The Power of Three Days

The number three is often associated with the Holy Trinity, and rightly so. Looking at the trinity itself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it gives us a complete picture of who Christ is; it’s perfection.

So by definition, three can represent completion.

We’re aware Christ was dead, buried, and rose again on the third day. The third day was marked by the completion of His mission to take back the keys to hell and the grave. Jonah was in the fish’s belly for three days. When he was spit out on the third day, it marked the completion of a change of attitude.

But out of the mere mortals who would have a “three-day” experience, Saul of Tarsus is my favorite.

Let’s knock out a little history before we get rolling. It’s essential to establish that Saul had two names; it was popular in the Greco-Roman world to have double names. His Jewish name is Saul, and his Greek name is Paul. Acts 13:9 points out that he was known by both. No different from Cephas/Peter.

Acts 13:9 (NLT)

“Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye.”

So we have Saul/Paul, a Pharisee, who was a descendant of Jacob and Rachel via the tribe of Benjamin. If you remember your VBS theology, King Saul, the first king of Israel, was also from the tribe of Benjamin.

Saul of Tarsus studied under the Pharisee Gamaliel, learning in-depth Jewish theology, and was also a Roman citizen. A quick recap: the Pharisees were a Jewish religious group that emphasized actions over sacrifice.

Thus, legalism served as the foundation for Saul’s beliefs. He believed that his works would save him; that through following strict laws, he would earn God’s approval. Legalism is what he associated with Christ, and we know that Christ came to redeem us from the law. We are saved by grace, not works, and it’s this clash of beliefs that led Saul to persecute Christians.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Acts 9 records Saul’s transformative experience and God’s divine intervention in his life.

There is no fluff or leading up to this life-changing encounter. Saul is simply on his way to Damascus to round up some rowdy Christians when God steps into his situation.

This is just another day for Saul. There’s no fasting, no intercession, no perfect church attendance that brings about this encounter. It was simply God’s chosen time to intervene.

Who can explain the timing of God? No one.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

2 Peter 3:9 (NLT)

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

God is never early, and He’s never late, but He is always on time.

So why God chose that moment to step into Saul’s situation and not sooner is something we may not understand until we get to heaven. But the point is, God did intervene.

Throughout life, we all go through situations where we’re contending for something, be it better jobs, winning the lottery, salvation for friends/family, patience with crazy people at the grocery store, better government, or simply cheaper gas prices. We’re all there.

All of us are living from one day to the next, hoping for a Damascus experience in which God suddenly steps into our situation and changes it. Because in our heart of hearts, we know when God intervenes, things always change for our good, and it’s always a complete change.

What I find remarkable about Saul’s transformation compared to Jonah’s is that Saul’s was an entire shift in faith. He changed his beliefs, and his actions followed suit. Jonah was just miserable and finally gave up being stubborn and begrudgingly obeyed. Notice he didn’t really have a change of heart; just read how his book ends.

Both men had an opportunity to have an encounter with God, but it is Saul who allows the revelation of God to change him.

Acts 9:9 (NIV)

“For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.”

Saul enters a time of darkness; a time of isolation, ironically, the same as Christ and Jonah. No one knows what happened during those three days, but if he didn’t eat or drink, I can only wonder if maybe he was processing the horrors of his actions.

Perhaps he was seeing the faces of those he’d viciously murdered.

Maybe he was wrestling with the will to live because the idea that Christ would love someone who’d been so evil was beyond comprehension, and definitely beyond acceptance.

We don’t know, but something happened in those three days that completely changed his heart’s posture. The only thing I know of that can bring about such miraculous change, especially in that time frame, is the love of God.

Ephesians 2:4-5 (NLT)

“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)”

How many times have we felt like we’re in a place of isolation?

We ask God what is going on; we wonder why it’s dark and lonely. Sometimes we get mad; we’re uncomfortable; we can’t see, and we don’t understand. And while we’re angry at our time of isolation, it’s nothing more than our loving heavenly Father pulling us aside and trying to encounter us.

He’s doing for you as He did for Saul, and He wants to reveal to us something He couldn’t get us to see when we simply lived from one day to the next.

Saul missed seeing God in his studies. He missed seeing God in the miracles that were performed. He missed seeing God in the character of His disciples, like Stephen. Saul straight up missed the love and heart of God. He could not get past his everyday life, and so God pulls him aside, and for three days, God has Saul’s complete and undivided attention.

What would happen if we truly just set aside three days for God?

Truly, truly set aside everything that wasn’t about God and just focused on Him? Saul had Christ’s attention, but now, Christ had Saul’s as well. And both of them are equally vulnerable. Saul was crushed by the reality of sins, while Christ was ready to redeem it all.

Can you imagine the intimacy of those three days?

The breaking off of every lie and deception that had kept Saul so removed from Christ? Followed by the overwhelming love that Christ had lavished upon Saul during that time.

These three days had to have been the moment that God explained to Saul what he was called to do. It had to have been the moment when God showed Saul that the past, as horrible as it was, did not matter.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

It was the moment God extended grace to Saul when Saul knew he had every right to die.

It’s a beautiful moment where Saul knew he deserved, by law, a specific outcome, and God steps in and says, “No, I still need you. I still have a plan for you. I still love you. I still choose you. I still want you.”

The power of Saul’s three days is simply the unmistakable opportunity for intimacy.

If you submit to the period of isolation and allow yourself to be vulnerable before Christ, to bare your soul in a level of aguish so heavy you can’t eat, to lay every sinful deed and thought before Him no matter how much you cringe, to realize you deserve one outcome, to give Christ your undivided attention, if you can do this, He will meet you in your three days; your time of isolation. And He will extend His grace. He will remind you of the depth of His love and that it covers over everything you’ve done wrong. He’ll tell you that He wants you.

1 John 1:7 (NLT)

“But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

Outside of crucifying Christ, it doesn’t get any worse than persecuting believers. Yet many of us hold back because we think our past is too much for Christ to forgive. We drank too much. We had sex too much. We denied Christ too much. We lied too much. We cheated too much. We played with witchcraft too much; how could God love someone like that? How could God love someone that ugly? That broken? That lost?

The love of God is so breathtakingly unique because He doesn’t care what you have done; He’s not keeping score. He really and truly just wants you.

Jeremiah 31:3 (AMP)

“The Lord appeared to me (Israel) from ages past, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you.’”

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NLT)

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”

God would rather have your heart beating next to His in perfect rhythm than have your head on a spike for what you did wrong.

What we can’t get past is why me? Why would God want me? It’s very simple. Because He made you. He made every part of you before you were ever formed in your mother’s womb. However you came to be, you are part of His plan, and He has a purpose for your life. He wants you, all of you. He wants your stealing, drunken, idolatrous, murderous, cheating, lying, adulterous self; there is no limit to what His love will cover.

Christ encountered Saul, and Saul then experienced Christ in all His love and grace.

And the significant part about all of this is that Saul allowed himself to be changed.

Saul went from killing Christians to discipling them. He wrote thirteen books of the New Testament. He did everything he could to emphasize that salvation comes by faith, and faith alone. And he beautifully articulates and memorializes the power of love.

Maybe, just maybe, he did that because he remembered the power of his three days.

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