A Study of Acts: Paul’s Obedience to the Heavenly Vision
Acts 26:19-23 - What Gospel are you writing for others to read?
““So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death. So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.””
Acts 26:19-23 NASB1995
Paul tells King Agrippa that he did not prove to be disobedient to the heavenly vision. He declares to all that he encounters, both Jews and Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. We open our eyes, turn to the light of God and repent (truly repented) first, then the fruits of that repentance (deeds) are seen in how much we have changed and truly repented. Repentance is not feeling remorseful for actions (sins), shrugging our shoulders and then turning right back and doing those same sins again. It means to tearfully beg God’s forgiveness and truly turn away from sin (with the help of the Holy Spirit), to do a 180, as demonstrated by this graphic of a military man doing an “about face” (found on Precept Austin):
Paul has seen the power of the Gospel and knows that it must be shared to the ends of the earth. What is that power? This commentary from Robert J. Morgan, Bible scholar, as quoted in Precept Austin, is a compelling demonstration of the power of God’s Gospel:
Some time ago, I read a remarkable story about a man named Gary Fossen. Gary grew up with an outwardly happy childhood, playing Little League ball, camping, fishing with his family. They lived in the suburbs and had everything money could buy. But under Gary’s skin, the blood ran dark and devious. During his college years, he took a shotgun and killed the only three people who had ever loved him: his parents and sister. He was arrested, convicted, and sent to prison. He felt no remorse and described himself as an animal. One day a clergyman came to his prison and started talking about Jesus Christ. Gary cursed him and told him that if he got any closer to the bars that separated them, he would kill him. To his surprise, the preacher kept returning. But Gary only cursed him at every opportunity.
One day the minister gave Gary a small Gideon New Testament. Gary took the book, spat on it, threw it on the floor, and kicked it across the room and under his bunk. Sometime later, Gary Fossen grew unbelievably lonely and decided to kill himself. A former paramedic in a nearby cell told him how to cut himself with razor blades so that he would bleed freely and die quickly. They smuggled in a razor, and Gary waited for the lights to go out. He thought about writing a suicide note, but he realized no one would be interested. He had no one to mourn his death.
Then he remembered the little book under his bunk. He thought perhaps he should at least read a verse of Scripture before killing himself. He turned to Romans and started reading chapter 6. He went on to Romans 7 and 8. He said, “I had never read the Bible before and the words started burning inside of me.” He knelt by his bunk and began trying to pray. He asked God to show him how to be sorry because he still had no remorse. “That night, I saw a slow-motion movie of my life,” he later said. “I saw every wicked thing I had ever done and I began to write them all down. The list went on for page and page and I wept over each one. I had not cried at all after the murders, but here I was in my cell crying.” That night forever changed Gary Fossen. “I was still in prison, but it didn’t matter. That was the end of the pain and loneliness. I would never be alone again. I am still in prison, but I thank God for His Word that is so powerful that it cut into the deep calluses of my heart and seared through all the layers of hate.”
I looked up the name that is the focus in this commentary. Gary Fossen did indeed go to prison for three murders of family members in 1977 in Minnesota and was born again (his wife that he married later wrote the Story of his life). Why did he suddenly remember that book under the bed? Oh, what a wonderful, mysterious God that we serve! In that same commentary, Robert J. Morgan quotes an old poem about what kind of Gospel we writing every day in our lives. I need to keep this gem close by to remember when I write devotionals and live as a believer:
You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day,
By the deeds that you do, by the words that you say;
Men read what you write, whether faithless or true.
Say—what is the gospel according to you?
Paul goes on to say that his preaching of this message that is the culmination of the promises made by God throughout the Old Testament drove the Jews to want his death. But God protected him and he stands there that day before the King describing how he preached to the small and great that Christ was to suffer and die, and by reason of His resurrection He would be first to proclaim light to both the Jews and the Gentiles.
So why are the acts of the death and resurrection of Jesus so important (we should all know the answer, right)? Is one more important than the other? I like this answer in Gotquestions.org:
The death and resurrection of Christ are equally important. Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplish separate but necessarily related things. The death and resurrection of our Lord are really inseparable, like the warp and weft of cloth.
The cross of Christ won for us the victory that we could never have won for ourselves. “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). On the cross God piled our sins on Jesus, and He bore the punishment due us (Isaiah 53:4–8). In His death, Jesus took upon Himself the curse introduced by Adam (see Galatians 3:13).
With the death of Christ, our sins became powerless to rule over us (Romans 6). By His death, Jesus destroyed the works of the devil (John 12:31; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8), condemned Satan (John 16:11), and crushed the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15).
Without the sacrificial death of Christ, we would still be in our sins, unforgiven, unredeemed, and unsaved. The cross of Christ is vital to our salvation and was thus a main theme of the apostles’ preaching (Acts 2:23, 36; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 2:2; Galatians 6:14).
But the story of Jesus Christ did not end with His death. The resurrection of Christ is also foundational to the gospel message. Our salvation stands or falls based on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, as Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians 15:12–19. If Christ is not physically risen from the dead, then we ourselves have no hope of resurrection, the apostles’ preaching was in vain, and believers are all to be pitied. Without the resurrection, we are still sitting “in darkness and in the shadow of death” waiting for the sunrise (Luke 1:78–79).
Because of Jesus’ resurrection, His promise holds true for us: “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). Our great enemy, death, will be defeated (1 Corinthians 15:26, 54–55). Jesus’ resurrection is also important because it is through that event that God declares us righteous: Jesus “was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). The gift of the Holy Spirit was sent from the resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus (John 16:7).
At least three times in His earthly ministry, Jesus predicted that He would die and rise again after three days (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34). If Jesus Christ had not been raised from the dead, He would have failed in His prophecies—He would have been yet another false prophet to be ignored. As it is, however, we have a living Lord, faithful to His Word. The angel at Jesus’ empty tomb was able to point to fulfilled prophecy: “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said” (Matthew 28:6).
Scripture links the death and resurrection of Christ, and we must maintain that link. Jesus’ entrance into the tomb is as equally important as His exit from the tomb. In 1 Corinthians 15:3–5, Paul defines the gospel as the dual truth that Jesus died for our sins (proved by His burial) and that He rose again the third day (proved by His appearances to many witnesses). This gospel truth is “of first importance” (verse 3).
It is impossible to separate the death of Christ from His resurrection. To believe in one without the other is to believe in a false gospel that cannot save. In order for Jesus to have truly arisen from the dead, He must have truly died. And in order for His death to have a true meaning for us, He must have a true resurrection. We cannot have one without the other.
Go tell it on the mountain! Our Christian belief is downright supernatural, linking the death of the Son of God covering our sins to His glorious Resurrection, showing us that we can have eternal life with Him. As I get older, I’m still enjoying some the things of His Earthly creation, but I’m also anticipating that moment when I finally meet my Redeemer. Everything pales in comparison to that. By the way, I read a marvelous article from Desiring God earlier this week that has stayed with me, on the five wonders of the world to come that I highly recommend (see the link).
My next devotional examines the last passage in Acts 26:24-32 - Festus declares that Paul must be out of his mind; Agrippa is nearly convinced and tells Festus that Paul is innocent. I have two more chapters of Acts to go through (hard to believe), but it has been so wonderful for really learning this essential book of the Bible.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I am in awe of the courage and strength of Paul as he preaches the Gospel again and again. Please help me to write my devotionals as a way of demonstrating my gospel to others. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Precept Austin was accessed on 2/08/2025 to review commentary for Acts 26:19-23.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 2/08/2025 to answer the question, “What is more important, the death of Christ or His Resurrection?