Acts 26
"Has Anyone Seen God?"
Verses1-2- "And Miriam and
Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married:
for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, hath the Lord indeed
only spoken by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard
it."
This text may be referring to a second marriage for Moses. At any rate,
his brother and sister had challenged the authority of his ministry, having
judged themselves more fit then Moses to serve God. But they soon hear
from God, Himself:
Verses 4-8- "And the Lord
spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye
three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.
And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door
of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.
And he said , Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the
Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him
in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark
speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then
were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? "
When God meets a person openly and communes with them fully, as He
did with Moses, face to face, and that person receives the faith to believe
what they have seen of the Lord, then God very jealously bonds with that
person. There's no other way to say it, just look at what comes next:
Verses 9-16- "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and behold Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb. And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received again. And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran."
But the real point for us here is back in the verse I skipped over
earlier, Numbers 12:3:
Verse 3- "(Now the man Moses
was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)"
Seeing the "similitude" of the Lord and hearing His voice, had not
inflated Moses' ego. We see from this verse that it humbled him greatly.
Moses, who saw God, was made meeker than other men, and meeker than he
had been before he encountered the Lord. Remember this, beloved, hold on
to it.
Verses 6-11- "And now I stand
and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:
Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night,
hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the
Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should
raise the dead? I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things
contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem:
and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority
from the chief priests; and when they were put to death , I gave my voice
against them. (Paul never got over the love he saw in the Martyr Stephen--that's
what I think, beloved-- see Acts 7:51-60.) And I punished them oft in
every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly
mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities."
Now Paul will tell us of the time he met God, face to face:
Verses 12-18- "Whereupon
as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness
of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And
when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me,
and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it
is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou,
Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand
upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make
thee a minister and a witness both of these things in the which I will
appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles,
unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith which
is in me."
How did seeing God effect Paul? Well, first of all, the GLORY blinded
him for three days, nor could he eat or drink (see Acts 9:9). But what
it actually did was fix Paul's course in life. God directly, and wonderfully,
commissioned Paul. Beloved, look back at verses 16-17 above. Do you see
how the Lord didn't just send Paul out on this mission empty-handed? God
would provide on-going revelation and direction for Paul's ministry, and
Paul was promised a continuing deliverance, too. Now look at verse 18,
beloved. Could the goal of the mission be any clearer? Sometimes you and
I today may seek deliverance and not be totally sure why we get
delivered. Paul had goals that came directly from God.
Now let's go on to Paul's response to his encounter with the Lord:
Verse 19- "Whereupon, O
king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision..."
Paul never again focused on
comfort or even personal safety, or personal success. Success to Paul,
from the Damascus Road onward, was to stay on his mission! He was as content
in jail as he was at a party! Beloved, Paul knew why he was alive.