[The Encouragement of the Holy Spirit]
Acts 9:19-31
Paul had a conversion of the Holy Spirit, and he spread the Gospel encouraged by the Holy Spirit. Let us think about the encouragement of the Holy Spirit today.
First, God gives the encouragement of the Holy Spirit when we are with the disciples. Saul, who tried to kill Jesus disciples with the high priests and the Pharisees, now stayed with the Christian disciples for days (v. 19). As the light from the heaven touched him, he had a conversion of the Holy Spirit and became united with the disciples who were hostile to each other before. As Paul repented, his former enemies, the Christians, became his allies, and his former allies, the Jews, became enemies. This is the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.
Second, God gives the encouragement of the Holy Spirit when we confess Jesus as Son of God. After staying with the disciples for days, Saul immediately started preaching at the synagogues (vv. 19-20). This meant that Paul risked his life for preaching. The expression of Jesus as the Son of God was not proper for the Jews, and this term was used for the first time in the book of Acts. The Jews rejected Jesus because He proclaimed to be the Son of God, and they executed Him for blasphemy. This was very crucial. The thorough legalist Saul did not also believe in Jesus, the Son of God, and thus he killed the Christians. But now Saul completely and abruptly had been changed to confess that Jesus was the Son of God.
Third, the Holy Spirit encourages those who call on the name of Jesus. Everyone who heard Pauls preaching said, 'Isnt he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasnt he come here to take them as prisoners? (v. 22)' People misunderstood Saul. However, Saul proved logically that Jesus was Christ. Saul was a very confident man, and he would do anything to achieve success, but he testified that Jesus was Christ by the light from the heaven. And this made the Jews confused. This tells us that if we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, there will be suffering waiting for us, not applause or praises.
Fourth, the Holy Spirit encourages us among the suffering of death. The many days in verse 23 was different from several days in verse 19 this meant a longer period of time. It might be the three years of period that Saul had been to Arabia because people conspired to kill him (Galatians 1:17). Arabia, the kingdom of Nabateans, was present Jordan area. It was a fortress-like land and a powerful kingdom out of Romes watch. They had a culture of death which decorated the tombs fancier than their houses. There, Saul preached of the Lord of life, and some of them accepted it. Then the tomb business inevitably went down. So the King Aretas IV, who had extended powers even in Damascus, conspired with the Jews to kill Saul. There was no glory waiting for the one who had the conversion of the Holy Spirit Gods glory and suffering were waiting for him. Moreover, the Jews tenaciously and persistently looked for a chance to kill Saul day and night (v. 24). At this point, the helpers of Saul were not the first Christians of Damascus they were Sauls followers who followed him after his return from three years leave to Arabia. The followers took him, and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall (vv. 24-25). Saul did not beg for life. The people forced him to run away because it was not the time yet. This is the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.
Fifth, God sends us a meditator to encourage us. After he came back from Arabia, Saul went to Jerusalem to join the disciples (v. 26). But he failed. Right at this moment, Barnabas spoke for Saul (v. 27). Right after Sauls conversion, there was Ananias for him, and now, there was Barnabas who was full of the Holy Spirit and faith offering everything he owned. Barnabas was not an apostle, but he was most trusted among Christians he was perfect for Saul to be introduced to Jerusalem community. With Barnabas loving introduction, people no longer misunderstood Saul, and Saul became a part of the Church (v. 28). After, Saul always visited the synagogues before he preached wherever he went, and this made the Jews angry. At that time, debates were popular among Hellenistic Jews. Saul was a legalist and a person of logic as a pupil of Gamaliel he was good at debates that required logics. So he debated eagerly, and the Jews could not win over Saul in debates. So they kept trying to frame him as a traitor to rid of him. Then the brothers in Jerusalem found out, they took Saul down to Caesarea and then sent him off to Tarsus on a ship (v. 30). The word then in verse 31 means everything that happened after the martyrdom of Stephen and the ensuing persecutions. There had been only one church in Jerusalem. However, after the Christians had been scattered because of the persecution, churches were built in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. And the Bible said that the churches were strengthened in peace. It was such a big growth. Everything was done by the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. Right after Stephens death, Christians were scattered under severe persecution, and they carried their roles as evangelists anywhere they were. However, in the time of Paul, the Roman Empire was trying to make the emperor an idol so the Jewish religious leaders did not have time or energy to persecute the Christians. So the persecution on the Christians was milder at that time, and God made the Church at peace and strengthened. This was the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. We should believe that the prayer itself is already an answer to our prayer. I pray that we accept Jesus as the Son of God and preach the Gospel persuasively with testimony and the Word.
