For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.
Jesus warned that Saul of Tarsus was chosen to carry His name to Gentiles, kings and Israel, and that great suffering for that name was appointed as part of that mission. He was then a zealous persecutor hunting believers for imprisonment and death under authority from the high priest, thinking in mistaken zeal that he was serving God. Jesus stopped him on the way to Damascus, revealed Himself to him, and turned the earnest opponent into a wholly devoted messenger to win souls to Christ. That suffering began with humbling conviction and blindness leading to repentance, then continued in distrust from disciples, threats, scourging, imprisonment and at last martyrdom, all borne with rejoicing as honor for Christ. His change shows that serving God promises no easy life but faithful endurance unto reigning with Christ, and that even a conscientious persecutor in ignorance can obtain mercy, be converted and preach the faith he once destroyed.
Saul's Persecution and Encounter
The saying was spoken about Saul as he set out for Damascus intending to find and seize believers in Jesus. He was a prominent Jewish leader who zealously opposed the gospel in mistaken zeal, wrongly believing that faith in Jesus opposed God's law and sacrificial service. He thought that in persecuting the saints, hailing them before judges and seeking to wipe them from the earth, he was doing God service, and his zeal was not according to knowledge. He carried a commission from the high priest authorizing him to take believers as prisoners to Jerusalem, on an errand to destroy the faith he opposed.
Before the encounter he was strictly religious and outwardly blameless in outward observance, yet he was sending men and women to prison and to death. He was blaspheming Christ's name and using every means to make others blaspheme it, filled with contempt for that name. In so doing he was persecuting Christ in the person of His saints.
Stephen's faith, courage, steadfastness, and God-given witness and glory at his martyrdom left a lasting impression on Saul and testified to the truth Stephen had proclaimed. That faithful testimony remained with those who witnessed his death and helped bring about Saul's conversion.
He who had persecuted the church was chosen to take Stephen's place in serving Christ and to labor for Christ's name. He was chosen to build up the church he had persecuted and to strengthen the disciples and those already its disciples. His work would spread the good news of salvation through Christ's blood, preaching the gospel of Jesus instead of destroying it and continually making new converts to the faith. His change of faith was thus shown to be not from impulse nor fanaticism but brought about by overwhelming evidence, to the thorough surprise and confusion of the Jews who knew his position and errand.
Chosen Messenger Appointed to Suffer
He was a chosen vessel to carry the name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, and at the same time it was appointed to him to suffer great things for the sake of that name as part of the cost of that mission. The calling to bear the name and the foretelling of great suffering belong together, so that service as messenger would include suffering because of the name. Jesus stopped him on his persecuting course and revealed Himself to him, turning him from an earnest opponent and persecutor into a chosen messenger to carry the gospel, especially to the Gentiles.
That arrest while he was blaspheming the name and seeking to make others blaspheme it made him one of the most effective and wholly devoted workers for the Crucified One, commissioned to labor for people of every class. His one great purpose became to serve and honor the One he had once opposed and to win souls to Him, faithful despite opposition and persecution from Jew and Gentile that could not turn him, working out in life what he had seen in vision and relating his conversion in the power of the Spirit with impressive effect. He counted his former legal righteousness and all things as loss to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.
His commission centered on bringing Gentiles to faith, and his conversion and appointment, with the vision in the Jerusalem temple, prepared him to turn to the Gentiles when the Jews rejected the message. On the Damascus road Christ revealed to him the Saviour's mission and his own work, and after being won to faith he was appointed to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. His success among them confirmed that work and the circumstances that prepared him for it.
After his conversion and commissioning he boldly preached Jesus as the Son of God, and because he had formerly persecuted believers his conversion became a powerful witness. The Holy Spirit enabled him to explain the prophecies concerning the first advent, the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ. The vision of Christ that at first filled him with terror became a source of consolation, and transforming mercy made him a penitent believer and an apostle by God's will. The assurance given at the beginning of his ministry, when he turned from persecuting believers to serving Christ, encouraged him with personal knowledge of Jesus that sustained his faith, prayer, and service despite obstacles.
