In the crosshairs

“Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners ...” Acts 9:1-2

Saul was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” ... and Damascus was in his crosshairs.

He was a Pharisee and, by his own reckoning, “extremely zealous” and “intense” in his persecution of the church. How zealous? How intense? Convinced that he "ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth,” Saul, again in his own words ...

... persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it …
... went from synagogue to synagogue to imprison and beat believers ...
... arrested both men and women, throwing them into prison …
... brought prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished ...
... went to foreign cities to persecute the saints ...
... persecuted Jesus’ followers to their death ...
... cast his vote against those facing death ...
... tried to force the saints to blaspheme.

Imagine the fear of those at the end of the barrel of this singular-focus zealot. And Damascus was in his crosshairs.

But persecution wasn’t to happen that day, for the Saul who entered the city was a far cry from the one who set out for it. Consider the change ...

... he who tried to force the saints to blaspheme the name of Jesus now called him, “Lord” ...
... he who left Jerusalem with letters of authority entered Damascus, blind and led by the hand ...
... he who did all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus was now to become his “chosen instrument” ...
... he who intensely persecuted the church received his sight following the simple prayer of an obedient disciple ...
... he who learned from Gamaliel, the greatest Jewish teacher of his time, would carry Jesus’ name to the Gentiles ...
... he who went from one synagogue to another to imprison believers now preached in the Damascus synagogue that Jesus is the Son of God.

Such change just doesn't happen. But it did! It happened to Saul in an instant, around noon, to be exact, as Damascus grew ever larger in his sites. With a flash of light was a loud noise ... and Saul fell to the ground. For Jesus had him in his crosshairs.

We think we’re in control, but we’re not. We fear others are in control, but they’re not. We doubt God hears us, but he does.

For God reveals himself as he pleases, gradually to some and instantaneously to others; we have hope. God's love is as infinite as his power; we need not fear. God is sovereign over all things; we can trust him.

To read today’s entire text, Acts 9:1-9, click here.
To read more about Paul’s pre-conversion persecution of the church, click on the following verses: Acts 22:1-29; Acts 26:9-11; Galatians1:13-17.