Alan Lewis
Elon, North Carolina
August 2025
9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”
22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. 23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. (Acts 9:1-31 NIV)
If we are saved, we all have a conversion story. We have some story about how God worked in our life and brought us to faith in Christ. These stories look very different.
God saves people out of all kinds of things (drugs, alcohol, prostitution, false religion). Some are more dramatic than others, but we all have one. What is your salvation story?
The Book of Acts gives us many salvation stories. In Acts 8, we have the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch, the high-ranking government official, who became first African Christian in history. He got saved by reading the Bible in the middle of the desert.
In Acts 9, we see the story of another man who gets saved. His name is Saul of Tarsus. He did not get saved by reading the Bible. He did not get saved by someone preaching to him. He got saved by being hit in the head with a two-by-four. Jesus knocked him flat on the ground with a bright light.
He spoke to him audibly with a loud voice from heaven. Paul said in Galatians that he did not receive the gospel from any man but from a revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12)
An Unlikely Conversion
Saul’s conversion story is the greatest conversion story in the Bible. It is the most famous conversion in history. Swindoll called it “the conversion of an angry man.”[1] It was also an unlikely conversion.
There are certain people that would shock you if they ever became a Christian. Saul was the least likely person to come to faith. He was not just an unbeliever. He was the enemy of Christianity.
He did not just believe that Christians should be persecuted. He was the leader of the persecution. Saul was breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He was a man who was completely cold-hearted.
Luke tells us that as Stephen was getting his head bashed open by rocks by an angry mob, Saul was cheering them on (Acts 8:1). He did not shed any tears for Stephen. He approved of his stoning.
Saul hated Christians and tried to destroy the church (Acts 8:3; I Timothy 1:13). Hitler tried to destroy Jews. Saul tried to destroy Christians. He made that his life mission.
He did not limit himself to Jerusalem. He went to other cities to arrest Christians. He not only went house to house to drag people to prison; he went city to city.
In Acts 9, he traveled all the way to Damascus to arrest Christians. That was a hundred and fifty miles away. It was a six-day journey on foot.
Zeal can be good or bad. Paul said that zeal must be according to knowledge (Romans 10:2). Without knowledge, zeal can hurt people. Suicide bombers have zeal.
You can have zeal for the wrong thing. Saul had zeal for persecution. He said in one of his epistles that he had a zeal for persecuting the church (Philippians 3:5). He hated Christians and wanted to kill them.
How did an angry, hateful, cold-hearted, violent man like Saul get saved? How did he go from madman to minister?
He saw Jesus with his own eyes on the Damascus Road (I Corinthians 9:1) and his life was never the same again. It was radically changed.
Saul’s conversion is one of the best arguments for the resurrection of Christ. There is no other way to explain the radical change in Saul overnight.
It wasn’t a hallucination. What he saw was not how he imagined Jesus. He did not imagine Jesus as a bright shiny light.
A hallucination would not cause Saul to be blind. A hallucination would not be seen by other people as well. Saul’s traveling companions saw it was well. No, Paul saw Jesus and he was saved.
Conversion Story
What happens in this chapter? It is one of the most famous stories in the Bible. Paul was on a mission to arrest Christians. He had the arrest warrants in his hand. He traveled to Damascus but before he got there, something happened.
Jesus stopped him in his tracks, knocked him over and blinded him. It is noon. Saul was outside in the scorching heat, and he saw a light and heard a voice.
Saul was absolutely terrified. He was trembling. Blinded, he had to be led by hand into the city. He didn’t eat or drink for three days. Why?
He was in a state of shock. Everything he believed was a lie. Everything he thought was true about Christians turned out to be false. Saul was traumatized by what happened. He also had a tremendous amount of guilt for what he had done, so he fasts.
Jesus made a second appearance in this chapter. There are two appearances of Jesus, once to a believer and once to an unbeliever. He appeared to Saul. He also appeared to Ananias.
