Contents 
Front Matter The Story of a Beautiful Garden The First Baby in the World and His Brother The Great Ship That Saved Eight People The Tower That Was Never Finished The Story of a Long Journey How Abram's Choice Brought Blessing The Angel by the Well The Rain of Fire That Fell on a City The Boy Who Became an Archer How an Angel's Voice Saved a Boy's Life The Story of a Journey after a Wife How Jacob Stole His Brother's Blessing Jacob's Wonderful Dream A Midnight Wrestling Match The Rich Man's Son Who Was Sold as a Slave From the Prison to the Palace How Joseph's Dream Came True A Lost Brother Found From the Land of Famine to the Land of Plenty The Beautiful Baby Who Was Found in a River The Voice from the Burning Bush The River That Ran Blood The Night When a Nation Was Born How the Sea Became Dry Land and the Sky Rained Bre The Mountain That Smoked and Words That Were Spoke How Aaron Made a Golden Calf and What Became of It The Tent Where God Lived Among His People How They Worshipped God in the Tabernacle What Strong Drink Brought to Aaron's Sons The Scapegoat in the Wilderness The Cluster of Grapes from the Land of Canaan How the Long Journey of the Israelites Came to an What a Wise Man Learned from an Ass How Moses Looked upon the Promised Land The Story of Job The Story of a Scarlet Cord How the River Jordan Became Dry The Story of a Wedge of Gold How Joshua Conquered the Land of Canaan The Old Man Who Fought Against the Giants The Avenger of Blook and the Cities of Refuge The Story of an Altar Beside the River The Presnt That Ehud Brought to King Eglon How a Woman Won a Great Victory Gideon and His Brave Three Hundred Jephthah's Rash Promise and What Came from It The Strong Man: How He Lived and How He Died The Idol Temple at Dan and Its Priest How Ruth Gleaned in the Field of Boaz The Little Boy with a Linen Coat How the Idol Fell Down Before the Ark The Last of the Judges The Tall Man Who Was Chosen King How Saul Saved the Eyes of the Men of Jabesh The Brave Young Prince Saul's Great Sin and His Great Loss The Shepherd Boy of Bethlehem The Shepherd Boy's Fight with the Giant The Little Boy Looking for the Arrows Where David Found the Giant's Sword How David Spared Saul's Life The Last Days of King Saul The Shepherd Boy Becomes a King The Sound in the Treetops The Cripple at the King's Table The Prophet's Story of the Little Lamb David's Handsome Son and How He Stole the Kingdom Absalom in the Wood; David on the Throne The Angel with the Drawn Sword on Mount Moriah Solomon on This Father's Throne The Wise Young King The House of God on Mount Moriah The Last Days of Solomon's Reign The Breaking Up of a Great Kingdom The King Who Led Israel to Sin The Prophet Who Raised a Boy to Life The Prayer That Was Answered in Fire The Voice That Spoke to Elijah in the Mount The Wounded Prophet and His Story What Ahab Paid for His Vineyard The Arrow That Killed a King Elijah's Chariot of Fire A Spring Sweetened by Salt The Pot of Oil and the Pot of Poison The Little Boy at Shunem How a Little Girl Helped to Cure a Leper The Chariots of Fire around Elisha What the Lepers Found in the Camp Jehu, the Furious Driver of His Chariot Elisha and the Bow; Jonah and Nineveh How the Ten Tribes Were Lost The First Four Kings of Judah The Little Boy Who Was Crowned King Three Kings and a Great Prophet The Good King Hezekiah The Lost Book Found in the Temple The Last Four Kings of Judah and the Weeping Proph What Ezekiel Saw in the Valley The Jewish Captives in the Court of the King The Golden Image and the Fiery Furnace The Tree That Was Cut Down and Grew Again The Writing upon the Wall Daniel in the Den of Lions The Story of a Joyous Journey The New Temple on Mount Moriah The Beautiful Queen of Persia The Scribe Who Wrote the Old Testament The Nobleman Who Built the Wall of Jerusalem Ezra's Great Bible Class in Jerusalem The Angel by the Altar The Manger of Bethlehem The Star and the Wise Men The Boy in his Father's House The Prophet in the Wilderness Jesus in the Desert, and beside the River The Water Jars at the Wedding Feast The Stranger at the Well The Story of a Boy in Capernaum and a Riot A Net Full of Fishes The Leper and the Man Let Down through the Roof The Cripple at the Pool and the Withered Hand The Twelve Disciples and the Sermon on the Mount The Captain's Servant, the Widow's Son, and a Sinn Some Stories Jesus Told by the Sea "Peace, Be Still" The Little Girl Who Was Raised to Life A Dancing Girl and What Was Given Her The Feast beside the Sea and What Followed It The Answer to a Mother's Prayer The Glory of Jesus on the Mountain The Little Child in the Arms of Jesus At the Feast of Tabernacles The Man with Clay on His Face The Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan Lazarus Raised to Life Some Parables in Perea The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man Jesus at Jericho Palm Sunday The Last Vistis of Jesus to the Temple The Parables on the Mount of Olives The Last Supper The Olive Orchard and the High Priests Hall The Crown of Thorns The Darkest Day of All the World The Brightest Day of All the World The Stranger on the Shore The Church of the First Days The Man at the Beautiful Gate The Right Way to Give, and the Wrong Way Stephen with the Shining Face The Man Reading in the Chariot The Voice That Spoke to Saul What Peter Saw by the Sea How the Iron Gate Was Opened The Earliest Missionaries The Song in the Prison Paul's Speech on the Hill Paul at Corinth Paul at Ephesus Paul's Last Journey to Jerusalem The Speech on the Stairs Two Years in Prison The Story That Paul Told to the King Paul in the Storm How Paul Came to Rome and How He Lived There The Throne of God The City of God

