He Asked a Question (Acts 9:5; 22:8; 26:15)
He Asked a Question (Acts 9:5; 22:8; 26:15)
A young Jewish student asked his teacher, “Rabbi, why is it that whenever I ask you a question, you always answer with another question?” The rabbi replied, “So why shouldn’t I?”
Paul knew how to ask the right questions and cried, “Who are you, Lord?” The word translated “Lord” could be only a respectful “sir,” or it might convey reverence as to God; we aren’t sure which meaning Paul intended. But he received a profound answer: “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.” To his amazement, Paul discovered that not only was Jesus alive (Acts 25:19), but He was so identified with His people that whoever persecuted them also persecuted Him. In his blind religious zeal, Paul had been persecuting his own Messiah! Paul may have been present at the meeting of the Sanhedrin when the Jewish leaders commanded Peter and John “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (4:18), and certainly he agreed with the verdict; but now things would change.
The name Jesus is found more than nine hundred times in the original text of the New Testament and more than sixty times in the book of Acts. Acts 4:12 states boldly, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Every New Testament book except 3 John mentions the name Jesus, but verse 7 of 3 John reads, “It was for the sake of the Name that they went out.” The name of Jesus opens and closes the New Testament (Matt. 1:1; Rev. 22:21). It is the name we use when we pray (John 14:13–14; 15:16; 16:23–26), and it is the name of Jesus that the world hates (15:18–24).
Jesus (Yeshua) was a popular name among the Jews because of the fame of Joshua, successor to Moses, who brought Israel victoriously into their promised land. The Jewish historian Josephus lists twenty different men with that name. The name means “Jehovah is salvation” (see Matt. 1:16, 21, 25). Since other men also had that name, our Savior was known as “Jesus the Christ” or “Jesus of Nazareth.” In the second century, the Jews stopped naming their sons “Yeshua.”