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A few years after Jesus had died, been made alive again and gone to heaven, a man called Saul hated the people who believed in Jesus. He was very nasty to them.
He worked for the rulers of the city of Jerusalem, and he hunted down the believers and had them put in jail and even killed. So the believers were all very scared of him.
One day he was walking with some others who were helping him, along the road to Damascus. He was going there to hunt out believers and arrst them and take them back to Jerusalem. Suddenly a brilliant light shone down on them; the light was so bright that it made Saul blind and he fell down to the ground. Then a voice said, "Saul, Saul, why are you trying to do harm to me?"
Saul asked, "Who are you, Lord?"
Then the voice spoke again to him from heaven, and told him it was really Jesus he was going against, and that it would be really hard for him to go against him. Then Jesus told him to go and see a man called Ananias in Damascus.It took three days for Saul's friends to lead him by the hand as far as Damascus. When they reached there they did go and see Ananias. Now Ananaias was a true believer, and the believers had heard about Saul and the dreadful things he was doing, but God told them not to be scared. When Saul met Ananias, Ananias told Saul that God had chosen him to be a hard worker for God, and that he would spread the message of God's promises to lots of different people. Then suddenly Saul was able to see again and he understood what he was being told. So Ananias baptized him because he was a true believer.
He went to the believers preaching the true message from God, and the believers were amazed because they had been so scared of him and what he would do to them; but Saul was a changed man. Before very long, the Jews heard that he had changed and tried to arrest him instead. They kept careful watch at the gates of the city to catch him as soon as he tried to leave the city, but the believers saved him by letting him down over the city wall in a basket. So instead of killing the believers, it was turned around so that the believers saved Saul's life instead.
Later Saul's name was changed to Paul, and he is often spoken of in the New Testament as Paul the apostle.
You can read about what happened to change Saul, in Acts chapter 9.
See if you can answer these questions:
1. Why was Saul going to Damascus?
2. What happened on the way?
3. What happened when he reached Damascus?
4. How did Saul get out of the city? |
