HOW DID SAUL OF TARSUS SEE JESUS?

‘And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of

[before the] due time’ – 1 Corinthians 15: 8, KJV

Question: How could Saul of Tarsus have seen Jesus, if He was personally in Heaven, and was to remain there until the end of the Age?

Answer: The Lord evidently designed that Saul should have the opportunity of being the twelfth Apostle, to take the place of Judas.

In order to be an Apostle, it was necessary that he should be a witness to our Lord’s resurrection.

And so Saul of Tarsus was given a demonstration which made him an eyewitness to the fact of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead.

The miracle that was performed to enable Saul to see Jesus was not sufficient to save his eyes.

If Jesus had been a flesh being, Saul’s eyes would have been spared. But the fact that he was permitted to see, and with unveiled eyes for it is not the natural order of things for a natural eye to see a spirit being is a proof that some power was miraculously exercised which enabled him to see the Lord.

As to how this comports with the thought that Jesus went away, and that the Heavens were to retain Him until the end of the Age, we have this to say: He left the world, telling His disciples that in the end of the Age He would come in great glory to establish His Kingdom.

But nothing in this statement indicates that He might not be present at some time previous to this. This may be illustrated in the typical Atonement Day sacrifices. The High Priest went into the Most Holy and offered the blood of the bullock; then he came out again and offered his second sacrifice, the goat. He then returned to the Most Holy. – (C.T. Russell, 15 Feb., 1914; with minor revisions)

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Reprinted May 2013 ukbiblestudents.co.uk

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