THE TIPPING POINT
Acts 22: 6-10, 21-22 NKJV
6 “Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. 7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ 8 So I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’
9 “And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me. 10 So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’
21 Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ ”
22 And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!”
The verses for today are an excerpt from Paul’s defense before the Jews in the temple. Paul was a gutsy guy. The Jews were trying to beat him to death. If not for the Roman soldiers coming in and lifting him up in the air, the mob would have been successful. Instead of exiting in a hurry, Paul asked if he could speak to the angry mob—the ones who had been beating him just a few moments before. I don’t know that I would have handled this group with the grace Paul showed them.
Paul spoke in Hebrew, and they listened. He recounted his history with the Jewish leaders and how he had been the chief antagonist of the Way. He had been responsible for sending men and women to prison. How much hate do you harbor to send innocent women to prison, tearing families apart simply because they were believers in Jesus? The Jews in Jerusalem knew Paul’s history. He was well known for his attacks against the church.
Paul then shifts to telling what happened to him on the road to Damascus. He was going there to imprison more men and women. Paul keeps repeating what he did in order to establish that before this vision, he was a different man. Up to this point, the mob had been quiet. When Paul recounts the supernatural experience on the road to Damascus, no one refutes what he said. Paul told of the light shining from heaven and a voice talking to him. The voice was Jesus, and He asked why Paul was persecuting Him. Those words are powerful. Jesus did not ask why Paul was persecuting believers, the church, or the doctrine of Christianity. Jesus said Paul was persecuting Him. We know Jesus does not exaggerate. Jesus does not do hype. What Jesus does do is identify with those who believe in Him. With these words, Jesus gave us insight into how He views those who profess Him as their Lord and Savior. Those who believe in Him are joined to Him. To hurt the believers was to hurt Jesus. Parents know this well. If you attack the child, you have attacked the parent. And Jesus views the spiritual connection we have with Him as very personal. It’s a great thought that He identifies with us that strongly.
And still, the mob was quiet, listening to Paul until... Until Paul spoke of Jesus appearing to him in another vision and saying he was being sent to the Gentiles. All this talk about visions and lights from heaven and no one is offering opposition. But when Paul mentioned being sent to the Gentiles it literally broke loose in the synagogue. Mentioning the Gentiles was a tipping point in Paul’s defense. It was all downhill from there.
APPLICATION
I don’t know if there is any hate like religious hate. As a church, we support an evangelical church in Israel. The pastor told me that one Sunday morning, over one hundred Orthodox Jews showed up in their parking lot, spitting and cursing at the believers who were going to church. There is still a strong anti-Semitic spirit in the world against the Jewish people. And even in Israel, there is an anti-Christian hateful spirit that exists today. The Jews are connected to God and hated by much of the world, and the Christians are connected to Jesus , and there is hatred toward them in many countries as well.
The one true God and His son, Jesus, are tipping points for a world in darkness.