Saul, Saul What are You Doing

                                         

On 11^th May 1685 at Wigtown, Scotland, eighteen years old Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLaughlin, a widow of sixty-three, were persecuted to the death. McLaughlin had been arrested while holding a Sunday service at home instead of attending the government’s approved church. Wilson with her siblings had defied her parents and attended Covenanter services held in wilderness places.

Both women could have saved themselves by repeating an oath against the rebel Covenanters, swearing allegiance to the king as head of the church. The headship of Christ was the issue in a nutshell, so they could not comply with that demand.  They also considered oaths to be against Christ’s command, so they refused. While the tide was out, two stakes were driven into the sand of the sea-shore.

The older Margaret was staked further from the shore so as to be the first to be overcome by the tide.  She was to perish first so that the younger Margaret, who was bound to a stake nearer the shore, could be terrified into submission. The water gradually made its way to the aged woman. It kept rising higher and higher at each successive wave until it covered her head, choking her to death.

Wilson witnessed the whole scene and knew that she would soon share the same fate. She witnessed the death struggle of her companion in suffering. A soldier asked Wilson what she saw. “What do I see?” she countered, “Christ, in one of His members, wrestling there. Think you that we are the sufferers? No, it is Christ in us; for He sends none a warfare upon their own charges.”

As the water rose around her she displayed a calm courage. She was implored by her friends to give in to her persecutors, but she continued to pray and recite verses from Psalm 25. When she had passed out under the rising water, she was released, restored to consciousness and given another chance to conform. Sir Robert Grierson who led the persecution against Wilson, demanded she take the oath.

She refused and said, “I will not; I am one of Christ’s children; let me go.” Major Windram then ordered his soldiers to fasten her again to the stake and she died. After the tide retreated, the bodies of the two victims were recovered and buried in a nearby cemetery. The two Margaret’s are now with their Lord in Heaven. They are just two of the many people who paid the ultimate price because of their love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Acts 9, we read about Saul of Tarsus. He was zealous for Judaism. The followers of Jesus were spreading what Saul considered a pernicious heresy in Israel. From his perspective the followers of Christ were apostate Jews who threatened to corrupt Judaism.  He was convinced that the cult of the Nazarene was a threat to Judaism. Therefore, he was a man consumed with one passion- to eradicate followers of Jesus from the earth (Phil. 3:6; 1 Cor.15:9; Gal.1:13; 1 Tim.1:13).

Paul could validate his actions against the Christians by reference to such godly precedents as Moses’ slaying of the immoral Israelites at Baal-peor (Num. 25:1-5) and Phinehas’s slaying of the Israelite man and Midianite woman in the plains of Moab (Num. 25:6-13).Their actions pleased God greatly. God told Moses that Phinehas’s “and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God”(v.13).

One day when Saul was on the road to Damascus to persecute Christian, Jesus stopped him in his tracks. Saul fell to the ground blinded by this light from heaven that flashed all about him (Acts 9:3-4). He heard a voice say to him “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied (Acts 9:3-5). The light was apparently all Saul could see of Jesus.   

He must have remembered Stephen’s dying scene (Acts 7:54-60). Stephen had talked of seeing Jesus in heaven. The glorified Jesus who Stephen had seen now appeared to Saul in blazing light and spoke to him. And it’s like he was saying “Saul, I know you; I know everything about you.  Why are you persecuting me?” Saul knew he was persecuting Christians, but what did that have to do with Jesus?

In the words of Jesus that day, Saul learnt much about Jesus’ relationship to his followers. Saul discovered that Jesus was not only alive; he was also vitally connected with His followers. Christians enjoy an intimate union with Jesus and persecuting any of them is persecuting Jesus Himself. Years later Paul wrote to the Corinthians “now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Cor.12:27). He told the Galatians “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal.2:20).

Christians are the body of Christ. Whatever you do for the least of them (good or bad), you do it for Jesus (Matt 25:40). Saul thought that he was serving God in viciously attacking Christians, but he discovered that he was fighting God. In Isaiah 63:8-9 God spoke about his people, he said, ‘surely they are my people,children who will be true to me’; and so he became their Savior. In all their distress he too was distressed and the angel of his presence saved them”.

The Lord said to Saul, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” A goad is a long, extremely sharp stick used to get an ox going the direction the farmer want when ploughing. An ox kicking against a goad, only ends up hurting itself more by fighting what it cannot win.  Resisting God's will or direction is foolish and painful. Fighting against God is also futile. Saul was ignorantly fighting a battle he could not win. But, he was potentially extremely useful to the Master’s service.

Saul left Jerusalem breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He entered Damascus blind and humbled. Ananias had a surprising message for him. Jesus said to Ananias “this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (Acts 9:15-16). The one who had caused suffering would in turn experience an even greater variety of suffering.

The promised suffering became a reality in Paul’s life. He detailed many of these sufferings in his epistles. He wrote to the Corinthians “I have been ...exposed to death again and again ...beaten with rods... pelted with stones... shipwrecked... in danger from rivers... bandits...my fellow Jews... Gentiles;  in danger in the city... in the country... at sea. I have ...gone without sleep... known hunger and thirst ... been cold and naked”(1 Cor.11:23-29).

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body (2 Cor.4:8-11)

“We do not want you to be uninformed...about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us” (2 Cor. 1:8-10).

Saul did not suffer to pay debt for his past life. He did not suffer to be saved, but he suffered because he was saved. He suffered persecutions because he bore the Name of Jesus all over the known world. He would have been able to testify with the 3rd stanza of “Amazing Grace” which goes: “through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. Its grace that has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home”.

He urged the Philippians “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ...without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,  since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have (Phil.1:27-30).

Paul warned Timothy and all disciples of Jesus of the inevitability of suffering. He wrote “ indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim.3:12). Suffering is not the exception, but the norm for Christians. Suffering is guaranteed if one is a genuine believer (John 15:18-21). We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). Jesus promises to be with us through suffering and hardship, not to spare us from them.

Paul exhorted the Corinthians and Christians in all generations to face persecutions courageously and gracefully because it brings forth beautiful fruits in this life and a great reward in the life to come. He said “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body … we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For, our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor.4:11-18).

The Apostle Peter told us to expect suffering. He said “dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you…if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,  what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good (1 Peter 4). Jesus said “ you will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt.10:22).