A BULL IN A CHINA CLOSET

Saul, the persecutor of Jesus and His followers (Acts 9).

While the Holy Spirit’s ministry through Philip was going forward in Samaria and in the desert with the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul continued his one-man campaign trying to destroy the infant church. Saul was vicious, even hideous about it. Luke used descriptive language to help his readers grasp the seriousness of the danger. Saul was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). The Greek wording suggests Saul was animated about his threats as he tried to slaughter the Lord’s followers. Perhaps the old saying of a bull in a China closet fits.

Saul [the bull) went to the high priest and “asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus” (Acts 9:1-2). His mission was to search for any men or women who were part of the Way. [The name, The Way, emerged before Jesus’ followers were known as Christians.] Saul’s intent was to arrest them, march them the 140 miles back to Jerusalem, and put them in jail.

Think about it. The trip would have been cruel. Saul’s march at two miles an hour would have required seven hard 10-hour days. For Saul to make this request of the high priest, and to start out on the journey, shows how serious he was about his persecution crusade. Dr. Luke does not give us Saul’s method of transportation, although artists, while lacking Biblical facts, invariably picture him on horseback. Walking was more likely.

The Bull in the China Closet meets His match.

Saul was near Damascus when, without warning, he was about to learn the hard way the seriousness of who he was fighting. Suddenly “a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4).

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:6).

Jesus had taught His disciples when people persecuted them, they would also be persecuting Him (John 15:20; 16:2; Acts 22:7).

Can anyone doubt Jesus can be straight-forward and pointed as He brings people in repentance to the cross?

The voice was audible; even the “men traveling with him heard the sound but did not see anyone.” Understandably, Saul’s team was smitten speechless (Acts 9:7).

When Saul stood up he was blind and had to be led by the hand the remainder of the way into Damascus, suggesting he made the trip on foot. After arriving, he went on a three-day fast (Acts 9:7-9).

The Holy Spirit convicting people of their sins against God.

It is reasonable to believe Holy Spirit conviction had been working on Saul from the time Stephen was stoned. Saul of Tarsus had watched Stephen die crying out, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). It is possible every day after Stephen’s death he had listened as the Holy Spirit replayed in his memory, probably several times a day, Stephen’s very forgiving prayer. While making the hard and sweaty trip to Damascus, Saul had plenty time to second guess the evil man he had become. The Holy Spirit is masterful at fulfilling His job description of convicting people of their sins; Saul surely would not be an exception. His willingness and drive to persecute, however, did not begin to break until he involuntarily lay in the dust – and was blind to go with it.

When the Holy Spirit wants to arrest a person, He does not need swords and spears. Holy Spirit conviction worked well with Saul.

Many men and women have turned their hearts to Jesus Christ when they were flat on their backs in a medical crisis, for example. Holy Spirit conviction can be very creative as the Spirit woos and draws people to say “yes” to Jesus.

The Holy Spirit giving perfect guidance.

A man named Ananias lived in Damascus. The Lord spoke to him in a vision with very specific instructions: “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight” (Acts 9:11).

It is simply amazing–thirteen facts that had to take place in a sequence of perhaps an hour of time, and each of them happened exactly in the sequence:

• Go to the house
• Of Judas
• On Straight Street
• Ask for a man (not a woman)
• From Tarsus
• Named Saul
• He will be praying.
• He has seen a vision
• Of a man
• Named Ananias
• Come to the house and

 .      Place his hands on him (Saul) and

• Restore his sight.

Ananias did not want to do it and said so to the Lord in the vision. But Jesus did not accept a “No” answer.

“Go!” the Lord Jesus commanded him. “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (Acts 9:15-16).

Ananias obeyed, went to the house, and received Saul-the-persecutor as a brother. Think about it. The bull in the China closet was received as a brother. Amazing!

“Placing his hands on Saul,” Ananias said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 9:17-18). In the same moment, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes and “he could see again.”

Luke did not record speaking in tongues in the moment that Paul received the Holy Spirit, but silence does not seal the case either way. Tongues speaking was part of Paul’s whole life forward. He told the believers at Corinth, for example, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you” (1 Corinthians 14:18). Paul also said he prayed in the Spirit and sang in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:14-15).

Saul got up, was baptized, and started eating. He also spent several days with the brethren and began preaching at once “that Jesus is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20).

Saul’s repentance was obviously genuine. It was an amazing conversion. Repentance means to turn around and get on the right road.

The bull in the China closet had become a Spirit-filled follower of Jesus Christ!