Acts 9:19-30
Last week John shared about the conversion of Saul, the person we now know as Paul. Recall that it was a miraculous experience: struck with a blinding light, hearing the voice of Jesus saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” He was struck blind, led into the city of Damascus, didn’t eat or drink for 3 days, and then was met by Ananias, who obeyed the Lord’s call and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." It says that something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and then he was again able to see. It also says he was baptized. This brings us to today’s passage.
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" – Acts 9:19-21
I believe this had to be a very funny moment, especially from the point of view of the heavenly host listening in from heaven. Understand that Saul was famous. He was famous for his adherence to hardline Pharisee principles. He was famous for his educational training – sitting under one of the most famous rabbis of all time. Most of all, he was famous because he was the “point man” in charge of arresting people who believed that Jesus was risen and that He was the promised Messiah. He was more or less single-handedly responsible for breaking up and scattering (destroying is a word others might have used) the Jerusalem church. Now he was going out across the land, breaking up groups of believers wherever he found them.
And imagine the setting. Here he is about to enter a synagogue in Damascus. People know what to expect. There are many there who are really looking forward to it. They expect him to give them what there “ears are itching to hear:” that Jesus is dead as dead can be, that the followers of Jesus follow blasphemy and must be rooted out, that great progress is being made in blotting out this aberrant cult. Perhaps also that the Law is supreme, that we all must obey every jot and tittle of it. That one should even tithe their spices. That one must observe all the fasting days. That you can be proud that you are a Pharisee, proud that you are not like other men. And on and on.
How did Paul spring it on them? Perhaps he hit them right at the beginning, with something like his opening to Galatians: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Or perhaps it was delayed. There is a good chance a synagogue honored him with reading the Old Testament scripture for that meeting. So perhaps he read the scroll, paused, and then began to come out with it. I am reminded of how Jesus did something like this. Do you remember? This can be found in Luke 4:16-21: [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom. And He stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, and He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
I can picture Saul saying something like this (paraphrased from Galatians 1): “I imagine some of you know who I am. You may have heard of my way of life in Judaism, how intensely I have persecuted the sect of those who claim to follow Jesus, and how I have tried to destroy this sect. I do not mean to boast, but I believe I have been advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age. You may have heard that I am extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. I have no doubt that many of you are also extremely zealous for these traditions. But a strange thing happened to me while I was on the road to come here…” I can imagine him explaining all that had happened to him, and then saying, “I have been wrong! Jesus is risen indeed! He has blinded me. He has spoken to me. And God used one of His humble followers to make me see again. I was blind, but now I see. I was blind about many things. Most importantly, I was blind about Jesus. He is the Christ – the promised Messiah.” And then I can imagine him using scripture after scripture to point out how it all points to Him.
Can you imagine the expressions on the faces of those who had come to here Saul speak? From smiles, to disbelief, to shock, to anger. I bet faces were turning red in that audience. And afterwards the gossip about this event spreads like wildfire. "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" What is going on?
I think it is important to note what the passage says about what Saul said: that “Jesus is the Son of God.” What does this mean? It is interesting to look at other scriptures where the phrase is used.
The first question we can ask is: Who called Him the Son of God? I see seven answers in Scripture to this question.
1. Angels.
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. – Luke 1:35.
2. Demons.
“If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” – Luke 4:3 (also Matt. 4:3)
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.” – Luke 4:9 (also Matt. 4:6)
“What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” – Matt. 8:29
Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” – Mark 3:11
Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ. – Luke 4:41
3. Witnesses.
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. – Mark 1:1 (Mark)
“I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” – John 1:34 (John the Baptist)
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. – John 20:31 (John)
4. Writers of NT Letters
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 1:1-4
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Gal. 2:20
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. – Hebrews 4:14
5. People who saw His power.
Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." – John 1:49
Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." – Matt. 14:33
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." – John 11:27 (Martha)
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!" – Matt. 27:54 (also Mark 15:39)
6. Jesus.
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. – John 5:24-25
They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?" He replied, "You are right in saying I am." – Luke 22:70
The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. – Matt. 26:63
7. His opponents.
The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God." – John 19:7
"You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" – Matt. 27:40
"He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if He wants Him, for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'" – Matt. 27:43
What does it mean that He is the Son of God?
