Will you please turn to the book of Acts, Chapter 9?
We are beginning with verse 6.
Acts 9:6-21
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.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for Thy presence with us this morning. We thank Thee for the cup, the new covenant sealed by Thy blood. We thank Thee for the bread, Thy very life poured out for us and given to us.
How we praise and thank Thee for Thy love, Thy everlasting love, that Thou hast shown toward us. And, Lord, we do want to thank Thee again for Thy precious Word.
Thy Word is truth. Thy Word is life. Thy Word is spirit. And we believe it.
Lord, we want to open ourselves to Thee and ask Thee that Thy Spirit will breathe upon Thy written Word and make Thy Word living and operative in each of our lives.
Lord, our heart’s desire is that Thy Spirit will lead us into Thy truth, that Thy truth will become reality in our lives.
Lord, we look to Thee, and we believe that Thy Word will not return void, but it will accomplish His purpose for Thy own glory. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Now, last day, we began to share on the heavenly vision that the apostle Paul saw on the road to Damascus.
We mentioned last time that this testimony is given three times in the book of Acts. Whenever you find something that is repeated and emphasized, it shows that it is something God wants us to pay special attention to.
Or, to put it another way, the heavenly vision that the apostle Paul saw on the road to Damascus is not just meant for him. That vision is meant for all who are the Lord’s. It is the will of God that we all receive that heavenly vision.
For without vision, we perish spiritually. Without vision, we cast off all restraint. Without vision, we disintegrate; we are scattered all over the world.
So you find how important it is that the vision God gave to the apostle Paul, each one of us, by the grace of God, will see.
Now, this heavenly vision is such a glorious vision because, on the road to Damascus, Saul, in that heavenly light, saw the full revelation of God.
In other words, you find that he saw the mystery of God. He saw the mystery of Christ. And these are the two greatest revelations in the Bible. As a matter of fact, the whole Bible, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, is to reveal this heavenly vision.
So, on the road, the apostle Paul—at that time his name was Saul—saw Jesus as his Lord.
Before that, in his mind, according to the tradition that he had received, he considered Jesus the Nazarene, the lowly carpenter. Not only that, but he considered Jesus an impostor of Judaism, one who needed to be completely wiped out. And that is what he did.
But now, on the road to Damascus, in that heavenly vision, to his surprise, he discovered that this humble Jesus, this One whom he persecuted, is actually the Son of God.
He said, “It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.” And as the Son of God, He is the Lord of all.
He is in heaven. He is in glory. He is in power. Here is Your Majesty. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him. Jesus is Lord.
And to that revelation, he yielded himself.
And not only that, in the same vision, he saw the church, the body of Christ. Because our Lord Jesus said, “Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.”
And Saul said, “Lord, who art Thou? I do not even know Thee.” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”
Now, brothers and sisters, we mentioned last time that Saul was trained as a Pharisee. The training of the Pharisees is that they know how to argue. And yet here there was no argument.
Even though Saul had not put his hand upon Jesus Himself, by putting his hands upon the followers of Jesus, he persecuted Jesus Himself.
In other words, in that light he realized that Jesus, the Lord, the Head, was complaining. Why? Because members of His body were being touched.
So, in that instant, Saul began to see the mystery of Christ, which is the church, the body of Christ.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this heavenly vision is the greatest vision that one can ever see. It is life itself, and it is the will of God that all of us should see it.
But, as we mentioned last time, this vision did not end on the road to Damascus. Why?
Because after Saul asked the first question and received the answer, he began to ask the second question. As recorded in Acts 22, when Saul—Paul—gave his testimony, he said he asked the second question: “Lord, what shall I do?”
Now, in this very question, it shows that Saul had completely surrendered himself to the Lord Jesus. He saw that vision, and he fully yielded to that vision.
He accepted Jesus as the Lord of his life. In doing that, he gave up his own right. He used to be a person who was master of his own life, and now you find that he surrendered his mastership. He surrendered his right and gave it all to Jesus as Lord.
So, brothers and sisters, you know that this is not something merely theoretical. To this man, that vision began to become real in his life.
So he said, “Lord, what should I do? I knew what to do before, but now I am finished. I do not know what to do. I have no right of my own. I cannot direct my life anymore. You, my Master, my Lord, have to tell me what I should do.”
It is an absolute surrender.
Brothers and sisters, when the heavenly vision comes, it brings our natural man to an end, and it begins a new life—the life in Christ.
So this is what was happening to this man. “What should I do? Tell me, and I will do it.”
But, strangely, you find that our Lord Jesus did not tell him right away what the Lord wanted him to do.
