The first thing we shall do is to make some observations on the passage as a whole to attempt to see the forest before we scrutinize the trees. Acts does not tell us that he goes on to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles, found churches in urban centers across the Roman Empire, stand true to the gospel while on trial for his faith over and again, and end up under house arrest in Rome awaiting a trial before Caesar. Why do you think the street was named "Straight" Second, the gospel should be proclaimed in a way that is personal. This first account occurs when the word is first spread to the Gentiles. 24n but their plot became known to Saul. A teacher walks into the Classroom and says If only Yesterday was Tomorrow Today would have been a Saturday Which Day did the Teacher make this Statement? Granted, his experience is unique and dramatic. Amen (1 Timothy 6:16). The children will practice being giving and friendly with someone that they do not know. And if Sauls blindness led to his own conversion, at least the blinding of Bar-Jesus contributed to the conversion of the proconsul (and perhaps too his own conversionwho knows?). The casting of this spell on this false prophet could therefore have been an act of kindness, as Gods blinding of Saul had been, intended to cease his opposition and perhaps even to bring about his conversion. When Ananias placed his hands on Saul he was filled with the Holy Spirit, healed of his blindness, received water baptism, and began to eat and regain his strength. Barnabas stood up for Saul and explained everything to the Jerusalem Christians. Here the Jews were strong in numbers (10,000 butchered by Nero later) and here some disciples had found refuge from Sauls persecution in Judea and still worshipped in the synagogues. They wanted to keep Gods blessings to themselves. We are simply told that the message itself was proclaimed powerfully and that people were amazed at the message and its miraculous impact on Sauls own conduct. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you (Isaiah 60:1). That is all we know about Ananias - the small but essential part he played at the start of Paul's pilgrimage of faith. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. This can hardly be possible. Gods promises and purposes would not be stopped by this madman, Saul. It is not clear The same grace which was shown to Saul in his salvation is shown to all whom God calls to Himself: 8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. WebAnswer: > 10 There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. Here I am, Lord, he replied. 6 For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4, 6). What is the significance of the story of Ananias and Sapphira? Saul recognized that he was a sinner, and that his righteousness was but dung before God. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. He went on to write nearly half of the New Testament. This light was more, much more, than just a bright light. It was an act of faith and bravery equivalent to helping a lion out of a trap. Here is a graphic illustration of what true repentance isit is a turning about, beginning with ones belief and bearing fruit in ones conduct. Ananias Get up and go to the street called Straight, to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there. 41He gave her his hand and raised her up, and when he had called the holy ones and the widows, he presented her alive. * [9:2] The Way: a name used by the early Christian community for itself (Acts 18:26; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). Our text presents Saul as a man who was not only running from God, but one who was actively opposing Him. WebAnanias went. But Elymas the magician (for thus his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. What is remarkable about the Lord's directions to Ananias? He constantly defended the gospel against those who would diminish grace and seek to pollute it with works. To put it differently, the account of Sauls conversion in Acts 9 is but the first of three accounts, the other two coming from the lips of Paul himself. They could only kill him, and this they were determined to do (9:23). There are no exceptions in this all of Romans 3:23, as Paul indicated in these Old Testament words, cited just before: THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE (Romans 3:10b-12). Not all Christians are equipped to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers (Ephesians 4:11). And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. The story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 is difficult. 116-117. Saul took this most seriously, not eating or drinking until after his confession of faith by means of his baptism. I believe that as Luke portrays Saul in Acts, it is as a prototype, a picture of Israel. The obedience and faith that Ananias demonstrated in going to Saul and helping to restore his sight were incredible, to say the least. WebActs 9:1. At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The importance of Sauls conversion can hardly be overestimated. (4) Sauls salvation was miraculous. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands onq him to restore his sight.. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. And laying his hands on him he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. In 2 Corinthians 11:32 Paul speaks of an ethnarch of Aretas, the king of the Nabataean Arabs, who guarded the city to prevent him escaping from it. They were to be a light to the Gentiles, but they failed. One moment, Saul was opposing Jesus, as though He were the sinner; the next, Saul is on his face before this Jesus, calling Him Lord. By divine revelation, Peter called out Ananias for lying to the Holy Spirit and to God. Nevertheless, Ananias obeyed. 