Taking God Out of the Box

Acts 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.
20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God."

Saul was a powerful (verse 14). He had authority to persecute the Christians (verse 13).  Saw was a Roman citizen being natural born in Tarsus. He was also very Jewish, being a Pharisee. It's strange indeed that the Pharisees were proponents of the doctrine of "free will" in regard to religious matters, whereas the Essenes believed in predestination. Even more ironic is that my personal belief is as the Pharisees, but admit that Paul's salvation was predestined! Paul was part of God's Plan from the beginning. In this regard the Pharisees and the Sadducees both believe in "free will", but the Pharisees acknowledge God's foreknowledge!

With that said, Jesus' words are "he is a chosen vessel unto me". Saul's salvation was different than all the others! Jesus chose him specifically for a purpose. He was the "vessel" to do what? "To bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel" (both from verse 15).

Your salvation and mine are totally different and so was Saul's. Because Saul was zealous for persecution, God with his foreknowledge knew that Saul would be zealous for Christianity! Jesus was entirely correct as always! Would we expect everyone to be saved as Saul was:

• Have a light from heaven physically shine on an individual.
• A person be knocked to the ground.
• That we would hear a voice from heaven.
• Jesus and Saul had a conversation. Jesus spoke audibly to Saul.
• He was blinded.
• Saul's "flesh" so to speak was sacrificed for a three day period. His body didn't need nourishment because he was fed spiritual meat.
• Saul "saw the light" spiritually as well. He prayed. It is implied that it is to Jesus he prayed! That would mean that Saul was born again and his life thereafter demonstrated that he was a new person (Paul).
• For Saul, God sent a vision to Ananias, another disciple. Jesus coordinated the actions of two people for his purpose.
• Jesus sent a vision of Ananias to Saul.
• Saul was to take Jesus to foreigners, kings and his own people. He was chosen for a specific purpose as part of God's plan for the world to learn about Jesus.
• Saul knew in advance of his persecution.
• Saul was filled with the Holy Ghost.
• Saul was healed of his blindness by miracle of Jesus through Ananias.
• Saul immediately was baptized.
• God strengthened Paul.
• Paul spread the gospel and became a preacher without seminary or further education about Jesus. He was ordained by none other than Jesus and Saul changed. Paul emerged from the water because the idol Saul was toppled to the ground by the blinding Light of God!

Do all these things describe your own born-again experience. I think not! So get God out of your box which you have put him in. God does things as he wants to serve his purpose. He doesn't use a Calvinistic or Armenian process to change people. It's different strokes for different folks! God isn't a mathematical formula like Simon the Magician wanted. He has personality and he interacts with people who have their own personality. Either way Christians become "peculiar people" in that we change! 

We are not Saul! We should never expect to be born-again in the same fashion which Saul was! Back to how ironic his salvation was: Saul believed in "free will", but it appears that he was in fact predestined to serve Jesus in a special way! In this case God's grace was irresistible. Whereas Jonah resisted God for a spell, he  on his own free will, after submitting to God, obeyed! Saul has little choice in the matter. God wanted to use him and he did just that!

We must never put God in a box! Any discerning person can see from scripture, that "believing" is a prerequisite for salvation. Believing is an individual's prerogative, meaning it's a cognitive decision, and is an exercise in reason, resulting in "free will". We make a decision to accept Jesus. Saul never made a decision. He was inducted into Jesus' hall of fame! Jesus drew his number to draft him for war against the world. 

I am free to be a Christian today by choice because Saul had no choice! Thank you Saul for being drafted in my place. We all owe you greatly!