Suffering Begun and Fulfilled
Suffering for Christ's name began for him with humiliating conviction at his conversion, when he who had thought he was doing God service while persecuting Christ and using his power against the truth was arrested by the revelation of the Saviour to himself. He was made physically blind by the glory of Him whom he had blasphemed, that he might receive spiritual sight, and during the days and nights of his blindness he had time for reflection. He no longer saw himself righteous but sinful, with his thoughts, words, and actions condemned by the law, as the far-reaching claims of the law of God took hold of his life and reached to the thoughts and emotions of his sin-corrupted heart. The thought of his zeal in persecuting God's people filled him with bitter remorse and abhorrence of himself and his work, and hopeless and helpless he cast himself on Jesus as the only One who could pardon him and clothe him with righteousness. It was a hard struggle for one who as far as outward acts were concerned had been blameless touching the righteousness which is in the law, to see himself a transgressor with all his supposed goodness swept away, to give up his supposed righteousness and trust in good works, and to cast himself for salvation on the One he had despised. With eyes anointed by grace he saw the mistakes of his life, yielded to the convictions of the Spirit, died to sin, repented, turned to obedience to God's law, believed in Jesus as Saviour, learned that Jesus whom he had called an impostor is the Author and foundation of all the religion of God's chosen people from Adam's day and the Finisher of the faith, the vindicator of truth and fulfiller of all prophecies in whom type met antitype at His death for the express purpose of vindicating His Father's law, was baptized, and was changed from a proud Pharisee to a humble suppliant for mercy whose tongue once ready to blaspheme became eloquent in sounding praises and in preaching Jesus as earnestly as he had once condemned Him.
Part of what he must suffer was distrust and rejection by the disciples themselves, who remembered his former persecutions and would not receive him when he attempted to join himself to them as one of their number. Though they had heard of his wonderful conversion, because he had immediately retired into Arabia and they had heard nothing definite of him further, they had not credited the rumor of his great change and suspected him of acting a part to deceive and destroy them, causing him great grief and disappointment. After his conversion he faced the possibility of a fate like Stephen's and entered Jerusalem expecting danger from many enemies. His preaching of Jesus there brought threats to his life, and Jesus directed him to leave because the people would reject his testimony and he was to preach to the Gentiles.
His scourging and imprisonment at Philippi show that suffering in his later ministry, which he endured with gratitude as an honor to suffer shame for Christ and to preach the gospel he had once opposed, even while in pain and torture. He was told he would be bound and suffer in Jerusalem, and his long imprisonment and trials did not stop his work but carried the knowledge of Christ to kings, governors, sailors, and Gentiles. As he was taken before kings and governors, his conversion and testimony about Jesus reached them, and his sea journey with its events and miracles gave the ship's crew and heathen witnesses opportunities to hear of Jesus and believe, so that his bonds helped spread knowledge of Christ and glorified God. God knew the Jewish leaders intended to kill him, and angels guarded him so he could live to fulfill that mission and suffer for Jesus.
He exchanged Phariseeism for the gospel of Jesus Christ and did not count it a sacrifice to turn away from popularity, positions of honor, and ambitious preferment to the service of Christ with all its trials and humiliations. Before, he thought in persecuting the saints, hailing them before judges and seeking to wipe them from the earth, he was doing God service, but Christ arrested him and showed him his zeal was not according to knowledge and that he was persecuting his Master in the person of His saints. Then he was converted and became one of the sect he had despised and hated, linked himself with the people he had thought worthy only of persecution, bound himself to Christ, and received the same cruel treatment that he had once cooperated with others in giving and helped inflict. His conversion did not end his troubles, for he himself came to suffer at the hands of people whose hatred of Christ drove them to oppose him, as he had once persecuted Christ's followers, and at last suffered martyrdom for His sake. Because he had come to love the cause he once opposed and to recognize the truth he once despised, he could rejoice when he suffered for Christ, humbled and changed so he could bear witness to the transforming love of God.
Church and Conversion Pattern
Though brought into Christ's presence to be fitted for important work as His chosen vessel, Saul was not immediately told what that work was and was not taught the lessons of truth directly. Christ arrested his course and convicted him, and when he asked what he must do placed him in connection with His organized and acknowledged church to be told what he must do and to learn God's will from those appointed to teach the truth. This proves that Christ does not sanction religious experience independent of His church.
Christ could have done all the work for Saul directly, but that was not His plan for the salvation of men. His blessings were to come through the agencies He had ordained, through human agents authorized to act in His stead who had a responsible work. Saul himself had something to do in confession to those whose destruction he had meditated, in joining the disciples he had persecuted, and in becoming a learner of the disciples.
