<p>9:3- see on Acts 26:10,11.</p><p><i>And as he journeyed, it came to pass, that he drew near to Damascus; and suddenly there s<em>hone round about him</em></i>- The idea is of flashing, and suggests this was a vision of the Cherubim, similar to what Ezekiel saw (Ez. 1:4). See below.</p><p><em>A light out of Heaven-</em> Paul&rsquo;s conversion-commissioning experience on the Damascus road has many similarities with the commissioning of Ezekiel. Ezekiel saw a similar vision of glory, heard &ldquo;a voice of one that spoke&rdquo;, fell to the ground, resisted the commission, received Divine assurance, rose up by Divine invitation and was prepared for his commission by signs and wonders. The difference was that Paul says he saw the glory of the risen Christ. Ezekiel saw the glory of Yahweh, as the Lord Jesus wasn&rsquo;t in physical existence and hadn&rsquo;t resurrected at his time. But essentially, it was the same glory- for the glory of the Father is now fully invested in the Son (Rom. 9:23; Phil. 4:19). Ezekiel saw at the head of the vision of glory &ldquo;the likeness of a man&rdquo;. He calls this figure the <em>Kavod</em>, the glory of God (Ez. 1:29). Although Jesus was not in physical existence at Ezekiel&rsquo;s time, I suggest that Ezekiel saw a vision of the Lord Jesus in glory. John 12 says that Isaiah likewise saw the glory of the Lord Jesus when he saw a similar vision of glory in Isaiah 6. James 2:1 speaks of &ldquo;our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory&rdquo;. Christ is &ldquo;the Lord of glory&rdquo;, reflecting the glory of God (Col. 1:27; Heb. 1:3). When Paul writes of our being transformed into &ldquo;the image of Christ&rdquo; (Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:49) he seems to have in mind Ez. 1:28 LXX: &ldquo;The appearance of the image of the glory of the Lord&rdquo;. &ldquo;The glory&rdquo; in Ezekiel is personified-&nbsp; it refers to a person, and I submit that person was a prophetic image of Jesus Christ. But Paul&rsquo;s big point is that we <em>each </em>with unveiled face have beheld the Lord&rsquo;s glory (2 Cor. 3:16- 4:6); just as he did on the Damascus road, and just as Ezekiel did. It follows, therefore, that not only is Paul our example, but our beholding of the Lord&rsquo;s glory propels us on our personal commission in the Lord&rsquo;s service, whatever it may be.&nbsp;</p><p>Theologians debate whether the Damascus road experience was Paul's conversion, programmatic for each of us, as he says in 1 Tim. 1:16 and 2 Cor. 4:6; or whether it is a specific, unique calling to be a preacher of the Gospel, and therefore is couched in terms of the call of Ezekiel and other Old Testament prophets. In Galatians 1, Paul clearly understood what happened as being his specific call to a preaching ministry. I would say that Saul's conversion was also a call to a preaching ministry; and that our conversion is also a calling to a ministry no less significant than that of the Old Testament prophets.</p>