It incorporates His divinity, His equality with God, His place in the trinity, His role as Messiah. As even His birth shows, He is not “just a man” or even “just a prophet.” This belief is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian, and it is the stumbling block for cults.
How important is it to believe He is the Son of God?
We get a pretty clear answer from many passages in the book of I John.
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. – I John 4:15
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. – I John 5:5
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. – I John 5:13
We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. – I John 5:20
So Saul, from the very beginning, “got it.” He understood who Jesus was, after encountering Him and after thinking through all he knew from the scriptures. At the very center of his message was the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.
Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. – Acts 9:22
Literally, he became a “dynamo” (dunamis). Saul was like dynamite!
After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. – Acts 9:23-25
The persecutor became the persecuted. Where was God in this? He was there. God never promised Saul an easy life. In fact, He seemingly promised the opposite. In Acts 9:16, the Lord told Ananias, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My Name.”
God was there. He helped Saul to learn of the plan. He helped His followers devise a good plan to have Saul escape. He made the plan work.
When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. – Acts 9:26-27
Again, I can see the real potential for humor here. I can picture Saul wandering around Jerusalem, trying to find the disciples, who of course are hiding from Saul and others trying to persecute them. Would you believe Saul if he said, “No, really! I’m one of you now! Just tell me where the really important disciples are so I can talk to them!” Barnabas may have already heard of Saul’s radical change, but regardless, he took a risk to open up to Saul.
So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. – Acts 9:28-30
Once again, Saul speaks boldly about Jesus, and once again, he gets people so mad that they want to kill him. Some people just have a knack for this. Once again, God sees, and prevents Saul’s death. Once again, they safely got him out of town. This time they sent him home, to Tarsus.
I have several applications for this passage.
1. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
Feed your faith. Build up your belief. You can do this by reading the gospels again, by reading good Christian books that talk about who Jesus is, by talking with one another about this. This should be central to our faith. He is God. He is the Son in the trinity.
2. Share that Jesus is the Son of God.
In earlier parts of this series, we have seen how the early believers emphasized the resurrection and how they were witnesses to the risen Lord. Now we are seeing an emphasis on Jesus as the Son of God. I see this as a “both-and.” Both are foundational truths of the gospel. He is not just a man who God raised from the dead. Lazarus would fall into that category. He is God. There is one God, but three “persons.” The plurality of God enables God to be Love. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father.
3. Trust that God is in control.
I think this is especially timely given the sad events at Virginia Tech this week. We have a sister church at Virginia Tech. They have been strongly impacted by the tragedy, as you can imagine. There was one girl, Nicole White, who was an active member of the church. She was one of the 32 victims. There were many Christians among the victims, including four students with Campus Crusade for Christ. Many of the students at the Virginia Tech church knew someone else who died or was injured.
Lots of people in the news media are asking questions about what various people could have done better to have perhaps prevented the tragedy. I do think it is good and worthwhile to learn from the past, but there has been an almost despairing tone in some of the articles I have read. “If only…” this and “if only…” that. We should not be “if only…” people. We should not live as if everything in life depends on us. This is based on a worldview without God.
In tragedy it is natural to ask “Where was God?” He is there. He sees. He knows what He is doing. Kristin has mentioned before that what we see in the world is like the back side of a beautiful tapestry that God is making. We see the knots, and the places where things are tied off and don’t look nice. But God sees the other side, and some day we will see it too.
As a professor at Clemson, I have thought a lot about Virginia Tech. You may have heard about the Jewish professor who was a holocaust survivor and survived some of the horrors of communist Romania who held a classroom door shut with his body while his students escaped out a window. He gave his life for his students. Would I do that? I hope so, but you can never know until you are actually put to the test.
I have been thinking to myself, suppose I knew that on Monday, or in a week, or in a year, I would lose my life in a tragedy like this. Would I do anything different now? What about you? It can happen. Anything can happen. Jesus Christ may return on Monday, or in a week, or in a year. We should not be “if only” people in this sense either. When we come face to face with the Son of God, we should not come with regrets. We should be doing now what we think we would do if we knew we had little time left.
