Acts
22:15, 23:11,
and 26:16-18
These passages are all instances of Paul being told by
Jesus, “You are My witness.” In the first, Paul is telling the story of Ananias
coming to him and reporting that God has chosen Paul to be His witness “to all
men of what you have seen and heard.” Paul can’t tell stories about walking
with Jesus day by day and seeing Him feed thousands, or calm the storm, or heal
a blind man. But Paul has personally seen Jesus change thousands (he used to
think they were crazy and worthy of imprisonment, they were so changed!) He has
experienced the hand of the risen Lord calming his own inner storm and turning
him around 180 degrees. He has been blind—in more ways than one—and healed. In
fact, it’s possible that the “thorn in the flesh” that Paul later begs to be
freed from is poor sight left over from his traumatic meeting with Jesus. Some of
the strongest disciples need reminders of their own weakness in order to stay humble.
In the second passage, Paul receives a vision in which Jesus
tells him that as he has witnessed in Jerusalem, so he must do in Rome. It’s by
way of being reassured that those who are out for his blood won’t succeed, but
Paul knows if he gets to Rome he’ll probably die there instead. He’s all right
with that. Wherever he is, dead or alive, he’s with Jesus. That’s all that
matters to Paul. And in 26:16-18,
he’s telling the story again, this time to King Agrippa. In more detail than
before, he reports that Jesus told him on the Damascus road:
“But get up and stand on your
feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a
witness not only to the things which you have seen but also to the things in
which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the
Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn
from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may
receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been
sanctified by faith in Me.”
This passage bears closer study.
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