“And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest...” (Acts 9:5a)

Before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus underwent unusual preparation for his new life. God prepared Saul to exchange one apostleship for another. He would later abandon being an apostle of strict Jewish Pharisaism and embrace being an apostle of Christ and the church. God prepares everyone whom He calls. We’re introduced to this young man named Saul (Acts 7:58) when his companions stoned Stephen to death. Stephen’s gospel message had accused Pharisees and other observant Jews of killing Jesus (7:52).

Remember these enormous truths: Saul heard Stephen’s mighty gospel message (7:2-53). The gospel then echoed in Saul’s mind, and the Holy Spirit used it, no doubt, to convict the young man. Saul saw Stephen die with forgiveness for his killers on his dying lips. Even as Saul rejected the gospel, God was preparing him. Even as Saul continued to persecute Christians, God was reaching him. Though he hated the gospel, Saul surely could not ignore its power. Though he hated Christ’s followers, he surely could not dismiss their genuineness. On his way to Damascus to terrorize still more Christians, Saul met Jesus. “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:5b), said the Lord to Saul, referring to the common goads shepherds used to goad wayward livestock into submission. Saul had kicked against the conviction from Stephen’s ringing message. He had kicked against the image of Stephen’s sincere face in death. He had kicked against the gospel and the Savior, and now he was confronted squarely by both. Jesus melted Saul’s heart and saved him.

Saul and his fellow Pharisees had probably believed that Christians were guilty of blasphemy and deserved death when they said Christ was God’s Son (see Leviticus 24:10-16). Many around us have strange, sad ideas about Jesus and his followers. They may think that ridding the world of Christians will help. They cannot easily escape the truth of the gospel, however, if they hear it. They cannot easily shrug off authentic faith if they see it. Let us speak it and live it before them for the glory of God.