His preparation for suffering for Christ's name began with conviction and instruction, for though strictly conscientious in persecuting the saints he was not guiltless when the Spirit impressed his cruel work upon him. In the light of the law he had thought he was keeping zealously he saw himself a transgressor and sinner, the law exposed him as a sinner, he died to sin, repented, turned from sin, became obedient to God's law, and believed in Jesus as Saviour. He learned that Jesus whom he had called an impostor is the Author and foundation of all the religion of God's chosen people from Adam's day and the Finisher of the faith, the vindicator of the truth and fulfiller of all prophecies, the originator and foundation of the entire Jewish system of sacrifices in whom type met antitype at His death, who came for the express purpose of vindicating His Father's law. He received sight and the Holy Ghost, was baptized, and straightway preached Christ as the Son of God as earnestly and zealously as he had once condemned Him. Even a bitter persecutor acting in ignorance and unbelief can thus obtain mercy, be converted, and preach Christ.
Saul of Tarsus was a determined enemy of the gospel who became a devoted minister of Christ. His transformation shows that beneath hatred and contempt — even beneath crime and degradation — there may be a soul that Christ's grace can rescue and make a witness for Him. Before Christ revealed Himself to him he was religious but was not yet a Christian; after that revelation he was converted and made Christ his chief love, supreme and altogether lovely to him.
His thorough conversion is the example of the thorough conversion ministers need before they are fitted for God's work. It is likewise the example for men who with all their powers war against the law of God, break that holy law, and whose carnal minds are at enmity with God and not subject to His law, who must like Paul be thoroughly converted so that Christ is brought into life and character, else profession of the Christian name is valueless. His turn from fierce opposition and zealous opposition to Christ to allegiance to Jesus Christ and service of Christ is the pattern for later reformers who turn from hostility to faith, as seen in Farel's conversion from fierce opposition to the church to allegiance to Jesus Christ.
Endurance and Present Application
Serving God does not promise an easy life, for when Saul was called he was appointed to suffer great things for Christ's name rather than to enjoy ease. Suffering for faithfulness has been the portion of God's people throughout history, from Abel through the patriarchs, Christ, the apostles, martyrs, and Reformers. Those who suffer with Christ will share in His reign and reign with Him, so the hope of immortality gives no reason to shrink from suffering. The reward of eternal life is bound up with faithful endurance, and none will reach it without choosing, like Moses, to suffer affliction with God's people, with endurance depending on Christ's grace and not human strength.
Being called to serve Christ means meeting difficulties, the fiercest opposition, and a hard class filled with bitter prejudice. His servant must not be easily discouraged but must go forth not in his own name but in the might and power of Israel's God, cling to Jesus Christ, and endure hardness as a good soldier of the cross. Considering how Jesus endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself gives faith, courage, and hope to press on. The permitting of wicked men to triumph in stoning Stephen became the very means of converting Paul, and through his word thousands were brought to the light of the gospel. This proves that sore affliction, distress, and being hedged in do not mean God has forsaken His servant or that His cause is not strengthened, for God gives signal victories even while the righteous appear to suffer for rightdoing.
Even a bitter persecutor acting conscientiously in ignorance and unbelief, sending men and women to prison and to death, can obtain mercy, be converted, receive sight and the Holy Ghost, be baptized, and straightway preach Christ as the Son of God. The same applies to Christians in every church who do not know the truth but live up to the best light they have, even while living in error in worshipping an idol sabbath, who can likewise be enlightened and saved rather than condemned. The whole chapter is a lesson that unconverted brethren now will be used by Satan to hunt up souls to be persecuted, as Saul was before conversion and as satanic agencies did in crucifying Christ. Because history is to be repeated and Lucifer's self-exalting power will work through such unconverted men in present and future experience, brethren must wake up and receive converting power.
Some will still be shown how much they must suffer for the Lord's name, and suffering for God's name's glory accompanies the work of bringing people to conviction and conversion, as applied to workers in San Francisco and Oakland. Paul's conversion in Acts 9:1-19 is history to be studied alongside the life of Jesus Christ and the shame of Christ crucified on the cross as a criminal. His whole life after conversion is to be traced out as an example of glorying only in the cross of Christ by which the world is crucified to the believer and the believer to the world.
