Acts 9:6

And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

Saul, having readily obtained the letters which he desired, lost no time in leaving Jerusalem. To reach his destination, he had about 140 miles to travel in a general northeasterly direction. For Damascus was the ancient capital of the province of Syria, situated about seventy miles from the Mediterranean, from which it was separated by the Lebanon and Antilebanon ranges. The Abana River flowed through it, and the Pharpar ran a few miles south of its walls. Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world, said to have been founded by Uz, the grandson of Shem, and known to Abraham, Genesis 15:15. It has always been an important trade center and was also known for its manufactories, The journey, by either the caravan road through Samaria and Galilee, or by the Roman road over Jericho and through Perea and Decapolis, occupied some seven or eight days. One fact stands out with a certainty which cannot be denied, namely, that a state of mind less favorable for conversion than that of Saul when he started out on his mad expedition can hardly be imagined. He was in the very midst of Pharisaic darkness and unbelief, abhorring the very name of Christ and full of resentment and hatred toward those that confessed belief in this name. But the Lord's manner of dealing with even the most hopeless cases and obstinate enemies passes human understanding. For it was at midday of the last day of the trip, when the travelers had left the snow-capped peak of Mount Hermon behind them, and may have been able to see the city of Damascus in the distance before them, that suddenly, without warning, an extremely bright light from heaven shone round about Saul, so bright as to render him blind. Perceiving that a miracle was happening, he fell to the ground in helpless terror. In that light, and before darkness fell upon him, Saul saw Christ, the Crucified, 1 Corinthians 9:1. And when he had fallen, he heard and plainly understood a voice, which solemnly called to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? With fear and trembling, Saul asked: "Who art Thou, Lord?" either because he could not distinguish from the voice whether it was Stephen or some other victim speaking, or because he wanted to be certain that he was not beset by a hallucination. The Lord now fully revealed Himself to Saul as Jesus, whom he was persecuting by his present treatment and by his proposed measures against the believers in His name. Two facts were thus impressed upon the mind and heart of Saul, that the union between Christ and His Church is perfect and lasting, and that therefore the persecution of the believers was a persecution of Christ Himself. And the searching love of Jesus was immediately made manifest in His warning and pleading cry: It will be hard for thee to strike out against the goads, a figure taken from the driving of oxen by means of pointed sticks, against which they will sometimes attempt to kick. Here the hour of conversion was come. "For there is no heart so strong, though it were nothing but flint diamond, which could hold out and must not break. " The enemy was vanquished, be. cause the Stronger had come over him and had changed his mind and heart; the Lord had revealed Himself to him, Galatians 1:16. Saul now, full of trembling and astonishment, has only one purpose in mind, to do the will of his Lord, and asks what the Lord wants him to do. "In this way we should also learn to fit ourselves properly, confess our sins and desist from them, believe on Jesus Christ, and find comfort in His sufferings, and finally yield to the right obedience to God, in order that we may not again by disobedience fall from the great grace and into the wrath of God by an unrepentant life. That means to follow the example of Paul properly, which is written for our comfort and doctrine. " And then the Lord gave this new convert directions as to his behavior, namely, to arise and go into the city, where he would receive such information as he needed to direct his future course. "Here we should mark especially: Although God from heaven speaks with Paul, yet He does not want to annul the office of preaching, nor make this an extraordinary case; but He directs him into the city to the pulpit and preacher; there he should hear and learn what is to be learned. For God, our Lord, wants to establish something special for no one, but gives His Baptism and Gospel to the whole world, to one as well as to the other. There one may learn how to be saved, and not wait whether God will make something new and send us an angel from heaven. For it is His will that we go and hear the Gospel from those that preach it; there we should find it, and nowhere else."