It’s striking that in Acts 9, this preaching Saul is doing happens so soon after his conversion, but that’s the power of God in some people’s lives. The gifts start to be revealed immediately. And also, there are fresh insights, energies, and powers given to the convert. This sometimes means they begin preaching straight away, they aren’t church elders, or missionaries. That takes a long time as we see later in Acts, but they’re preaching straight away!
Saul’s call is one that not many Christians will have in the way that Saul had it, but all Christians are called to preach—just not in the way that Saul was preaching. As we so often say, all Christians, are full-time Christian workers. All Christians are called to serve the church and to serve Christ’s mission to the world.
Notice also what it is that Saul is preaching. He’s preaching that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Chosen One, the one set aside to have this role of being the Saviour of his people.
Note also the power of who he is preaching these things. If Saul had been saying the same things he was saying in that synagogue as someone who’d been a Christian for decades, then it would have been heard very differently. It would not have had the same impact as it did when he was someone who, just a few days earlier, had been seeking to kill Christians. The preaching is inseparable from the preacher.
And then Paul’s growing in power is worth noting too. This is something that happens to Christians—or is meant to happen to Christians. They grow in power, and spiritual growth is progressive. It happens with increase over time. But what also happens is that unbelievers are often baffled by what is preached. Yet believers go on preaching that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is the Son of God. That’s the message.
The message is the message that Saul preached: that Jesus is the Son of God and that Jesus is the Messiah—which is the same thing in different words. You may baffle others, but may you never leave behind this task of proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
