Whereupon as I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,
at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun,
shining round about me and them that journeyed with me.
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew tongue,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.
And I said, Who art Thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
But arise, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I appeared unto thee,
to appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen Me,
and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee;
delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee,
to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Me.
Wherefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
but declared both to them of Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judaea,
and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
For this cause the Jews seized me in the temple, and assayed to kill me.
Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand unto this day testifying both to small and great,
saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come;
how that the Christ must suffer, and how that He first by the resurrection of the dead
should proclaim light both to the people and to the Gentiles.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee for being with us through this week. We thank Thee for bringing us up to this evening. Thou art gracious, merciful, and faithful, so we come together to offer our thanks to Thee.
Lord, as we gather again this evening in Thy presence, we pray that Thou wilt continue to speak to us through Thy Word. We pray that Thou wilt continue to dig the well within us and remove anything that may hinder the flowing of Thy living waters.
Lord, we pray that whatever is yet left to be done will be done tonight. Oh, our heart’s desire is that Thou wilt bring us into the heavenly vision. Make it a part of us, and make us a part of that vision.
Lord, we acknowledge that this is a work no man can do, but it is Thy work. So we just trust Thy Holy Spirit to do the work that He is sent for, to the praise of the glory of God. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, we thank God that during this week we have been digging the wells together. We dig again the old wells that our fathers dug before, but unfortunately the Philistines had filled them with earth.
And thank God, as we are engaged in digging the old wells, by the grace of God we believe that we discover new wealth. There is no limit to the living water. There is no limit to the Christ in whom we believe. Thank God for that.
Our two dear brothers have shared with us the vision that Moses saw on the mount. It is the vision of the pattern of the tabernacle, and the reality speaks to us of Christ and of His church.
Our dear brother also shared with us David’s desire for the house. And that very vision, again, is none other than Christ and His church.
My part is to share Paul’s heavenly vision. We have already mentioned that it is Christ and His church. That is the reality.
On the road to Damascus, this young man Saul was smitten by the light from heaven, a light brighter than the noonday sun. That light was so irresistible, so powerful, that it literally smote this young man to the ground, and all those who were with him.
But he was the only one who heard the voice: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.”
Dear brothers and sisters, this is recorded in the book of Acts three times. We find it recorded in Acts 9; again in Acts 22, when the Apostle Paul testified before the Jews in Jerusalem; and then again in Acts 26, when he testified before King Agrippa.
Now, why is it that this incident is recorded three times in the Word of God? God spoke once; we did not hear. He spoke twice; we may faintly hear the sound. And it really takes three times before we begin to realize what we have heard. You know, we are so dull in hearing.
I often wonder during the prayer meeting. Usually, I was probably the only one sitting there hearing almost nothing. When brothers stood up praying, I could not hear a word because I was dull of hearing—hard of hearing.
And spiritually speaking, brothers and sisters, I am afraid we all are very dull in hearing. How God has to speak, and speak, and speak again, again, again before we hear. But thank God, He is so patient. He wants us to hear.
I believe the reason why this testimony of Paul is recorded three times in the book of Acts is that God not only wanted him to hear, but God wants us to hear too.
He needed that heavenly vision to turn him around from destruction to life, from darkness to light. Brothers and sisters, all of us need to hear that voice. We need to see the Righteous One. We need to receive that revelation of the Son in us.
That is the only way we can turn away from destruction—eternal destruction—into eternal life. So, brothers and sisters, we are not just here listening to something that happened to someone somewhere two thousand years ago. We are here to experience the very same thing that our brother Paul experienced in his life.
May the Lord really help us. We are not here as spectators. We are here engaged in very serious business. It is a business of life.
Thank God, this young man, who set his heart upon wiping out the name of Jesus, thought he was serving God. He was doing it according to the best of his knowledge, and his knowledge came from the traditions of the fathers.
How dangerous it is when our life is directed and governed by man’s tradition. We may be very sincere, and yet be very wrong. It is only by the grace of God that He turns us around. Thank God for that.
We mentioned yesterday that this vision was more than something Saul heard and saw externally. He did hear the voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.” He heard it, and he really saw the Righteous One.
But he was blinded by what he saw; his physical eyes were blinded. Yet, thank God, when his physical eyes were blinded by the light and the vision, his inner eyes were opened by God.
“It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.” So, dear brothers and sisters, vision is more than just sight and sound. Vision is a revelation. It is a revelation from above. It is the revelation of the Father concerning His Son. That is the reality of vision.
This young man Saul was a master of himself. He did things that were right in his own eyes. But there on the road to Damascus, he met his Master for the first time.
