What is the meaning of Acts 9:5? Who are You, Lord? Saul hears a blinding light and a voice from heaven. His very first words show both confusion and reverence: • “Who are You, Lord?” (Acts 9:5). Though ignorant of the Speaker’s identity, Saul instinctively knows he is facing divine authority, just as Moses removed his sandals before the burning bush (Exodus 3:4-6). • In that single word Lord, Saul unwittingly concedes the ultimate supremacy of the One confronting him—foreshadowing the confession “Jesus is Lord” that he will soon proclaim (Romans 10:9). • Like Isaiah who cried “Woe to me! … my eyes have seen the King” (Isaiah 6:5), Saul is jolted into recognizing his spiritual blindness—a blindness soon mirrored in his physical eyes (Acts 9:8-9). The question is not unbelief but a desperate plea for revelation: he wants to know the exact Person to whom he must now submit. Saul asked. Luke highlights the transforming humility of the proud persecutor: • The man who breathed threats against Christians (Acts 9:1-2) now asks respectful questions, echoing the crowds at Pentecost—“Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). • It is the pivotal moment when Saul moves from resisting God’s will to seeking it, much like the thief on the cross who turned and asked, “Jesus, remember me” (Luke 23:42). • Genuine inquiry marks every true conversion. God invites honest questions (Jeremiah 29:13), but He also directs the dialogue, just as Jesus did with Nathanael (John 1:47-49). I am Jesus The answer is as personal as it is shocking: • “I am Jesus” (Acts 9:5). The risen Christ speaks in His own name, confirming the historical reality of His resurrection (Acts 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:8). • By saying I am, He recalls the divine self-disclosure to Moses (Exodus 3:14) and the “I am” declarations of the Gospels (John 8:58; 14:6), underscoring His deity. • Saul now realizes that the Jesus whose followers he has been hunting is alive, glorified, and sovereign—precisely the Lord he thought he was serving by his persecutions. whom you are persecuting, Jesus links Himself so closely to His people that any attack on them is an attack on Him: • This reveals the profound union between Christ and His church (Ephesians 5:30; 1 Corinthians 12:27). • It fulfills His earlier warning: “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you” (John 15:20), and His assurance: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me” (Matthew 25:40). • Saul’s mission is instantly exposed as rebellion against God, not zeal for Him. The realization shatters his self-righteousness and lays the groundwork for his doctrine of the body of Christ (Colossians 1:24). He replied. The initiative is entirely Christ’s: • Jesus breaks into Saul’s life, confronting and commissioning him in one breath (Acts 26:15-18). • Salvation is always God’s gracious reply to human lostness (Ephesians 2:4-5). Saul’s story mirrors ours: while we were still sinners, Christ acted first (Romans 5:8). • From this point, every directive in Saul’s life—his blindness, Ananias’s visit, his future sufferings—flows from the speaking Lord who now commands his steps (Acts 9:15-16). summary Acts 9:5 presents the decisive encounter where the risen Lord identifies Himself, exposes Saul’s sin, and begins transforming a persecutor into an apostle. Saul’s humbled question meets Christ’s authoritative answer, revealing that Jesus is alive, divine, and inseparably united to His people. Persecuting believers is persecuting Jesus; surrendering to Him is the doorway to true sight, purpose, and life. |
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