Let us begin with Acts chapter 7.
And they cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
And Saul was consenting unto his death. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judæa and Samaria, except the apostles.
And devout men buried Stephen, and made great lamentation over him.
But Saul laid waste the church, entering into every house, and dragging men and women committed them to prison.
Now turn to Acts chapter 9.
But Saul, yet breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
and asked of him letters to Damascus unto the synagogues, that if he found any that were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
And as he journeyed, it came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus: and suddenly there shone round about him a light out of heaven:
and he fell upon the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest:
but rise, and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
And the men that journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but beholding no man.
And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing; and they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
And he was three days without sight, and did neither eat nor drink.
Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said unto him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus: for behold, he prayeth;
and he hath seen a man named Ananias coming in, and laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight.
But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many of this man, how much evil he did to Thy saints at Jerusalem:
and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon Thy name.
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel:
for I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.
And Ananias departed, and entered into the house; and laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, Who appeared unto thee in the way which thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and he arose and was baptized;
and he took food and was strengthened.
And he was certain days with the disciples that were at Damascus.
And straightway in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that He is the Son of God.
And all that heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he that in Jerusalem made havoc of them that called on this name?
But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ.
We mentioned before that the church, the body of Christ, was born on the day of Pentecost. It had to grow, and in the process of its growth it was gradually formed according to the heavenly pattern.
In the course of growth, there is bound to be conflict. This is the very thing of life. First, we find the conflict in the person of Stephen.
Stephen was the one who had a vision—the vision of the Son of Man in glory. To him, the church was not an earthly, physical, material thing. It was a spiritual and heavenly reality. Because of that, he came into conflict with Judaism at that time.
We mentioned this morning that, in the process of growth, we find Philip. God used Philip to break through the prejudice of the Jews toward the Gentiles, to bring out the universal nature of the church.
Yet there is a unity that must be preserved. For this reason, the Holy Spirit was withheld in Samaria until the apostles came from Jerusalem and laid hands upon those believers.
But I think no one contributed more to the formation of the church according to the heavenly pattern than the apostle Paul.
In the process of formation, you find that God used Hellenistic Jews. Probably the reason is that they were not so bound by the traditions of the fathers. Stephen was one of them; Philip was one of them.
But Paul, in a sense, was entirely different. He was not one of the twelve apostles. He was not one of the seven who served tables. He was not even a follower of Jesus. On the contrary, he was a blasphemer and a persecutor of the church.
So God used an entirely new vessel for the formation of the church according to the heavenly pattern. I think that is the difference of God’s way.
Stephen saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Then, in Acts chapter 9, Saul saw the same One on the road to Damascus. In a very real sense, the same vision continued.
Now, first of all, Saul of Tarsus was a remarkable person. We first meet him in Acts chapter 7, at the time when Stephen was stoned.
We know that Saul was born in Tarsus, a Roman city. During that time, the Roman Empire had conquered the world, and certain large cities were made Roman cities. Those born in such a city enjoyed the privilege of Roman citizenship.
Most people in the Roman Empire were conquered people, but Romans and those born in Roman cities had citizenship. Roman citizenship was generally inherited rather than purchased. Saul was born in Tarsus.
Probably at about the age of twelve, Saul was brought to Jerusalem to learn the law. He was raised in Judaism and became a Pharisee. He sat under the teaching of Gamaliel, the great teacher of his day.
He himself testified that he was more advanced in Judaism than many of his contemporaries. Today, we often have a negative connotation when we hear the word Pharisee, but originally the Pharisees stood for something good: a concern for the law of God.
The problem was that many were Pharisees only in name, not in reality. That is why our Lord Jesus rebuked the Pharisees so strongly. They taught what was right, but they did not have the strength to do it themselves. They laid heavy burdens upon others, but they would not carry those burdens themselves.
Paul was different. He himself testified that he lived according to the strictest sect of Judaism. He was not merely taught as a Pharisee; he lived as one. He was very strict, very honest, and very real.
He said that according to the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless. He was deeply involved in the traditions of the fathers. That is important, because the Pharisees studied the law according to those traditions.