29 And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death. This would mean that the Gospel isnt as good as we thought it was and that God violates the law of double jeopardy where He punishes the same sin twice. Now they were keeping watch on the gates day and night so as to kill him, A man who, along WebAnanias, I am sure. 35And all the inhabitants of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. Saul did not agree with his teacher, Gamaliel, on how the Christians should be dealt with, however. 1:29, 30, NKJV, Abide Bible, Red Letter Edition, Comfort Print: Holy Bible, New King James Version. 9:31). Ananias fulfills his task: He laid his hands on Saul and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain Just as Saul was called to a live of suffering, so Peter tells his readers that they too, like all saints, are called to suffer for His name: To this {suffering} you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21). The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (Matthew 4:16). Luke 3:22), it expressed his unique relationship and fellowship with the Father. Ibid. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. What Israel failed to do, Jesus, the Messiah would do. on it belonged to the Roman province of Syria, but had a measure of municipal autonomy in the loose federation of cities called the Decapolis. F. F. Bruce, The Book of Acts, Revised Edition (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988), p. 181. All of this account describes the two complementary divine visions which Ananias and Saul received. of him. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. No change in life is greater than the change from unbelief to belief in Christ, from being lost and condemned to being saved and eternally secure, from being separated from God and others to being united with Him and with all believers. During his conversion What happened when Ananias anointed Saul? How old was Jesus when he was crucified? 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. * [9:1930] This is a brief resume of Pauls initial experience as an apostolic preacher. 142 His companions therefore took him by the hand and led him through the gate of Damascus to the place where, presumably, arrangements had been made for him to stay. F. F. Bruce, The Book of Acts, Revised Edition (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988), p. 185. He sent me so that you can 1* Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord,a went to the high priestb Ananias and Saul. There is no more appropriate conclusion to our message than the words of the apostle Paul, which immediately follow those above, and which aptly express the response of the Christian to the wisdom, the grace, and the sovereignty of the God who has saved us, and who works all things together for His glory and for the good of His chosen ones: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! To the church, Saul turned out to be a friend, a fellow-believer, in fact, a flaming evangelist, who proclaimed Christ more clearly and powerfully than anyone had previously done in Damascus. But everyone can pray for and with those who have scorned the church and are scorned by the church. WebActs 9:10-18 Ananias. Impatient men forget that God is not bound by time. He had heard of all the terrible things Saul had done to Christians in Jerusalem and how it was his intent to do the same in Damascus, Ananias town. In fact, as Saul would later write, he realized that he was chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). No doubt entered the mind of Saul that the When Paul spoke of his conversion here in Galatians 1, he did not speak of the light which shone without, but rather of the light which shone within. When her lie had been exposed, she also fell down and died at Peters feet. 2 What do we know about Ananias in Acts 9? 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way,* he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. gJi\!2LITShA%)&bqd=/)@Eg*tttpt @V6wCAp{GyAGG9h d=u3zDca{y:&0}=!P`XX z;g3 {~paveta +w what occupation he was (possibly a businessman). (6) Little emphasis is placed on Sauls reception of the Holy Spirit, and nothing is said about what happened as Saul received the Spirit. It was due to the intervention of Barnabas, a man who would prove to be a lifetime friend of Paul, that the apostles risked a meeting with him and then granted him the freedom to associate with the saints in Jerusalem. (6) Sauls salvation was a conversion, a radical change. There are differences between the three accounts given to us in Acts. God chose Saul and had his destiny planned, before He saved him. And yet, even in opposing God, he furthered Gods purposes; he was instrumental in the evangelization of the Gentiles (Acts 8:1, 4; 11:19-21). Questions: Why were Ananias and Sapphira not given a second chance? He knew that going to see Saul would put his life in danger. My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever, says the Lord. We can learn more about his life in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, and we can still read some of the letters he wrote that have been collected into the Bible, such as Galatians, Ephesians and Philippians. