¹⁰“. . . And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus. ¹²A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him. ¹⁴And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. ¹⁵For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’”

The details of Paul’s testimony are physically tangible, involving hearing (verbal communication from the Lord), sight (blindness), and touch (“led by the hand”). We know from Acts 9:9 that the sense of taste was also involved—at least, the lack thereof (for three days he “neither ate nor drank”). One wonders what the accompanying smells might have been! Paul’s memory was vivid.

He points out the character of Ananias, the man God sent to him. Ananias was a fastidious keeper of the Law and was greatly esteemed by the Jewish community. Ananias had called him “Brother Saul,” recognizing him as a member of the Jewish community. He saw that Paul was blind and acknowledged that God was at work in Paul’s life. (Reminder: “Saul” was his Hebrew name, used predominantly among the Jews, whereas “Paul,” his Roman name, was more commonly used when among Gentiles.)

Upon receiving his sight through the ministry of Ananias, Paul received a prophet’s commissioning. Paul understood this as God speaking directly to him as he wrote earlier to the Galatians:

[T]he gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Gal. 1:11–12)

His commissioning was founded on three things: 1) he would know God’s will (the authority to speak and teach on God’s behalf), 2) he saw Christ (1 Cor. 15:8) and thus qualified as an apostle (1 Cor. 9:1), and 3) he heard the voice of the Lord Jesus directly. Therefore, he would be an official witness of Christ, just like other apostles (Acts 1:8). All that was needed was for Paul to obey the command to be baptized, as all believers are commanded to do.

Lord, no matter how extreme a person’s rejection of You is, You can still lift that one up for a great work for the gospel!