Will you please turn to the book of Acts, Acts 9. We will read the first twenty-two verses.
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? and he had come hither for this intent, that he might bring them bound before the chief priests?
But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we continue in Thy presence, we fully expect to hear Thy voice. Speak to us, Lord. Reveal Thyself to us.
We know that it is Thy good pleasure to do this. Our hearts are open to Thee. Glorify Thyself in the midst of Thy people. We ask in the name of our dear Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thank God for another opportunity that we may be together and hear the Word of God.
I really feel, brothers and sisters, that every time the Lord allows us to gather, it is another indication of His love for us. Who are we that we are so privileged? Many in this world today do not have such privilege.
Who are we that the Lord is so mindful of us, we who are but dust and ashes? Thank God, He is love.
So, dear brothers and sisters, whenever we have such a time, it is a very solemn moment. We cannot be careless. The Lord means business with us, and we need to be in business with Him.
We are here not just to hear some message, something you may have heard many, many times. Or even if you hear it for the first time, that is nothing.
We are here to present ourselves to the Lord and let Him fill us with Himself. That is why we are here.
We are here, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to dig the well, to remove anything that may hinder the springing forth of the living water—the life of our Lord Jesus.
He is here. The fountain is here. The revelation has been given. The vision has been recorded.
But, brothers and sisters, unless we remove all the dirt, the sin, the defilement of the world and of the flesh, and anything that may fill the wells, we will not be able to taste the sweetness of the living water.
So may we really be before the Lord and ask the Lord to remove anything that may hinder the revelation, the vision, of our Lord Jesus.
My part at this time is Paul’s heavenly vision.
Last time, we mentioned this young man, how he was deep in the traditions of Judaism, in the tradition of the fathers—the best traditions at that time. And yet, he was blind. He was in darkness.
He did things without knowing what he was doing. He thought he was serving God by persecuting the disciples of the Lord Jesus, because according to the tradition of the Jews at that time, they considered Jesus an impostor of Judaism. They got rid of Him.
And this young man, Saul, being deep in that tradition, was persecuting, devastating, trying to destroy all the disciples of the Lord Jesus, all those who bore the name of the Lord Jesus. While he was doing that, he thought he was serving God.
So, brothers and sisters, we may have the best traditions of men. We may have good intentions, sincere intentions, but we can be altogether in darkness.
Tradition brings us into darkness. Only revelation from above gives us light.
So what we need is revelation—something revealed to us from above, a vision from heaven that will release us, deliver us, save us, and bring us into light.
This young man did all these things in ignorance.
While he was on his way to Damascus to seize the disciples of the Lord Jesus, to find them and bring them to Jerusalem to be judged, while he was nearing the city, suddenly a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shone upon him.
It was as if a spotlight shone upon this young man. He was smitten to the earth. There were others with him; they were all smitten, astonished, wondering what was happening.
But to this young man, He heard a voice:
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.
It was not an angry voice. It was not a voice of condemnation. It was a voice of love—sympathizing, pitying, loving.
“Saul, Saul, I knew you even before you were born. While you were in your mother’s womb, I had already set you apart. But you do not know. You do not know Me, but I know you. I know your name. I have been watching over you.
“I know what you were doing. I allowed you to go as far as you could, but now, thus far and no more. It is for your good, because it is hard for you to kick against the goads.
“I have given you many chances to remind you of what you were doing, but you kicked back. You saw My servant Stephen while he was being stoned—how his face shone as an angel, how he saw heaven opened, and saw the Son of Man standing there, welcoming him.
“You heard his cry, the cry not of vengeance, but of forgiveness. You were touched in your conscience, but you kicked against it. You increased your threatenings and slaughter in order to silence the voice of your conscience.
“You were heading to destruction with such determination. But I know you did that in ignorance. Thus far, no more.”
For the first time, this young man realized that he was not his own master. He always felt that he was his own master. He had control over his whole life. He set his goal. He worked at it.
Probably he wanted to be the greatest rabbi in Judaism, and he might have made it. He had control not only over his own life; he exercised control over many lives—not only those who followed him, but even those whom he arrested and sentenced to death.
