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The Story of Redemption
truth, and the fulfiller of the prophecies. He had regarded Jesus as
making of none effect the law of God; but when his spiritual vision
was touched by the finger of God, he learned that Christ was the
originator of the entire Jewish system of sacrifices; that He came
into the world for the express purpose of vindicating His Father’s
law; and that in His death the typical law had met its antitype. By the
light of the moral law, which he had believed himself to be zealously
keeping, Saul saw himself a sinner of sinners.
From Persecutor to Apostle
Paul was baptized by Ananias in the river of Damascus. He was
then strengthened by food, and immediately began to preach Jesus
to the believers in the city, the very ones whom he had set out from
Jerusalem with the purpose of destroying. He also taught in the
synagogues that Jesus who had been put to death was indeed the
Son of God. His arguments from prophecy were so conclusive, and
his efforts were so attended by the power of God, that the opposing
Jews were confounded and unable to answer him. Paul’s rabbinical
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and Pharisaic education was now to be used to good account in
preaching the gospel and in sustaining the cause he had once used
every effort to destroy.
The Jews were thoroughly surprised and confounded by the
conversion of Paul. They were aware of his position at Jerusalem,
and knew what was his principal errand to Damascus, and that he
was armed with a commission from the high priest that authorized
him to take the believers in Jesus and to send them as prisoners to
Jerusalem; yet now they beheld him preaching the gospel of Jesus,
strengthening those who were already its disciples and continually
making new converts to the faith he had once so zealously opposed.
Paul demonstrated to all who heard him that his change of faith
was not from impulse nor fanaticism, but was brought about by
overwhelming evidence.
As he labored in the synagogues his faith grew stronger; his zeal
in maintaining that Jesus was the Son of God increased in the face
of the fierce opposition of the Jews. He could not remain long in
Damascus, for after the Jews had recovered from their surprise at his
wonderful conversion and subsequent labors, they turned resolutely