<p>26:18 <i>T</i><i>o open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light</i>-&nbsp;The Lord Jesus seems to have encouraged Paul to see Moses as his hero. Thus he asked him to go and live in Arabia before beginning his ministry, just as Moses did (Gal. 1:17). When he appeared to Paul on the Damascus road, he spoke in terms reminiscent of the Angel's commission to Moses at the burning bush: &ldquo;I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of those things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the (Jewish) people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to...turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance... Whereupon... I (Paul) was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision&quot; (Acts 26:16-19). Moses was promised that he would be protected from Pharaoh so that he could bring out God's people from the darkness of Egyptian slavery (&quot;the power of Satan&quot;); going from darkness to light is used&nbsp;by Peter as an idiom to describe Israel's deliverance from Egypt, which the new Israel should emulate (1 Pet. 2:9). Moses led Israel out of Egypt so that they might be reconciled to God, and&nbsp;be led by him to the promised inheritance of Canaan. As Moses was eventually obedient to that heavenly vision, so was Paul- although perhaps he too went through (unrecorded) struggles to be obedient to it, after the pattern of Moses being so reluctant.</p><p>Paul was to bring others to the light just as John had (Lk. 1:77,79 =&nbsp; Acts 13:47; 26:18,23).</p><p>God&rsquo;s manifestation of His word through preaching is limited by the amount of manifestation His preachers allow it. Through the first century preaching of the Gospel, men and women were &quot;turned from darkness to light... <i>that </i>they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified&quot; (Acts 26:18).</p><p><i>And from the power of Satan to God</i>-</p><p>&nbsp;There are some clear contrasts drawn here:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=624>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=298 valign=top>            <p>To open   their eyes</p>            </td>            <td width=326 valign=top>            <p>(They   were blind).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=298 valign=top>            <p>To turn   them from darkness</p>            </td>            <td width=326 valign=top>            <p>to   light.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=298 valign=top>            <p>From   the power of Satan (sin)</p>            </td>            <td width=326 valign=top>            <p>unto   God (cp. 1 Jn. 1:5).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=298 valign=top>            <p>(Unforgiven)</p>            </td>            <td width=326 valign=top>            <p>receive   forgiveness of sins.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=298 valign=top>            <p>(Gentiles   without inheritance by faith in &ldquo;the hope of Israel&rdquo;)</p>            </td>            <td width=326 valign=top>            <p>them   (the Jews) that had access to sanctification by faith.</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><p>&nbsp;Ephesians 4:17&ndash;20 almost seems to directly allude back to this passage in Acts 26:18: &ldquo;This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ...&rdquo;. Being under the power of Satan is therefore a result of having an empty, vain, fleshly mind (i.e. the Satan of evil desires in our mind having full power) and being ignorant, without understanding. Matthew 13:19 says that Satan (cp. Mk. 4:15) has power over a person because of their lack of understanding of the Word. Ephesians 4:17&ndash;20 is referring to the same thing as &ldquo;the power of Satan&rdquo; defined in Acts 26:18. &ldquo;To open their eyes&rdquo; implies to have the eyes of understanding opened (cp. Eph. 1:18).</p><p>&nbsp;Acts 26:18 implies that it was &ldquo;the power of Satan&rdquo; that stopped the Gentiles from sharing the inheritance of the Gospel which was preached to the Jews in the promises (Gal. 3:8; Jn. 4:22). &ldquo;Satan&rdquo; is often connected with the Law and the Jewish system. Maybe this is another example. Note too the allusions in this verse to Is. 42:6,7: &ldquo;I... will... keep you, and give you for a... light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house&rdquo;. This equates the power of Satan with a prison house, and the Law is likened to a prison in Gal. 3:23 and 4:3.</p><p>There are allusions in Acts 26:18 to the Jews&rsquo; crucifixion of Jesus: &ldquo;This is your hour, and the power of darkness&rdquo; (Lk. 22:53); &ldquo;Satan&rdquo; (the Jews) has desired to have you&rdquo; (Lk. 22:31), Jesus warned the disciples at the last supper.</p><p>The previous verse (Acts 26:17) shows the Lord Jesus strengthening Paul to be brave in his mission to the Gentiles &ndash; &ldquo;delivering you from the Jewish people, and from the Gentiles&rdquo;. Jesus Himself was &ldquo;delivered to the Gentiles&rdquo; (Lk. 18:32&ndash;33) for crucifixion by the Jews, and Mk. 15:15 implies Jesus was delivered to &ldquo;the people&rdquo;, too. The phrase &ldquo;the people&rsquo; frequently occurs in the crucifixion records. It is as if Jesus is saying: &lsquo;I was delivered to the Gentiles and (Jewish) people because of My preaching; I am now commissioning you to preach, facing the same battle against (the Jewish) Satan and man&rsquo;s blindness to the Word of God, due to his love of the flesh, as I did; but I will deliver you from the Gentiles and Jewish people, rather than deliver you to them, as I was. You are going to spend your life going through the same experiences as I faced in My last hours&rsquo;. Thus, in yet another way, we can understand how Paul could say &ldquo;I am crucified with Christ&rdquo; (Gal. 2:20).</p><p><i>To the end they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those that are sanctified by faith in me</i>- Salvation is <i>not</i> a purely personal matter. It is part of a shared experience, something we obtain a part in. Christ <i>is</i> His body. He doesn't exist separate from His body; for all existence in the Bible is bodily existence. And <i>we</i> are His body. He is us. Likewise we are the branches of the Christ-vine (Jn. 15). Because we are all in the one body of Christ, therefore we are intimately associated with the other parts of the body.</p>