For the first time, he realized he had met his Master.
Dear brothers and sisters, is it not true even with us? Before we met the Lord Jesus, we felt that we were our own masters. We could do anything that we wanted to do, and if we set our minds on certain things, we would get them.
We had full control over our life. Especially when we were young, that was the way we felt: we are the master.
But thank God, one day we came to our senses. We realized that we are not our master, but we have a Master in heaven.
There is One Who is our Maker. There is One Who is our Creator. There is One Who is our Master, and He has a definite purpose in each one of our lives.
We ought to plow His field. We ought to fulfill His purpose for us.
We are not here in this world without any purpose, without any meaning. God created us with a purpose, with a meaning. That is why we are here, but we do not know it.
We are created to do the will of God, to fulfill His plan, to glorify our Master. But often, we do not know it—not until one day He challenges us.
The Lord knows each one of you by name. One day He will call you by your name.
“Saul, why persecutest thou Me? Your life was against Me. Whatever you did was against Me. You were going the opposite way of My will. You were going your own way. It is a way of destruction. It is a way of death.
“It is hard for thee to kick against the goads. You are not your own. I claim you today for Myself. Know your Master.”
Brothers and sisters, in the book of Isaiah, you remember the prophet Isaiah at the beginning of his prophecy. He said:
The ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master’s crib:
but Israel doth not know,
My people doth not consider.
—Isaiah 1:3
How true this is with every one of us before He met us on the road.
I believe many of us here—hopefully all of us here—someday, somewhere, the Lord arrested you on your way to destruction. He turned you around. He showed you that He is not only your Redeemer, but also your Lord, your Master.
When you believe in the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior, when you find your sins forgiven and cleansed by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus, do you realize at that time that He is not only your Redeemer, your Savior, Who saves you from eternal death and brings you out of death into life?
Thank God for that. But do you not realize at the same time that He claims you as His own, that He is your Master, your Lord?
He asks you to give your life to Him and allow Him to lead you in the way of everlasting life.
How unfortunate: many who have believed in the Lord Jesus fail to accept the same Jesus as their Master, as their Lord. You are still running your life. You will not allow Him to be your Lord.
So, dear brothers and sisters, thank God, with this young man Saul, his conversion was complete.
Because on the road to Damascus, he not only received forgiveness of his past sins, however great they were. He enjoyed the joy of salvation. But more than that, he found his Lord, his Master.
So you will find that his second question was this. His first question was, “Lord, who art Thou?” And the voice said, “I am Jesus, the Nazarene, Whom thou persecutest.”
Dear brothers and sisters, I believe it was such a shock to this young man. Because in the mind of this young man, who was Jesus? Jesus the Nazarene—the despised, the rejected, the crucified Jesus, an impostor that should be wiped out.
How he despised Jesus. How he despised that name. How he hated that name.
And yet, to his surprise, the One Who appeared to him, the One Who talked to him, was none other than this Jesus.
For the first time, he realized that Jesus the Nazarene is the risen Lord, the Lord of all. And he surrendered: “Lord, what dost Thou want me to do? I am now at Thy feet.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, I hope that every one of us will experience this full salvation—not just receiving Jesus as your Savior and Redeemer, but at the same time realizing that He is your Lord, your Master.
Give your life to Him. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, for this is your reasonable service; this is your spiritual worship. And this should be the beginning of your Christian life, your life with the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, this young man—if you read Philippians 3—you will find how he boasted of his past. He boasted of his pedigree, his upbringing, his education, his office, his achievements, and his mission. He considered that these were treasures to him, life to him.
But when he met the Lord on the road to Damascus, what a change! He said, “I count all things but dross.” They are all refuse, nothing, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
On the road to Damascus, the Lord appeared to him. He saw the Righteous One with his natural eyes. He heard His voice with his natural ears. And he realized that Jesus is Lord. He is the Lord of his life.
And thank God, he gave his life back to the Lord for the Lord’s full purpose in his life to be fulfilled.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the only way you can fulfill God’s purpose in your life. If you do not put yourself into the hands of your Master, no matter how you try, you will not fulfill your life’s purpose.
