We are a people and a culture in search of relief.  Have you ever noticed that?  How many products at the pharmacy promise “relief”?  There is medicine for pain relief and indigestion relief and the relief of seasonal allergies.  There are medicines that promise relief from itching and burning.  There is sunburn relief and dandruff relief.  There is medicine for the relief of upset stomach and diarrhea.  Some of you will remember the ads from years ago, “Plop! Plop!  Fizz!  Fizz!  Oh, what a relief it is!”

I want to begin by reading for you again two statements from our text.  The first one comes at the beginning:  Saul was breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. (v. 1)  And at the end of our text we are told, Immediately [Saul] began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues saying, He is the Son of God. (v. 20)  Stop for a moment to appreciate what we have here!  At the beginning of our text, Saul hates Jesus!  And he hates the followers of Jesus!  So much so that his goal and mission is arresting Christians and threatening them with death unless they renounce faith in Jesus.  And at the end of our text, Saul is standing up publicly proclaiming for all to hear that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God!

Paul once experienced something I am not sure anyone else ever experienced.  Paul got to go to heaven before he died.  That’s right.  He tells about it in the verses just before our text.  He flashes back fourteen years.  He tells of the time he was caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2).  This is a Jewish way of speaking. 

Of all the stories recorded in the Bible, are there any more spectacular and spell-binding than when someone is raised from the dead?  I remember Bible history class when I was a child in school.  I remember how the stories of Jesus raising people to life really captured my attention.  I remember how intensely I listened to the stories of Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter, and raising the widow’s son in the village of Nain, and I remember listening with rapt attention as Jesus stood outside the tomb of his friend Lazarus and called, Lazarus, come forth!  And out came Lazarus alive!