I think, perhaps, this is the best place to start- born under the law and rebellious against Christ. It’s where he started. When I say start, I simply mean a state of natural being. It is the nature of human beings to be born under the law, as it is the nature of human beings to be born rebellious to Christ. This man from Tarsus, as it would seem, understood the former (Acts 22:3), but not to the ramification that he would later understand it (Galatians 3:10). As for the latter, as it does in the lives of all men and women, a miracle needed to occur.
He was from Tarsus, the Stoic capital of the ancient world. Stoicism, a philosophy that pressed towards moral and intellectual perfection, where emotion was weakness and virtue was sufficient for happiness. Perhaps that is why he became a Pharisee of the strictest sect. Perhaps that is why he stood by as Stephen was stoned. Perhaps that is why he put believers of Christ in chains. Or perhaps it was something more. Maybe it was Christ. I think it was. “For I will show him how much he is to suffer…” (Acts 9:16)
It is interesting how this man from Tarsus entered into the story; almost as an afterthought. A terrible, terrible afterthought. He stood by, guarding the clothes of those who stoned that saint, that pillar of faith, Stephen. It was his consent. His silence spoke for him. Perhaps that is why he remembered it so well (Acts 22:20).
Was he innocent of Stephens’s blood? No. Ignorant maybe (1 Tim. 1:13), but innocent no. This man from Tarsus, a future saint, was, by first regard, guilty of innocent blood. This afterthought, this man standing by a pile of clothing, was a murderer. But he was a Roman after all wasn’t he? Did not the Roman’s condemn innocent blood? Did not they consent; did not the whole world consent? In his denial, did not even Peter consent? It seems that those called to the greatest tasks are those Christ brought furthest into the grave with Him. But Christ brought them back, yea, has He not even brought us out of the grave! To Peter, He says build my Church! And to this man from Tarsus…
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads!” (Acts 26:14) Who are you Lord? Who are you? Who are you…? We must first ask, who was this man from Tarsus?
We have our starting point. A man born under the law, a man born rebellious to Christ, a man guilty of murder, an afterthought, a man…afraid of the law? Afraid of death?
The Greek word for “goad” is kentron. A goad, as it was typically understood in ancient times, was a long pole with a pricking “stinger” on the end. It was an instrument used to prick the back of an ox, or a similar beast or burden, in order to urge it onwards. A beast of burden…
To “kick against the goads” literally meant to rebel against the one driving the cart, and figuratively meant to exert a futile resistance. But who was the cart driver, and why was this man from Tarsus so resistant to a futile end?
The Greek word kentron is understood was referring to a “goad”, but more specifically, it referred to the sting on the end of the pole. It was a sting. A painful sting. Where else was this word kentron, this sting, also used? “Oh death, where is your victory, oh death where is your sting!” (1 Corinthians 15:55) This man from Tarsus was kicking against the goads…this man from Tarsus was fighting against death…death…
Do not all people fear death? Do not all people succumb in futility to its sting? Why kick against the goads? Why resist the one who drove the cart? Who drove the cart? “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” (1 Corinthians 15:56)
A beast of burden…the sting of death…the law…
A Pharisee of the strictest sect, a man who championed moral and intellectual perfection. An afterthought who feared that which he loved, the law, and feared the very thing that, through the law, he sought to escape…a rightful punishment…death…
Did he see himself for what he was? Though he struggled, did he see futility? “Who are you Lord?” Who are you…?
“I AM Jesus, whom you persecute.” Oh tired and heavy laden, oh beast with heavy burden, come to Me, and I shall give thee rest, My yoke is easy, My burden is light…
The burden…the yoke…the law…
The man from Tarsus, blinded by the light of our resurrected Lord. “Who are you Lord?”
I AM Jesus.
I AM Life.
I AM.
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us…” (Gal. 3:13)
“He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 25:8)
Start beating again dead heart!
The man from Tarsus…redeemed…on the road to Antioch…