Of course, with his Jewish background and his education under the feet of Gamaliel, he knew that God was his Maker. But that mental understanding did not affect his life. He might know that God was his Maker, and yet he lived as if he had created himself.
Not until that revelation came did he realize that he was not his own master. He had a Master in heaven. He had a Lord. How he capitulated himself, surrendered himself completely, to his Master.
“Lord, who art Thou? Lord, what shall I do? What dost Thou want me to do? I am now at Thy disposal. I realize that Thou created me with a purpose. I realize that I am like a wild, undisciplined, unbroken ox. I need to be broken, that I may do Thy work.”
Brothers and sisters, this is something that has to happen to every one of us. It is not enough just to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, however precious that may be.
You need to see more. You need to see that He is not only your Savior, your Redeemer, who has saved you from death to life, but He is at the same time your Master, your Lord.
You are not only a believer; you are His disciple. Not only does He belong to you; you belong to Him. It is only right for every one of us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is our reasonable service and spiritual worship.
So I hope, dear brothers and sisters, every one of us here who is saved by the grace of God through the blood of our Lord Jesus will also accept this Jesus, who so loved us, as Lord and Master.
Unfortunately, we find that there are many who are saved, but not fully saved. Probably many of you have read that book Against the Tide. It is about another young man who outwardly received Christianity, but inwardly rejected Christ.
He was a brilliant young man. He had his whole future planned, and very likely he would be a success in whatever he set his heart upon. But one day, when he heard the gospel, he knew in his heart from the very first evening that this was the truth. Jesus is the Savior. He should accept Him as his Savior.
But he did not do that. The only reason was that he could not. He realized in his heart that if he accepted Jesus as his Savior, then at the same time Jesus had a claim upon his life. He would not be able to be his own master anymore. He could not pursue his own plans.
So he waited. He struggled. But thank God, after a few days, while he was in his room praying, God showed him the blackness of his sins and the redness of the blood of the Lord Jesus.
The love of Christ melted his heart, and there and then he surrendered to the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, this should be the history of us all. We should believe on the Lord Jesus for all good. We all should yield our lives to this One who loved us so much as to give Himself for us. How can we live for ourselves anymore?
The love of Christ constrains us. Knowing that One died for us, we died; and we live no more for ourselves, but for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.
That is what happened on the road to Damascus. There this young man received a revelation of the Son of God—the only begotten Son, the eternal Son of God, one with the Father, the exact image of the invisible God, the Creator of all things, including you and me, and also the Head of the church, the body of Christ.
But, brothers and sisters, if vision is real vision, it is given by God. It is not for our speculation, merely for our contemplation.
When a vision is given from above, there is a calling behind it. At the same time, our God is the most practical God. Oftentimes we think spiritual things are not practical. We think the more impractical you are, the more spiritual you become. That is a wrong concept.
Actually, the more spiritual you are, the more practical you are. God does not waste His revelation on us simply for us to have a sweet thought. When God gives revelation and vision, He means business.
People who say they see vision, but whose vision never turns into a vocation, we call visionaries—dreamers, daydreamers.
If a vision comes from above, brothers and sisters, there is a calling behind it, calling us into that vision so that that vision may become a part of our being. It is not something vague, abstract, or floating.
It is something that affects our day-to-day living. It gives us meaning in life, purpose in life, direction in life, strength in life, endurance in life, and discipline in life.
Vision has to become vocation. Vision is meant for vocation, and vocation is none other than the fulfillment of that vision.
But of course, for vision to be converted into vocation, much is involved: many practical things, many dealings, many trials, and many sufferings. It is only the cross that changes and turns our vision into our vocation.
If we reject the working of the cross in our life, we become visionaries—never true, never real. So this is a principle before us.
Now let us see how it applies to this young man. On the road to Damascus, he saw the heavenly vision. Brothers and sisters, I believe that at that time, because of the vision, he was literally lifted out of earth into the third heaven.
How that vision enlarged him. How that vision deepened his very understanding. It lifted him out of earth into heaven. He met a universal Man: the Head is in heaven, and the body fills all the earth.
If you have a vision of that universal Man, you cannot be small anymore. You are enlarged and expanded. But thank God, at the same time, it reduces you to nothing—so very small. Why? Because you are just a member in that universal Man. You are not that Man at all.
But now the discipline begins: “What shall I do, Lord? What dost Thou want me to do? Here I am, at Thy disposal, ready.”
This young man had just seen that vision. Most likely he fully expected the Lord would say, “All right, get up. Go and preach to the nations. This is your mission from now on.” He would get up and travel all over the world—not only Asia, but Europe too—to preach the gospel and accomplish his mission.