Now, don’t be confused. There are two Ananiases in the Book of Acts. This is the good Ananias, not the bad Ananias. The bad Ananias dropped dead in Acts 5 after he sinned. This was a different Ananias. He was not an apostle. He was just an ordinary Christian who lived in the city of Damascus.
Jesus gave him a mission. He told Ananias that Saul was His chosen instrument. He told him to go to Saul, lay his hands on him and pray for him to be healed.
It wasn’t a request. It was an order. Jesus did not ask him if he wanted to do this. He said, “Go.” He said it twice (Acts 9:11, 15).
Ananias didn’t want to go. He knew Saul. He had a bad reputation. All the Christians knew about him and what he was doing. Saul was terrified of Jesus. Ananias was terrified of Saul. Ananias was on Saul’s arrest list.
In fact, it was easier to convince Saul that Jesus was the Messiah than to convince Ananias that Saul was saved.
Jesus said, “Go lay your hands on Saul. He is blind. I want you to heal him.” Ananias is thinking that Saul is a bad man. “If he is blind, keep him blind so he won’t hurt as many Christians.”
“You want me to lay my hand on him. He came to lay his hands on me.” God said, “Don’t be afraid. No one is going to lay a hand on you. Just obey.”
Ananias was scared but obedient. He went to Judas’ house on Straight Street and prayed for Saul. If you go to Damascus today, that street still exists.
When Ananias saw him, he called him “Brother Saul.” He called a hard-core terrorist who was on a murderous rampage to destroy the church a brother. Jesus accepted him, so Ananias accepted him as well.
He laid his hands on Saul, and two things happened. Saul was instantly healed, and he was filled with the Spirit. He was filled with the Spirit three days after he got saved but he was filled with the Spirit BEFORE his baptism.
After his conversion, Saul preached Christ in the synagogue. There was a conspiracy to kill him, so he escaped the city, went back to Jerusalem and became part of the church there. His life was threatened again, and he had to flee to other cities for his own safety.
Role Reversals
As we read this chapter, we see some very interesting role reversals. Saul was on his way to confront Christians and Jesus confronted him. He was on his way to find Christians and Jesus found him.
He was on his way to arrest Christians, and he got arrested by Jesus. He planned to lead believers bound from Damascus but had to be led into Damascus by hand.
In Acts 8, believers fled Jerusalem for their own safety. In Acts 9, Saul had to flee the cities of Damascus and Jerusalem.
Saul persecuted Christians. Some were killed. After he got saved and started preaching Christ in the synagogues, he was persecuted himself and he ended up being killed for his faith in Jesus.
Saul started off with a commission from the high priest but ended up with a commission from Jesus. He had one plan, but God intervened and had another plan for his life.
Six Signs of Conversion
What does this story have to do with us? We get saved the same way that Paul did. All conversions are similar to his.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as AN EXAMPLE for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. (I Timothy 1:15-16)
I became a Christian in 1976. I was not traveling when I was converted. I did not hear an audible voice. I didn’t see a bright light. I was not knocked to the ground. I did not lose my eyesight at conversion but there are many things we can learn about conversion from this story. If you are converted, there will be some signs. What are some of the signs.
1) You hear the voice of God
Saul heard the voice of God. It called him out by name in Aramaic (Acts 26:14). He heard the words “Saul, Saul.” To get saved, you have to hear God’s voice, not just the voice of the church or the voice of Christians.
You will not necessarily hear an audible voice. Most of us will not hear that. We may just hear God speaking to us through the pages of Scripture. The Ethiopian Eunuch did not hear the audible voice of God, and he was saved. God spoke to him from the Bible. Have you heard God’s voice?
2) You see yourself as a sinner
Saul was not saved until he saw himself as a sinner. Jesus confronted him about his sin. He told him what his sin was. He did not just persecute the church. He persecuted Christ.
He said, “Why are YOU persecuting Me?” He did not say, “Why are you persecuting my disciples?” or “Why are you persecuting Stephen?” He said, “Why are YOU persecuting Me?”
