"As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
“Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord!” he replied.
The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”
But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”
All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”
Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah." Acts 9: 3-22
The Road Most of Us Will Travel
These passages record how the first and most feared persecutor of the church, Saul became Paul, the first and foremost evangelist and church planter.
This amazing conversion is known as the Damascus Road Experience.
Very many believers have their own Damascus Road, or Damascus Road Conversion -- the road they have traveled on or experienced on their way to finally believing that Jesus was who He said He was, the Messiah and the Son of God.
Remember, most of the believers before him, walked, spent the day, slept, woke up and ate along side Jesus in the flesh. They heard Him speak and they saw Him perform all sorts of different miracles right before their eyes.
Us, believers of today are like Saul. We never had that first person contact with Jesus. We, like him, already have preconceived biases against this man who claimed He was equal with God. Many of us consider ourselves too busy, or too smart, or too rich, or too everything else to give this man called Jesus of Nazareth, the time of day.
Because of this, many will never give Jesus, even the benefit of the doubt. So in comes, our own Damascus Road. And it will not be the same for everyone.
You might already be traveling on your Road and don't know it yet. Do not wait until you reach the end of that road, until opening your mind into even the slightest of possibilities that everything that was written about Jesus could be true.
Do something to investigate for yourself, and do not just dismiss Scriptures as myth or legend, until you are completely sure that they are. Do not be purposely blind to evidence or body of facts and information that are available if you will seek out for them.
Do not let your own biases or the biases of others stop you from investigating everything on your own. The truth is out there, whatever or wherever it leads you to. And yes, the truth will set you free. So be a Saul, or be a Paul. And more importantly, be one because you really understand and stand by what you believe in.
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