Thank you, Lord, for this day. May it be used for your glory!
Good morning everyone and welcome back to Biblit!
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In yesterday’s Biblit we read about the epic and quick transformation of Saul’s faith. And we ended with some pretty amazing stories about our man, Peter.
Today we are going to jump back in and see what some of the deeper meanings and interpretations are that Luke is trying to convey in these passages.
Let’s jump in!
Lessons Learned from Saul’s Conversion
We can unpack so much from Saul’s conversion that I can’t even touch it all here in this Biblit.
Most people use Saul to confirm that God can indeed save anyone. And that is 100% true, and his conversion absolutely proves that. But it proves a lot more than that too!
Sincerity Doesn’t Save
Saul was one of the most zealous for God men that lived in that day.
He knew God’s word like the back of his hand, could win any argument, and was willing to go to whatever lengths it took for God’s word to stay safe and not be tainted by cults like Jesus.
But at the end of the day, no matter how sincere his faith was, it wasn’t a saving faith.
No matter how many “good” acts he did for the Lord, it was never going to save him. Even if you took away the persecutions of Christ followers. If he was just a man who gave to the poor, read the Torah, and went to synagogue, by denying that Christ is the Lord, he wasn’t going to be saved.
He needed a life-changing encounter with Jesus.
All Conversions Involve a Humble Surrender
God knew that a proud man like Saul was going to need to surrender to Christ in a big way.
A simple argument or conversation wasn’t going to cut it for him. He was too high and mighty in his own head.
No, Saul needed something huge to happen.
Saul needed to be humbled, thrown on the ground by the light of Christ, and physically blinded.
Being blinded like that gave Saul a physical representation of what was going on in his spiritual life.
He was blind to the truth and he needed help to see. In his moment of weakness, the big bad Saul would need to humble himself enough to get his servants to help guide him into the town of Damascus.
He would have to then sit for 3 days and wait for God’s instructions. Saul would humble himself again, and give up the notion that he was in charge.
God Can Save the Worst of Sinners
It is the classic response to Saul’s story, but it can’t be understated. God saves whomever He chooses to save.
Past sins don’t matter to Christ. To say that a sin is too much for Christ is to belittle His power.
Christ’s power on the cross is greater than any evil atrocity us mere humans can come up with. That’s how much His love and grace covers.
But the other amazing part to this story is the fact that God does save Saul. This is an amazing image of God’s grace, is it not?
Saul was trying his hardest to wreck God’s plans. And he was doing it in the name of the Lord’s plans. Very ironic.
God could have just as easily sent an angel to kill Saul on that road, enacting His justice on Saul. But God didn’t do that.
He chose to save Saul and turn him into one of the greatest evangelists of all time!
New Person = New Purpose
When Saul began his relationship with Christ, he received a new purpose in life.
He thought his purpose was to destroy the Christian church. But after this radical life changing event, he found a new and greater purpose:
To expand the Christian church by sharing the gospel everywhere he went.
Saul’s Trials
With Saul’s new purpose, came some immediate trials. But this didn’t stop Saul from preaching the gospel.
These beginning passages are just the beginning to Saul’s persecution.
And when he first started he most likely knew what kinds of evil oppression he would face…since just a few days earlier he was the oppressor.
But he continued anyway.
He even says in 2 Timothy:
“In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12 CSB).
It’s important to remember that Saul was a zealous man, but his fervor for spreading the gospel was not something he was simply born with. Yes, his personality certainly made him a great candidate and equipped him to be a great person for this job. But all of it was sovereignly orchestrated by God.
The boldness he had to share the gospel was brand new. Think about it. What risk did he really face in persecuting the Christians and being zealous for God beforehand?
None really. Not in his physical earthly perspective at least. He would have been rewarded for it, actually.
But now he faces that same persecution he was once administering.
And he knew that that kind of boldness was not something that came from a human spirit. It was all Christ. In fact, later we see him claim this when he asks the Ephesians for prayers:
“Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.” (Ephesians 6:19-20).
He knew that that boldness was not from human strength. It was from the Holy Spirit and Him alone!
Peter’s Trials
Saul was not the only one facing new trials in this passage.
It might not be as evident yet, but when we transition to Peter’s story here, we are transitioning into a new season of trial for this famous disciple.
We have already seen him face loads of trials and persecution. Many of which came from Saul himself. But as we turn back to Peter, he is going to face a new trial. But this time, it’s one that comes from his own inner human flesh.
The end of Acts 9 is actually the beginning of a new pillar.
See, Acts as a whole contains some of the richest stories about the history of the early church. But there are actually 3 main events, or pillars, that go together to really change everything.
We’ve seen 2 already: the pentecost (or the introduction to the Holy Spirit), and now the conversion of Saul.
The end of this chapter begins the next game changer: the conversion of Cornelius.
Now, we don’t see this conversion yet, so I won’t talk about it. But to give a sneak peek, his conversion is really the pinnacle in showing that Jesus is not only for the Jews. Jesus is for everyone, including all the gentiles.
And that is the key to Peter’s struggles.
If you remember, yesterday we talked about how Peter healed a paralyzed man, raised a girl from the dead, and then stayed with Simon the tanner.
Why are these important?
Healings
The healings are cool for a multitude of reasons.
First, it is obviously just super cool to see God work miracles through Peter.
But, second, they showed Peter’s authenticity as an apostle, they showed the power of Jesus, proving the coming kingdom of Jesus was at hand, and finally they showed that Jesus has power over disease and death.
The final thing I think is really cool is that the town where he ends up is called Joppa. This is where he heals Tabitha and raises her from the dead.
This also happens to be the same town where Jonah set sail when he ran away from God hundreds of years prior.
Why is this important?
Discrimination of Peter
Jonah and Peter actually have a ton in common. Many of us know that Peter’s real name was once Simon.
But do you know his full name? I didn’t know this, but according to my commentary his full name is: Simon Bar-Jonah.
The deeper similarities of Peter and Jonah, however, are in their callings and their struggles.
Both men were called by God to carry His message to a people they considered the enemy. Jonah hated the evil Ninevites and Peter did not trust any gentile.
Yet, they both were called to share the good news.
Both men were tested by this calling in the town called Joppa. We know that Jonah tried to run away from God, but eventually relented, shared the good news, and the whole town turned to the Lord.
What about Peter?
Well, as I said, this is only the beginning of his new trial. The trial culminates with the conversion of Cornelius, who we could call Peter’s Nineveh.
But at the end of this chapter we get a glimpse of Peter’s growth. We see Peter choose to stay with another man with a similar name, Simon…the tanner.
See, by Peter willingly staying with a man that is deemed unclean by the Jewish law, Peter himself would also be deemed “unclean.” But Peter trusted Jesus, and knew that all the unclean, clean debate was simply a picture pointing to Jesus.
He knew that the law was fulfilled by Christ and Christ alone. He knew that following the laws to obtain cleanliness was not possible, and that only through Christ could he call himself clean.
This meant that a lot of those laws like lawful cleanliness were not necessary anymore. And in fact, they would be obstacles to sharing the gospel.
So he willingly laid down the old traditions and chose to stay with an unclean person, just like Jesus chose to dine with sinners.
Already, we see Peter begin to break down his own inner discriminations so that he could share the gospel with everyone.