IV — Saul Returns to Jerusalem
(a) His Departure from Damascus
As we noticed, in our last study, Saul returned to Damascus, refreshed and strengthened by his period of solitude and communion with God, to take up the work there, where he had left off. Once more he would be found in the synagogues of that thriving city, holding forth the word of life, hoping, perhaps, to see much fruit in that place. As usual, however, the great Enemy of souls was not slow to rouse up the opposition to such a good work as Saul was then engaged in, and thus we read, in Acts, chapter 9, at verse 23, “And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him: but their laying await was known of Saul . . .”
As with the Master so often, so now with this noble servant: ‘the Jews took counsel to kill him’ — they laid their plans; they plotted and schemed; but, as with the Master also, all this was made known to His servant, and so, with the help of his friends and companions, the disciples of Damascus, he escaped out of their hands. The gates of the city were watched, night and day, but somehow, somewhere, and sometime, ‘the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket’.
It was a night in his life, which he was never to forget. Long afterwards, when writing his second letter to the Church at Corinth, he makes mention of this escape from Damascus. Speaking of the things which he had suffered gladly, for Christ’s sake, he gives a long list of perils and trials, but then, as if in a category all by itself, he goes on to elaborate this particular infirmity in the words ‘In Damascus the governor under Aretas the King kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands’ 2 Corinthians xi, 32, 33. The Keeper of Israel, the God of his fathers, was truly the God ‘that slumbers not nor sleeps’, as Saul made his miraculous escape that night. His protecting love and care surrounded him, as with a shield. How good it would be for us all to know the blessedness of such a hiding-place! May we realise that there is no true safety for any one of us, save in the secret place of the Most High, and under the shade of the Almighty. May we learn that this is true, not only in respect of our spiritual standing as lost sinners of Adam’s race, but also in respect of our daily life in Providence.
Has it ever occurred to you that Saul must often have thought of the strange, and unexpected way in which he both entered and left Damascus at that time in his life? He had gone there, proud Pharisee that he was, with one aim in view. His manner of entry into the city certainly did not live up to his previous expectations — a blinded man, led by the hand of another: his manner of exit now could hardly have been that which he might have envisaged at times — a fugitive, hidden in a basket, let down from a window on the city wall, under cover of darkness! Yet, in both, his footsteps were ordered by the Lord, whose ‘way is in the sea’, whose ‘path is in the great waters’, and whose ‘footsteps are not known’. The LORD was in all these varied circumstances. Saul was learning that he could no longer ‘glory in the flesh’; from this time forth he is to glory only ‘in the LORD’.
It may be difficult for us sometimes to see God’s hand in control of our various circumstances in life, if we are of this blood-bought people, yet let us seek the more to leave ourselves and all our ways, in His safe keeping and control. He knows the end from the beginning. The unlooked-for turn of events is never outwith His infinite knowledge, and the promise to His people is sure that all things will work for their good.
(b) His Arrival at Jerusalem
Saul reached Jerusalem in a very different frame of mind from that in which he had left it, but how many in the city were to know that, far less to believe it? Saul himself knew; the disciples at Damascus knew; would their counterparts in Jerusalem also know? Time would tell. News did not travel so fast then, as it does now. Saul had made a name for himself among the disciples at Jerusalem — not, alas, as a friend, but as a sworn enemy of all that they held most dear. When Saul arrived, he had no mind any more to seek out his former companions of the Sanhedrin and their kind, but rather to seek out those very people, whom before he had sought to destroy, and so we read in Acts. ‘And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple’ (Chap. ix, verse 26).