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Why was Ananias afraid of helping Saul? Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. I. Howard Marshall summarizes the problem in these words: Nevertheless, we obtain a different impression of things from Galatians 1:16-24, according to which (1) Paul did not confer with men after his conversion nor go to the apostles in Jerusalem, but (2) departed to Arabia and then returned to Damascus; then (3) three years later he went to Jerusalem for a visit lasting a fortnight during which he saw only Peter and James, and at this time he was unknown by sight to the churches of Judea; thereafter (4) he went to Syria and Cilicia. 1. There would likely be another group of people meeting on the evening before Saul arrived in Damascusthose who did not believe in Jesus as their Messiah, and who eagerly sought the eradication of the church in their city. 9 What happened to Sapphira in the Bible? This silence is instructive, in my opinion. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. It is a miraculous, dramatic reversal, first of ones beliefs, and then of ones behavior. Paul was overwhelmed by a flash of heavenly light. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. The blinding of Bar-Jesus thus seems to be the second major turning point in the ministry of Paul. Like Stephen, Saul seemed to gravitate toward preaching to the Hellenistic Jews (9:29). It was almost as though Saul had looked intently into the beam of an intensely powerful carbon-act light, the kind used as search lights. The voice from heaven did not call out, Have you ever heard of the four spiritual laws?152 Ananias was sent to Saul only. I am not at all sure how this can be determined from the text. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:24-27). Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Before he reached Damascus a light flashed in front of Saul that was so bright he fell down on the ground. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. 32As Peter was passing through every region, he went down to the holy ones living in Lydda. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14). From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of Gods choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 15 These, then, are the things you should teach. His acceptance by the latter was finally brought about through his friendship with Barnabas (Acts 9:27). It says nothing about him receiving the Holy Spirit. Blindness, not willing to see, not willing to understand is all too common but Ananias cured Saul blindness by a touch. We know from other accounts (22:6; 26:13) that it was high noon when Saul was stopped in his tracks by a bright light from heaven. Just as Saul had opposed those who believed, so Bar-Jesus opposed the proconsuls conversion. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him (Daniel 2:22). It is some 150 miles Northeast from Jerusalem and watered by the river Abana from Anti-Lebanon. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord (1 Corinthians 15:8-11). (2) Sauls salvation was exclusively the work of a sovereign God. Pauls hatred for Christ and His followers was common knowledge. In the end, then, Ananias decision to go to the house of Judas on Straight Street (verse 11) to lay hands on Saul was a decision to risk his life to do the will of God. ,%d/3o3o6jda=|4S-LJ3ajLcNfZyV;CkCl>390q {KQ0lQ)0>~cy:CJkP|4M-\v 3:7, 8; 1 Tim. (Acts 9:11)? Why did Ananias and Sapphira sell their property? You, my brothers, were called to be free. What are 3 long term physical effects of tobacco use? They are private Christians, living like islands rather than as a part of His body. Nevertheless, at some point in time Saul did arrive in Jerusalem. also 16:17; 18:25-26). 13But Ananias replied, Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones* in Jerusalem.k Obedience is often not easy, but it is very likely the most direct way forward and the clearest way to honor God. And be thankful (Colossians 3:15). 2:22, Acts 13:2; 22:21; Rom. Ananias not only The light was the light of His glory. Saul, as it were, saw the light, but in addition, he was to become a light, a light to the Gentiles, as well as to his own people. 2. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:6-7). Note Pauls summary of the gospel at the end of Galatians 2: I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me (Galatians 2:20). 131 . A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel (Luke 2:32). Saul went to other cities where he sought to arrest Christians and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment. The Lord Jesus appeared to Ananias in a vision. Paul would make much more of this point in the first chapter of Galatians. Their attempt to deceive the apostles was an attempt to deceive God putting the Spirit of the Lord to the test (v. 9) and they paid the price! 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing;* so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.h 27 But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. 141 Compare this voice with that in John 12:29. (7) The salvation of Saul was Christ-centered. Bob was born and raised in a Christian home i More, The Net Pastors Journal, Eng. 1:11--2:10; Philippians 3:1-14; Colossians 1:24-29; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; 6:13-16; 2 Timothy 1:8-12; Titus 2:11-15; 3:1-7. What is wrong with Ananias response to the Lord? Ananias the high priest brought charges against Paul and
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