Thereupon Ananias went, entered the house, and beholding the triumphant persecutor lying exhausted and fasting, laid his hands upon him and said, _Brother Saul, the Lord hath sent me, even Jesus who appeared unto thee on the way as thou camest, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost_ (Acts ix. 17). He had scarcely spoken when from the eyes of the new disciple of the risen Saviour there fell as it had been scales, and looking up he beheld the face of Ananias (Acts xxii. 13), and learned the object of the heavenly vision, and the purpose for which the God of his fathers had chosen him (Acts xxvi. 18). Thereupon he arose and was baptized, and having taken meat was strengthened for the work that lay before him. The arrival of the delegate of the Sanhedrin was no secret among the Christians at Damascus, and the words of Ananias testify to the fame he had acquired as a persecutor of their body. Great, then, must have been their surprise when they heard of the change which his spirit had undergone, and still more when they saw him entering the synagogues (Acts ix. 20), and fearlessly declaring his conviction that that Jesus, whose followers he had come to imprison, was _the Son of God_. The first effect upon those who heard him was blank amazement, for they were well acquainted with his previous history, and the object of his visit, and they clearly saw that the astounding change which had come over him could not be ascribed to any wayward, irregular impulse, for his energy gathered renewed strength day by day, and the Jews were unable to confute the arguments by which he proved that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah (Acts ix. 21, 22). After the lapse, however, of some days, it became clear that it would not be safe for him to continue his labours. The fury of the Jews would naturally be roused to the utmost pitch, and it became necessary that he should leave the city. But instead of going up to Jerusalem to consult those who were Apostles before him (Gal. i. 17), he departed to Arabia[786], either the region which bordered on Syria and Mesopotamia and included Damascus itself[787], or the Sinaitic peninsula, the scene of the giving of the law. What was the purpose of this journey we are not told. Perhaps it was to undertake some missionary enterprise, perhaps to engage in solitary communion[788] with Him who had called him to be an Apostle, before he entered upon his active labours. CHAPTER III. _ST PAUL’S FIRST VISIT TO JERUSALEM――PETER AT JOPPA._ A.D. 40.