Jesus warned that Saul of Tarsus was chosen to carry His name to Gentiles, kings and Israel, and that great suffering for that name was appointed as part of that mission. He was then a zealous persecutor hunting believers for imprisonment and death under authority from the high priest, thinking in mistaken zeal that he was serving God. Jesus stopped him on the way to Damascus, revealed Himself to him, and turned the earnest opponent into a wholly devoted messenger to win souls to Christ. That suffering began with humbling conviction and blindness leading to repentance, then continued in distrust from disciples, threats, scourging, imprisonment and at last martyrdom, all borne with rejoicing as honor for Christ. His change shows that serving God promises no easy life but faithful endurance unto reigning with Christ, and that even a conscientious persecutor in ignorance can obtain mercy, be converted and preach the faith he once destroyed.
Saul's Persecution and Encounter
The saying was spoken about Saul as he set out for Damascus intending to find and seize believers in Jesus. He was a prominent Jewish leader who zealously opposed the gospel in mistaken zeal, wrongly believing that faith in Jesus opposed God's law and sacrificial service. He thought that in persecuting the saints, hailing them before judges and seeking to wipe them from the earth, he was doing God service, and his zeal was not according to knowledge. He carried a commission from the high priest authorizing him to take believers as prisoners to Jerusalem, on an errand to destroy the faith he opposed.
Before the encounter he was strictly religious and outwardly blameless in outward observance, yet he was sending men and women to prison and to death. He was blaspheming Christ's name and using every means to make others blaspheme it, filled with contempt for that name. In so doing he was persecuting Christ in the person of His saints.
Stephen's faith, courage, steadfastness, and God-given witness and glory at his martyrdom left a lasting impression on Saul and testified to the truth Stephen had proclaimed. That faithful testimony remained with those who witnessed his death and helped bring about Saul's conversion.
He who had persecuted the church was chosen to take Stephen's place in serving Christ and to labor for Christ's name. He was chosen to build up the church he had persecuted and to strengthen the disciples and those already its disciples. His work would spread the good news of salvation through Christ's blood, preaching the gospel of Jesus instead of destroying it and continually making new converts to the faith. His change of faith was thus shown to be not from impulse nor fanaticism but brought about by overwhelming evidence, to the thorough surprise and confusion of the Jews who knew his position and errand.
Chosen Messenger Appointed to Suffer
He was a chosen vessel to carry the name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, and at the same time it was appointed to him to suffer great things for the sake of that name as part of the cost of that mission. The calling to bear the name and the foretelling of great suffering belong together, so that service as messenger would include suffering because of the name. Jesus stopped him on his persecuting course and revealed Himself to him, turning him from an earnest opponent and persecutor into a chosen messenger to carry the gospel, especially to the Gentiles.
That arrest while he was blaspheming the name and seeking to make others blaspheme it made him one of the most effective and wholly devoted workers for the Crucified One, commissioned to labor for people of every class. His one great purpose became to serve and honor the One he had once opposed and to win souls to Him, faithful despite opposition and persecution from Jew and Gentile that could not turn him, working out in life what he had seen in vision and relating his conversion in the power of the Spirit with impressive effect. He counted his former legal righteousness and all things as loss to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.
His commission centered on bringing Gentiles to faith, and his conversion and appointment, with the vision in the Jerusalem temple, prepared him to turn to the Gentiles when the Jews rejected the message. On the Damascus road Christ revealed to him the Saviour's mission and his own work, and after being won to faith he was appointed to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. His success among them confirmed that work and the circumstances that prepared him for it.
After his conversion and commissioning he boldly preached Jesus as the Son of God, and because he had formerly persecuted believers his conversion became a powerful witness. The Holy Spirit enabled him to explain the prophecies concerning the first advent, the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ. The vision of Christ that at first filled him with terror became a source of consolation, and transforming mercy made him a penitent believer and an apostle by God's will. The assurance given at the beginning of his ministry, when he turned from persecuting believers to serving Christ, encouraged him with personal knowledge of Jesus that sustained his faith, prayer, and service despite obstacles.
