The Visions of Paul

As I wrote about yesterday, the apostles after Christ’s ascension in the meridian of time needed to be witnesses of the resurrection.  Paul, who was called to the apostleship sometime after Matthias, certainly fit this qualification.  He had indeed seen the Lord on several occasions.  The first of these was of course when he received his call from the Lord: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?...  I am Jesus whom thou persecutes…  Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:4-6).  That he did indeed see the Savior was made clear by Barnabus when he took Paul before the apostles, saying that Paul “had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him” (Acts 9:27).  Further confirming this is how Paul recounted the event to King Agrippa, for he quoted the Lord as saying, “I have appeared unto thee” (Acts 26:16).  Paul truly saw the Risen Lord, allowing him to bear such a sure witness of Jesus Christ to both Jew and Gentile.    

                This event, Paul’s call to the ministry, was not the only time that he saw the Lord, though.  Paul described many years later to a Jewish audience what happened shortly after his first vision when he went back to Jerusalem: “While I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me” (Acts 22:17-18).  It would seem that Paul again saw the Lord speaking unto him as he was being warned to flee for his life.  Paul had yet another vision as a missionary in Corinth in the house of Justus: “Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).  Much later when Paul was in prison in Jerusalem, he again saw the Lord after he was bound and brought “into the castle.”  We read, “And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul” (Acts 23:11).  These are the recorded visions of the Savior that Paul had, and there likely were more.  Paul summarized simply: “Last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time” (1 Coninthians 15:8). 

                Of course, with these great spiritual manifestations of the Savior came incredible responsibility and trial for Paul.  The Lord had warned from the outset, “I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (Acts 9:16).  Paul would describe his hardships in this way to the Corinthians, “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:24-27).  He had to endure incredible physical suffering and perils for the Lord’s sake as he testified of the reality of the Savior and His resurrection.  And he did not shirk, but was an example of faithfulness to the knowledge he received: “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19).