What a disappointment this must have been to Saul! He had come back, filled with the joy of believing, a humble penitent sinner, saved by divine grace, with the seal of God’s favour in his conscience, with the encouraging knowledge of work well done for the Master in Damascus, and now, with fresh zeal and enthusiasm, to begin, at Jerusalem also, to show forth from the Scriptures, that Jesus was the Christ. Then this new trial awaited him; this discipline through which he must pass, before he could rejoice, in brotherly love, with the church that had been left at Jerusalem, after his own work of destruction and scattering had passed over it like a wave of the sea. He did not give up at the first attempt: from the use of the imperfect tense in the original, it is clear, when he ‘assayed’ to join himself to them, that he kept on trying, after the first rebuff. He repeated his efforts until, in God’s own wonderful way, Barnabas stepped in, to smooth over the difficulties in the way and bring success to Saul’s yearning for a place among the despised followers of Jesus. There is no question, we believe, of Saul here seeking, in any Pharisaical spirit, a place above his fellow disciples, albeit he had his own divine warrant and commission to go unto the Gentiles and preach among them the unsearchable riches of Christ. The obstacles in his path were such as arose out of a natural fear of one, who, but lately, had caused such havoc among their number. The brethren could not easily be convinced that the change was genuine. Saul had need of patience: we believe that he would receive it for the hour of need.
In the life of the believer, and particularly in the early days after his conversion, there are special times when he must exercise patience, as he awaits upon the Lord, to make his way straight before him, particularly in regard to his relationship to those who have been in Christ before him. Is he to be received by them, as a brother beloved, as one in whom the change, wrought by saving grace, is clearly evident? Or are they to have their doubts about him? Such a juncture in a believer’s life is one of great importance to him. He knows not, perhaps, how it will fare with him, as he goes forward, ‘assaying to join himself to the disciples’, but as he goes, he utters many a short ejaculatory prayer for guidance, for strength, for comfort, and above all, for grace to acquiesce, if, at first, the way is hedged up with difficulties, and finally, for grace to persevere. ‘As for God, perfect in this way‘ (Psalm xviii, 30).
If our hearts be right with God, then all will be well in the end, although we may, like Saul, have our disappointments at times. Let each of us so examine himself or herself that we shall be more and more convinced that our times are wholly in His hands, and that, if we, by His own grace, shall leave ourselves wholly in His hands, then He in His turn, shall surely perfect that which concerneth us,
(c) Barnabas, a Son of Consolation
The Lord had a purpose of grace toward Saul so that, when his own efforts to find favour with the disciples at Jerusalem had sadly failed, one was raised up to plead his cause, one of whom we afterwards read that he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith’ — ‘Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, the son of consolation) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus’. How Saul’s heart must have warmed towards him, as he ‘took him, and brought him to the apostles‘ (verse 27). If we are to regard the last word in its strict interpretation, then we must see a distinction between ‘apostles‘ in verse 27 and ‘disciples‘ in verse 26. The latter were the believers in Jerusalem, followers of Jesus. They could not believe that Saul was truly converted, but now Saul is introduced, through the good offices of Barnabas, to the apostles, then in Jerusalem, presumably Peter and James, at least. He is now before the men, who had heard the original call of Jesus, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men’, and who had had the great privilege of being with the Redeemer in the days of His earthly ministry. Barnabas speaks on his behalf. Barnabas is his sponsor: he espouses the cause of Saul of Tarsus, at a time when others of his own persuasion were sceptical of him. What noble service Barnabas rendered that day! He proved himself to be, for Saul, a true son of consolation.
The inspired writer gives us in one short verse the sum of his speech that day — a speech which, by the blessing of the Lord, won over the apostles and through them, the disciples, until all were found at the end of the day, rejoicing in the Lord together. Barnabas made three vital points in his speech that day — three points to which we may briefly refer:
(i) He had seen the Lord in the way.
(ii) The Lord had spoken to him.
(iii) He had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
(i) The wonder of the revelation to Saul on the Damascus road is summed up by Barnabas in these few words. Truly, his eyes had seen the King in his beauty — the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ had shone into Saul’s heart that day: he had, not only seen the Lord but also seen himself and what a sight that had been! Saul was never the same man again; ‘changed into the same image, from glory to glory’ (2 Corinthians iii, 18).