Paul called himself the chief of sinners (I Timothy 1:13). He was not just fighting Christians. He was fighting God. He was kicking against the goads. Do you see yourself as a sinner? Most people think they are moral. They are not serial killers. You can’t get saved until you see yourself as a sinner.
3) You know who Jesus is
If you are genuinely saved, you know who Jesus is. If you don’t know who Jesus is, you can’t be saved. John says, “No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (I John 2:23 NIV).
Saul believed some lies about Christians. He said, “the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God” (John 16:2 NIV). He believed lies about Jesus.
People believe lies about Jesus today. Saul thought Jesus was dead. He found out that He was alive. He was talking to him. He thought Jesus was just a man. He found out that He was God. He called him “Lord.” Do you know who Jesus is? There are many false views of Jesus today.
4) You are completely humble
To be saved, you have to be completely humble. Paul was a very proud man. He was intelligent. He was educated. He had the finest education of the day. He was a Pharisee. He was self-righteous.
To become saved, he had to be humbled. What did Jesus do? He knocked him flat on the ground. He took away his sight. That will completely humble anyone.
Saul was completely blind. He could not see. Everything was pitch black. He became completely dependent on others for simple activities, like walking. He needed other people to help him. That was humbling.
The Bible says that God opposes the proud (James 4:6). It says that those who walk in pride he is able to humble (Daniel 4:27). Saul found that out.
To get saved, you have to be like a child. Jesus said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3 NIV). Are you humble?
5) You submit yourself to Christ
Another sign of salvation is complete submission. A person that refuses to bow the knee to Jesus will not get saved. Saul shows complete submission in this chapter.
He asked Jesus two questions. There is only one question in Acts 9 but we see two questions in Acts 22. Jesus asked Saul one question. Saul asked Jesus two.
I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ 8 “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
“‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 9 My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.10 “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. (Acts 22:7-10 NIV)
What are the two questions? They are, “Who are you?” and “What do you want me to do?” These are the two most important questions that anyone can ask.
Paul was totally surrendered to Christ. He was willing to do whatever he asked him to do. Before this, he did what he wanted to do. Now, he is asking the Lord what He wants him to do.
Once we are saved, that is a question that every believer should ask the Lord. In fact, it is a question that we should ask God every day. God has a distinct plan for every believer. Some of us spend years trying to find out what it is.
6) You will have a changed life
Saul was radically changed. His life was completely changed. This was a 180-degree change. He stopped persecuting the church. He started preaching Christ. He went from persecutor to preacher.
Paul did not wait ten years to start preaching. He did not wait to go to Bible college and seminary. He did not wait until he was ordained by the denomination. The text says that he started preached in the synagogue IMMEDIATELY (Acts 9:20).
In the beginning of the chapter, Saul is angry and hateful and then he changes, and we see him praying.
He began breathing out threats and started to breathe out sermons, as he preached in the synagogue. He breathed out books of the Bible. Paul wrote most of the books of the NT.
He went from murderer to missionary. He went from the chief sinner to become the chief apostle.
He went from hating Christians and despising them to loving them. He wanted to be with them. Wherever he was, you see him with other believers, whether in Damascus or in Jerusalem.
If you are genuinely converted, you will have a changed life and not just a changed life but a brand-new life. You become a new creation in Christ, not the old creation changed a little.
You go from darkness to light. You go from a child of the devil to a child of God. If there is no change in your life, you are not saved.
Takeaways
What can we takeaway from this story? Saul was the chief of sinners. That was what he called himself. If God saved him. He can save anyone. He can not only save anyone, he can forgive anyone. He forgave Saul.
He can use anybody. He used Saul to preach the gospel. He chose him to write books of the Bible. He called him to be missionary. He called him to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. If he saves you, there will be some signs of it in your life.
[1] Charles R. Swindoll, Paul: A Man of Grace and Grit, 22.
