Before Paul...there was Saul

The man who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy

Before there was Paul, 

there was Saul

If you begin reading the book of Acts, you will see exactly who Saul was.

Saul comes on the scene in Acts chapter seven.

You first hear of Saul when Stephen, the first martyr, was being stoned because Stephen spoke the very same scriptures that they thought they knew, to the crowd and that made them mad.

 

Stephen boldly proclaimed that Jesus is the Son of God. All their scriptures pointed to that. They just refused to listen/hear.

There was a proud young Jewish man, Saul, standing by and watching. The Jewish men took off their robes, laid them at the feet of Saul, and continued to throw stones at Stephen. Killing him.

Let me digress. When you think of stoning, please do not consider this as the means of getting there:

They were a lot bigger.

Ok,

Saul came on the scene in Acts Chapter 7 verse 58.

Scripture says,

When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.

What else do we know about Saul?

Acts 8:1-3

Now Saul approved of putting Stephen to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen and mourned loudly for him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and he would drag away men and women and put them in prison.

Acts 9:1-2

Now Saul,

still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them in shackles to Jerusalem.

Saul was not a very nice man. He approved of murdering Christians, he was threatening them, he would seek out anyone following Christ, the Way, and imprison them. Saul would even murder them if needed.

Saul, what a terrible man you are! 

Saul, God hates you! 

Saul, you will never change!

Today, as I begin to get into the word of God and start my blogs for the week, I began diving into the book of Galatians.

Right at the beginning of Chapter one in Galatians, Paul tells us who sent him.

Paul was used by God to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul is so adamant about sharing the correct gospel, that not once but twice in the first chapter ALONE, he warns those who do not bring the correct gospel. He states what will take place if you do such a thing.

Let’s be clear. Paul did not mince words.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, even now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

 

Paul wrote 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament.

He also became a pivotal missionary to the gentiles and others.

Acts 9:15

But the Lord said to him (((SAUL))), “Go, for  he (((SAUL))) is a chosen  instrument of Mine, to bear My name before  the Gentiles and  kings and the sons of Israel;

This was not always the case, and the book of Acts confirms. Paul came face to face with Jesus, the Son of God, on the road to Damascus. He was on that road to find and imprison believers of the Way, but Saul was imprisoned by his shackles.

Shackles of the bondage to the law and his eternal damnation of rejecting Christ led him to have an unrepented heart. Until...

 

God. That is how.

 

Before there was Paul,
                there was Saul.

Before the new,
                there was the old.

Before the heaven-bound,
                there was hell-bound.

Before being found,
                you were lost.

Before redemption,
                there was damnation.

Before Jesus,
                there was the law.

Before there was Paul,
                there was Saul.

Nobody is too far gone, 

                that God cannot reach them.