According to that outlook, Saul considered Jesus an impostor. He regarded the followers of Jesus as enemies to be persecuted. In persecuting them, he thought that he was serving God.
When we first find him in Scripture, he is watching the garments of those who stoned Stephen to death. He was not merely a spectator. He gave his vote against the saints, and he took an active part in the persecution.
In Judaism, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, was the highest judicial authority. Though Saul was a young man, he evidently had influence and authority. He had advanced very far in Judaism.
Yet, even before the foundation of the world, God had chosen him. Paul himself tells us that God set him apart from his mother’s womb. He was not called until he was on the road to Damascus, but in the sovereign election of God he had been set apart long before he knew anything about it.
Stephen was stoned to death, yet he said, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” His face shone like that of an angel.
Saul did not see the vision which Stephen saw, but he could not escape the reality that was before him. Stephen’s faith, his face, his prayer, and his spirit made an impression upon Saul.
I think Saul was an honest and sincere person. Certainly, he was misled by the traditions of the fathers, but he was honest in what he did. When he encountered spiritual reality, he could not simply escape from it.
He saw Stephen commit his spirit to the Lord and pray for those who stoned him. He could not get away from that.
Then began the persecution of the church in Jerusalem. Saul persecuted the people of the Way with great intensity. He entered every house, dragged off men and women, and committed them to prison.
Saul had been brought up to be a gentleman. A Pharisee ought to be a gentleman. But the way he acted was almost like that of a madman. He dragged not only men, but women. There was no gentleness in it.
Why did he persecute the people of the Way in such an ungentlemanly manner? I believe it was because his conscience troubled him. When a person tries to fight against his conscience, he may do things that ordinarily he would not do.
Saul was trying to drown the voice of his conscience by persecution. He was trying to convince himself that he was right. Most likely, the martyrdom of Stephen had done something deep within him. He could not get rid of it.
So he persecuted believers not only in Jerusalem and the cities of Judæa. He sought letters from the high priest so that he could go even to Damascus, a Gentile city, and seize anyone who belonged to the Way.
The Spirit of God was striving with Saul, but Saul was fighting and fighting. Then, on the way to Damascus, he reached the end of himself.
God was never in a hurry. God allowed Saul to go as far as he could go. Then a great light shone around him, and he and those with him fell to the ground.
There, Saul encountered the heavenly vision. It was the great turning point of his life: the revelation of Jesus on the road to Damascus. There was a complete change, a complete conversion.
Toward the end of his life, Paul could testify, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” His whole life and ministry can be explained by that vision.
What was this heavenly vision? There are at least several elements in it. First, a great light shone around Saul, and all fell to the ground.
The Lord said, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.”
The Jewish people understood this picture. When they ploughed a field, they did not have machines. They used oxen under a yoke, drawing the plough.
The farmer guided the oxen and held in his other hand a sharp instrument called a goad. If an ox began to turn to the right or left, the farmer would gently prick its leg with the goad so that it would return to the proper path.
Sometimes an ox was stubborn. Instead of yielding to the direction of the farmer, it kicked against the goad. In doing so, it only hurt itself. Eventually, it learned the lesson of obedience.
That is the picture behind the Lord’s word. God had a purpose for Saul’s life. Even before the foundation of the world, God had chosen him. From his mother’s womb, God had set him apart.
It was as though God had put Saul under a yoke to do His work, but Saul did not know it. He resisted. He wanted to go his own way and do things according to his own ideas.
From time to time, God gently pricked him. Stephen’s witness was one of those goads. Saul did not accept the lesson, and he was hurt by resisting.
God was, in effect, saying to Saul, “I have laid hold of you, but you are trying to kick against the goads. You are trying to go your own way. It is better to learn the lesson and submit yourself to My leading and My power.”
When Saul heard that, he realized that it was useless to fight. The only thing to do was to surrender.
So Saul said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” He knew that he had encountered a Man in glory. He could not strive, struggle, or fight against Him. Before this Man, he was defeated.
He had been able to oppose everyone else, but before this One he had to surrender. Even though he did not yet know Who He was, he knew that He was Lord.
