Last night, we considered the vision of Peter. We saw that the Father revealed Christ to him. The revelation of Christ does not come from flesh and blood, nor through human teaching; it comes from the Father.
Peter received the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Upon that revelation, the Lord said:
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.— Matthew 16:18
After this revelation, the Lord took Peter, James, and John up to the mountain. Moses and Elijah appeared, and they spoke with Him concerning His departure. There the disciples saw something of the glory of the Lord Jesus.
But Christ must suffer before He enters into glory. This concerns not only Christ Himself; it also concerns the building of the church.
Now, brothers and sisters, we would like to consider the vision of Paul. Paul was a tentmaker. He knew how to take materials and make something from them. Yet he was also a master builder in the spiritual sense.
Before Saul met the Lord on the road to Damascus, he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and a Pharisee.
He knew the law. He had been trained under Gamaliel, one of the great rabbis of that time. He was exceedingly zealous for the traditions of his fathers.
Yet Saul looked upon Jesus as an impostor. He had never seen Jesus Himself, but he persecuted those who followed Him. He desired to destroy the church.
You remember the martyrdom of Stephen. Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. The religious leaders could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
Stephen saw the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Before he died, he prayed that the Lord would not lay this sin to their charge.
Saul was there. He consented to Stephen’s death. Afterward, he went into houses, seized men and women, and put them into prison.
He received letters and went toward Damascus to seize the followers of the Lord. But while he was on the road to Damascus, a light brighter than the sun shone around him, and he fell to the ground.
He heard a voice saying:
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.— Acts 26:14
Now, brothers and sisters, do you understand what this means? In the old days, when a farmer ploughed a field, he used oxen. The oxen were joined to a yoke, and the farmer guided them with a goad.
When the ox kicked against the goad, it only hurt itself. The farmer did not desire to hurt the ox. He used the goad to guide it and to bring it into the right path.
In the same way, God has a purpose. Even before the foundation of the world, God chose us in Christ Jesus. He created us for His purpose, that we might do His will.
But we often think that we are our own masters. We think that we have our own purpose and may do whatever we please. Brothers and sisters, we do not understand that we have a Master. God is our Master. Our Creator is our Master.
God has a purpose for our lives. When we resist His will, we are kicking against the goad. Sometimes we pass through trials and difficult circumstances, and we wonder why these things have happened to us. Yet perhaps the Lord is reminding us that we belong to Him.
Saul said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” The Lord answered:
I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
— Acts 9:5
This was a great revelation. Saul recognized that Jesus is Lord. The One whom he thought was dead was alive in heaven. The One whom he thought was an impostor was the exalted Lord.
This was the first thing Saul saw: Jesus is Lord. He recognized that the followers of Jesus were not merely a group of people on earth. They were joined to Christ Himself.
If someone touches your arm, you would not say, “Why do you touch my arm?” You would say, “Why do you touch me?” When any part of the body is touched, the whole person is touched.
In the same way, when Saul persecuted the believers, the Lord Jesus said, “Why persecutest thou Me?” The believers form the body of Christ.
Two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus took upon Himself a physical body through Mary. In that body He lived on earth, worked, taught, suffered, died, and rose again.
After His resurrection, He continued His work through another body upon the earth—the church. This is what we find in the beginning of the Book of Acts.
The Gospel according to Luke tells us what Jesus began both to do and to teach in His physical body. The Book of Acts shows us what Christ continued to do and to teach through His corporate body, the church.
Thus, on the road to Damascus, Saul saw the universal Christ. He saw that the Head is in heaven, but His body is on the earth. Wherever there are believers, there is the body of Christ.
The heavenly vision did not end on the road to Damascus. It continued in the city. Saul asked two questions: “Who art Thou, Lord?” and “What shall I do, Lord?”
Before meeting the Lord, Saul knew what he wanted to do. He directed other people according to his own will. But after meeting the Lord, he said, “Lord, what shall I do?” This is a tremendous change.
The Lord told Saul:
Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
— Acts 9:6
Saul was blinded by the glory of the light. Those who were with him led him into Damascus, to the street called Straight, where he stayed in the house of Judas.
For three days Saul did not eat or drink. While he was praying, the Lord appeared to a disciple in Damascus named Ananias.
Ananias was almost unknown. Saul was well known as a persecutor, but Ananias was simply a disciple in Damascus. Yet he had a close relationship with the Lord.
The Lord said to Ananias:
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.— Acts 9:11
Ananias had heard about Saul. He knew that Saul had come to Damascus to persecute the believers and to bring them bound to Jerusalem. Naturally, Ananias was afraid.
But the Lord said:
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.— Acts 9:15-16
Ananias obeyed the Lord. He entered the house, laid his hands upon Saul, and 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.— Acts 9:17
What a wonderful thing this was. Saul, the persecutor, was received as a brother. Ananias did not call him an enemy. He called him “Brother Saul.”
The laying on of hands signifies identification. Ananias identified himself with Saul, and Saul was received into the fellowship of the believers.
There is no title more precious than “brother” or “sister.” In the body of Christ, we belong to one another. We encourage one another. We love one another. We bear one another’s burdens.
Paul later testified before King Agrippa:
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
— Acts 26:19
This heavenly vision governed Paul’s entire life. He saw that Jesus is Lord. He saw that the church is the body of Christ. He saw that believers are members of one another.
The church is not an ordinary thing. The church is the body of Christ. Whoever touches the body touches Christ Himself.
As Paul later wrote:
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
There are many members, yet there is one body. So also is the Christ. The body is not one member, but many.
May the Lord open our eyes to see that we are not merely individual believers. We are members in the body. We do not belong only to ourselves; we belong to one another.
May we yield ourselves completely to the Lord and allow Him to rule over our lives. May we see the heavenly vision, follow the Lord’s will, and serve one another in the body of Christ.