OBS: ACTS - Searching for Grace (Part 1 - Then was Saul certain days with the disciples)
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Acts 9:17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he [Saul] had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.
Then was Saul certain days with the disciples
Acts 1:8 ... and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, [ ...< GAP >... ] and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
What the Jewish church (aka. the 'little flock') believed for salvation and for an eternal hope in that day, is DIFFERENT to what we believe today. During that above gap, our gospel, our doctrine, and our eternal destination has changed, and the way God deals with us today is not the same as how He dealt with Israel, as is evident in the Old Testament and the four Gospels.
—So how did this come about? What changed? Why did it change? What do we know about it today? How do we apply these changes in our lives?
To see what the scriptures about it, we need to jump ahead to Acts 9, where Saul is in Damascus...
Why did Luke (the author of ACTS) inform us that Saul spent certain days with the disciples in Damascus? This is an interesting point and certainly VERY interesting to understand. Remember that Saul, at this point was a Pharisee and although he was VERY well versed in the Law and the Prophets, he KNEW NOTHING of the teachings and doctrine that Jesus taught during his 3-years of ministry. Saul's hatred of Jesus would have caused him to turn a deaf ear to all that Jesus taught. It is in these "certain days" that Saul was instructed by the disciples about Jesus teachings and lifestyle. It would not have taken Saul long to connect the dots! His encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road was convincing enough, but all he needed was to find Jesus in the written scriptures of the Law and the Prophets. Once Saul saw Jesus in the written Word, his knowledge of the scriptures would provide him the "ammunition" to prove, and even confound the Jews that Jesus was the Christ and Messiah.
Saul was well versed in the Mosaic Law and the Prophets, but would need much instruction in the life and ministry of Christ (to connect the dots). Saul's hatred for Jesus would have suppressed everything Jesus had taught. Though Saul has now seen Jesus glorified, the disciples would need to help him to connect those scriptures he knew so well to his newfound identity of who Christ really was.
Saul's mentality before his conversion (and why he had things to learn from the disciples in Damascus): Saul was a religious Jew, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, who was passionate for the Law and the traditions of the Fathers (Gal.1:14). Saul genuinely thought that He was helping God by eliminating Christ's followers. For Saul, the very idea that Jesus was the Messiah [the anointed One, the King of Israel], was absurd. Why? Because Jesus represented servanthood, and Jesus was crucified ("hung on a tree" Deut.21:22-23), which meant that he was under the curse of the Law. Saul saw the doctrine of the Jewish believers as blasphemy [profanity and desecration] and a dangerous rebellion against the Law, which would result in the judgment of God on Israel. Saul's motivation was to correct this false teaching within Judaism, using the punishment system of the Law itself to destroy the movement.
The moment Saul connected the dots and could see for himself that Jesus was the Christ, he headed straight away for the synagogues and preached Christ as the Son of God. (Saul started to preach the Kingdom program! There was no grace gospel yet, and God had not yet revealed ANYTHING regarding the grace program.)
20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
Notice: This is a clear reference to the Kingdom gospel which teaches about the identity of Christ as the Messiah of Israel.
21 But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem [Jewish believers, little flock, Luke 12:32], and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? 22 But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is [the] very Christ [the Messiah].
Our journey will continue searching for grace as we intersect with the lives of the early believers and the doctrines that were taught.
(See the video of this lesson here.)
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