It's very crucial in being able to separate the Scriptures. If you can't separate the Scripture, then how are you going to be able to receive this beautiful free gift that God offers to everyone. When we've learned how to hears what He told Israel through Moses, as a Prophet, they being found in Deuteronomy 6:5-7 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Acts 7:2
"And he (Stephen) said, `Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; (or listen to me pay close attention to what I'm about to say) The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, (now who alone can claim Abraham as their father, up to this point? The Hebrews!) when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,'"
Then Stephen comes all the way up from Abraham, and builds on the Abrahamic Covenant, the promises made to this nation [but not to this nation alone but to Christ through which He came], and finally comes all the way up toward the end of this chapter, and he puts it on the Jewish religious leaders.
Acts 7:51-52
"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. (did we hear what his charges are, they resist the Holy Spirit) Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; (the Messiah, Christ) of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murders:"
When we analyze these two verses, does that fit a Gentile? No! that wouldn't fit the Gentiles. Gentiles fathers didn't persecute the prophets, but Israel's did. So always be careful that you don't just spread this out over people who are not involved. This is strictly for the Hebrews, it's still the Jew only. Its still on Israel's ground though they were considered as pagans by God because they had elevated their religion and all its forms and ceremonies above the knowledge of God which they were warned NOT to do.
Acts 7:53
"Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, (the Nation of Israel again) and have not kept it"
Here again is the charge of God against them, they broke the Covenants and the Law. They murdered His Prophets when they warned them time and time again as God's messengers. Now after this you know what happens to Stephen.
Acts 7:57-58
"Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul."
Remember when we were in the Book of Acts we called this the scenario of Israel's rejection. This is where they hit the high point of unbelief and rejection. "We'll not have Jesus of Nazareth to rule over us. He was an impostor, He could have never been the Messiah." And of course Saul of Tarsus was egging them on. Then you remember when we came into chapter 9, and now this is where we come to that fork in the road. The break between verses 8 and 9 of Psalm 2. Where God has finally left off dealing with the Nation of Israel, and He's going to do something totally different. This is something that has never been imagined by Peter or the eleven. Jesus never betrayed what was about to happen, because God in His Grace is now going to do something totally out of the secret recesses of His own mind and heart, and here it is. Guess we might as well start right with verse 1.
Remember we're now looking at what can be called the heavenly or spiritual realm into which we're all required to pass. How? By leaving the first elements of the earthy carnal and purely physical reality of common sinful man who is unknowingly swayed through his flesh or the areas of intellect, emotions, desires, opinions, wisdom, feelings of the five senses, and his religion, and government. Because these all are corrected by the evil one.
Acts 9:1-2
"And Saul, (who was holding the clothes of those who stoned Stephen in chapter 7:58) yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples (here it's not the Twelve but it is those who have made the break from Judaism to Christ centredness) of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem."
Then of course you know the account. Outside of Jerusalem and Damascus the Lord struck him down with this beam of Light from Heaven, probably something similar to a laser beam as we understand them now.
Acts 9:4-5a
"And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, `Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?' And he said, `Who art thou Lord?...'" (Yehovah)
You want to remember that Saul was a deeply religious man and a lawyer. Oh he was a murderer, he was one who slaughtered Jewish believers, but it was all in the name of his religion. Remember anybody that is religious certainly has a concept, whoever their God is, that he's up above. We don't know of any religion that looks at God being down, it's always up. So when this event comes from above with the stream of light, and the voice, immediately Saul knows it's got to be God that he's dealing with, so that's why the question, "Who art thou, Lord?" But in the original it really should have been, "Who art thou, Jehovah?" Because that's who Saul understood. Yehovah was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob not to mention Moses. Well what answer did Saul get for his question?
Acts 9:5b
"I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."
Can you Imagine the man's reaction when he heard that. The One that he thought was such an impostor and blasphemer, and the One whose name he was trying to just simply obliterate and stamp out from Jewish thinking was the same Yehovah that had called Abraham and Moses. He was the One that had spoken to Moses, that had spoken to David, and He was the same One that was now speaking from Heaven after having been crucified, buried, and risen from the dead. No wonder the man became what he was. What an experience Saul had when he heard that voice from Heaven say, "I am Jesus whom you persecute." Well remember God always works the ends into the middle. Hold on a moment what does He mean by "is it not hard for you to kick, resist against, the pricks"? Seems to me that this would imply that the Lord had been dealing with Saul's heart long before this encounter. Why do I say the "kicks" because from that Greek word we get the word: recalcitrant, which means to stubbornly resist guidance or to be a refractory. And "pricks" means divine impulses. So while He's dealing outside the city of Jerusalem and outside the Temple with Saul, He's dealing in the city with Ananias. How many are there who have been like Saul throughout the history of the church who have resisted God in like fashion and jumped in where most would fear to tread by spreading another gospel by the ordinances of man [having a from of Godliness but having no power therein], in the same fashion as Israel's religion, and without God's approval? Because they kicked against the goads or picks without knowing. So now let's drop all the way down to verse 11. This is just a quick review of our timeline.
Acts 9:11
"And the Lord said unto him, (Ananias) `Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.'"
We'll bet he was praying. I mean after all he's gone years now suppressing the name of Jesus of Nazareth as a blasphemer, as a demon, and as the worst of the worst could be, and then suddenly realize that He is the Messiah and Christ, and that it was He who is the very God that he thought he served, we bet he did pray. We don't blame him. So the Lord says, "behold, he prayeth."
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