The Lord called him, and yet, in that moment when this man so yielded, we would think that the Lord would immediately tell him, “Well, I called you because I have chosen you as a chosen vessel. You are to be My servant. You are to be My witness. What you have seen and what you are going to see, you will bear testimony before the Jews, before the Gentiles, before the people, even before kings. That is what I want you to do. And you are to suffer a great deal for Me.”
But, strange to say, the Lord did not say that. Instead, the Lord said, “You rise up, go to Damascus, and wait there until you are told what I want you to do.”
Now, dear brothers and sisters, if you understand the character of this man Saul, he was a master of himself.
Here you find that he completely yielded to another Master. In his mind, he fully believed that Jesus would tell him what he should do, and then he would rise up and do it immediately. That is Saul’s character, his temperament.
But instead of that, the Lord told him to go to Damascus and wait. Now, waiting is one of the most difficult things to the flesh. Our flesh cannot wait.
So you find the Lord beginning to show him who is really Lord. “If you call Me Lord, and I am your Lord, then I have to tell you, and you have to do what I tell you.”
The Lord said, “Go to Damascus and wait.”
Immediately, you find Saul was put to the test. It is not just “Lord, Lord,” and then doing your own will. When you say, “Lord,” you mean it, and the Lord means it too.
And not only that, the Lord said, “You will be told by someone what I want you to do.”
Now, dear brothers and sisters, Saul was just converted. He had just surrendered himself to Jesus as Lord.
To him, it was the Lord and nobody else. “The Lord is my Lord. I am His servant. The Lord and I—that is all. Nothing else matters.”
But at that moment, the Lord began to teach him a lesson. It is true: there is a direct and intimate relationship between him and the Lord. But at the same time, the Lord wanted to show him that there is not only that vertical relationship; there is also a horizontal relationship.
He needs the Lord, but he also needs the members of the body of Christ.
Now, if the Lord had told him right away what he should do, you know what would have happened. He would get up and just do as the Lord said. But in his life there would be no need of brothers and sisters. It would be just himself and the Lord; that would be all that mattered.
And that would be directly against the heavenly vision God had given him.
So, from the very beginning, you find that the Lord was teaching him that the vision is not a theory; the vision is a reality. It is a glorious vision, a heavenly vision, but that vision has to be practiced upon the earth. Otherwise, it will be a mirage. He would just be a visionary, not real.
So, dear brothers and sisters, immediately the Lord was teaching him a lesson. Not only did he have to humble himself before Jesus the Lord; he had to humble himself before other members of the body of Christ.
He would be a big member, but the Lord wanted him to humble himself before a small member. That is a lesson he had to learn.
And because he began to learn it at the very beginning, you find how he lived the life of the body throughout his days.
So, brothers and sisters, in one sense it was very humbling to this man Saul. He would say, “Now I yield myself to You. Is that not enough?” The Lord said, “No, that is not enough. You have to also learn how to submit to one another.”
You know, once our brother Watchman Nee visited George Cutting. Now, I do not know whether you know that name, but George Cutting was the one who wrote Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment. That is a gospel tract which was well known in the early days.
I do not know about now, but in my young days it was well known because, aside from the Bible, this tract had one of the largest circulations: Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment.
And our dear brother Watchman Nee, when he was in England, visited this man. He was almost one hundred at that time, very old. Sometimes he was conscious; other times he was unconscious.
So our brother sat by his bed and waited for him to wake up. And when he woke up, he turned to our brother and said, “I cannot do without Him, and He cannot do without me.” Then he drifted into sleep again.
Now, what he meant was, “I cannot do without my Lord.” But he knew the Lord so much that he said, “He cannot do without me.”
Now, brothers and sisters, this is deep, right?
And so our brother Watchman Nee tried to add something more to it. He said, “We need to not only say, ‘I cannot do without the Lord, and the Lord cannot do without me,’ but we have to learn to say, ‘I cannot do without my brother and sister, and my brother and sister cannot do without me.’”
Why? Because we are members of the body. We need one another. Without one another, we are incomplete, because we are only a member.
No matter how big a member you are, you need the help of the smallest member of the body of Christ.
So, dear brothers and sisters, if we only see the heavenly vision on the road to Damascus and it ends there, it is just a vision. It will become a mirage very soon. It is not real.
So you find that the heavenly vision has to continue on into the city of Damascus.
All the spiritual principles, all the heavenly and glorious truth revealed on the road to Damascus, have to be put into practice on earth. Now that is what the Lord shows us.
On the road to Damascus, we mentioned last time, Saul met a universal Man. He met a Man whose Head is in heaven and whose body fills the earth—a universal Man. And before that universal Man, he capitulated.
But now he was going to see another man.