Life will remain meaningless to you. You will be just drifting and wandering about, missing out.
The only way we can have God’s purpose in our life fulfilled, the only way that makes our life meaningful—brothers and sisters, put yourself in your Master’s hands, and He will bring it to pass. Thank God for that.
But, you know, the vision that Paul talked about, that heavenly vision, is something more than just hearing a voice, even though that voice comes from above. It is more than seeing the Righteous One with your eyes.
What a privilege that is. Oftentimes we thought, if we only lived in the first century, at the time when Jesus was walking on earth, and were not born in China but born in Palestine—if only I could see Him, if only I could hear Him—oh, what a privilege that would be.
But, dear brothers and sisters, good as it is, there is something better.
You know, people at the time of our Lord Jesus saw Him. They heard Him. They were even healed by Him. But they did not know Him. They rejected Him. Why? Because no one can know the Son except by the Father.
To know the Lord Jesus must come by revelation. Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. And our Lord Jesus said, “Simon Bar-Jonah, remember, this is not something shown you by flesh and blood. It is My heavenly Father Who revealed His Son to you.”
So, brothers and sisters, we find that a vision, a heavenly vision, is really something more than what you can see or hear outwardly. They may come that way, but that is not the real meaning of vision.
A vision is something of heaven that is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit in your spirit. It is deeply within, deeply internal.
You may hear and see outwardly; that does not count very much. But when you see with your inner eye, when you hear with your inner ear, when you understand with your heart, the Holy Spirit opens up heaven and reveals to you in the depths of your being. Brothers and sisters, that is a vision.
Not the sound and the sight—it is the reality.
So Paul, on the road to Damascus, experienced more than hearing a voice from heaven. It was more than seeing the Righteous One. In the past, Jesus was an evil one to him, but now he realized that this is the Righteous One, the only Righteous One in the whole universe.
But more than that, you will find in Galatians 1:15-16 how he mentioned that he had persecuted the church, but God, in His great love and mercy, was pleased to reveal His Son in him, that he might preach Him as the gospel, the glad tidings.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord appeared to him. Thank God for that. But it is more than that. When he saw the light, when he saw the Righteous One, his physical eyes went blind. It was too bright; he could not stand it.
But at the same time, his inner eyes were opened. His testimony was, “God was pleased.” It is the good pleasure of God to reveal His Son in me—not just to me, but in me.
Every time you see a mother—or a grandmother especially—when her son is born or her grandson is born, you do not need to ask any questions. She will tell you. It pleases her to reveal her son to you.
And how much more our heavenly Father. He has an only begotten Son, the joy of His heart. It is His good pleasure. How anxious He is to reveal His Son, not just to you, but in you, that you may have an intimate relationship with His Son.
When a mother or grandmother shows you her son or grandson, the son is still hers, not yours. But when our heavenly Father reveals His Son to you, in you, He is yours.
You are now one with Him. He is more than Someone outside of you; He is within you. No one can take Him away from you. He is yours forever.
And this is what God has done to each one of us.
Who is in me? Do you realize Who is in you?
The heavenly vision is not a teaching. It is not a doctrine. It is not a theory. It is not theology. It is not a system. It is not religion. It is not a theme.
The heavenly vision is a Person—the heart of the heavenly Father, Jesus Christ the Son.
You do not hear just a teaching about the Lord Jesus. You are not just keeping a doctrine, however accurate it may be. That is letter. You are not to enter into a religious system; it is outside.
When the heavenly vision comes to us, deep down in your spirit, you see the Son. “Look at My Son. Realize Who He is.”
He is the only begotten of the Father, the eternal Son of God. No one has ever seen the Father, but it is the Son Who declares Him. He is the image of the invisible God.
Oh, brothers and sisters, how we wish that we could see God. But no one can see God and live. He is holy.
But He revealed Himself to us in His Son. If we see the Son, we see the Father.
How our Lord Jesus again and again told His disciples, “You ask to see My Father. Have you not seen Me? To see Me is to see My Father. I am the exact image of the invisible God.”
This is what God is. Look at Me. Know Me, and you see God and you know God—the exact image of the invisible God.
