THEY STOOD SPEECHLESS -- Monday:
"And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man . . . And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me." (Acts 9:7; 22:9).
The appearance of the glorified Christ to Saul of Tarsus is one of the significant events of Scripture. It confirms that God is not confined to the ordinary, nor does He work in a stereotyped manner. The other twelve apostles were all called and taught in a similar way. There was a lot of commonality in their Apostleship. But it was not so with Paul. He was "born out of due time" (1 Cor 15:8), and received personal and thorough tutelage from the Lord in an unusual manner. He did not "go up to Jerusalem" following his appointment, but into, of all places, "Arabia," not conferring with the other Apostles until three years later (Gal 1:15-17).
Reference is made to the calling of Saul of Tarsus three times (Acts 9:11-9; 22:6-11; 26:13-16). From them, we know that Saul was en route to Damascus to find "men or women" who were devoted to Jesus, and bring them bound to Jerusalem (Acts 9:1-2). In all of this, he was convinced he was serving God (Acts 22:3). However, his plans were abruptly brought to a grinding conclusion by the Lord of glory, Who reigns over all.
Jesus spoke to Saul. We are told Jesus spoke "in the Hebrew tongue" to him, saying "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." After Saul inquired who was speaking to him (knowing it was the "Lord," Jesus spoke extensively to him. "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Acts 26:15-18).
The words spoken to Saul were personal, and not intended to be heard by everyone. Thus it is written that those with him (no doubt a significant group) "stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man." However, they did not hear the voice with any understanding. Acts 22:9 says they "heard NOT the voice." Some may think this to be a contradiction, but it is not. It means they did not understand what was said, hearing only the sound.
Jesus spoke similarly to those who heard Him speak, yet did not understand His words. "Why do ye not understand My speech? even because ye cannot hear my word" (John 8:43). There is a kind of hearing related to an inner spiritual ear -- the capacity to comprehend the Divine summons. Emphasizing the criticality of such hearing, Jesus said, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 12:25). He distinguished this from the resurrection of the dead that will occur when those who are "in the graves shall hear His voice" (John 12:28-29). Until that glorious day, there are still speechless people who cannot hear. May you not be one of them!
PRAYER POINT: Father, through Jesus I thank You that in Him we are able to hear the most critical Speaker of all with the most critical ears of all.