Acts 9:5 – And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,
I had never really thought about this moment, I suppose for years I was just kind of thinking that Paul had experienced a powerful vision. That in itself would have been quite magnificent but this was more than a vision. The man, Jesus of Nazareth, made an appearance to Paul. Just as the other apostles had seen the Lord, the one they would soon call the Apostle to the Gentiles also had an encounter with the One who had been dead and was now alive. Paul was being asked by the Lord to face unthinkable resistance, death, and finally martyrdom, Paul needed to see Jesus for himself. This was a moment that filled Paul’s world the rest of his days, his preaching and his letters flowed out from this moment, face to face with Jesus of Nazareth on the Damascus Road. Here is how John Pollock describes this moment in Paul’s life.
“He heard a voice, at once calm and authoritative, say in Aramaic, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” He looked up. Within the center of light, which blinded him from his surroundings, he faced a Man of about his own age. Paul could not believe what he heard and saw. All his convictions, intellect, and training, his reputation, his self-respect, demanded that Jesus should not be alive again. He played for time and replied, “Who are You, Lord?” He was using a mode of address that might mean simply “Your honor.” “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you, this kicking against the goad.” Then Paul knew. In a second that seemed an eternity he saw the wounds in Jesus’ hands and feet, saw the face, and knew he had seen the Lord, that He was alive, as Stephen and the others had said, and that He loved not only those whom Paul persecuted but also Paul himself: “It is hard for you to kick against the goad.” Not one word of reproach.”
The resurrection settles everything. There were at least five hundred eyewitnesses to the fact that Jesus had been dead but now He was alive, there was no way you could convince any of those folks anything contrary to that, they had seen Him for themselves. Because Jesus is alive from the dead, by faith we also are alive today. Paul was privileged to become an eye witness to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, no wonder he spoke of the Damascus Road the rest of his life.