Saul was probably very happy as he was on his way to Damascus. He may have been excited and perhaps even was in an ecstasy. Saul may have said to himself, “I have obtained authority from the high priests to bind all those who call on the name of Jesus. I am going to Damascus to arrest all those who call on this name, bring them to Jerusalem, and put them in jail.”
The Lord Jesus was watching over Saul as he was journeying toward Damascus. Instead of appearing to Saul immediately, the Lord waited until “he drew near to Damascus” (9:3). Then “suddenly a light from heaven shone around him; and he fell on the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (9:3b-4). Saul must have been shocked by the light from heaven and by the voice that called him by name. Saul thought that he was persecuting merely the followers of Jesus. Now a voice came from the heavens and told him that he was persecuting this One who is in the heavens. To Saul’s great surprise, he experienced a heavenly light, a heavenly voice, and a heavenly One. Spontaneously Saul said, “Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (v. 5). Saul called Him Lord, even without knowing Him.
Saul may have said to himself, “I have never persecuted Jesus. Rather, I persecuted Stephen and other followers of Jesus. I thought that Jesus was in the tomb, but now He comes to me from the heavens.”
According to 9:4, the Lord Jesus asked Saul, “Why are you persecuting Me?” This is a corporate Me comprising Jesus the Lord and all His believers. Saul did not have this revelation, thinking that he was persecuting Stephen and other Jesus-followers in the way he considered heresy (24:14). He did not know that when he persecuted these he persecuted Jesus, for they were one with Him by being united to Him through their faith in Him. He considered that he was persecuting people on earth, never thinking that he touched anyone in heaven. To his great surprise, a voice from heaven told him that He was the One whom he was persecuting, and His name was Jesus. To him this was an unique revelation in the entire universe! By this he began to see that the Lord Jesus and His believers are one great person—the wonderful “Me.” This must have impressed him and affected him for his future ministry concerning Christ and the church as the great mystery of God (Eph. 5:32), and laid a solid foundation for his unique ministry.
Luke does not give us the details related to Saul’s conversion. Nevertheless, we can see that the Lord Jesus preached an adequate gospel to Saul. Saul indeed heard the gospel. Some may wonder how we can say this. They may point out that the voice from heaven did not say anything about the crucifixion, the redeeming blood, or the resurrection. However, we need to realize that the name Jesus is an adequate gospel. Saul was a sinner, an opponent, but he must have known the significance of this name, since he knew both Hebrew and Greek. He must have realized that Jesus means Jehovah, the Savior. Is this not the gospel? Do we not hear the gospel when we hear of Jesus? Who is Jehovah, the Savior? Paul surely knew the meaning of the name of Jesus.
In 9:6 the Lord Jesus said to Saul, “Rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told you what you must do.” The Lord would not directly tell Saul right after his conversion what He wanted him to do, for the reason that he needed a member of His Body to initiate him into the identification with His Body, since he had been saved and brought to the Lord directly by Him, not indirectly through any channel. Without a member sent by the Lord from His Body to contact him, it would be difficult for any member of His Body to receive him (see 9:26).
Verse 8 says, “And Saul rose from the ground, and though his eyes were opened, he saw nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.” Here we have the Lord’s dealing with Saul. Before this, Saul considered himself marvelously knowledgeable, regarding himself as one who knew all things concerning man and God. Now the Lord made him blind so that he could see nothing until the Lord opened his eyes, especially his inner eyes, and commissioned him to open the eyes of others (26:18).