That would be natural, because that was what he had done before in persecuting the disciples of the Lord, trying to wipe them out not only in Jewish cities but even in Gentile cities. He was a very thorough persecutor.
So Saul, being such a person before he met the Lord, naturally, while he was prostrating on the ground and saying, “Lord, what dost Thou want me to do?” fully expected the Lord to say, “All right, do this and do that,” and he would get up and do it.
Now, if he had done that, do you know what would happen? That vision would never become his vocation. He would be independent of the Head: “You give the order and leave the details with me. I am well able to fulfill it.”
He would be independent of all the members of the body of Christ, as if he himself were the body. No, the Lord said, “No. Rise up. Go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee what I want thee to do.”
Another surprise.
You know, dear brothers and sisters, when I think back on myself, on the day that I was saved, I was so grateful to Him. I was a young man, fifteen years old, newly saved, full of zeal.
On the last day of the conference, as was the custom of those days in revival meetings, the last day was always on consecration. And consecration in my time always meant to consecrate yourself to be a preacher or a Bible woman. That was consecration.
I can still remember very vividly a huge map of China hanging on the wall of the platform. The preacher began to plead: “Oh, if you love the Lord, think of how much the Lord has loved you and saved you. You should give yourself to His service. You can choose where you want to go to serve.”
I was a young man, full of flesh and blood. I said, “I want to serve the Lord. Where should I go?” I marched to the platform and pointed my finger at Mongolia. “That is where I want to go to serve.”
Why? Because Mongolia, to us Chinese, was the furthest and most difficult place to serve. That is why I wanted to be there. Heroic!
I could not wait for God’s command to tell me what He wanted me to do. I was ready. I went ahead of Him. Do not laugh at me, because I meant business.
It was my last year in high school. During that year, I tried to collect everything concerning Mongolia. I wanted to know Mongolia. I set my heart upon going.
When I graduated from high school, I did not want to go to college. It would be a waste of four years. I must prepare myself to serve God in Mongolia. So I chose a Bible school, the best I knew, because I was very active in Christianity. I knew the professors, and I had all my plans set for what I should do for God.
Thank God, God smashed my plans. I have never been to Mongolia. He had His plan for me. It took a few years before I realized it.
But, brothers and sisters, here you find this young man, full of zeal, full of energy, full of plans. Even after he had given himself to God and been given that vision of the headship of Christ and the fellowship of the members of the body of Christ, he would not understand it. It was theory to him; it was not reality to him.
So the Lord dealt with him. You know, it is very hard for this young man. If you have gone through that, you know how hard it is.
“Go to Damascus. Wait until I send someone to tell you what I want you to do.”
He got up. His eyes were blind. He could not see. Helpless, he had to be led into the city of Damascus. There, on the street called Straight, in the house of Judas, he was three days without eating and without drinking, just praying. He was fasting and praying blind.
In the city of Damascus there was a man whose name was Ananias. We have never heard of him before. This man Ananias was a devout man according to the law, and all the Jews in the city of Damascus could bear witness to his piety.
But he was also a believer in Jesus Christ. The Lord appeared to him in a vision: “Ananias.” And Ananias said, “Lord, here am I.”
This was a man unknown to the world, yet known by God. He knew God; he knew the Lord Jesus. So when in the vision God said, “Ananias,” Ananias replied, “Here I am.”
The Lord said, “Go to the street called Straight, to that house. There is a man, Saul. He is praying. Go and open his eyes.”
And Ananias said, “Lord, I have heard of this man. He was so famous, how he persecuted Thy people. He came to this city to seize those who are Thine, to bring them bound to Jerusalem to be judged.”
The Lord said, “You go. He is My chosen vessel. He will bear witness for Me before many nations, kings, and the Jews. And he will suffer much for Me.”
At the same time, Saul, while he was praying, also saw in a vision a man come in, lay his hands on him, and open his eyes.
Dear brothers and sisters, the vision on the road to Damascus was not finished yet. It continued into the city.
On the road to Damascus he saw a universal Man, an overpowering Man, a Man who filled the whole universe, a Man against whom even the gates of Hades could not prevail.
But in that city, there was a little man, Ananias. Even though he was known in Damascus, he was unknown in other places—not like Saul, who was well known, not only in Jerusalem but whose fame had gone before him to Damascus.
God used a little man to help a man greater than he. That is the way of God. Brothers and sisters, that is the way.
Here you find the Lord teaching Saul a lesson. “You see the Head. All right, that is the will of the Head. Will you bow to it? You see the body. But it is not a theory; it is real. Now you see how the body works.”
