I  ONCE  WAS  BLIND!

“Jesus said, ‘I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretence of seeing will be exposed as being blind”   (John 9:39, The Message Bible).

Saul of Tarsus was such a good Pharisee; he was so indoctrinated with the Old Testament Law that he thought he was justifiably faultless.  His belief system blended in perfectly with those Pharisees who once asked Jesus the question: “Are we blind?” . . . while of course never believing that they were!

Then came the day when Saul travelled the road to Damascus, armed with arrest warrants for those ‘misguided’ followers of Jesus!

• He was going to search out these ‘tongues-talking religious nutters’ who were blindly following a self-confessed Messiah!

• He was going to slap them in chains!

• He was going to tackle this problem single-handed!

• He was going to . . .  ZAP! . . .

A bolt of light from heaven suddenly came and struck him to the ground.  Up until this moment, Saul had been a classic case of “the blind leading the blind” (Matthew 15:14), but on this wonderful day Jesus totally changed Saul’s belief system.  Jesus met Saul under the banner of grace!

• Before this encounter he was spiritually blind yet he believed he had 20/20 vision.

• After this encounter he had 20/20 spiritual vision yet he became physically blind.

• Before this encounter he was hell-bent on destroying Christians.

• After this encounter he was heaven-sent to build the Church.

Why did Jesus render him blind for three days?

• It signified a laying down of hearing God through the Law, the letter of the Word, in order to hear God by His voice (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).

• He laid down the Law that was embedded in his head, in order to pick up the Spirit Who came into his heart.

What happened to Saul during those three days?

• He prayed and fasted.

• He had a vision of a man called Ananias putting his hand on him to restore his sight.

What happened when his sight was restored?

• Scales (from the Greek word lepō meaning flakes) fell off his eyes and he received healing.

• He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

• He was baptised in water.

• He proclaimed in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

• He became the Apostle Paul, receiving great revelation through the Spirit.

Yes, Paul could truly say, “I ONCE WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE!”

• Have we, too, laid down the letter of the Word, in order to be led by the voice of the Holy Spirit?

• “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening!”