Day 133: Appointed to See Him and to Know His Will

Acts 22:12-16 :

One Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus, came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ In that very hour I looked up at him. He said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth. For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

Paul speaks to his brothers about the anointing he received. The Jews were well aware of God’s anointing from their own history. When God chose someone to do something special for Him, He would often send a prophet to tell them. In the Old Testament, Samuel anointed David who was later to become king of Israel by coming to his house. When he did this, he told him that he was to become king.

Paul tells the Jews that a devout man named Ananias came to him and informed him that God had appointed him to do something for Him. Paul was “to know his will” and to “see the Righteous One, and to Hear a voice from his mouth.” Paul was telling them that the things he was doing were required by God. He was supposed to be “a witness for him to all men” about what he had seen and heard.

It is amazing to look back at history and see that this is exactly what Paul did. He became an Apostle to the Gentiles, and one of the chosen prophets that would actually write scripture. We are some of those “all men” spoken of here because we have heard about what Paul witnessed. Some say that Paul said different things than Jesus, but here we read that it was the “Righteous One” that sent Paul to “witness for Him” and “know his will.” To deny the message of Paul is to deny the message of Jesus.