I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.

Acts 9:1-25 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, ² and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³ As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; ⁴ and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” ⁵ And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, ⁶ but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” ⁷ The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. ⁸ Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. ⁹ And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰ Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” ¹¹ And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, ¹² and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” ¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; ¹⁴ and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; ¹⁶ for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” ¹⁷ So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; ¹⁹ and he took food and was strengthened.

Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, ²⁰ and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” ²¹ All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” ²² But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

²³ When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him, ²⁴ but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; ²⁵ but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

In today’s text it says:  The Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; and he took food and was strengthened.  Saul, who became called Paul, surely was a chosen instrument of the Lord, perhaps the single most influential person in the history of the Christian faith aside from Jesus Himself. He planted churches, performed many miracles and through the Holy Spirit, authored a large portion of the New Testament. How many today would like to have even a portion of the influence Paul had for the Christian faith? How few today would be willing that the Lord would show them how much they would suffer for His name’s sake?  Many people wonder why we don’t experience the miracles and growth that we see in the early church, today in the western church.  Perhaps it is in part because there are so few who are chosen instruments of the Lord who are willing to truly suffer for His name’s sake. It does not appeal to the masses when the message is suffering, sacrifice and repentance. Many people seek the blessing and the power of the Lord and the Holy Spirit. In Psalm 128:1 it says:  Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways.  How many though, who seek the blessing of the Lord, are willing to walk in His ways? If we would be a people who feared the Lord, there would be nothing else for us to fear.

The text says:  For several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.  Saul was trained as a Pharisee, an expert in scripture. He was able, through scripture, to prove that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus, through His birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection fulfilled over three hundred Messianic prophecies.    Professor Peter W. Stoner was Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College and Chairman of the science division at Westmont College. In his book, Science Speaks, Professor Stoner outlines the mathematical probability of one person in the first century fulfilling just eight of the most clear and straightforward Messianic prophecies. Josh and Sean McDowell quote Stoner in their book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict: We find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 10¹⁷ (1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000). Stoner went on to calculate the probability of one person fulfilling 48 prophecies: 1 in 10¹⁵⁷.  The thing is, proving that Jesus is the Christ does not make it certain that people will believe.  In John 6:44 Jesus says:  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.”  

What part do we have in the drawing of other people by the Father? 2 Peter 3:9;11-12 says:  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance… what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. Verses 14-18 say:  Be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.  In 2 Corinthians 11:23-29 Paul gives account of some of his suffering for the sake of Christ.   …Far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?  Are we willing to be shown and to do all that the Lord shows us for His name’s sake?

‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.  ‘Give us this day our daily bread.  ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’