Acts 9:15–16

Far from holding prayer back, we really need more openness with God. Scripture fully supports this, and the case of good Ananias shows it (Acts 9:10-17). The Lord sends him to Saul of Tarsus to receive him after his conversion. But Ananias has a difficulty in his mind, and with beautiful simplicity and reverence, he lays it before the Lord… Notice that the Lord does not reprove Ananias at all. The incident is left on record to encourage us to tell the Lord about all our difficulties, with closeness and reverence.

As the chapter unfolds, we see a beautiful picture of a true servant as a vessel of the Lord. We sometimes speak of being channels of blessing. But does Scripture ever speak this way? A channel is only a pipe that something flows through; it holds nothing. A vessel holds something, and it must be full before it can give to others.

(1) The choice was the Lord's, and this must be so with every true minister of God. (2) The chosen vessel was to preach Christ, to tell of His glory, to declare His name. (3) His mission was to go to the Gentiles, to kings, and to the children of Israel. In Acts 2 the circle covered only Jerusalem. In Acts 8 we saw it reach Samaria. Now we find it has become world-wide.

His past gave no sign of what he was to be. Yet God would make the apostle of His fullest grace to the uncircumcision — that is, the Gentiles — out of the apostle of man's deepest hatred against Christ. The Great Potter (see Jer. 18:1-6) was about to lay hold of a very unlikely-looking lump of clay and transform it. Until now that "chosen vessel" had been in the Potter's mind — from now on the Potter's mind would be in the vessel.

Saul had gone further in the Jews' religion than many of his own age in his own nation. He was far more zealous for the traditions of his fathers (Gal. 1:14). No one would have thought he had any liking for Gentiles. His zeal for the Law and for Jewish traditions was unquestionable. Yet he was the vessel chosen to bear Christ's name before the Gentiles and kings, as well as the people of Israel. So the field of service given to him was the widest of all… He could preach to his own countrymen, and he did. But the Lord's word to Ananias (Acts 9:15) mentions service to them last, even though Saul always went to his own people first when he could.

But the Lord answers by telling him that Saul was a chosen vessel to Him, to bear His Name in testimony of the widest range — to both Gentiles and Jews. Here, though, the Gentiles come before the Jews. What he is to suffer matches the breadth of his testimony. To bear the Name of Jesus means suffering; witness and martyr are the same word.

When the Lord first met Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, and three days later sent His servant Ananias to him, at that very time He said: "I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name." He did not speak of great things he would do so much as the great things he must suffer. Read Second Corinthians chapter 11 from verse 23 to the end, and you will find an amazing list of sufferings, and most of them are not even mentioned in the book of Acts. Few have ever suffered as Paul suffered, so he may indeed speak of it with authority.

Saul would carry His name before nations and kings and the sons of Israel, and all he did across the world of that day would be less than all he suffered for Christ's name. He really was a chosen vessel to the Lord — overflowing in labours of love, and even more beyond compare in his sufferings for Christ.

The Lord would show the man who had made others suffer what great things he himself must suffer for Christ's name. Later history proved this, and the sufferer accepted it fully.

The Lord replies by telling Ananias that Saul was a chosen vessel to Him, to carry His Name in testimony of the widest range — to Gentiles and to Jews both. But the Gentiles come first here. What he must suffer matches the breadth of his testimony. To carry the Name of Jesus means suffering; witness and martyr are to be the same word.

This word is general. It covers any kind of necessity — the necessity that lies in the nature of the case, or in particular the necessity that comes by divine appointment, and this gives the word greater strength. "Must" is the way it is most often translated. Many passages show the necessity established by the will and word of God, and Acts 9:16 is one of them.

It was not so much in service as by suffering that all in Paul which was like the Lord came out. If Paul was nearest in likeness to Him, he would have the most to suffer. He had been brought to the feet of the Man of sorrows.

Without the suffering here there can be little spiritual power for entering into the glory set before us. It would lose its true incentive and energy in the soul, because it would not be linked, as it should be, with the blessed Lord's pathway and life on earth. So the apostle's work as an evangelist was one continuous series of bitter persecutions, most of all from the Jews.

Will you search all through the Scriptures and show me one example of a faithful witness for Christ who found his path an easy one? The idea of an easy path may push some people today into a place the Lord never called them to. But Paul, right at the start, was to suffer many things for the name of Christ.