Suffering Begun and Fulfilled
Suffering for Christ's name began for him with humiliating conviction at his conversion, when he who had thought he was doing God service while persecuting Christ and using his power against the truth was arrested by the revelation of the Saviour to himself. He was made physically blind by the glory of Him whom he had blasphemed, that he might receive spiritual sight, and during the days and nights of his blindness he had time for reflection. He no longer saw himself righteous but sinful, with his thoughts, words, and actions condemned by the law, as the far-reaching claims of the law of God took hold of his life and reached to the thoughts and emotions of his sin-corrupted heart. The thought of his zeal in persecuting God's people filled him with bitter remorse and abhorrence of himself and his work, and hopeless and helpless he cast himself on Jesus as the only One who could pardon him and clothe him with righteousness. It was a hard struggle for one who as far as outward acts were concerned had been blameless touching the righteousness which is in the law, to see himself a transgressor with all his supposed goodness swept away, to give up his supposed righteousness and trust in good works, and to cast himself for salvation on the One he had despised. With eyes anointed by grace he saw the mistakes of his life, yielded to the convictions of the Spirit, died to sin, repented, turned to obedience to God's law, believed in Jesus as Saviour, learned that Jesus whom he had called an impostor is the Author and foundation of all the religion of God's chosen people from Adam's day and the Finisher of the faith, the vindicator of truth and fulfiller of all prophecies in whom type met antitype at His death for the express purpose of vindicating His Father's law, was baptized, and was changed from a proud Pharisee to a humble suppliant for mercy whose tongue once ready to blaspheme became eloquent in sounding praises and in preaching Jesus as earnestly as he had once condemned Him.
Part of what he must suffer was distrust and rejection by the disciples themselves, who remembered his former persecutions and would not receive him when he attempted to join himself to them as one of their number. Though they had heard of his wonderful conversion, because he had immediately retired into Arabia and they had heard nothing definite of him further, they had not credited the rumor of his great change and suspected him of acting a part to deceive and destroy them, causing him great grief and disappointment. After his conversion he faced the possibility of a fate like Stephen's and entered Jerusalem expecting danger from many enemies. His preaching of Jesus there brought threats to his life, and Jesus directed him to leave because the people would reject his testimony and he was to preach to the Gentiles.
His scourging and imprisonment at Philippi show that suffering in his later ministry, which he endured with gratitude as an honor to suffer shame for Christ and to preach the gospel he had once opposed, even while in pain and torture. He was told he would be bound and suffer in Jerusalem, and his long imprisonment and trials did not stop his work but carried the knowledge of Christ to kings, governors, sailors, and Gentiles. As he was taken before kings and governors, his conversion and testimony about Jesus reached them, and his sea journey with its events and miracles gave the ship's crew and heathen witnesses opportunities to hear of Jesus and believe, so that his bonds helped spread knowledge of Christ and glorified God. God knew the Jewish leaders intended to kill him, and angels guarded him so he could live to fulfill that mission and suffer for Jesus.
He exchanged Phariseeism for the gospel of Jesus Christ and did not count it a sacrifice to turn away from popularity, positions of honor, and ambitious preferment to the service of Christ with all its trials and humiliations. Before, he thought in persecuting the saints, hailing them before judges and seeking to wipe them from the earth, he was doing God service, but Christ arrested him and showed him his zeal was not according to knowledge and that he was persecuting his Master in the person of His saints. Then he was converted and became one of the sect he had despised and hated, linked himself with the people he had thought worthy only of persecution, bound himself to Christ, and received the same cruel treatment that he had once cooperated with others in giving and helped inflict. His conversion did not end his troubles, for he himself came to suffer at the hands of people whose hatred of Christ drove them to oppose him, as he had once persecuted Christ's followers, and at last suffered martyrdom for His sake. Because he had come to love the cause he once opposed and to recognize the truth he once despised, he could rejoice when he suffered for Christ, humbled and changed so he could bear witness to the transforming love of God.
Church and Conversion Pattern
Though brought into Christ's presence to be fitted for important work as His chosen vessel, Saul was not immediately told what that work was and was not taught the lessons of truth directly. Christ arrested his course and convicted him, and when he asked what he must do placed him in connection with His organized and acknowledged church to be told what he must do and to learn God's will from those appointed to teach the truth. This proves that Christ does not sanction religious experience independent of His church.
Christ could have done all the work for Saul directly, but that was not His plan for the salvation of men. His blessings were to come through the agencies He had ordained, through human agents authorized to act in His stead who had a responsible work. Saul himself had something to do in confession to those whose destruction he had meditated, in joining the disciples he had persecuted, and in becoming a learner of the disciples.
