Acts 22:17-21

Summary retelling of Acts 22:17-21

               

Paul then tells about how he came to Jerusalem after being in Damascus.  While in Jerusalem, Paul is told by a vision of Jesus Christ that he needs to hurry and get out of Jerusalem because the Jews there aren’t going to believe him.  Paul tells Jesus that he is concerned because everybody knew how much Paul had persecuted the Christians before believing.  He even brings up the part about approving of the death of Stephen when Stephen was being stoned.  God tells Paul to go, because he is planning to send Paul to the Gentiles.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Paul speaks about having a literal conversation with the Lord.  I am willing to bet that when we think about Paul talking to Jesus that each of us is filled with a mixture of jealousy and curiosity.  We often think, “Wouldn’t it be neat to actually hear the sound of Jesus’ voice!”  However, don’t forget what the people who hear Jesus’ voice do.  They become radical Christians.  They become people who give up their life and are totally obedient to Him.  While we think that it would be neat to hear the voice of Jesus Christ, the truth is that many of us may not be ready to radically act upon what we hear Jesus telling us to do.

Are you ready to give up whatever Jesus would ask of you and follow Him wherever He would lead?  {Keep in mind that all of Jesus’ disciples were asked to leave their families behind as they toured the world talking about Jesus.}

Second Thought:

Jesus tells Paul that the Jews in Jerusalem aren’t going to listen to him.  In Acts 9, where we hear this story as it unfolds, we hear that Paul debated with the Jews so fiercely that they were seeking a way to kill him.  Now that we’ve heard all about Paul’s missionary journeys, it doesn’t surprise us that the Jews in Jerusalem didn’t listen to him at the beginning – for the most part they wouldn’t listen to him anywhere!  When Paul was in Jerusalem before he went out among the Gentiles, God was preparing him for what he was about to experience in city after city.

Isn’t it neat how God knows what we are going to face later in life so he prepares us little by little in advance?  Why do you think that we can’t often tell we are being prepared in the beginning but we can see God’s work in our life clearly when we look backward through into our past?

Third Thought:

God was planning to send Paul to the Gentiles.  Of course, we know that now because we’ve read the whole way through Acts.  But think about this.  The Paul in Jerusalem who is told by God to flee is at that moment concerned about where he will go because all the Christians know how much he persecuted them.  He doesn’t realize that God is going to call him to make new Christians out of Gentiles.  After all, why would the Gentiles care how much Paul persecuted other Jews – even if the Jews had turned to Christians?  Paul was going to be sent out into a world to help Gentile people leave their past behind them and start a new life with Christ.  The fact that he had his own past that he needed to leave behind him only made him better for the job.

Do you think Paul was comfortable with the idea that God was sending him among a people that up until now he was told to avoid?  Are comfortable dealing with people that aren’t like you?  Might God be using some part of your past to prepare you to do just that?

Passage for Tomorrow: Acts 22:22-29