“Keep silence before Me, O islands: and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.” Isaiah 41:1
In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he speaks of his calling by God, “…who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace.” (1:16) He then speaks of God’s specific work in his heart and soul, one so radially powerful, that it would change his life and perspective forever. Not only did Paul realize on the road to Damascus, where Christ met him, that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, and Savior or the world, whom he was persecuting, but perhaps the greatest thing was that in that meeting, he discovered he had been entirely wrong, that the entirety of the structure of his life was as nothing, for now he had come face to face with Eternal Truth in Christ. There were several other things that Paul grasped that day, and one of them was that God Almighty had come to him, and addressed him by his name, not to destroy him, but to save him. Another thing that began to dawn on this man, Saul of Tarsus, was that something monumental had just occurred, something not of this world, something from eternity, of such greatness and overwhelming holiness, that he must stop, listen, and hear what the Lord had to say to him. Christ stopped Saul that day, not only interrupting his journey, but putting on hold the entirety of his life, and this for an eternal purpose. We get a glimpse of this by what Paul writes next to the Galatian believers. He wrote that it pleased God “…to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen.” (1:16) The revelation of Christ, by the Holy Spirit, now dwelling in the heart and life of Paul will now change all things forever, for no longer would it be a question of the old “Saul of Tarsus” who would live, but Christ who now lived in him. Did Paul understand all that this meant, and the extent that he must understand it, in order to live by this new-found life? No. Then what did he do? In a manner of speech, Paul then SAT down. He writes, “…immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter.” (1:16,17) The God who had met Paul on the road to Damascus, bringing him face to face with the eternal reality of Himself by the revelation of Himself, will lead him into Arabia. Christ had many more things to teach Paul, and for this, Paul needed to be quiet and alone. Paul’s new life and ministry would begin, not in the consideration of what he thought and how he acted in the past, with his reliance upon everything that was not of Christ, but upon that which was now centered on Christ, his vision being filled with Him. How could this be, and come about? And how does it apply to every believer today?
Perhaps the greatest key to understanding the life, testimony, and ministry of the Apostle Paul can be summed up by his words, “…to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen.” Paul’s new life in Christ began by revelation, the Spirit of God revealing Christ to him, and in him. This great principle and law would continue throughout the entirety of Paul’s ministry, being based wholly upon the Spirit of God’s working to reveal the things of Christ to him, strengthening him to believe and lay hold upon them by faith, and thus living by Christ’s life, in His power. Would Paul ever know everything about his calling, and the blessed union with Christ which was revealed to him? No, but God would teach him what he had to know in order to know Christ.
Dear Father, Reveal Christ in us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.