In verse 16 the Lord Jesus said to Paul, “I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you a minister and a witness both of the things in which you have seen Me, and the things in which I will appear to you.” Notice that here the phrase “in which” is used twice. Here Paul is saying that the Lord had appointed him a minister and a witness of the things He revealed to Paul and of the things He would reveal to him. Although this is Paul’s meaning, this is not the way he presented the matter. Rather, this verse speaks of the things in which Paul had seen the Lord and of the things in which the Lord would yet appear to him.
Acts 26:16 indicates that Paul did not receive the revelation of things without seeing Christ. Instead, he received the things in which he saw Christ. In other words, Christ did not reveal things to Paul without Himself as the content of those things. This is the reason that Paul would be a witness of the things in which he had seen the Lord. In all the visions Paul saw he saw Christ. Furthermore, he would be a witness of the things in which the Lord was yet to appear to him. Here the Lord seemed to be saying to Paul, “In all the visions and revelations you will receive, I shall appear to you.” This indicates that if we only see visions and revelations and do not see the Lord, then what we see is vanity.
We do not agree with studying the Bible merely in a theological way. Those who study the Bible in this way may learn theology, but they do not see Christ. There is a great difference between studying the Bible to learn theology and studying the Bible in order to see Christ.
As Paul was on the way to Damascus, Christ revealed certain things to him, and in those things Paul saw Christ. The Lord indicated that He would reveal more things to Paul, and in those things the Lord Himself would appear to him. Therefore, what Paul saw was not merely the things themselves, but Christ as the One appearing in all these things.
In your experience you may claim to receive light from the Lord or to see a vision or revelation. However, you need to consider if Christ has appeared to you in that light, vision, or revelation. In the supposed light, vision, or revelation, have you seen Christ?
Sometimes brothers have come to me excited about some supposed new light they have received. For example, a brother once said, “I praise the Lord that today during morning watch I saw some new light.” When I asked concerning the light he had seen, he replied, “I have been enlightened to see that I should cut my hair short.” I asked him what the significance of such light was, and he said that cutting his hair short would make him more clean. To this I replied, “What is wrong with having your hair somewhat longer? The Nazarites in the Old Testament kept their hair long. Then at the conclusion of their vow, they shaved their heads, and in this way they were cleansed. It seems that your way of cutting your hair is not as good as that of the Nazarites.” I spoke to the brother in this way concerning the light he claimed to receive from the Lord because the so-called light was without Christ.
In any light we receive of the Lord we must see Christ. Christ must appear to us in whatever we see in the way of enlightenment, vision, or revelation. If we see a vision without seeing Christ, that vision means nothing. Likewise, if we study the Bible and gain knowledge of the Scriptures without seeing Christ, that knowledge is vanity. We all need to learn to see Christ in the things that are revealed to us.
I appreciate the phrase “in which” that is used twice in 26:16. The Lord first spoke of “the things in which you have seen Me.” Then He went on to speak of “the things in which I will appear to you.” Here the Lord was saying to Paul, “I will not merely reveal certain things to you, but in the things revealed I Myself will appear to you.”
The book of Revelation is an excellent illustration of the Lord appearing in the things revealed to the apostle John. John saw a number of visions, but in these visions the Lord Himself appeared to him. Consider the first vision in Revelation, the vision of the golden lampstands. Concerning this vision, John says, “I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands One like the Son of Man...” (Rev. 1:12-13a). In this vision of the lampstands John saw the Lord walking among the lampstands as the High Priest dressing the lamps.
In another vision the Lord showed John God’s universal administration. Regarding this, John says, “After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things. Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and One sitting upon the throne” (Rev. 4:1-2). John went on to say that in this vision he “saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as having been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth” (Rev. 5:6). Once again, in the things that were revealed to John he saw the Lord.
In principle, our experience today should be the same as that of Paul and John. Suppose that in your study of the New Testament you claim to have some understanding of Ephesians 5. However, the crucial question is this: Do you see Christ in Ephesians 5? If you see only the matter of husbands loving their wives and wives submitting to their husbands but do not see Christ, then your understanding of Ephesians 5 is very poor, even vain. You may know certain teachings in the Bible, but in those teachings you do not see Christ. You may learn the doctrines of the Scriptures, but in those things Christ has not appeared to you. May we all learn the importance of seeing Christ in the things that we claim to see and know in the Word.
Our consideration of the phrase “in which” in Acts 26:16 may be helpful in showing us the way to study the Bible. In our reading of the Scriptures, we need to dwell on matters such as this. If we spend time to consider the phrase “in which” used twice in 26:16, we shall realize how marvelous it was for the Lord to say to Paul that He had appointed him a minister and a witness both of the things in which he had seen the Lord and of the things in which the Lord would appear to him.