I am Jesus Whom Thou Persecutest

And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks (Acts 9:5, KJV)

Saul, before he became Paul the Apostle, persecuted the Church in Jerusalem and sought permission to go to Damascus to continue his mission. He had certainly vowed as a zealous Pharisee, to completely eradicated Christianity not only in Jerusalem but in neighboring cities. However, as he journeyed to Damascus, something happened on the way that has changed history since then. He had a bright light vision of Jesus.

After falling to the ground, he heard the voice of Jesus speaking to him and he asked: “who are Thou, Lord?”. Jesus gave him an unexpected answer. He said “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest”. Jesus did not say “why are you persecuting My people?” or “why are you persecuting the Christians?”. He said “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest”. Paul was not just persecuting believers but Jesus Himself. The Church is the Body of Christ! Whoever attacks you is attacking Jesus!

This was not some fancy talk from Jesus about His people. We are indeed His flesh and His bones. We are one with Him. He is immersed in our being. This is how our Lord sees us. You are one with Him! That is why you should not worry about those who are fighting against you. They are fighting against the Lord. Jesus told Saul above, “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks”. Can a man fight against God and succeed? Rejoice, for the victory of Christ is your victory over the world. He was not defeated by any circumstance while on the earth, and you cannot be. You are one with your Lord, hallelujah!

MEDITATE

Is Jesus assuming that we are one with Him, or we are truly one with Him?

APPLY THE WORD

Your identity is in Christ. In fact, your identity…..is Christ! He is in you, and you are in Him. You should see yourself the way the Master sees you. You do not need to be apologetic or have a false religious humility to say “no, how can I?”. You did not say you are one with Him. He said He has made you one with Him!