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false. He sincerely.. believed that Jesus was an impostor, and therefore he sought conscientiously to destroy His cause. In this we have a striking illustration o f how a man who intends to be conscientious can be thoroughly and awfully wrong. In the deeper depths o f his soul the thought would sometimes arise that he was wrong, especially when he was present at the death o f Stephen and heard Stephen’s dying tes timony; but he would not listen to these deeper convictions, but kicked against the goad that the Spirit o f God and,his own conscience were applying to him (Acts 26:14 R. V .). He was all the more bitter in his opposition to Christ because in his deepest self there was a feeling that he might be wrong. The most bitter infidel is always the one who down in the depths o f his heart has- a feeling, to which he will not attend, that he is wrong. Saul’s hatred of the Lord Jesus knew no pity and no’ bounds. He spared no-one, neither man nor woman. All that he needed to hate a person and to desire their death was to know that they believed on the Lord Jesus, There are not a few today very much like him in this respect. He was not content with doing what he could to stamp out Christianity in Jerusalem, he heard there were other Christians in far away Damascus, and though they were strangers to him, his hatred went, out toward them because they believed on Christ, and he sought authority to go to Damascus and carry on the same work o f destruction that he had carried on in Jerusalem. v. 3. “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus (it came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus), and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven (a light out of heaven).’! The Lord allowed Saul to go a long ways in his mad career, but at the proper moment He put forth His hand and saved the little flock in Damascus. Nothing seemed more unlikely when Saul started on his journey to Damas cus than that he would be the mightiest herald o f Christ and the Gospel that the world has ever seen. And no one o f us can tell today who among the bitterest
enemies o f Christ, or among the vilest sin ners, will some day be a mighty herald o f the Gospel. Some o f the most useful men that I, know in Christian work today are men who a few years ago were among the vilest, and farthest away from God. God acted “ suddenly.” He often does. We think a long process is necessáry before there can be a radical change in men, but the one who is familiar with God’s dealings knows that this is not so. The “light out o f heaven” that shone round about Saul was fhe light o f Christ’s resurrection glory (v. 7; 1 Cor. 15:8). It was “about noon” (ch. 22:6), and the glare o f the Eastern sun at midday is exceedingly bright, but the glory o f the light that surrounded our Risen Lord was “above the brightness of the sun” (ch. 26:13). Our Lord is exceed ingly glorious; not only exceedingly glor ious in his moral nature, but now exceed ingly glorious in His external appearance. vs. 4, 5. "And he fell to the earth (upon the earth), and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord (H e) said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest:! i f is hard for thee to-, kick against the pricks (omit, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks).’’ In an instant- the stout-hearted persecutor was thoroughly humbled. He had spoken great swelling words against the Lord, but now he cries to Him, “Who art thou, Lord?” There are many today who speak great swelling words against our Lord who, if they could get just one look at Him as He now is would “ fall upon the earth” before Him, just as Saul o f Tarsus did. Some day every knee shall bow to Him (Phil. 2:10, 11). It is evident-that for all his zeal in persecuting the church Saul had many a goading thought that' he might be wrong and Jesus indeed the Lord. The words “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” are not found in the best Greek' manu scripts here, but they aré found in chapter 26:14, but the word “pricks” in the Revised Version is ^properly changed to “goad.” It would be more exact still if th£ word “goad” were in the plural, as it is in the
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