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Conversion of Saul
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to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou Me? And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the
Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to
kick against the pricks.”
The Vision of Christ
The scene was one of the greatest confusion. The companions of
Saul were stricken with terror, and almost blinded by the intensity
of the light. They heard the voice, but saw no one, and to them all
was unintelligible and mysterious. But Saul, lying prostrate upon
the ground, understood the words that were spoken, and saw clearly
before him the Son of God. One look upon that glorious Being
imprinted his image forever upon the soul of the stricken Jew. The
words struck home to his heart with appalling force. A flood of light
poured in upon the darkened chambers of his mind, revealing his
ignorance and error. He saw that, while imagining himself to be
zealously serving God in persecuting the followers of Christ, he had
in reality been doing the work of Satan.
He saw his folly in resting his faith upon the assurances of
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the priests and rulers, whose sacred office had given them great
influence over his mind and caused him to believe that the story of
the resurrection was an artful fabrication of the disciples of Jesus.
Now that Christ was revealed to Saul, the sermon of Stephen was
brought forcibly to his mind. Those words which the priests had
pronounced blasphemy, now appeared to him as truth and verity. In
that time of wonderful illumination his mind acted with remarkable
rapidity. He traced down through prophetic history and saw that
the rejection of Jesus by the Jews, His crucifixion, resurrection, and
ascension had been foretold by the prophets, and proved Him to be
the promised Messiah. He remembered the words of Stephen: “I see
the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand
of God” (
Acts 7:56
), and he knew that the dying saint had looked
upon the kingdom of glory.
What a revelation was all this to the persecutor of the believers.
Clear but terrible light had broken in upon his soul. Christ was
revealed to him as having come to earth in fulfillment of His mission,
being rejected, abused, condemned, and crucified by those whom