He had reached the
last stage of his anger
filled journey and was within sight of Damascus.(map).
When the Infinite One wants
to awaken Himself in you, so that you notice it, He will.(Acts
9:1-15).and
depending on His purpose at the time for each of us and depending on how
each one responds.(*),
God 'gets you now' or leaves you till later. Another example of this is
Jonah.
Also see Paul's crisis.
Many prompts come to our
minds daily. God does not hold back here. It's up to us to notice them
and respond or not at this time.
There will then be a 'later'
time which could involve trials tending to urge one's awakening.(*).or
the 'later' could involve one not ever responding in this life for various
reasons. And what then?
He wants all, but each
in his own time and, overall, now
is the time for all, for each of us are here for different purposes.
At different times in the past it was all working up to this age today.
When the Creator visits you,
you'll know for sure without any doubt it's Him; an example of ancient
Samuel:.1Samuel
3:19,20. Creator has each of us individually in mind and this
was right from the start, as it was in Paul's case:.Galatians
1:15.
As Paul and his companions
rode on, suddenly at midday a brilliant light shone round them and Saul.(his
name before it was changed to Paul).was
laid prostrate
in terror on the ground, a voice sounding in his ears "Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting me?":.Acts
9:1-6. The risen Savior was there, clothed in the vesture of his glorified
humanity. In answer to the anxious inquiry of the stricken persecutor Paul.(Saul).who
said "Who are you, the Lord?", the answer came."I
am Emmanuel whom you are persecuting":.Acts
9:5;
22:8.
This was the moment of Paul's
conversion,
the most solemn
moment in all his life. He became blind:.Acts
9:8,9. He became unblinded when his heart turned to Christ. This is
the same today for those who are blinded spiritually:.2Corinthians
3:16,
Blinded by the dazzling light.(the
complete story is in Acts 9),
Paul's companions led him into the city, where, absorbed in deep thought
for three days, he neither ate nor drank:.Acts
9:11.
Ananias, a disciple
living in Damascus, was informed by a vision of the change that had happened
to Saul and was sent
to him to open his eyes and admit him by baptism
into what was to become known as the Christian
church
at that time:.Acts
9:12-16. The whole purpose of his life was now permanently changed.
Immediately after his conversion
Paul retired into the solitude of Arabia.(Galatians
1:17), perhaps of "Sinai in Arabia",
for the purpose, probably, of devout study and meditation on the marvelous
revelation that had been made to him. A veil of thick darkness hangs over
his visit to Arabia. Perhaps
the other Bible books now coming out will provide information
on this.
Absolutely nothing is known
of the scenes among which he moved, of the thoughts and occupations which
engaged him while there or of all the circumstances of this crisis which
shaped the whole tenor
of his life after this.."Immediately".says
Paul,."I went
away into Arabia":.Galatians
1:17.
Coming back, after three
years, to Damascus, he began to preach
the
gospel."boldly
in the name of Emmanuel".(Acts
9:27), but was soon obliged to
flee.(Acts
9:25;
2Corinthians 11:33).from
the Jewish religious leaders and betake
himself to Jerusalem.
Here he tarried
for three weeks, but was again forced to flee.(Acts
9:28,29).from
persecution. He now returned to his native Tarsus.(Galatians
1:21-24), where, for probably about
three years, we lose sight of him. The time had not yet come for his entering
on his great life work of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles and his
journeys to them. If you think God maybe is
calling
you, He is!
At length the city of Antioch,
the capital of Syria, became the scene of great Christian activity. There
the gospel gained a firm footing and the cause of Christ prospered. Barnabas
who had been sent from Jerusalem to superintend the work at Antioch, found
it too much for him and remembering Saul, he set out to Tarsus to seek
for him. Paul readily
responded to the call thus addressed to him and came down to Antioch, which
for "a whole year" became the scene of his labours, which were crowned
with great success. The disciples now, for the first time, were called
'Christians':.Acts
11:26.
The church at Antioch now
proposed to send out missionaries to the Gentiles and Saul and Barnabas,
with John Mark as their attendant, were chosen for this work. This was
a great epoch
in the history of the church. Now the disciples began to give effect to
the Master's command: "Go
you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."
The three missionaries went
forth on the first missionary tour.(map
of first journey.{Acts
chapters 13-14},.map
of second journey.{Acts
15:39 to 18:22},.map
of third journey.{Acts
18;23 to 21:16},.map
of fourth journey.{Acts
27 chapter to 28:16}).
They sailed from Seleucia,
the seaport of Antioch, across to Cyprus, some 80 miles to the southwest.
Here at Paphos, Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul, was converted and
now Saul took the lead and was ever afterwards called Paul.
The missionaries now crossed
to the mainland and then proceeded 6 or 7 miles up the river Cestrus to
Perga.(Acts
13:13), where John Mark deserted
the work and returned to Jerusalem. The two then proceeded about 100 miles
inland, passing through Pamphylia, Pisidia and Lycaonia. The towns mentioned
in this tour are Iconium, Lystra and Derbe and the Pisidian Antioch, where
Paul delivered his first address:.Acts
13:16-51. They returned by the same route to see and encourage the
converts they had made and ordain elders in every city to watch over the
churches which had been gathered. From Perga they sailed direct for Antioch,
from which they had set out.
After remaining 'a long time',
probably till 50 or 51 A.D., in Antioch, a great controversy broke out
in the church there regarding the relation of the Gentiles to the Mosaic
Law. For the purpose of obtaining a settlement of this question, Paul
and Barnabas were sent as deputies to consult the church at Jerusalem.
The council or synod which was there held.(Acts
15).decided
against the Judaizing party and the deputies, accompanied by Judas and
Silas, returned to Antioch, bringing with them the decree of the council.
After a short rest at Antioch,
Paul said to Barnabas: "Let us go again and visit our brethren in every
city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do."
Mark proposed again to accompany them; but Paul refused to allow him to
go. Barnabas was resolved to take Mark and thus
he and Paul had a sharp contention. They separated and never again met.
Paul, however, afterwards speaks with honour of Barnabas and sends for
Mark to come to him at Rome:.Colossians
4:10; 2Timothy 4:11.
Paul took with him Silas,
instead of Barnabas and began his.second
missionary journey.about
51 A.D..(map
of second journey). This time he
went by land, revisiting the churches he had already founded in Asia. But
he longed to enter into."regions
beyond".and still
went forward through Phrygia and Galatia:.Acts
16:6. Contrary to his intention, he was constrained to linger in Galatia
on account of some bodily affliction:.Galatians
4:13,14. Bithynia, a populous province on the shore of the Black Sea,
lay now before him and he wished to enter it, but the way was shut, the
Spirit in some manner guiding him in another direction, till he came down
to the shores of the Aegean and arrived at Troas, on the north western
coast of Asia Minor:.Acts
16:8. Of this long journey from Antioch to Troas we have no account
except some references to it in his Epistle.(letter).to
the Galatians.