This leads to my final application:
4. Live like “new men.”
(And new women.) Look at Saul. He doesn’t remotely resemble the person he was before His encounter with Christ. He is a dynamo for God. And we should be dynamos too.
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" – Acts 9:19-21
I believe this had to be a very funny moment, especially from the point of view of the heavenly host listening in from heaven. Understand that Saul was famous. He was famous for his adherence to hardline Pharisee principles. He was famous for his educational training – sitting under one of the most famous rabbis of all time. Most of all, he was famous because he was the “point man” in charge of arresting people who believed that Jesus was risen and that He was the promised Messiah. He was more or less single-handedly responsible for breaking up and scattering (destroying is a word others might have used) the Jerusalem church. Now he was going out across the land, breaking up groups of believers wherever he found them.
And imagine the setting. Here he is about to enter a synagogue in Damascus. People know what to expect. There are many there who are really looking forward to it. They expect him to give them what there “ears are itching to hear:” that Jesus is dead as dead can be, that the followers of Jesus follow blasphemy and must be rooted out, that great progress is being made in blotting out this aberrant cult. Perhaps also that the Law is supreme, that we all must obey every jot and tittle of it. That one should even tithe their spices. That one must observe all the fasting days. That you can be proud that you are a Pharisee, proud that you are not like other men. And on and on.
How did Paul spring it on them? Perhaps he hit them right at the beginning, with something like his opening to Galatians: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Or perhaps it was delayed. There is a good chance a synagogue honored him with reading the Old Testament scripture for that meeting. So perhaps he read the scroll, paused, and then began to come out with it. I am reminded of how Jesus did something like this. Do you remember? This can be found in Luke 4:16-21: [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom. And He stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, and He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
I can picture Saul saying something like this (paraphrased from Galatians 1): “I imagine some of you know who I am. You may have heard of my way of life in Judaism, how intensely I have persecuted the sect of those who claim to follow Jesus, and how I have tried to destroy this sect. I do not mean to boast, but I believe I have been advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age. You may have heard that I am extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. I have no doubt that many of you are also extremely zealous for these traditions. But a strange thing happened to me while I was on the road to come here…” I can imagine him explaining all that had happened to him, and then saying, “I have been wrong! Jesus is risen indeed! He has blinded me. He has spoken to me. And God used one of His humble followers to make me see again. I was blind, but now I see. I was blind about many things. Most importantly, I was blind about Jesus. He is the Christ – the promised Messiah.” And then I can imagine him using scripture after scripture to point out how it all points to Him.
Can you imagine the expressions on the faces of those who had come to here Saul speak? From smiles, to disbelief, to shock, to anger. I bet faces were turning red in that audience. And afterwards the gossip about this event spreads like wildfire. "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" What is going on?
I think it is important to note what the passage says about what Saul said: that “Jesus is the Son of God.” What does this mean? It is interesting to look at other scriptures where the phrase is used.
The first question we can ask is: Who called Him the Son of God? I see seven answers in Scripture to this question.
1. Angels.
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. – Luke 1:35.
2. Demons.
“If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” – Luke 4:3 (also Matt. 4:3)
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.” – Luke 4:9 (also Matt. 4:6)
“What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” – Matt. 8:29
Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” – Mark 3:11
Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ. – Luke 4:41
3. Witnesses.
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. – Mark 1:1 (Mark)
“I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” – John 1:34 (John the Baptist)
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. – John 20:31 (John)
4. Writers of NT Letters
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 1:1-4
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Gal. 2:20
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. – Hebrews 4:14
5. People who saw His power.
Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." – John 1:49
Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." – Matt. 14:33
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." – John 11:27 (Martha)
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!" – Matt. 27:54 (also Mark 15:39)
6. Jesus.
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. – John 5:24-25
They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?" He replied, "You are right in saying I am." – Luke 22:70
The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. – Matt. 26:63
7. His opponents.
The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God." – John 19:7
"You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" – Matt. 27:40
"He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if He wants Him, for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'" – Matt. 27:43
What does it mean that He is the Son of God?
It incorporates His divinity, His equality with God, His place in the trinity, His role as Messiah. As even His birth shows, He is not “just a man” or even “just a prophet.” This belief is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian, and it is the stumbling block for cults.
