Open their eyes

"to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God" - Acts 26: 18

Photo by Pexels.com

Paul Defends Himself before Agrippa

¹ Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and began to defend himself:

² "I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, ³ because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews; therefore I beg of you to listen to me patiently.

⁴ "All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, a life spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem. ⁵ They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I have belonged to the strictest sect of our religion and lived as a Pharisee. ⁶ And now I stand here on trial on account of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors, ⁷ a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship day and night. It is for this hope, your Excellency, that I am accused by Jews! ⁸ Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

⁹ "Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰ And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. ¹¹ By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

¹² "With this in mind, I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, ¹³ when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. ¹⁴ When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.' ¹⁵ I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' The Lord answered, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. ¹⁷ I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you ¹⁸ to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

Reflecting on the Scripture passage, where Paul boldly shared about his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. Despite the Jews' numerous attempts to put Paul on trial as a troublemaker, first through Felix, and subsequently Festus, who replaced Felix, until he finally stood before King Agrippa. Paul was fearless as he bore witness to the saving power of the gospel even in the face of powerful leaders who had the power to sentence him. This was because his sole focus and source of strength was in the power of the Lord to save him, and he didn't entrust his life in human hands. Mirroring what our LORD did before Pilate, who had the power to sentence him to death by crucifixion, one of Rome's most cruel punishments on condemned criminals, because in Gethsemane, our LORD had prayed the ultimate prayer of surrender to the Father:  "Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done." (Luke 22:42).

In our own Christian journey, we're bound to face fierce opposition to the gospel, and maybe even threats of violence. May we in those times of peril recall what our LORD Jesus Christ promised His disciples:  "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also…(John 15:18-20). Or in another passage, Jesus said, "I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!" (John 16:33).

May we all turn our eyes upon Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2), which is the theme of the song I've curated for this short reflection.

Turn Your Eyes

Verse1 Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace Verse 2 Turn your eyes to the hillside Where justice and mercy embraced There the Son of God gave His life for us And our measureless debt was erased Chorus Jesus, to You we lift our eyes Jesus, our glory and our prize We adore You, behold You, our Savior ever true Oh Jesus, we turn our eyes to You Verse 3 Turn your eyes to the morning And see Christ the Lion awake What a glorious dawn, fear of death is gone For we carry His life in our veins Verse 4 Turn your eyes to the heavens Our King will return for His own Every knee will bow, every tongue will shout, 'All glory to Jesus alone!'

Youtube: https://youtu.be/UHHPbBfinXs?si=Odk93PHWEkrdEHuL Copyright: © 2019 Sovereign Grace Praise (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing (Integrity Music, David C Cook)) CCLI Song #167739   Reflection on Acts 26:1-18 by Chris Tan