Chosen

 082625 Meditational Bible Study Acts Chapter 22 KJV

For Mithcah Bible Baptist Church _Bahrain 

Morning Online Group Devotional Bible Study and Prayer Fellowship August 27, 2025

 

“11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.”

 

Topic: Chosen

To get the full view of this chapter 22, we need to back read from Acts 21:37-40 KJV
“ 37 And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek?
38 Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? 39 But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.
40 And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,”
Acts 22:1-5 KJV
“1 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.
2 (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
3 I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
5 As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.”

From here was written, Paul asked from the chief captain permission to speak; and so, he begun to testify his encounter with JESUS, and the things he must do, according to what He said.  

His testimony is a matter of fact that there has been complete turning point from his life, which the conventional people could not understand. 

Pondering upon this chapter, there are facts we may take note, like of the following: 

 

1.     The Certainty of who he has been- who He was before, is a part of the story which made him who he is in the present. He is Saul- a young ruler, one among the Pharisees; zealous about the law. But that Does not matter anymore to him, never seeking honor for who he was before, but fervent in his pursuit to let others know CHRIST JESUS, no matter what people may think, say or do.
Paul’s life has been an open book, written for all believers to understand that, as He was chosen and called to be an apostle of CHRIST, he has a certainly exceptional testimony of which he boldly and courageously have spoken, written and have made sure, people listen to hear.
The same way, we, who have decided to follow the True CHRIST of the King James Bible, our past is a part of our life’s journey, that we should not hide like of a so dearly, hidden treasure we possessed; that we don’t want others to know; too precious that we think, if others know learn about it, our identity will be stolen and we will lost our self-esteem.
Life, no matter what, should be progressive, that we can’t remain living in the past; otherwise we will be stack up.
All things of the past should be just a part of our story; written, whether it has been the cause of failure from the many of our choices or it happened out of our control. No matter how we keep or hide them, it will have its own way to be revealed.
But if we are already in CHRIST, particularly called to be one among His servants, we are not so concern too much about our past. For it is prevalent; the more others know who we have been and what CHRIST did for us to become better as who we are in the present, the more JESUS CHRIST’s Name will be glorified; and through our humble submission and constant prayers, by our testimony people will have the chance to ponder also about their troubled life’s situation; search for the way to achieve peace, and eventually yield to CHRIST, decide for themselves to know Him better, draw to Him closer. This will only happen if we give CHRIST preeminence more than ourselves.

Consider how Paul through CHRIST, face life’s challenges; for our faith also to be strengthen; certainly living for Christ JESUS The Redeemer.

Acts 22:6-16 KJV
“6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”

2.    The Conversion of who he has become- Saul’s dramatic transformation to become Paul the called to be an Apostle, is a phenomenal event that could not be explain by natural human’s mind.
For it is a very personal encounter with the risen CHRIST JESUS the LORD and Savior, who have gone to heaven; witnessed by those some five hundred believers, who were present, when, after He gave His great commission to His disciples, particularly to His apostles, ascended up to heaven until He was covered by the clouds and they have not seen Him anymore in His resurrected human body form. 
So exceptional, that Saul/Paul have not personally seen The LORD’s appearance; but a shining great light which caused the partially-loss of his eyesight, with The LORD’s clearly thundering yet gentle voice asked him  and conversed with him  in this manner:
“6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.”

Saul’s remarkable transformation is so special, just as his personal calling to carry out the gospel to us, whom are belong to the Gentile race.
It inspires us to reflect on our personal encounter with The LORD which led to our conversion after we accepted, believed, called and have committed our lives to serve JESUS CHRIST our Loving Savior.
The story of our past became significant for our transformation. What happened to us in the past, before our conversion, might have been hard to testify; for there are doubts and fears that we will be misunderstood or misjudge. But after we accepted Christ, believed and have learned His words, casting all our concerns to Him and call on His Name in prayers, devout time to dig deeper in repeatedly reading His words, it is now easy for us, just like Paul, to testify what GOD has done for us;  because we are freely living with confidence and assurance within CHRIST compassionate love.
Thus, we keep on testifying, so that our family, relatives, friends, and acquaintances be informed that JESUS CHRIST Saves. And His grace is still enough to all who come to Him, call upon His Name, and cleave unto Him in faith.
The prayer of repentance and reliant only to JESUS CHRIST and His words secures eternity for your soul.
May we keep on praying for our love ones that they will decide now and accept JESUS CHRIST as their LORD and personal Savior. 

