From persecutor to preacher

Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”
But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. – Acts 9.20-22

The Bible is full of transformations and miraculous changes. There is always a twist in the story. This is one of those great twists.

Saul was sent to Damascus to root out the Christians. He would have them arrested, thrown into jail, and most probably beaten or killed. He was even going to go into the synagogues to search for believers. He had his search warrant in hand.

As we know now though something changed. On the way to Damascus he met Jesus. He had been saved and baptised and right away he began to speak the gospel boldly.

The thing that really stuck out to me when I studied was the fact that Saul indeed visit the synagogues as he had landed. But he was not there to arrest them – he was there to preach the truth that the Jesus he had been persecuting was indeed the Son of God. Everyone was amazed, but he kept going and increased in strength and confounded the Jews as he proved through his preaching that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah.

It is something that only God could accomplish. No one have believed it in advance. Saul had done a full 180 – from persecuting Christ to preaching Christ.

If God could do that is there anything too hard for Him today? Is anyone too hard to save? Is there anyone so evil that they cannot be saved and serve God?