So he went to Damascus. You know, he opened his eyes, but his eyes were blinded by the heavenly light. But then his inner eyes were opened. So he was led into Damascus, helpless.
And there he was three days, without eating, without drinking, blind. What was he doing there? He was praying.
Brothers and sisters, he needed those three days. The revelation was so great, and it was so transforming, as it were, demanding a complete turnover in his life.
So he needed that time to really be before the Lord, praying, reviewing the past, and trying to begin to understand what was happening in his life.
As he was fasting and praying, he saw in a vision a man by the name of Ananias come to him, put his hands upon him, and open his eyes.
At the same time, there was a man, little known—not known in Jerusalem, though known in Damascus because he was a pious Jew according to the law. And he was a believer, a follower of the Lord Jesus. His name was Ananias.
And at the same time, Ananias, in a vision, saw God appear to him and say, “Ananias.” Ananias said, “Lord, here am I.”
You know, Ananias’ reaction was different from Saul’s reaction. When our Lord appeared to Saul, Saul said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” He did not know Him.
But Ananias was a person who knew the Lord. So when the Lord said, “Ananias,” Ananias said, “Lord, here am I. I am here.”
And the Lord said, “You go to the street called Straight, and find the house of Judas. There is a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus. You go there, put your hands on him, and open his eyes.”
Now, Ananias said to the Lord, “Lord, I have heard from many what evil this man has done in Jerusalem. And now he has the authority to come to Damascus to seize Your followers.”
Was Ananias disobedient? No. Was he trying to argue with the Lord? No.
You find here was a person who knew the Lord so much, so well, so intimately. He was not trying to oppose what the Lord said to him, but he had every right to understand.
He had the freedom to tell the Lord, “Lord, I have heard about this man. He is well known, and he is coming as an enemy. What should I do?”
Brothers and sisters, in speaking to the Lord, he was not being disobedient, rebellious, or argumentative. He just wanted to know whether that was what the Lord wanted him to do.
And the Lord said, “Fear not. You go, because this man is My chosen vessel.”
Now, Ananias did not know what had happened to this man. All he knew was about his past, and that was not good news. But the Lord said, “He is My chosen vessel.” The Lord did not even explain to him, but said, “He is My chosen vessel. You just go.” And Ananias went.
Now, brothers and sisters, here you find that, in this city of Damascus, the vision continues.
On the road to Damascus, only one person saw that vision. But in the city of Damascus, you have two visions: one to Ananias and one to Saul.
Now, why is it so? Because when you come to the body of Christ, you need confirmation. That is the way the body acts. You just cannot go all by yourself, independently.
So here you find that the vision given to Ananias was reinforced by the vision given to Saul, and the vision given to Saul was strengthened by the vision given to Ananias. That is the way the body works. That is the way the Lord works in the body. This is fellowship.
Humanly speaking, Ananias could not see Saul. Why? Because Saul came to Damascus just to seize people like Ananias.
Now, if Ananias went to him, he would just surrender himself to be arrested. They were enemies. They could not see each other.
If Ananias had seen Saul, Ananias would have been finished. How could you do that? Humanly speaking, it was impossible.
But God has done the impossible. Here you find two enemies who could not see each other, not to mention meet each other. God brought them together as brothers, members of the body of Christ.
This is the wonder of the gospel. This is the wonder of God.
Ananias was a little man. So far as the natural man is concerned, Saul was a much bigger man than Ananias, because Saul was well known—world known, you can say. Even people who had never seen him had heard of him.
But Ananias was unknown. And, strangely, you find that this man Ananias appeared only once, and then he disappeared—an unknown person, a little man.
But this little man was essential in the life of the apostle Paul. Without this little man, Saul’s eyes would not have been opened. Without this little man, Saul would never have known what the Lord wanted him to do.
His whole future, in a sense, depended not only upon the Lord but also upon this little man. So, brothers and sisters, this is what the body is.
Ananias, in obedience to the Lord, went. He entered into the house, and he put his hands upon Saul.
Now, the laying on of hands, in the Scripture, whether it is the Old Testament or the New Testament, the principle is the same. Whatever the application may be, the principle is the same.
The laying on of hands is a sign of fellowship, of union. In other words, when you lay your hands on someone, it means that you are united with the one upon whom your hands are laid.
In Old Testament times, when you took an ox or a sheep as a sacrifice, you laid your hands on the animal to show that you were one with that animal. So when that animal was sacrificed, you were sacrificed.
And the same thing is true with the laying on of hands.
So here you find that Ananias came and laid hands on Saul. Now, thank God it was not Saul laying hands on Ananias. You know, if Saul had laid hands on Ananias, Ananias would have been finished.
