Acts 26:14, commentary and pictures

Near Damascus at midday a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone around Saul and his companions and brought them all to the ground, and Saul heard a voice in the Hebrew tongue asking why he persecuted Him and warning that resistance was as painful as kicking against sharp goads. The speaker was Jesus of Nazareth Himself, the crucified, risen and ascended Son of God, seen as truly as by the other disciples, with his companions hearing a sound but Saul alone understanding the words. The question revealed that by falsely accusing and attacking Christ's followers Saul was striking directly against Christ their Head and Representative in heaven. Kicking against the goads meant fighting the divine conviction and leading already urging him to turn, an opposition that cannot stop the gospel's triumph but wounds and condemns the opposer himself. The light flooded his mind to show he had served Satan while thinking he served God, and from that hour he yielded, believed, and was commanded to proclaim the risen Saviour to Jews and Gentiles.

The Vision At Damascus

At midday as he neared Damascus a light from heaven brighter than the sun blazed round Saul and all who journeyed with him, and all fell to the earth with Saul prostrate on the ground. The brilliance that surrounded them was above the brightness of the noonday sun. Saul then heard a voice speaking to him in the Hebrew tongue, calling him by name twice and asking why he persecuted the speaker, adding that it was hard to resist like kicking against sharp points. His companions heard a sound of a voice but saw no man, while Saul alone understood the words addressed to him.

What Saul saw left no doubt, for he clearly perceived the speaker to be the Son of God, the Crucified One, Jesus of Nazareth, whose countenance was imprinted upon him forever. It was truly the same Jesus who had walked the streets of Jerusalem, died on Calvary, broken the bands of death, risen and ascended to heaven. He saw and heard the crucified and risen Christ as truly as Cephas, James, John and the other disciples had seen and talked with Him.

This is part of Paul's account of his faith and conversion told before King Agrippa while awaiting transport to Rome. In that setting the gospel for which he was imprisoned was brought before princes and nobles, just as it was later proclaimed before rulers in the imperial palace. The heavenly vision showed Jesus enthroned in divine glory in its midst. At first it filled Paul with terror and unspeakable terror as a stubborn unbeliever who had hated Jesus and sought to destroy His followers, but it became a source of great comfort and consolation when he recognized the risen Christ as the very One he had despised and hated.

Persecuting Christ Resisting Truth

Jesus' question exposes that in persecuting, falsely accusing and testifying against His saints and followers in their person, Saul was persecuting Jesus Himself and striking directly against the Lord of heaven and Saviour of the world. Christ identifies Himself with His suffering people as their Head and Representative in heaven, so that to afflict them is to afflict Him. The words struck home with appalling force, flooding Saul's mind with light that exposed the ignorance and error of his former life. While he thought he was serving God he was doing Satan's work and serving Satan, and he needed the Holy Spirit's enlightenment.

Kicking against the pricks pictures kicking against a goad's sharp points. It means resisting Christ's conviction and the divine influence, direction and leadings already working upon Saul and urging him to turn from his course. Opposing Christ's truth and efforts to stay the onward progress of the gospel cannot stop its progress toward triumph and victory. Every such effort results in injury, pain and suffering to the opposer, who is hurt by the resistance. The persecutor will suffer more than those he persecutes, and will sooner or later be condemned by his own mind, heart and conscience. Such resistance arises from pride and ignorance to his own spiritual harm.

Witness Commission And Warning

The Damascus encounter made Paul a witness to Christ's resurrection, for he truly saw and heard the same Jesus who had walked Jerusalem, died on Calvary, broken the bands of death, risen and ascended to heaven, as truly as Cephas, James, John and the other disciples had seen Him. That vision grounded his testimony that the Messiah of prophecy had already appeared in Jesus of Nazareth, that the Old Testament Scriptures declaring the Messiah would appear as a man among men were fulfilled in every specification by Moses and the prophets, and that the divine Son of God endured the cross despising the shame to redeem a lost world and ascended triumphant over death and the grave. The voice from heaven commanded him to proclaim the gospel of a risen Saviour to Jews and Gentiles, and he could not disobey the heavenly voice. So he bore witness of Jesus the crucified in Damascus, in Jerusalem, throughout all Judea, and in regions afar off. From that hour transforming mercy made him a new man, a sincere, penitent and fervent believer in Jesus, called to be Christ's apostle and an apostle by God's will.

The heavenly light alone could not change him unless he yielded his will, obeyed Christ's command to go into the city and receive his next instructions, and did the work God gave him, showing that God's influence works with human willingness and action, not in place of them. Kicking against the pricks is resisting that divine influence, direction and leadings already working upon him and urging him to turn from his course. Resisting God's warning and the claims of truth does not free a person from God's influence but brings pain and sorrow, for knowing the truth makes sinful pleasures harder to pursue because God's claims remain in the mind, and trying to escape that inward warning can wound the person and lead to grieving away the Holy Spirit. To kick against the pricks is to fight against God's warnings, counsels and reproof sent in view of the Judgment, to refuse to humble oneself before Him, to follow one's own convenient judgment and pleasing natural heart, to rise up against reproof and testimonies of reproof, despise warning, choose one's own wisdom, and work directly against light. Such a hard and ruinous course leads to ensnarement and defeat by the enemy, blindness by his deceptions and infatuations until utterly unable to discern the things of God, enshrouding in darkness and error, and sustaining and strengthening the hands of God's bitterest enemies, in contrast to those who take heed to their ways and seek the Lord.

Bro. V's warfare against the truth is of this same kind, compared to Saul's futile and harmful opposition arising from pride and ignorance when pride is touched, as when a man feels his writings are slighted. It is warring against God and the truth, joining hands with those who turn the truth of God into a lie, strengthening the hands of sinners, and opposing the counsel of God against one's own soul to one's own spiritual harm. It is warring ignorantly while blinded by Satan, without increase in spirituality and devotion and without the witness that one's ways please God, having a zeal but not according to knowledge. To kick against the pricks is also to oppose the work of God after reproof has been given, letting Satan control the mind to speak bitterly against brethren and organization and to stand in opposition to visions, especially a testimony of reproof. It is despising light graciously given from heaven to reveal self-deception and self-exaltation, and the sin is not against the humble human instrument but against the Author of the testimony. It injures the sinner's own soul more than any others, repeats a past course that brought painful suffering, and makes new work for repentance that must be met again to render an account.

God deals with people to bring them to humble themselves before Him, and refusing to humble oneself, leaving a work unwisely instead of submitting to correction, and acting as if abused is kicking against the pricks. The one who so resists has not been wronged, for the wrong is done to the Lord Jesus who is dishonored by that course, and its record will be met in the judgment. Men of talent among the shepherds of the flock who oppose the work, having the privilege of hearing and understanding yet not hearing and refusing to understand while Christ is interceding for them, are kicking against the pricks. They can still be converted if ministers pray with and for them, keep up acquaintance, come nigh to them, disarm their opposition, and labor as earnestly for them as for others, letting patience have her perfect work though the work in places like Maitland moves slowly and workers are tried to the uttermost. Paul's speech before Agrippa illustrates how a Christian can address rulers with courtesy and persuasive eloquence, and the encounter itself, even while Paul was persecuting Him, accords with Christ's courtesy toward His persecutors and the courteous spirit His followers should show.