God used a little man to give a future greater member in the body a message that would humble him.
Brothers and sisters, when we see a heavenly vision, it lifts us up to the third heaven. But we have to come down. We have to be reduced to the place that God has put us. Do not think that there is only God and you.
I often hear people say, “I do not care about you, brothers and sisters. I do not care for anybody. It is my Lord and I.” Very spiritual!
Many years ago, our dear brother Watchman Nee went to England. That was in 1938 or 1939. He went to visit an old man. At that time, the old man was in his nineties.
If I mention his name, probably many of you will know him: George Cutting, the one who wrote that booklet, Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment. That booklet has helped so many people.
At that time he was in his nineties and was in bed. He drifted in and out of consciousness. Our brother went to visit him and sat by his bedside, waiting for him to wake up.
When he woke up, he saw our brother. Do you know what he said? He said, “I cannot do without Him, and He cannot do without me.” Then he went back into unconsciousness.
“I cannot do without Him.” Well, we understand that. How can we do without our Lord? But he knew the Lord so well that he said, “He cannot do without me.”
There is such a relationship between you and the Lord. You cannot do without the Lord, but the Lord cannot do without you. How much He needs you! Do you realize that? What an honor.
When our brother came back and told the story, he said, “Let us change it. Let us change it to our relationship with one another.”
True, in our relationship with the Lord, I cannot do without Him, and He cannot do without me. Brothers and sisters, have you come to that place yet? Can you say, “I cannot do without Him”? Oh, you may say, “I can do many things without Him.” But one day you will realize that you cannot do anything without Him.
But when will be the day when you realize He cannot do anything without you? Wonderful, wonderful.
But harder than that is when we say, “I cannot do without you”—you, another member of the body. We are members one of another. How can we do anything without the other members of the body of Christ?
If you see the heavenly vision, you cannot be independent anymore. You cannot be independent of Christ the Head. You cannot be independent of your brothers and sisters.
The church is the body of Christ. This body fills the universe. It is the church universal. All the spiritual principles are in the church universal.
But all these spiritual principles in the universal body have to be put into practice in the local body, in the place where you are, where you are with your brothers and sisters day by day. You are in such intimate relationship together.
That is where all the spiritual principles of the universal church are to be put into practice. How it reduces you to the place where you should be.
Even a little member—you need him. How we need one another. This humbles us. In a sense, it reduces us to our place.
When Ananias—thank God—obeyed God, he went to that house. He went in and saw Saul, blind and praying. He laid his hands on him and said, “Saul, brother.”
You know, these two men could never meet. This young man Saul came to Damascus to seize those who were of the Way, believers and disciples of the Lord. Ananias was one of the targets. They were enemies. If they met, one must die.
They could not see each other. Yet Ananias went to this man as if offering himself to him. Why? Because it was the Lord. The Lord told him to do that. He loved the Lord so much that he was willing to sacrifice his life. He was willing to go to his arch-enemy because he believed in the Lord.
So: “Brother.” I believe there was no sound sweeter than that to Saul at that time. “You, my enemy; you, the target of my search; you whom I came to seize, to bind, and to bring to Jerusalem to be judged—you call me brother?”
It must have melted his heart. Oh, brothers and sisters, how sweet is the sound, “Brother.”
Some people do not want to be called brother. They want to be called Mister or Doctor. But there is no sweeter name than brother or sister.
We were unknown to each other. We could even be enemies to each other. But it is the Lord who brings us together as brothers and sisters.
So, “Brother Saul, the One who appeared to you on the road—Jesus—has sent me to open your eyes and to fill you with the Holy Spirit.”
Why did Ananias lay hands on him? Saul was supposed to lay hands on Ananias. But if Saul had laid hands on Ananias, Ananias would have been finished. Instead, Ananias laid hands on Saul, uniting him into the body of Christ.
We are no longer enemies. In Christ, we are one. No one can separate us from our Head, nor from each other in the body.
Oh, brothers and sisters, that is the practice of the vision. Have you met the little man yet? Or do you want only to meet that universal Man, so that you may float in the third heaven?
Unless you come down to earth, where you are with your brothers and sisters, the vision is not practical.
Sometimes we hear people say, “Oh, I love all God’s people in the world, but I cannot love that brother with me.” If we cannot love the brother whom we can see, how can we love the brothers whom we do not see? How can we love the Lord whom we do not see?
If we are not one with the brothers and sisters where we are—always at odds, always unfriendly, not even speaking to each other, avoiding each other, accusing each other—and yet say that we love all God’s people, what does that mean? “Yes, I love people in London, because many years I have not been there.”