Story of the Bible Told for Young and Old - Jesse Hurlbut




The Voice That Spoke to Saul


Saul, The young man who had taken part in the slaying of Stephen, and who had scattered abroad the believers in Christ, was still the bitter enemy of the gospel. He heard that some of those who had fled away from Jerusalem had gone to Damascus, a city outside of the Jewish land, far in the north, and that they were still at work teaching Christ. Saul made up his mind to destroy this new church in Damascus, as he thought he had destroyed the church in Jerusalem. So he went to the high-priest, and said:

"Let me have a letter to the chief of the Jews in Damascus. I have heard that there are some followers of Jesus of Nazareth in that city; and I will go with some men, and will take these people, and bind them, and bring them in chains to Jerusalem."

The high-priest gave to Saul the letters that he asked for, and Saul found a band of men to go with him to Damascus. It was a journey of about ten days, riding on horses or mules. While Saul was on his way to Damascus he had time to think about Christ and his gospel. He saw again in his mind Stephen’s shining face, and heard his words, he thought of the sweet and patient way in which the followers of Jesus had met their sufferings and their wrongs at his hand. Deep in Saul’s heart there arose a feeling which he could not put down, that the gospel of Christ was true, and that it was wicked for him to fight against it. Yet he still went on, firm in his purpose to destroy the Church of Christ.

At last he came near to Damascus. Suddenly, at full noon, a light flashed from heaven, brighter far than the sun. For the time the light blinded Saul’s eyes, and it came so suddenly upon him that like a bolt of lightening it struck him down, and he fell upon the ground. In the midst of the light Saul saw One whom he had never seen before. And a strange voice came to him saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you fighting against me?"

And Saul answered the voice, "Who art thou, Lord?" Then the answer came, "I am Jesus, whom you are trying to destroy!"

Saul hears a strange voice

SAUL HEARS A STRANGE VOICE


Then trembling with surprise and alarm, Saul said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"

And the Lord said to Saul, "Rise up, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."

Those who were with Saul wondered, for they had seen a light, and had heard a sound; but had beheld no face and had heard no words; for the vision of Christ had come to Saul alone. They raised him up from the ground, and found that his eyes had been made blind by the brightness of the light. They led him by the hand into the city, and took him to the house of a man named Judas. There Saul stayed for three days in the deepest suffering of mind and body. He could see nothing, and he neither ate nor drank. But in the darkness he was praying to God and to Christ with all his heart.

In the city of Damascus there was a follower of Christ named Ananias, a good man, held in respect by all who knew him. To this Ananias the Lord spoke, calling him by name, "Ananias."

And Ananias answered, "Here I am, O Lord."

And the Lord said to Ananias, "Rise, and go into the street named Straight, and find the house of Judas; and in that house ask for a man named Saul from Tarsus. This man Saul is praying; and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming into his room and laying his hands on him, to give him his sight."

This command from the Lord was a surprise to Ananias. He answered the Lord, "Lord, I have heard from many people about this man Saul; what great evil he has done to all thy people in Jerusalem; and here he has an order from the high-priest to bind and to carry away all who call upon thy name! Shall I go and visit such a man as he?"

