GodReflection: A Brand-New Life And Have Everything To Live For.
Saul is not a newbie student of Biblical Scripture. His birth into a Jewish family and a father who was a Pharisee introduces him to the teachings and traditions dating back to Abraham. His family sees that he is enrolled to study with Gamaliel, the most capable teacher of the day. Obviously, he was a bright little boy.
His birth was somewhat parallel to that of Jesus of Nazareth. Smart and industrious, Saul begins to study with every ounce of energy that overflows from his life. Full of zeal he is ready to follow God.
When we read Doctor Luke’s description of Saul of Tarsus starting in Acts 6 until he meets Jesus on the road to the city of Damascus, we witness a young Saul so fired with zeal he is ready to kill anyone who is against God. Where did he learn such hostility to be necessary?
Back to his studies. As a young boy ready to follow God he is in the best schools of his time, he reads carefully from Scripture of great men commended by God for their great acts. He comes across two stories that grab his attention. Men who burned with zeal to defend God.
Let’s look over the little boy Saul’s shoulder as he first reads about Phinehas.
Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
The Lord said to Moses, “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal, therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him.
He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.” (Numbers 25: 6-13).
“Wow! Man! I can feel it! That same zeal burns in me. I too will defend God just like Phinehas”.
On another day the little boy Saul comes across this story. It too grabs his attention as he identifies with the zeal of the great prophet Elija.
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.
I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.”
So, they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely, he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So, they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.
Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.”
With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.
Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. (1 Kings 18:22-40).
“Yes, I can do that. I will be just like the Prophet. I will always defend God and be the first to help him rid all false teachers and their false teachings. I will kill the bad guys like Elijah did”.
Now, let’s fast forward from the little boy Saul to the zealous young man Saul. He is on his way to Damascus with his pockets stuffed full of death warrants signed by the religious Pharisees who like Saul burned with zeal to defend the Truth.
What he never expects is to have a face-to-face encounter with a live Jesus of Nazareth who everyone knew was dead because he had challenged the religious leaders and God’s truth.
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:3-6).
Fully repentant of his murderous past and zealous murderous intent, Saul with his clean name Paul now understands Saul Paul Is Chosen By Jesus For A Special Assignment. God has crowned Jesus King over everything on earth and in heaven. He is ready to tell not only his fellow Jews but everyone in the world. And Saul Paul will lead that effort.
He is ready to redirect his zeal to Jesus. That zeal still burns within him, yet since he has met Jesus, that zeal will now imitate Jesus who taught peace and kindness rather than anger and violence. He is ready to join with the Apostle Peter to announce Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
As Jesus chosen Apostle to the Gentiles, he is among all of us as Believers who have A Brand-New Life And Have Everything To Live For.
Stay tuned.
Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection: Saul Paul Is Chosen By Jesus For A Special Assignment.
God Reflection 