His preparation for suffering for Christ's name began with conviction and instruction, for though strictly conscientious in persecuting the saints he was not guiltless when the Spirit impressed his cruel work upon him. In the light of the law he had thought he was keeping zealously he saw himself a transgressor and sinner, the law exposed him as a sinner, he died to sin, repented, turned from sin, became obedient to God's law, and believed in Jesus as Saviour. He learned that Jesus whom he had called an impostor is the Author and foundation of all the religion of God's chosen people from Adam's day and the Finisher of the faith, the vindicator of the truth and fulfiller of all prophecies, the originator and foundation of the entire Jewish system of sacrifices in whom type met antitype at His death, who came for the express purpose of vindicating His Father's law. He received sight and the Holy Ghost, was baptized, and straightway preached Christ as the Son of God as earnestly and zealously as he had once condemned Him. Even a bitter persecutor acting in ignorance and unbelief can thus obtain mercy, be converted, and preach Christ.
Saul of Tarsus was a determined enemy of the gospel who became a devoted minister of Christ. His transformation shows that beneath hatred and contempt — even beneath crime and degradation — there may be a soul that Christ's grace can rescue and make a witness for Him. Before Christ revealed Himself to him he was religious but was not yet a Christian; after that revelation he was converted and made Christ his chief love, supreme and altogether lovely to him.
His thorough conversion is the example of the thorough conversion ministers need before they are fitted for God's work. It is likewise the example for men who with all their powers war against the law of God, break that holy law, and whose carnal minds are at enmity with God and not subject to His law, who must like Paul be thoroughly converted so that Christ is brought into life and character, else profession of the Christian name is valueless. His turn from fierce opposition and zealous opposition to Christ to allegiance to Jesus Christ and service of Christ is the pattern for later reformers who turn from hostility to faith, as seen in Farel's conversion from fierce opposition to the church to allegiance to Jesus Christ.
Endurance and Present Application
Serving God does not promise an easy life, for when Saul was called he was appointed to suffer great things for Christ's name rather than to enjoy ease. Suffering for faithfulness has been the portion of God's people throughout history, from Abel through the patriarchs, Christ, the apostles, martyrs, and Reformers. Those who suffer with Christ will share in His reign and reign with Him, so the hope of immortality gives no reason to shrink from suffering. The reward of eternal life is bound up with faithful endurance, and none will reach it without choosing, like Moses, to suffer affliction with God's people, with endurance depending on Christ's grace and not human strength.
Being called to serve Christ means meeting difficulties, the fiercest opposition, and a hard class filled with bitter prejudice. His servant must not be easily discouraged but must go forth not in his own name but in the might and power of Israel's God, cling to Jesus Christ, and endure hardness as a good soldier of the cross. Considering how Jesus endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself gives faith, courage, and hope to press on. The permitting of wicked men to triumph in stoning Stephen became the very means of converting Paul, and through his word thousands were brought to the light of the gospel. This proves that sore affliction, distress, and being hedged in do not mean God has forsaken His servant or that His cause is not strengthened, for God gives signal victories even while the righteous appear to suffer for rightdoing.
Even a bitter persecutor acting conscientiously in ignorance and unbelief, sending men and women to prison and to death, can obtain mercy, be converted, receive sight and the Holy Ghost, be baptized, and straightway preach Christ as the Son of God. The same applies to Christians in every church who do not know the truth but live up to the best light they have, even while living in error in worshipping an idol sabbath, who can likewise be enlightened and saved rather than condemned. The whole chapter is a lesson that unconverted brethren now will be used by Satan to hunt up souls to be persecuted, as Saul was before conversion and as satanic agencies did in crucifying Christ. Because history is to be repeated and Lucifer's self-exalting power will work through such unconverted men in present and future experience, brethren must wake up and receive converting power.
Some will still be shown how much they must suffer for the Lord's name, and suffering for God's name's glory accompanies the work of bringing people to conviction and conversion, as applied to workers in San Francisco and Oakland. Paul's conversion in Acts 9:1-19 is history to be studied alongside the life of Jesus Christ and the shame of Christ crucified on the cross as a criminal. His whole life after conversion is to be traced out as an example of glorying only in the cross of Christ by which the world is crucified to the believer and the believer to the world.