But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go thy way; for I have chosen this man to bear my name before the people of all nations, and kings and the children of Israel. And I will show him how many things he must suffer for my sake."

Then Ananias went, as the Lord had bidden him. He found the house, and he came to Saul. He laid his hands on the head of Saul, and he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who met you in the way as you were coming, has sent me, that you may have your sight, and that the Holy Spirit may come upon you. Now, wait no longer, but rise up , and be baptized, and call upon the name of Jesus, who will wash away your sins.

Then there fell from the eyes of Saul what seemed like scales, and at once his sight came to him. Saul was baptized as one who believed in Christ, and food was given him, and he became strong in body and in soul. Saul had gone forth to bind the disciples of Christ in Damascus; but now he came among them, no more as an enemy, but as a brother. And he went into the synagogues where the Jews worshipped in Damascus, and began to preach Jesus to them, declaring that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. And all that heard him were amazed and they said to each other, "Is not this the same man who in Jerusalem wrought ruin among them who believed in this name? And did he not come to this place, intending to bind the believers in Jesus, and bring them before the chief priests?"

And Saul grew stronger and stronger in his spirit and in his words. None of the Jews in Damascus could answer him, as he showed that Jesus us the Anointed One, the Christ? But he did not stay long in Damascus. After a time he left the city, and went away to a quiet place in the desert of Arabia, where he stayed for a year or longer, thinking upon the gospel and learning from the Lord.

And again Saul came to Damascus and again he preached Christ and salvation through his name, not only for Jews, but for Gentiles, all people besides the Jews. This made the Jews in Damascus very angry. They formed a plan to kill Saul, and they watched the gates day and night, hoping to seize him as he went out. But Saul’s friends, the disciples of Jesus, brought by night to a house on the wall, and let him down in a basket to the ground, so that he escaped from his enemies and went away in safety.

The wall where Saul was let down in a basket, as s

THE WALL WHERE SAUL WAS LET DOWN IN A BASKET, AS SHOWN TO-DAY


Saul now journeyed back to Jerusalem. He had left it three years before, a bitter enemy of Christ; he came to it again a follower of Christ. But when Saul sought to join the believers in Jerusalem, they were all afraid of him; for they could not believe that one whom they had known as the fierce destroyer of the church was now a friend to Jesus. Then Barnabas, the man who had given all his land to the church, as we read in Story Three, believed in Saul when he heard his story, and brought him to Peter, and told how he had seen the Lord in the way, and how boldly he had preached in Damascus in the name of Jesus. Then Peter took the hand of Saul, and received him as a disciple of Christ. For a few weeks Saul stayed in Jerusalem; and he preached in the synagogues of the Jews, as Stephen had preached before, that Jesus is the Saviour not only of Jews but also of Gentiles ("Gentiles" was the name that Jews gave to people of every other nation except their own).

Damascus

DAMASCUS


When Saul preached that Gentiles might be saved in Jesus Christ, it made the Jews angry, just as it had made Saul himself angry in other days to hear Stephen preach this same gospel. They would not listen to Saul, and they sought to kill him, as they had killed Stephen. One day Saul was praying in the Temple and the Lord came to him once again, and Saul saw Jesus and heard his voice saying, "Make haste, and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for the people here will not believe your words about me."

Then Saul said to the Lord, "Lord, they know that I put into prison and beat in the synagogues those who believed on thee. And when thy servant Stephen was slain I was standing by and was keeping the garments of those who stoned him."

And the Lord said to Saul, "Go from this place; for I will send thee far away to preach to the Gentiles."

Then Saul knew that his work was not to preach the gospel to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, the people of other nations. The disciples in Jerusalem helped him to get away from his enemies in the city, and led him down to a place called Caesarea, on the seashore. There Saul found a ship sailing to Tarsus, a city in Asia Minor. Tarsus was Saul’s birthplace and his early home. He went again to this place, and in that city he stayed for a few years, safe from the Jews. He was a tent-maked, and he worked at his trade while preaching the gospel in Tarsus. And we may be sure that Saul would not be silent about the good news of the gospel. He preached in Tarsus and in all the places near it.

Tarsus

TARSUS


Now Saul the enemy had become Saul the friend of the gospel, all the churches in Judea, and Samaria, and Galilee, had rest and peace. The followers of Christ could preach without fear; and the number of those who believed grew rapidly, for the Lord was with them.

All through the land, from Galilee down to the desert on the south, there were meetings of those who believed in Jesus as the Saviour, and the apostles Peter and John went among them to teach them the way of life.