Then the Lord answered, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”
At that moment, Saul discovered that the One speaking to him was Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord of all. This was the beginning of his conversion.
Many conversions are not complete at the beginning. We may receive the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, but it can take years before we acknowledge Him as our Lord. Because of that, Christian life can become difficult. We receive Him as Saviour, but do not recognize Him as Lord.
In the case of Paul, it was different. When he was saved, he surrendered. He received the Lord Jesus not only as Saviour, but as Lord.
This is the first part of the heavenly vision: Jesus is Lord. The One who was crucified, raised from the dead, and exalted at the right hand of the Father has been made both Lord and Christ. He is the Head of the church.
The second part of the heavenly vision is this: the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” Then He asked, “Why persecutest thou Me?”
Saul could have said, “I have never persecuted You. You are in heaven. How can I persecute One in glory? I can persecute only people on earth. You are beyond my reach.”
But when we are confronted by a heavenly vision, it is not merely a matter of trying to figure it out with our minds. Saul had to ask, “Who art Thou, Lord, that I have persecuted Thee?”
The Lord did not say, “Why do you persecute My people?” He said, “Why do you persecute Me?”
The Head and the body are one. If someone touches any part of your body, your head does not say, “Why did you touch my hand?” You say, “Why did you touch me?”
When Saul persecuted the members of the body of Christ in Jerusalem and the cities of Judæa, and when he journeyed toward Damascus to do the same, the Head in heaven said, “Why persecutest thou Me?”
On the road to Damascus, Saul saw not only Christ as the Head. He saw Christ as Head united with His body. He saw the church as one with Christ.
Wherever Saul went, he met that one new man. He met that Man in Jerusalem, in the cities of Judæa, and in Damascus. This is the universal Man, filling heaven and earth. That was the heavenly vision.
Then Saul asked, “What shall I do, Lord?” He expected the Lord to give him a direct answer. Saul had been a master of his own life. He had always known exactly what to do.
But now he was completely shattered. He said, in effect, “Now You are the Lord. Tell me what to do.”
Surely the Lord could have given Saul direct instructions. He was to become the greatest apostle, and he received his commission from the Lord. Yet the Lord did not tell him everything directly.
The Lord said, “Rise, and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”
Why? Because God was teaching Saul a practical lesson from the beginning. He would become a great member in the body of Christ, but he was still a member. He needed other members.
He had to learn relatedness, submission, and fellowship. He could not live without the Lord, but neither could he live without his brothers and sisters.
Otherwise, being such a capable and strong person, Saul might have become an independent member. He might have violated every principle of the body while trying to serve the body.
God had to teach him a very practical lesson. When God gives us a vision, we often say, “All right, I will go out and carry it out.” But we may not yet have learned the practical lessons necessary to fulfill that vision.
Before Saul could begin his public ministry, he had to go to Damascus and learn practical lessons. He was blind, blinded by the light.
I often hear people say, “I see the light. I know exactly what it is.” Brothers and sisters, if you truly see the light, you will be blinded. You may say, “I think I see something, but I really do not know.” Saul was blind for three days, fasting and praying.
The heavenly vision did not stop on the road to Damascus. It continued in Damascus.
While Saul was there, he saw in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands upon him. This is an important part of the vision.
We often think that the heavenly vision was complete when Saul saw the great, universal Man on the road to Damascus. But that was only part of it.
In Damascus, Saul saw another part of the heavenly vision: a small man named Ananias.
Ananias was not known in Jerusalem. He was perhaps a leading brother in the church at Damascus, but compared with Paul, he was a small man. Yet that great Man in glory was, as it were, condensed into this small man, who came and laid his hands upon Saul.
This is the other part of the heavenly vision. The church, the body of Christ, is universal on the one hand. We need to see that. Throughout all ages and generations, everyone everywhere who believes in the Lord Jesus belongs to that one body.
The body is universal, with the Head in heaven. Seeing that vision enlarges us. It enlarges our capacity to understand what God is doing. God is doing something great.
