Paul’s journey from self-styled nemesis of the Church to its premier human exemplar bears the stamp of the God who “calleth those things which be not as though they were.”
The father of fractal geometry, Benoit Mandelbrot, discovered the means of measuring “roughness.” The irregularities of waves and clouds, flames and coastlines, can now be understood as expressions of simple mathematical formulas that function as feedback loops. The Bible Matrix is the same kind of understanding but in literary terms. Where the Bible once seemed to be a shambles gathered across the centuries by primitive minds, its composition—both historical and literary—is determined by a supernatural rubric that resembles the patterns that govern and shape the natural world.1See The Bible is a Fractal.
Everything that God does bears the same signature, a pattern founded in the relationship between the Father and the Son. The divine “algorithm” that governs the growth of living things from seed to fruit, from childhood to maturity, is found throughout the Scriptures. Where the reader sees a collection of apparently random historical fragments, the divine mind discerns a pattern of construction. Each person is potentially a temple for God, but each life is a process of hewing stones to transform that life into a house for others.
Through voluntary suffering and dogged perseverance, Paul’s testimony became an edifice that stretched right across the empire as a house for the permanent display of the riches of Jesus Christ. Biblical chronology is not my strong point, but the transformation of Saul from a man filled with hatred for the sons of God to one who would model self-sacrifice and courage for them for millennia to come certainly appears to bear the toolmarks of the Divine Tradesman.
Jesus was condemned in the court of the High Priest, then in the court of Herod, and then in the court of Pilate, recapitulating the architecture of the primeval creation: Garden, Land, World. Paul’s ministry follows the same pattern, but where Jesus was silent as a lamb chosen for sacrifice, Paul’s task was testimony. This alludes to the “silence then song” relationship between the Tabernacle of Moses (obedient priesthood) and the Tabernacle of David (jubilant kingdom). Where Jesus often refused to respond, and sometimes told people to keep silent concerning His works, Paul was impossible to shut up, and saw every courtroom—and even every prison cell—as an opportunity to testify to the resurrection of the Son of God.
PAUL IN THE GARDEN
Acts 9:1-22
(Creation – Initiation – Ark of the Testimony – Day 1 – Sabbath)
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
- The first step in this account concerns covenant authority. “Breathing” alludes to the spirit, but of course in this case it is not the Holy Spirit. As the “Genesis” step, Saul is a serpent/dragon desiring to destroy Adam and Eve under the law of God.
(Division – Delegation – Veil – Day 2 – Passover)
Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?”
- Here, Jesus is the firstborn of God, still under the sword of a Herodian Pharaoh but in the guise of His people, His Body. The promise to Abraham that all those who blessed or cursed His children would be blessed or cursed by God had now been transferred to spiritual offspring, Jesus’ disciples (Genesis 12:3; Matthew 25:31-46). However, the “veil of Moses” remained over Saul’s eyes (2 Corinthians 3:14).
(Ascension – Presentation – Bronze Altar & Table – Day 3 – Firstfruits)
And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
- The allusions shift to the ascension of Moses at Mount Sinai, a gigantic flaming altar. Saul speaks “mouth to mouth” with Yahweh and receives a command, but those with him only hear the thunder. Like Moses, Saul neither eats nor drinks. As a representative of the tribes of Israel, he must become the food on the table. His flesh will be broken like bread (2 Corinthians 11:25) and his life will finally be poured out as an oblation (2 Timothy 4:6).
(Testing – Purification – Lampstand – Day 4 – Pentecost)
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.”
- The name Ananias means unmerited favor. In Arabic, it means to feel sympathy or compassion. Here, Jesus, the ascended king, is sending a godly shepherd to Saul. The vision of Ananias as a means of giving sight to Saul both allude to the lights of the lampstand as the eyes of God watching over Israel.
(Maturity – Transformation – Incense Altar – Day 5 – Trumpets)
But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
- Step five in the pattern concerns legal witness, whether the fragrant smoke of the sacrifice, or the testimony and works of the saints. Interestingly, “the nations and kings and the children of Israel” reverses the Garden, Land, World pattern. “For the sake of my name” reminds us that Paul’s testimony, and that of the Firstfruits Church, was a continuation of the testimony of Jesus, filling up His sufferings as one man in a body of many, a “Day 5” host.
(Conquest – Vindication – Laver & Mediators – Day 6 – Atonement)
So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.
- Step six concerns investiture, and is related to the qualification and intended investiture of Adam on Day 6. Like the other baptismal accounts in the book of Acts, baptism occurs at this point in the sequence as a delegation of prophetic office, entailing both authority and accountability.2For more discussion, see Cultivation and Representation. The scales are serpentine, so Saul is no longer blinded by hatred. Biblical “leprosy,” first mentioned in Exodus, was white, scaly skin. Saul’s eyes are purified first, and then his entire body is washed clean. He who was mediated for has now become a mediator, a guardian of the New Covenant tabernacle.
(Glorification – Representation – Shekinah – Day 7 – Booths)
For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
- As it was with Adam, the goal of the sevenfold process of qualification is that the man might become a judge, serving on earth as a legal representative of heaven.3For more discussion on the heptamerous pattern of God throughout history as a process of qualification for service, see The Architecture of Salvation. Saul testifies of the Son of God because he himself is a Son of God.
In Part 2 we will observe the same pattern in Paul’s journey from outsider to apostolic authority (Paul in the Land) and in Paul’s entire life and ministry (Paul in the World).
If you are new to this method of interpretation, please visit the Welcome page for some help to get you up to speed.
References
| ↑1 | See The Bible is a Fractal. |
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| ↑2 | For more discussion, see Cultivation and Representation. |
| ↑3 | For more discussion on the heptamerous pattern of God throughout history as a process of qualification for service, see The Architecture of Salvation. |
