‘And as he journeyed, it came about that he drew near to Damascus, and suddenly there shone round about him a light out of heaven, and he fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Making his journey as rapidly as possible it would only be a few days before he saw Damascus ahead of him (Damascus was about one hundred and forty miles north of Jerusalem). And we can imagine the impatience that was filling his heart at the thought of their slow progress. He was a man in a hurry. And he could not wait to exercise his authority. And then suddenly a light shone from heaven which surrounded him, and he fell to the ground, hearing a voice which said to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
The idea of a light from Heaven revealing the glory of God occurs regularly in the Old Testament and is implicit in His revelation of Himself through fire (Exodus 13:21; Psalms 27:1; Psalms 78:14; Psalms 104:2; Isaiah 2:5; Exodus 19:18; Exodus 24:17; Exodus 40:38 etc.), and God as light is also central in the New (1 Timothy 6:16; Jas 1:17; 1 John 1:5-7; Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:5). But the New also reveals that Jesus has come as the Light of the world, bringing God's light to man (Luke 2:32; John 1:9; John 3:19; John 8:12; John 9:5; John 12:35-36; John 12:46; Matthew 17:2). Furthermore Judaism thought of God as revealed in the Shekinah glory, brilliant and yet veiled. Both ideas are in mind here. Saul could hardly see the light as other than the Shekinah glory through which God revealed Himself to His people, especially when it was accompanied by a voice, which would appear to be the ‘bath qol' (daughter of a voice) of Pharisaic thought.
‘And heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” ' From the midst of the light came the voice. Unknown at this stage to Saul it was the voice of Jesus. And the Voice questioned Saul as to why he was persecuting Him. The implication is that what Saul was doing to the His people he was doing to Jesus, because He and His church were one.
This voice too would throw Saul into turmoil. To a Pharisee a voice from heaven was the voice of God, the ‘bath qol', especially when accompanied by blinding glory. Who then was this Who spoke from heaven? It could only be the Lord. But how could he be thought of as persecuting the Lord? He had come here to defend the Lord's name. He realised therefore that he had to identify who was speaking.