that nothing in heaven, earth, or under the earth, could ever separate him from God’s love demonstrated in Jesus’ obedience, even to death.  

So, Ananias obeyed…and Saul’s eyes were healed…and Saul saw, for the first time, his real purpose in life, to go to the world, to preach the good news to all nations, and to suffer for the name he had once hated. 

“Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭9‬:‭10‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To be continued

ACTS THE SEQUEL…AND SAMARIA – 15

Bible Study, ,

“And Saul approved of their killing him…On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The seed was buried…

The persecution began in earnest… not just with court cases…intimidation, threats, jail. These strategies didn’t work. This dangerous heresy was spreading like a forest fire. The “wood” of the  common people was tinder dry…ready for the fire of the Holy Spirit to set it ablaze with supernatural life. 

And the wind of the Spirit blew…scattering the burning fragments from Jerusalem everywhere. The believers fled the city…just as Jesus had predicted…into Judea and Samaria. Up to that point, the church was still contained and functioning within city and the borders of Israel but…give it time…

Meanwhile, a new branch of the church began to grow in Samaria…the place where Jesus Himself had started a blaze through a disreputable Samaritan woman…who had drunk from the “water of life.”

“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭8‬:‭4‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The leadership of God’s people had new blood. The “deacons” of Acts 6 became spiritual leaders outside Jerusalem while the apostles remained in the city to care for the remnants of the flock left behind. 

Stephen was gone…but Philip, possibly one of the seven deacons, stepped up to fill the gap. The city of Samaria, in the province of Samaria, came alive with the power of the Holy Spirit. The same miracles that sparked the fierce opposition in Jerusalem now spread to Samaria. The powers of hell were shaken. The comfortable demonic presence was stirred up to resist and fight. The kingdom of God had come… and the demons didn’t like it. 

Luke included a story about an individual, Simon the sorcerer, who had duped the people into believing that he doing miracles for God. His deception was unhindered until the Spirit came. The people of Samaria were ripe for the gospel. 

“Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭8‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Peter and John, on a fact-finding mission from Jerusalem, passed on the Holy Spirit’s baptism to the new believers in this Samaritan hybrid group… and Simon was impressed!

“When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria…

“…When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭8‬:‭14-‭17‬ ‭NIV

Simon also “ believed” but his cover was blown. When the true Spirit of God fell on people in Samaria, Simon decided to change sides. He still craved power…but now…he saw genuine power at work and tried to buy it!

Wrong!

“When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭8‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Peter was incensed. How dare this man try to buy God’s power! 

Peter stared right into Simon’s soul. No words were harsh enough to expose this man’s true intention. Money! Peter saw a heart full of money, dark and sinister because the love of money drove his life…colouring his every thought and deed…killing love, compassion, and kindness…caring about nothing or no one except to deceive for the sake of money. He was even ready to use some of his money to buy the Holy Spirit, as if he could, to gain more power over people, to manipulate and deceive…so he thought!

…“May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

The judgment was harsh but real…and Simon was shocked and afraid. 

“Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭8‬:‭20‬-‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The next phase of God’s strategy, painful as it had been…through death and persecution…had opened the door to a hybrid nation.  The once-hated Samaritans had become part of God’s forever family. Grace had come to graft them into God’s “olive tree”! 

To be continued