“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. Acts 22:3
From the stone staircase Paul made his defense to the hushed crowd, who were taken aback by Paul’s Hebrew dialect. That they went from beating him to listening to him appears to me to be an act of God. He first tells of his credentials as a Jew, his upbringing in Jerusalem, his education under rabbi Gamaliel, and his zealousness for God, manifested in his persecution of the followers of Jesus the Nazarene as far as Damascus.
Then he renders his testimony of having been stopped dead in his tracks by the Lord Jesus himself on the road, being struck blind, being questioned as to his reasoning for his violent antagonism towards him, and then being led into the city to a man named Ananias. Then Ananias shares these prophetic words, what Paul was to do.
14 “And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. 15 ‘For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’” Acts 22:14-16
At this point, amazingly, Paul still held the attention of the crowd, even with Paul’s charge to share Jesus with “all men.” His narrative then jumps to Jerusalem when in prayer in the temple he again heard from Jesus, who instructed him to leave the city. To these instructions Paul rebuts, that the people there only knew of his pursuit of the Way, not his conversion. That somehow he’d have the credibility to share his experience with them and they’d be moved. How he went from presiding over the stoning of Stephen to being stoned himself for the cause of Christ.
No, they would not believe, especially when he told them that his high calling was to share the gospel with the Gentiles. At this very point in his speech the crowd was triggered. Listen closely to what they said in light of any hopeful thinking that we ourselves will be tolerated in this heathen world.
They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!” Acts 22:22
There is nothing more disturbing to Satan than the prospect of the gospel, the good news of salvation, moving forward unabated. That the people went straight for the jugular is indication of the enemy’s favored approach to this existential problem; eradication. To Satan, Paul was the head of the snake.
As we live in a world increasingly more antagonistic to Jesus and his followers—when weren’t they!—it would be best to remove the rose-colored glasses and get on with heeding his words regardless, even if we must shake the dust from our sandals and relocate to ripe new fields. If we’re called to stand firm, which we likely will, we must be prepared to do battle, for which we’ve been adequately equipped as was Paul.
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:13
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