(ii) Not only had he seen the Lord in the way, but also this — that same Lord, great in power and in might, had spoken to him. A voice from the excellent glory had sounded in the depths of his soul; fear and trembling had laid hold on him; yet it was also the voice of His loving kindness to Saul — the voice of love. The Lord had spoken with power — the voice which once had shaken the earth, now shook Saul’s soul. Yet in the end, the voice was one which spoke of peace and forgiveness and joy in the Holy Ghost. Jesus had spoken to him — as He had spoken to Cleopas and his companion on the Emmaus road — and surely, Saul too, at the end of the day, knew something of a burning of heart such as these two had.
(iii) The fruit was not long in sprouting forth. Barnabas could go on to make his final point — Saul had preached boldly the very faith which he once sought to destroy. The record of that preaching stands clear for all to see in the verses already dealt with in one of our former meditations. Out of the fulness of his heart, Saul spoke.
So Barnabas closed his speech. The outcome? Read it now in verse 28 ‘And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem’.
Saul had been received into the number of the disciples at Jerusalem; ‘with them’ — with whom, but with the apostles and the disciples; with the church of the first born. The apostles’ fears and doubts, the disciples’ suspicions — all were greatly overcome, and both they and Saul found peace and fellowship at their common Redeemer’s feet.
O, beloved, who would not like, some day, if the need arose, to act the part of a Barnabas to some other child of God in similar circumstances? God grant to us the needed grace, the noble-heartedness, the true humility, the gracious leading of the Divine Spirit for any such hour!
On the other hand, let us also seek for some spiritual counterpart, in our own experience, to the testimony of Barnabas regarding Saul. Have we ever ‘Seen the Lord in the way’? If we never meet Him ‘in the way’ here below, as Saul met Him, we shall never know the joy of meeting Him in peace at the right hand at last. Have we ever known the Lord to speak unto us, as He spoke to Saul in the way? Have we never heard Him say, ‘Thy sins which are many are forgiven thee’? If we never come to hear the voice of His lovingkindness here below, we shall never hear Him say at last, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father . . .’ We need not be of those, like Saul, who ‘preach boldly’, but we must all become followers of that same Jesus in such a way that our lives shall ‘speak boldly’ for Him, if we are to be with Him in His glory.
May we take these precious lessons to heart daily! One final word now, by way of an appendix, before we close our present meditation. Although these studies are primarily based upon the narrative in Acts, any reference from Paul’s own pen, in the epistles, which may throw some light upon the narrative by Luke, is welcome as a help. One such passage in Galatians, which may give another view of the basic subject-matter of this present study, may well be quoted here. We refer to Paul’s own statement:
‘Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days’ (Gal. i, 18).
‘I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter’.
It is generally agreed that these words refer to this time in the apostle’s life, when ‘Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles’. If we take these two statements side by side, what a wonderful insight we seem to get into the ways of the Lord in His dealings with His people. In Acts, the inspired historian gives us the details of the ignominious escape from Damascus, the suspicions of the disciples at Jerusalem, the unsuccessful effort to be accepted at face value, and finally the good offices of Barnabas — in Galatians Paul simply says, ‘I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter’; he saw Peter indeed, achieved his mission and spent some fifteen precious days with him, but how much more was involved in all this, than Paul reveals to the Galatians! ‘To see Peter’ — the word which Paul uses is not the usual verb for seeing someone or something; it is a technical word, used primarily in a special sense, a word from which our own word ‘history’ is derived. Paul says he went up — to interview Peter; to get to know him; to ascertain facts from him, or some such thing, as did the ancient historians, when probing into matters relative to their own studies. We are left to supply what Paul and Peter spoke about during these precious fifteen days — who can ever say, on this side of eternity? Yet one thought may suffice — one subject would fill their conversation, their mind, their heart; Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.
Peter would have so much to tell of Jesus, that Saul, we may verily believe, would not feel the time long in his company during these fifteen days. Have we never felt it good to go and see some aged saint, some gracious godly soul, with whom we could have sweet fellowship, and from whom we could learn so much? Let us seek out every opportunity, then, to visit such, for truly our labour in such connection will not be vain in the Lord.