Saul of Tarsus Converted
R. W. Hamilton, D. D. Acts 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will you have me to do? And the Lord said to him, Arise, and go into the city… These words — I. ARE ILLUSTRATIVE OF A SINGULAR TRANSFORMATION OF MIND. We would not forget the attendant miracles. There is the light, the voice; but we now would speak of the secret place of the spirit. There shines a more marvellous light; there resounds a voice, which "shakes not the earth only, but also heaven." This is not the effect of surprise. Astonishment is mingled with it; but it was not the ordinary emotion; it was amazement, admiration — lofty, tender, profound, awestricken. It is not the working of self-righteousness. Belief but seeks its proof; submission but asks its test. It is the loosing of the rebel's weapon from the rebel's hand. It is not "going about to establish a righteousness of its own," it is the incense of that sacrifice which God approves. This language is distinguished by — 1. Deep compunction. He feels that his sin is of no common aggravation. It is as though all the strokes he had ever dealt now rebounded on his spirit. It is not mortified pride, abortive ambition, lacerating remorse. It is a gentler and a more amiable humiliation of spirit. Still it is bitter. Here is self-reproach. Conscience has started from its sleep. It is a "godly sorrow working repentance, which needeth not to be repented of." And until we are thus lowered we are strangers to that repentance which the apostle embodies as he describes. 2. Strange illumination. The "beam" is plucked out from his eye; the "veil" is torn away from his heart. What a world of new interests, realities, relationships, burst upon him! His right is wrong; his faith is unbelief; his earnestness is treason; his truth is error. All those "old things" must pass away. For the first time patriarchs and prophets are seen as frowning upon him; for the first time, "the hope of Israel" and its "consolation" condemns him; for the first time, the "lively oracles" ring alarms of danger in his ear. And then Jesus stands up to him, no longer a butt for ridicule, a stumbling stone for reproach, but "altogether lovely." How could he have wronged that beauty that fills heaven with praise? 3. Earnest devotedness. It is not impulse — the relief of a mind bewildered and perplexed. There is an intentness upon all that is benevolent. The malignity is turned to love to Him whom he has till then hated, and to that people whom he has hitherto oppressed. And mark how this tendency of his soul, sudden as it was, was sustained. Enters he the polished city? Is he wrecked upon the savage isle? Is he dragged into the amphitheatre, where execution awaits him? Still as serenely he cries with unshrinking spirit, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" 4. Entire revolution. Here is a new creature. He falls a sinner; he rises a saint. He falls an unbeliever; he rises a champion. He falls a hater of the gospel; he rises an apostle of it. He falls a blasphemer; he rises a martyr. He falls a hater of the Saviour; he rises, so that "for him to live" henceforth "is Christ." II. SUPPOSE ADEQUATE CAUSES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SUCH A CHANGE. The conversion of the apostle, though attended by prodigies, was no miracle itself, i.e., that which is opposed to the particular laws of the subject on which it is wrought. The change wrought upon the apostle's mind is not contrary to the nature of that mind; it is contrary to its misdirection, enmity, darkness, but it is agreeable to its understanding, affections, and modes of volition. Yet at the same time it is all that is wonderful and there must be causes adequate for its production. It took place — 1. By the impress of power. This power is creative; it therefore acts immediately upon the mind. We have not access to each other's mind, nor have angels; but at the same time there is a full access which God may claim. He knows the heart, and touches all its springs, and unlocks all its wards, and pursues all its avenues, and intricacies, "God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts." Think, therefore, of this energy as direct; coming from the Father of light and from the fountain of power, reaching at once the heart which, however rebel it may be, is under His control and sway. Nor is it different as to ourselves. We may not know the hour, but if we have ever the heart opened, the Lord hath opened it; if we have ever a will at one with God, He worked within us first "to will and to do." 2. By the revelation of truth, It is not improbable that there was some natural process at work. Saul would know the types and predictions, so that when the beam fell upon them he had but to read them at once, and to construe them concerning Him whom he had hitherto opposed and withstood. But it was far more than a natural process. There came a light from God, not only in the sense of power, but in the sense of "quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." And what truth was disclosed? "The truth as it is in Jesus." He seized it. It was not by an intuition — because that implies some power of his own; but it had all the rapidity of such an intuition. He saw it in its dimensions, in its proportions, in its harmony; the system arose before him in its symmetry, in its breadth, in its perfection. Everything connected with the Saviour. The same as to ourselves. Others may teach us; but unless we have the teaching of the Spirit, taking of the things of Christ, there may be light in us, but the light is darkness — and "how great is that darkness!" 