That is vocation. Our vocation is to obey the Lord, whether it is against our will or our wish, even to the point of our life. Obey. He is the Head.
Our vocation is to be one with all brothers and sisters, to show that unity where we are, so that the spiritual principle of the oneness of the body of Christ may be manifested.
Ananias put his hands upon Saul: “Brother Saul, God sent me to open your eyes.” When Saul opened his eyes, do you know whom he saw? The first one he saw was Ananias. He saw his brother.
He did not see his enemy; he saw his brother. I wonder whether he just got up and embraced him.
Once, when I was in India, some brothers sent me off at a station. We all got on the train, and before I left, we all knelt down on the train and prayed. After the prayer, a huge brother suddenly embraced me. I was shocked!
He showed his love toward me. Wonderful.
“And be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Brothers and sisters, the ointment falls upon Aaron’s head, flowing down to his beard, and it flows down even to the skirt of his garments. That is the picture.
When our Lord Jesus ascended on high, the Father anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and made Him both Christ and Lord. That anointing, that Holy Spirit, came down on the day of Pentecost—I wonder whether that is the beard—and it continued to flow to cover the whole body.
As long as you are united to the body, you receive the Holy Spirit.
Saul rose up, ate, was strengthened, and continued with the brothers in Damascus. He went in and out with the brothers in Damascus. He was not alone now.
He did not simply go out on his own to fulfill his mission. He was with the brothers, proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God.
How could he do that? Because on the road to Damascus, the Father was pleased to reveal His Son in him. So he went to the city and began to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God.
Then, of course, for a few years he went to the Arabian desert and spent some time there. I wonder whether he was reading the Old Testament under the new light of Christ.
Then he came back, and with power he reasoned that Jesus is the Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, wherever this man went, he sought fellowship. When he left Damascus in a basket, he went to Jerusalem. Do you know what he wanted to do more than anything else? He wanted to have fellowship with fellow believers.
But everybody avoided him. “Here comes this man again.” Nobody believed him. But there was a good man, a son of comfort—Barnabas. He believed him, led him to Peter, and then Saul went in and out with the brothers in Jerusalem.
Throughout his life, brothers and sisters, he practiced what he saw. He did not only preach what he saw; he practiced what he saw.
So, dear brothers and sisters, that is what we must be. Do not become visionaries—talking about that vision, but never being in that vision.
The vision is meant that you be in the vision and that the vision be in you. It is your vocation. There is a calling there. Whenever a vision is given, a revelation is given, there is always a calling.
You remember Isaiah. When he went to the temple and saw the vision of the One on the throne, His train filled the temple, and seraphim cried, “Holy, holy, holy.”
Immediately he realized how unclean he was: “I am a man of unclean lips, dwelling among a people of unclean lips.” He was a prophet, and he was cleansed by the fire from the altar.
Then he heard a voice: “Whom shall We send, and who will go for Us?” He answered, “Here am I; send me.”
Brothers and sisters, a vision always comes with a calling. Very practical.
In Acts 9, the Lord said, “This is a chosen vessel of Mine.” In Acts 22, He says that Saul has been chosen to be a servant and a witness. In Acts 26, he was to witness of what he had seen and heard, and of what he would be shown later. He must suffer much for the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, so he says in his testimony, “Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”
God had graced him, even though he had been a blasphemer and a persecutor. He acknowledged what he had done, but God had mercy upon him and revealed His Son in him.
He had given him that heavenly vision: Christ and the church, the body of Christ, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. “Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”
Why the double negative? For emphasis’ sake. It is easy to disobey, but he obeyed, and he obeyed fully. Look at his life. What a transformation.
How faithful he was. He was always under the headship of Christ, led by the Spirit of God, doing nothing of his own, leaning upon the Lord.
He suffered much for the Lord’s sake. How he fulfilled his mission—not only in Asia, but crossing the Aegean into Europe—proclaiming that Jesus is Lord, not only with his words, but with his life.
Eventually, he was martyred for the One who called him, faithful to the very end.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord expects the same of us. He has graced us by giving us the heavenly vision. He has called us to be His witnesses, living martyrs for Him.
How we obey.
Dear Lord, what can we say? Thou hast loved us so much. Thou hast given Thy all to us.
Thou hast Thy hand upon us. Where else can we go? What else can we do?
Oh, Lord, accept us. In humility, we ask that Thou wilt accept us and make us vessels of Thy name, vessels of Thy testimony.
May Thy will be done in each one of us. May Thy kingdom come. May Thy name be honored.
Thank Thee, Lord. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.