The Acts of the Apostles
Acts Chapter 9 Vs. 1-31
Vs. 1,2 Saul had been watching the believers in Jesus. Saul had studied with well-known Jewish teachers. He was very smart and knew much about the scriptures. He was a very sincere Jew. He tried hard to do everything right.
He thought that these people following Jesus teachings were wrong. He had been arresting people who had believed in Jesus, he took them to the Jewish leaders and had them put in jail. Sometimes some of them were killed.
Saul now had letters from the Jewish high priest to go to Damascus and find believers and bring them back to Jerusalem to be put into jail.
Vs. 3-7 As Saul is going along the road to Damascus a bright light shines out of heaven Saul falls down and he hears a voice from heaven talking to him. Others around him heard the voice but they do not see anyone speaking.
The voice said, “Saul, Saul why are you doing things to hurt me?” Saul said, “Who are you Lord?” The voice said, “I am Jesus, whom you are hurting.”
Saul begins to shake and tremble. He said “Lord what do you want me to do?” The voice answered, “Go into the city and then it will be told to you what to do.”
Saul got up from the ground, but he could not see. He was blind. So the men with him led him into the city. They got a room there. They were there for 3 days. During that time, Saul did not eat or drink.
Vs. 10-19 In the city of Damascus, lived a man who was a believer in Jesus. His name was Ananias. God came to him in a vision and told him to go pray for Saul. God told him where Saul was staying.
Ananias was afraid of Saul. The believers had heard how Saul went around arresting believers and putting them in jail.
God tells Ananias that God has chosen Saul to be the one who will go tell the Gentiles about Jesus so they will believe in Jesus. God said that Saul will also tell kings and other Jews about Jesus.
He said that Saul will suffer many things for Jesus’ sake.
Ananias went to where Saul was staying, he told him that God, even Jesus, had sent him to pray for him so he would see again. And that he would receive the Holy Spirit.
As soon as Ananias prayed for him Saul could see. He was baptized. And he stayed there in the city with other believers for some time.
There are some things to notice here in these verses. Saul had not believed that Jesus was God’s son.
But when the voice from heaven talked to him the voice said, “I am Jesus.”
Jesus was talking from heaven. Saul called “the voice” Lord. He knew that it was God talking to him. He did not know that Jesus was of God. This is new information for him to think about.
Then Ananias told him that God “even Jesus” had sent him. And when he prayed for Saul, Saul was healed. This gave Saul some more things to think about.
This experience changed Saul’s mind about who Jesus is. He understands now that Jesus is of God.
As Saul stays with the believers in Damascus for awhile he learns more about Jesus and the believers, and the Holy Spirit.
Vs.20-22 Saul began speaking in the Jewish churches about Jesus. They were all amazed because they knew what Saul had been doing before. So now they see this big change in him and that now he is a believer, too.
Vs.22 The Jewish people in the city were amazed. Because of Saul’s knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures and the prophecies about the Messiah to come Saul understood now how Jesus was that person.
And so he began to explain how Jesus filled the prophecies of the Old Testament and that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
Vs. 23-29 After awhile the Jewish people of Damascus became upset with Saul. Some of them did not believe what he was saying about Jesus, and they probably did not like it that Saul was getting many of the Jews to believe in Jesus. They planned to kill him.
But some of the believers found out about it, and at night, they let Saul down over the city wall so he could escape and leave the town.
In those days, many cities had a wall around them with a gate. The gate was closed and guarded at night so that no one could come into the city to hurt the people.
Saul would not want to try to go out of the gate with the guards there because they probably did not like him either and would have stopped him. So along the wall somewhere his friends used rope and a basket and let him down over the wall to the outside.
Saul went to Jerusalem. He went to the believers there. They were afraid of him. But a man named Barnabas talked to the believers and told them how Saul had come to believe in Jesus and how he had preached about Jesus in Damascus.
Saul stayed with the believers at Jerusalem for awhile. He was talking to some Greeks and telling them about Jesus when some of them decided they wanted to kill Saul. So the believers decided it would be best for Saul to go to the city of Tarsus.
Vs. 31 The believers had a time of rest from fear of being punished at least, from Saul. The believers encouraged each other and taught each other about the scriptures, and about the Holy Spirit.