Acts 22:17-21 KJV
“17 And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;
18 And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
19 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:
20 And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
21 And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.”

3.    The Coverture Paul had from GOD after his conversion- The LORD’s personal guidance to Paul ushered him to escape from the violence of his detractors; and though he must need to go through a far more critical journey of his apostleship. He knew and was informed by the HOLY SPIRIT as many times testified about it as well as how he called himself: “an apostle born out of due time” for this very reason he wrote in his epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:8-10 KJV - “8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
He has been what he had become; the great works which he “labored more abundantly” is because of the guiding and guarding grace of GOD which is in him.
it implies to us this thought: the more spectacular the testimony of the called servants or ministers of GOD, the greater works with sufferings (labouring)GOD entrusted them.  Testing, trials and temptations are parts of all called servants’ training. For from those circumstances,  contradictions, and cause of pains are our temperance grow; those were allowed to happen, to strengthen our faith; placing our full reliant to Him who called us to carry the light of the GOSPEL.
This is also the fact of our Christian life: The guiding love of GOD and our LORD JESUS CHRIST, covert us from the corruption of this world normalized practice.

May we all be covered with GOD’s love through the blood of JESUS CHRIST.

Acts 22:22-30 KJV
“ 22 And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.
23 And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,
24 The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.
25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?
26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.
27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.
28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.
29 Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
30 On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.”

4.    The Commission of Paul by GOD is a matter of fact, was The LORD’s anointing from his mother’s womb. He was carefully wrought and tempered; having a determined character, growing up as a dedicated student, and had become a devoted follower of the law of Moses for the love of the GOD of Israel. He can be likened to Moses; But in the contrary, Moses was raised cavalier in the palace, within the Egyptian’s royal culture; fled for his love for the Hebrews, and was called to lead Israel out of the Egyptian slavery. While Saul who was called to be the Apostle Paul to the Gentiles, was born a Roman with deep Hebrew culture inclination; study at the feet of Gamaliel. Although Gamaliel was not a philosopher in the typical Greek sense, but he is an influential and renowned Jewish scholar, Rabbi, and member of the Sanhedrin (Jewish high court) in the 1st century CE. From him Paul also has become a ruler and among the Pharisees at his younger age. Chosen,Called and Commissioned by GOD for The LORD’s great work with great sufferings.

A patterned we observed from both of this prominent biblical character: Moses of old testament, and Paul of the new testament, is something we may reflects our lives as among the called servants of CHRIST. The certainty of our conversion is an exceptional testimony that, we were covert during our past tempering for the great commission the LORD CHRIST JESUS place us in right now.

AS for my testimony, It was never an easy life. Mine was tempered by trauma, tears and tragedy from family, relationship and even in my very ways and will to survive. Thus, it battered my body mind and soul; yet unaware is the courage raising in me, the will to fight for a more profound and powerful life; facing the challenges of life with determination to live, dedication to learn and my devotion to love GOD above all else, after I knew He loves me more than I do; hence, put me to where I  am today.
Because like Paul, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded, that He is able, to keep that which I committed, unto Him against that day.
As Apostle Paul has written in  2 Timothy 1:12-13 KJV - 12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
13 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus

Hardships and heartaches always come after we commit ourselves in the service to Christ’s cause; nevertheless, it brings tremendous joy and peace knowing that our commissioning from Jesus Christ our LORD yield deliverance for the many souls who are hopeless and lost. Not only so, but the triumph from the trials and the testimonies from the testing makes us even stronger in facing troubles. 

As I am pondering upon many thoughts about Paul’s life, these verses remind me, keep me up and regain my strength in time I felt so disappointed and discourage: 

 Isaiah 40:31 KJV “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Hebrews 12:1,2 KJV Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

I hope these will also encourage you to keep on showing up as we keep on sharing, serving and singing the goodness and greatness of our LORD and Savior JESUS CHRIST.

May the life of Apostle Paul also be an encouragement to us, to cleave the more and hold fast the form of sound words of our Savior JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

Have a pleasant day to all!