Walk the Damascus Road
Imagine what it was like to be Jewish in the time of Jesus. There were hundreds of laws and regulations which governed every aspect of your life, and which only the very learned rabbis could remember in their entirety – and to do this, they had to devote most of their time throughout their lives to study them. There was the whole temple system of priests and temple helpers who had to guide you through the rules and regulations of animal sacrifices. There was wide-spread demon possession and debilitating diseases and suffering because people were not guided into how to develop an intimate relationship with their God – everything spiritual rested on rules and regulations handed down through the preceding centuries, most of which were restrictions based on human interpretations of God’s laws.
The man called Saul was eminently qualified to play an important part in maintaining this religious status quo. He was born a Jew, studied the strict Pharisee laws under Gamaliel, who was one of the most revered teaching rabbis of his time and a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish governing body, therefore Saul was connected with some seriously important Jewish leaders of that time. This shows in the fact that they readily supplied him with letters of introduction to all the synagogues in Damascus, granting him permission to imprison and kill the followers of Jesus, which he zealously did.
Why then did Saul suffer such cruel and wicked and constant persecution from his fellow Jews? Read how he describes his sufferings in his own words:
2 Cor 11:24-27 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
The reason for the above persecution was because Saul played a pivotal role in confronting and overturning all the aspects of Jewish religious systems and thinking which was prevalent at the time. God warned him what it would entail, as we read in Acts 9:16 “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”, and yet he was still willing to obey.
What on earth persuaded Saul to make a 180 degree turn in his thinking? Saul became Paul on the Damascus Road! This monumental overthrow of beliefs, that had been engrained on his soul through culture and years of specialised study, could only happen through a supernatural event – he encountered Jesus personally!
Points to ponder: Choose to walk the Damascus Road – where you can encounter Jesus. Make time every day to wait on God and to focus on Him, worshipping Him and loving Him without any prayer agenda. This will develop into times where you encounter Jesus personally, and He can then remove the scales from your eyes and set you free indeed!
Priscilla Koegelenberg
Feel free to email me at questions.powerhouse@gmail.com