But it was Ananias who laid hands on Saul, and that was the beginning of the apostle.
You find here a person who was so obedient to the Head that, in spite of all that he had heard, he obeyed. He willingly laid his hands upon his former enemy, saying, “We are one. We are in one body.”
Not only did he lay hands on him, but he said, “Brother Saul.”
“The Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me to open your eyes, that you may be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Brothers and sisters, for Ananias to call Saul “brother”—is that not wonderful?
For Saul to hear that very word, “brother,” I do not know how he felt. “Me? Your brother? I, who was your enemy? I came to put you to death, and yet you call me brother.”
I believe his heart was melted.
Brothers and sisters, there is no sweeter sound than the word “brother” or “sister.”
You know, because of my age, some people call me uncle, some people call me granduncle, some people call me great-granduncle. It is an honor, but the sweetest sound to my ears is when people call me brother.
When I was in Hong Kong in the early days, all the children called me Brother Kong. I loved it. You know, there is no sweeter sound than the sound of a brother or a sister.
“Saul, brother.”
And when he laid his hands upon him, Saul’s eyesight was restored, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Why? Because he was in the body.
And when you are in the body, the oil upon Aaron’s head comes down and fills the body. You receive the Holy Spirit.
And then Saul was told what he should do. The Lord said, “You are to be My witness. You are to be My servant. You are to suffer much for Me.”
In other words, through another member of the body, the Head revealed His mind. And that is the way a great apostle received his commission.
So, brothers and sisters, all these things show that the heavenly vision is not just a vision. It is real. It can be practiced, and it must be practiced upon this earth. Otherwise, it is nothing.
Or sometimes it is worse than nothing, because it makes you proud of what you see. And actually, if you really see the heavenly vision, it humbles you.
Every time in the Scripture, when a person receives light from heaven—receives revelation, vision from heaven—invariably you find him prostrate on the ground.
Even Daniel said, “My beauty was changed into corruption,” because of the glory of the Lord.
So, dear brothers and sisters, vision should humble us, not exalt us. We should, through the vision, humble ourselves not only before the Lord, but before our brothers and sisters.
And thank God, Saul, after he took food, was strengthened. And what happened to him? He was with the disciples in Damascus. He went in and went out with the disciples.
In other words, he was not a lone wolf. He was not an independent person. You find that he was beginning to live the life of the body, the life of the church.
He began to witness for the Lord. He began to testify in the synagogue that Jesus is the Son of God. And people wondered.
And later on, you find that actually, between verses 21 and 22, were the years he spent in Arabia.
He not only had to rethink his own life; he had to rethink his training. The Word of God, the Old Testament that he had learned from the rabbis—he had to reread the Bible in the light of Jesus.
And after that, he came back to Damascus. Again, you find that his testimony was strengthened because he proved that Jesus is the Christ. In other words, he had reread the Old Testament in the light of Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, you find that he began to live what he had seen. Not only did he completely surrender to the Lord and do what the Lord wanted him to do, but you find that he began to live in the body as a member of the body of Christ.
So later on, you find that even when he fled from Damascus, he went to Jerusalem and sought to fellowship with the disciples. Though the disciples were afraid of him, thank God there was one who believed in him and led him to Peter.
So, throughout his life, you find that he not only lived under Jesus, his Lord and his Head, but he also lived as a member of the body of Christ.
And I think probably that is one reason why, in many of his letters, even though we know that he was the one who really wrote those letters, he always tried to have someone with him.
He did not want to be alone, to be independent. He always tried to show that there is the body of Christ. He not only preached it; he lived it.
So, brothers and sisters, the heavenly vision must continue on with the visions in the city of Damascus, and then it is complete.
So may the Lord help us, brothers and sisters. We need to ask the Lord to open our inner eyes to see this glorious heavenly vision, because this is the eternal purpose of God.
We must see it.
But at the same time, we must also meet what Saul met in the city of Damascus, so that our vision may be real, may be our life.
May the Lord help us. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for the glorious heavenly vision.
We thank Thee that Thou art truly the Son of God, the Lord of all. Thou art the Head of the church. Thou hast a body upon this earth that includes all who are Thine.
Lord, Thou dost show us how we need Thee, how we need to obey Thee absolutely, not conditionally, in all things, big and small.
And, Lord, Thou dost show us how we need to learn to live in the body, how we need to see that we need one another—not only to see it, but to live it.
Enable us to submit not only to Thee, but to one another, in the fear of Christ.
We pray that Thou wilt be merciful to us, that we may not be a people with high-minded thoughts and yet without a corresponding life. Have mercy upon us. We ask in Thy precious name.