PAUL: THE CHOSEN VESSEL

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a CHOSEN VESSEL of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel” – Acts 9:15

One of the most revealing models of Divine Processing in Scriptures was Paul, a man with a terribly sinful past, whom God used mightily for His Kingdom. There was a clear-cut contrast between what Saul of Tarsus was like before meeting Jesus on the Damascus Road, and what he became after his encounter with Jesus. He provides a striking sample of raw clay divinely excavated from deep in the bowels of the earth. His life provides an impressive illustration of how the Perfect Potter forms a vessel fit and appropriate for His purpose. As we follow the account of Saul’s life, we observe as the Master Potter transformed him from a persecutor into His Apostle. From his experiences we can learn valuable lessons for our comfort and edification.

Saul was, “concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (Phi. 3:6). Yet, in his blind zeal to earn favour with God by ardently keeping the law, he was an enemy of God, sinking deep in a horrible pit. The story of Stephen’s martyrdom offers our first glimpse of that lump of clay that God would dig up and form into a useful vessel. Saul guarded the clothing of those who stoned Stephen (Acts 7:58). Acts 8:1-3 confirm that: Saul was consenting to Stephen’s death; and he “made havoc of the church.” Also, he was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1). But the Master Potter rescued this Chief of Sinners from the great abyss and translated him into the liberating light of the Son!

Unearthed by the Lord Jesus on the Damascus road, this lump of clay was brought into the presence of the God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness (2 Cor. 4:6). Thus began the divine processing of Saul the Persecutor into the Paul, the chosen vessel, who was empowered to proclaim the gospel of Christ to his generation and to defend the faith. He experienced not just a change of name, but a change of Nature. This naturally energetic enemy of the faith had to pass through the season of silence, where he remained alone, fasting and unable to see, in the house of Judas (Acts 9:11). There he matured in his new faith. There, this lump of clay began to acquire spiritual plasticity and pliability – those qualities clay needs to easily yield to the potter’s touch.

Paul allowed the Lord Jesus to shape him from a forceful persecutor of followers of Jesus before his conversion, into a powerful apostolic voice for the kingdom. The God of Grace and Mercy never allowed Saul’s past to disqualify him from His plan. God could use even our despicable past to fashion us into blessed vessels for His glory!