How important is it to believe He is the Son of God?
We get a pretty clear answer from many passages in the book of I John.
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. – I John 4:15
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. – I John 5:5
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. – I John 5:13
We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. – I John 5:20
So Saul, from the very beginning, “got it.” He understood who Jesus was, after encountering Him and after thinking through all he knew from the scriptures. At the very center of his message was the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.
Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. – Acts 9:22
Literally, he became a “dynamo” (dunamis). Saul was like dynamite!
After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. – Acts 9:23-25
The persecutor became the persecuted. Where was God in this? He was there. God never promised Saul an easy life. In fact, He seemingly promised the opposite. In Acts 9:16, the Lord told Ananias, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My Name.”
God was there. He helped Saul to learn of the plan. He helped His followers devise a good plan to have Saul escape. He made the plan work.
When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. – Acts 9:26-27
Again, I can see the real potential for humor here. I can picture Saul wandering around Jerusalem, trying to find the disciples, who of course are hiding from Saul and others trying to persecute them. Would you believe Saul if he said, “No, really! I’m one of you now! Just tell me where the really important disciples are so I can talk to them!” Barnabas may have already heard of Saul’s radical change, but regardless, he took a risk to open up to Saul.
So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. – Acts 9:28-30
Once again, Saul speaks boldly about Jesus, and once again, he gets people so mad that they want to kill him. Some people just have a knack for this. Once again, God sees, and prevents Saul’s death. Once again, they safely got him out of town. This time they sent him home, to Tarsus.
I have several applications for this passage.
1. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
Feed your faith. Build up your belief. You can do this by reading the gospels again, by reading good Christian books that talk about who Jesus is, by talking with one another about this. This should be central to our faith. He is God. He is the Son in the trinity.
2. Share that Jesus is the Son of God.
In earlier parts of this series, we have seen how the early believers emphasized the resurrection and how they were witnesses to the risen Lord. Now we are seeing an emphasis on Jesus as the Son of God. I see this as a “both-and.” Both are foundational truths of the gospel. He is not just a man who God raised from the dead. Lazarus would fall into that category. He is God. There is one God, but three “persons.” The plurality of God enables God to be Love. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father.
3. Trust that God is in control.
I think this is especially timely given the sad events at Virginia Tech this week. We have a sister church at Virginia Tech. They have been strongly impacted by the tragedy, as you can imagine. There was one girl, Nicole White, who was an active member of the church. She was one of the 32 victims. There were many Christians among the victims, including four students with Campus Crusade for Christ. Many of the students at the Virginia Tech church knew someone else who died or was injured.
Lots of people in the news media are asking questions about what various people could have done better to have perhaps prevented the tragedy. I do think it is good and worthwhile to learn from the past, but there has been an almost despairing tone in some of the articles I have read. “If only…” this and “if only…” that. We should not be “if only…” people. We should not live as if everything in life depends on us. This is based on a worldview without God.
In tragedy it is natural to ask “Where was God?” He is there. He sees. He knows what He is doing. Kristin has mentioned before that what we see in the world is like the back side of a beautiful tapestry that God is making. We see the knots, and the places where things are tied off and don’t look nice. But God sees the other side, and some day we will see it too.
As a professor at Clemson, I have thought a lot about Virginia Tech. You may have heard about the Jewish professor who was a holocaust survivor and survived some of the horrors of communist Romania who held a classroom door shut with his body while his students escaped out a window. He gave his life for his students. Would I do that? I hope so, but you can never know until you are actually put to the test.
I have been thinking to myself, suppose I knew that on Monday, or in a week, or in a year, I would lose my life in a tragedy like this. Would I do anything different now? What about you? It can happen. Anything can happen. Jesus Christ may return on Monday, or in a week, or in a year. We should not be “if only” people in this sense either. When we come face to face with the Son of God, we should not come with regrets. We should be doing now what we think we would do if we knew we had little time left.
This leads to my final application:
4. Live like “new men.”
(And new women.) Look at Saul. He doesn’t remotely resemble the person he was before His encounter with Christ. He is a dynamo for God. And we should be dynamos too.
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