3. By the sensibility of love. We may think of that soul as replete with all the most dire passions of enmity and of revenge. But now comes the strongest of all attractions, the most potent of all influences — love to God and love to man. Jesus to him is precious. What would he not do, what not endure to show how he loves that Saviour, and all who exhibit His image and promote His cause? It is this that causes us to relent and makes us yield. When this love is "shed abroad in our heart," every thought is "brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." III. FURNISH US WITH IMPORTANT LESSONS AND RULES FOR ITS INVESTIGATION. Conversion may be considered a part of the gospel, as it is a doctrine always inculcated by it — and as it is a blessing accomplished wherever it is preached, and the effect of its being applied. And therefore we may take a view of Christianity beyond a mere theory of speculative truth; we may consider it as God's constant doing in the earth. Now, as conversion amongst ourselves may be counterfeited, let us take this conversion and see how it will be to us a key to all. 1. Conversion is sovereign. For we cannot assign any reason why one man is converted and another is not. It is not of "him willing," or "him running," but of "God showing mercy." You say, "that there is a predisposition." But how came that predisposition? We do not mean to say that there are not reasons moving the Divine mind; but the reasons do not exist in the sinner himself. Think now of this man. You would have been surprised if Pilate had been the convert, or Caiaphas; why more surprised, then, that the convert is Saul of Tarsus? Have you any explanations to assign for it? There is one — one alone; "He quickeneth whom He will." 2. Conversion is wrought by a power fully sufficient. It would have been easy to have dashed that "vessel of wrath" into pieces; but was it not difficult to make "a chosen vessel" of it, and "to prepare it to glory"? And yet there was no difficulty to that power which did it. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" When we think of His power in conversion as equal to any power in the creation of a world or in the resurrection of the dead, then have we the right notion of that power; but not until then. It is power — but not mechanical, not physical — power expanding the powers, wielding the movements, brooding over the rudiments of the mind — the mind becoming supple, passive to that power; eager with all its energies still, with all its accountability and determinateness still — as the clay in the potter's hand. 3. Conversion in itself must always be sudden; there can be no interval between an unconverted and a converted slate; we pass "from death unto life." But then the consciousness of a change may not rest upon instantaneous evidence. But let us not argue against the suddenness of conversion. 4. Conversion may be accompanied with circumstances very uncommon and extreme. One heart shall open like the Philippian prison, battered by the earthquake and all its avenues and doors thrown open by the shock; another heart may open like the full-blown rose tremulous in the breeze, bathed with the dew, blushing to the sunbeam. If God takes the one method, or if He adopts the other, what is that to thee? Leave Him to work in His own way — according to His own pleasure. 5. We need not despair of the conversion of any. Have we any friends of whom we have said, There is no hope for them in God? Why? Because we have shaped our thoughts according to ourselves. But "His thoughts are not our thoughts," etc. What if He have "thoughts of peace" after all? What if His ways are "mercy and truth" after all? "The prey" may still be "taken from the mighty." Malefactor as he is, that day he may "be with Jesus in paradise." 6. There must be a practical exhibition of our conversion. No matter what our reverie by day, or our vision by night, our conversion must be reduced to one standard; it speaks only one language — "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" (R. W. Hamilton, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. WEB: But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do."