But at the same time, this universal body has a local expression in every place. The universal body becomes practical in the local church.
That small man is very practical. It was a small man who came and laid hands on Saul. It was a small man who enabled Saul to see and to enter into the reality of the body.
When we come to the practical expression of the body of Christ, we must see the continuation of the heavenly vision from the road to Damascus into the city of Damascus.
Brothers and sisters, I do thank the Lord that, during recent years, many of God’s people have begun to see the body of Christ. They are beginning to speak about the body of Christ, and we thank God for that.
But there is a problem. Many speak about the universal body of Christ, but they do not know how to come down to its practical local expression.
The local expression may seem small in comparison with the universal body, but it is not another body. It is the one body expressed and condensed in a particular locality.
All the lessons we need to learn in the body must be learned in the local expression. It is no use saying, “I have fellowship with all the body of Christ,” if we cannot live in fellowship with the brothers and sisters near us.
If we cannot live with and be related to the brothers and sisters next to us, how can we say that we are in fellowship with the universal body of Christ? That is not practical.
The problem today is that we speak of the body of Christ as something glorious—and it is glorious—but we do not come down to earth and practice it.
In Saul’s case, it was very humbling for such a great member to receive help from a little member like Ananias. Yet God had a purpose in this.
God deliberately refrained from telling Saul directly what He wanted him to do. Instead, He used another member to convey His purpose. From the beginning, God was teaching Saul that, if he was to be a vessel for the building up of the body, he himself must first learn the reality of the body.
He needed a little member. He could not be independent. He could never fully know or serve without his brothers and sisters.
In this sense, Ananias represents the church—the local expression of the body of Christ in Damascus.
This vision was mutual, because Ananias also received a vision. The Lord told him to go to the street called Straight and find Saul of Tarsus.
Ananias said, “Lord, I have heard of this man. I have heard what he did in Jerusalem. He has come here with authority to bind those who call upon Thy name.”
Naturally speaking, Saul and Ananias could never have met as friends. If they had met before Saul’s conversion, Saul might have arrested him. They could not have received one another on natural ground.
But the Lord told Ananias, “Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto Me.” He would bear the Lord’s name before the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. He would suffer much for the Lord’s name.
Ananias trusted the Lord and went into that house. He laid his hands upon Saul, identifying himself with him, and said, “Brother Saul.”
That is a beautiful word. In the natural realm, they were enemies. But in the grace of God, they were brothers.
“Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, Who appeared unto thee in the way which thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
When the scales fell from Saul’s eyes, what did he see? He saw his brother. He remained with the disciples at Damascus for several days. That is how Saul began.
The heavenly vision is not merely something spectacular, glorious, and heavenly. It has another part, and that other part is most practical—down to earth.
Because of this, Paul’s entire life and ministry were for the building up of the body. He was willing to suffer for the church, which is Christ’s body.
His whole ministry was directed toward building up the body, the vessel through which the manifold wisdom of God might be made known. This was his whole ministry and his whole life.
Yet, in that ministry, he was never alone. He was always related to others. When you read his epistles, you continually find Paul with Timothy, Silvanus, Sosthenes, and other fellow workers.
Wherever he went, he was never an independent agent. The heavenly vision was very real to him, and it was worked out in his history.
Because the vision was worked out in this way, Paul was able to be used by God to build up the body of Christ. Even at the end, he could testify, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”
The heavenly vision was not merely the light and revelation given to him on the road to Damascus. It also included that which God showed him and worked out in Damascus. Both parts complete the picture.
Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou art forming Thy body according to the heavenly pattern.
Thou dost use various means to bring that body to Thy pattern. We pray, Lord, that we may see Thy pattern.
May we not only see it, but experience it ourselves. May we be able to be used by Thee for the furtherance of Thy purpose.
O Lord, during these last days, Thou dost desire to see Thy body fully matured, that Thou mayest complete and consummate Thy purpose.
O Lord, grant us grace. We humble ourselves before Thee. If there are areas in which we need correction, show us and bring us into the practical experience of the body.
Use us for Thy high and eternal purpose, that all praise and glory may be given unto Thee.