The Son—Who is this Son? He is the Heir of all things.
God the Father loves the Son and gave everything to the Son: the Heir of all things.
What is His relationship with creation? He is the firstborn of all creation, because all creation was created in Him, by Him, and for Him.
Firstborn in Colossians 1 is a very special word. You know, firstborn has a common meaning: it means that you are the firstborn in time. But firstborn has a special meaning in Scripture.
And we are told by Greek scholars—for instance, Bishop Lightfoot—that “firstborn” in Scripture has a special meaning. It means sovereignty and priority.
And in Scripture you can find many instances of this. For instance, in Exodus 4:22, God sent Moses to tell Pharaoh:
Israel is My son, My first-born:
let My son go, that he may serve Me.
You know, as a nation, Israel was not an old nation. Egypt was an old nation. But in the sight of God, God made Israel the firstborn of all nations, giving them priority and sovereignty.
For instance, in Psalm 89:27, God declared that David is the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. Before David, there were many kings among the nations, and even Saul was king before David.
But in the sight of God, God made David the firstborn of all kings: priority, sovereignty.
And here He is, the beloved Son of God. He is the firstborn of all creation. He is not created; He is the Creator. But over all creation, He has power and priority. He has sovereignty over all creation. Why? Because all things were created in Him, by Him, and for Him.
Even today, the whole creation is sustained by His power.
What is His relation with the new creation? He is the firstborn. He has priority. He has sovereignty. He is the Head of the body. He is the firstborn from among the dead.
Brothers and sisters, this is the Son.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily. It pleased the Father to put all the fullness of the Godhead—all that God is—in Him.
Whatever you can think of, no one can measure the love of God. Paul tried, but he could not. He could only say, “What breadth, what length, what height, what depth?” There is no measure.
But all the fullness of the Godhead dwells—makes its home, permanently resides—in the beloved Son. Everything is in Him.
Oh, today, if you go to God and ask for something, God says, “Sorry, I have nothing to give. I have already given Myself, and in Him is everything.”
If you want to have anything good, go to Him. That is where you can find all you need. Brothers and sisters, this is the Son.
And this Son is revealed in me.
Oh, brothers and sisters, you take a lifetime to know the Son. No, it takes eternity to know Him.
This is the passion of the Apostle Paul. Once the Son was revealed in him, increasingly he realized how immense is the Son, how full is the Son, how rich is the Son. Everything is in the Son, and if only he knew the Son, he knew all.
And that was his passion: to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, to be conformed to His death, that he might attain unto the resurrection from among the dead.
Not that I have already attained. Forgetting the past, pressing on, stretching toward the goal, the high calling, the prize from above.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the heavenly vision.
Do you see the Son? Has He blinded out everything from you? Why is it that you always see yourself? You pity yourself.
Why is it always other people? Why do you always see the problems and your circumstances? You wonder. You are confused. Why? Do you not see the Son?
The heavens opened, and a voice came from heaven:
This is My beloved Son,
in Whom I am well pleased.
In the eyes of the heavenly Father, He saw only His Son. He saw you and me in the Son. If He should see you and me outside of the Son, we are finished.
Oh, may the Lord give us the vision, the vision of the Son. Everything to the Father, everything to you. Seek Him. Try to know Him. Find that you are all in Him. That is the heavenly vision.
But this heavenly vision is more than that.
“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?”
And it was but natural for Saul to say, “Lord, Who art Thou? I do not know Thee.”
You know, even though Saul was born probably a few years after the birth of our Lord Jesus, somehow he had never met the Lord Jesus personally.
While he was in Jerusalem, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, our Lord was in Nazareth. And when our Lord began to preach and came to Jerusalem, most likely Saul was in Tarsus. He never met the Lord. Before, he only heard of Him, and he hated Him. Why? Because he was bound, brainwashed by the traditions of the fathers.
So no wonder he said, “Who art Thou, Lord? Me persecute Thee? I have never met Thee. Now Thou art in heaven; I am on earth. How could I reach Thee? Ridiculous. Who art Thou that I am persecuting?”
And the voice said, “I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest.”
“Oh, no. I have never met Thee before. I cannot touch Thee now. I have never persecuted Thee.”
But he did not say that. Why? He received a revelation.
He realized, by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, at the very moment when the Lord said, “Why persecutest thou Me?” Immediately his eyes were opened.
Those disciples of the Lord Jesus, the people of the Way, Stephen, men and women in Jerusalem, in Judea, even those in Gentile cities whom he was going to find and bring to Jerusalem to be judged—these people, oh, these are none other than He. They are one.
“I touch these members of the body, and the Head complains: ‘Why dost thou touch Me?’ These are Me.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, what a revelation. It can only come from above.
There he saw the church, the body of Christ. He saw the Head, the One Who is Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and truth. But to those who contemplated Him, they saw the glory of the Son with His Father.
When our Lord was on earth, when He took upon Himself a physical body, He spoke and worked in that body, and through that body revealed the heavenly Father to men.
And in that body, He gave Himself to be crucified on the cross, to bear the sins of the world, to fulfill the work of redemption, to give us hope, to save us.
He was in that body only thirty-three and a half years. And what a testimony.
He was buried, raised upon the third day, and forty days later He ascended on high. And God has anointed Him, made Him Lord and Christ.
Oh, brothers and sisters, this humble Man of Galilee is now the Lord of all. God has put everything under His feet. He is Head over all. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him, waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool.
But that is not all.
He went, but on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was sent down.
In one Spirit, the one hundred and twenty believers who gathered in that upper room praying were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, and they were made to drink of one Spirit.
This happened at Pentecost with the Jews. It happened in the house of Cornelius with the Gentiles.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord has ascended on high, the Head over all things. But He takes upon Himself another body, a mystical body.
For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.
—1 Corinthians 12:13
And 1 Corinthians 12:12 says:
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is the Christ.
Wonderful. You know, our Lord Jesus takes us up to be His body. What a privilege, and what a responsibility.
Remember, we are His body, one with Him. If anyone should touch any one of us, they touch the Head. They touch Christ. Oh, what an honor. What a union.
But on the other hand, what a responsibility: that we will be under the headship of Christ.
What is the church? The church is the body of Christ. What is the body of Christ? It is the Christ.
It is Christ in His corporate expression. How it eliminates anything, everything, that is not of Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, if we try to bring anything of ourselves, of the world, of sin, or of the enemy into the body of Christ, we destroy the testimony.
How we need the cross to work in each of our lives, to keep our flesh outside, the world outside, sin outside—everything not of God outside, everything not of Christ outside.
What remains in the body is Christ, nothing but Christ. Oh, Christ! Because the body is the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all. Wonderful.
That is the heavenly vision. In the heavenly vision, you see the Son; you see the Son, the Head. At the same time, you cannot help but see the body.
On the road to Damascus, Saul met a man, a universal Man.
Saul was a big shot himself. He was well known, not only in Jerusalem; his fame had already gone to Damascus. People were talking about him. People were afraid of him. A big shot.
But he met a bigger Man, a universal Man. This Man’s Head is in heaven; His body is spread all over the earth.
He spans two thousand years—from the first one who believed in the Lord Jesus to the last one who will be saved. We are all in this one body of Christ. Hallelujah!
Do you think anyone can fight against this universal Man? No wonder even the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it, because He is too great.
Oh, on the road to Damascus, how the inner eyes of the poor Saul were opened. He began to see the mystery of God: Who is Christ? And he began to see the mystery of Christ: Who is the church?
This is the heavenly vision. This is the vision that God wants every one of us to see.
Yes, we will not be able to see the fullness of it. It takes eternity to see it. But we can begin now and here.
If only we are willing to remove all the dirt, be open to Him, and you will find that it is His good pleasure to reveal His Son in us.
May the Lord help us. Shall we pray?
Dear heavenly Father, Thou tellest us that it is Thy good pleasure to reveal Thy Son in us.
Oh, heavenly Father, we want to see Thy Son. Do pray that the scales upon our inner eyes may be dropped. We want to see Jesus.
Bring us into the vision. We claim it as our heritage, as our right. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.