Parables out of Heaven – Acts 26:13-14

Please turn to Matthew 13:1 – “The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.

And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow . . . ”

Now skip down to verse 10 –

“And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”

Now go to verse 34 –

“All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

Lastly notice verse 53 – “And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.”

In this passage, not only do we see that the ministry of the Lord Jesus utilized lots of parables,

but we learn that this manner of speech had been prophesied and was actually one of the evidences that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.

And what was the explanation that Christ gave for his use of this means of communication?

He said that it was the will of God that some people know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, while others wouldn’t know them.

Not everyone could understand the parable of the tares, the parable of the soils, or any of the others, but to those whom the Lord intended that information, He gave the necessary understanding.

What would you call this reference to “kicking against the pricks” here in Acts 26:14?

I wouldn’t be so bold as to say that Jesus continued to prove His identity by using parables even from the ramparts of Heaven, but isn’t it interesting that He used another parable in this case?

And do you suppose that the Lord’s purpose was the same this time as it had been earlier?

Or was this just a habit?

(Can deity have habits?

I’ll let you religious philosophers muse on that one for a while.)

This evening let’s think for a little while about what it was that the Lord intended with this parabolic statement.

Let’s think about THE ANIMAL being pricked.

As far as I have been able to learn, every Bible commentary in the universe agree that this “prick” was an ox-goad.

It was a long pole, with a point on the end, used to encourage oxen or other animals to keep moving.

The word “goad” is sometimes used as a verb –

The school-yard bully told his young protege to goad the new, nerdy kid into a fight.

“To goad” is to push or provoke, and in modern usage it’s generally not a really good thing.

Then as far as the noun is concerned, a “goad” is a long stick with a sharp point on one end used for prodding animals to do what their masters want them to do.

Or a “goad” is any agent or means of prodding or stimulating something into action.

So what did it say about Paul when the Lord referred to using an ox-goad on him?

Unless I’m missing the point, wasn’t the Lord, with a slight smile on his face, calling Paul an ox?

The sinful man, the rebel against God, doesn’t deserve a better animal illustration than a stubborn ox.

We might use many different animals to illustrate him, but they wouldn’t be better animals.

That sinner is a filthy pig in the sight of God; he is as stubborn as a mule.

And I’m sure that goads are sometimes used on pigs and mules.

I wouldn’t have been shocked in reading God’s Word to find that the Lord called me a rat, or some sort of vermin, because I know that those wouldn’t be inappropriate terms.

Doesn’t the Bible speak of the sinner as a worm?

Don’t I remember reading about people being described as asses, and dogs, and serpents?

In this case, the Lord was telling Paul that at that point in his life he was really not much better than a brute beast.

He was an animal incapable of spiritual logic and reasoning.

He was an animal which was supposed to do his master’s bidding or to become his master’s supper.

But he was a stubborn, rebellious animal.

If an ox and a plow were placed in the same field together without any other human help, how quickly would that field be tilled and ready for seed?

If a farmer had a load of grain to take to market, what is the likelihood of the family ox, getting into the yoke all by himself and backing into position in front of the wagon?

Generally speaking, a cow, a steer, an ox or any other similar critter is going to be useless, absolutely useless until the farmer guides it.

And that is a basic summary of the nature of the sinner – useless to God.

The only glory that sinner can bring to God is in its death and judgment.

On the other hand, how would a farmer or a teamster feel about losing one of his oxen?

If a man had his ox stolen by his neighbor, wouldn’t he press charges against the thief?

In Deuteronomy 22 we find one of the more strange or unique commandments of God –

“Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.

And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.

In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.

Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.”

Why must the Israelite help his neighbor care for his ox?

It was because it was a valuable animal, and the Lord cares about all the creatures of His creation.

In fact the Lord commanded Israel:

“Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest:

that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.”

When the Lord implied that Paul was behaving like an ox, it was not particularly complimentary.

But at the same time, the ox was fed, tended, housed and doctored by its master.

It was not unlawful to kill, roast and eat the meat of an ox,

but in this case its Master wanted the beast alive and serving him, not stewing in his crock-pot.

By the way, what is the likelihood that an ox is going to become anything other than an ox?

Will it ever become a useful and graceful house boy?

Have you ever heard reference to the bull in the china shop?

Will this ox become an obedient servant on its own?

Will it choose to follow its master and strive to please him, reading his thoughts or obeying his words?

Nope, that ox is going to live and die a dumb ox.

It will reluctantly serve its master, or it will even more reluctantly become his dinner.

What did the Lord mean by speaking about THE PRICK – the ox goad?

Now, I need you to help me visualize this:

I’m picturing a farmer trying to plow his field using an ox or maybe a pair of oxen.

He has the reigns wrapped around his waist and his hands on the handles of the plow,

but wedged between his right hand and the plow handle there is a 5 to 8 foot pole.

Every now and then when the plowing slows down, he releases the plow-handle and pokes the backside of his ox with the goad.

Or maybe we’re talking about a teamster with a couple of animals pulling a wagon full of goods.

He might be riding on that wagon, or walking along beside one of the oxen.

In one hand he has the reigns and in the other he has a 6 to 10 foot goad.

Here is my question:

How heavy would an 8 foot, 1inch in diameter pole be?

Most commentators echo each other, saying that this prick had a sharp iron point.

What would a 10 foot pole with an iron point on the end weigh?

And if that teamster, or that farmer, had to hold that pole for 8 or 10 hours, how tired would he be at the end of the day?

I ask those questions, because it would seem to me that no one would choose to use the goad, if other means might get that animal to do what it was supposed to do.

Wasn’t the Lord saying to Paul that he had spoken politely and quietly to his heart, but he would not turn?

Wasn’t the Lord saying that he had spoken loudly and forcefully, but Paul didn’t have ears to hear?

It seems to me that the owner of that ox would be much happier if the beast had been trained to follow voice commands.

It seems to me that an ox-goad would have been the last resort.

It seems to me that the Lord must have been working on Paul for some time.

So what had the goad actually been in the case of Saul of Tarsus?

Certainly, there had been the pricking of the Word of God which he had learned from his youth on up.

Just like there has been the preaching of the Bible in your life.

There had been the instruction and perhaps even the spankings that his parents had given him in an effort to point out that his behaviour wasn’t always what it ought to have been.

Maybe there were periods in Paul’s life when he had a morbid fear of death or monsters under the bed.

Perhaps the Lord was at that time, encouraging young Saul to come unto Him.

Then there was the peaceful death and potent testimony of Stephen and others.

And through each of these things there had been the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

When the soft and sweet voice of the Lord failed to turn this stubborn beast from his wilfulness, then the ox-goad came out in full force.

Some of my commentaries describe how the sharp-pointed prick was forced to stab into the rear and the flanks of the stubborn animal.

Some of them talked about the flow of blood down the legs of the more wicked beasts.

There are people who say that animals don’t feel pain, but that is down-right silly; of course they feel pain.

But just as different people tolerate different degrees of pain, I’m sure that the same is true with animals.

And some entire species can endure more hurt than others, and I picture the ox as one of those animals.

Then again, I’m sure that some beasts aren’t smart enough to figure out what the pain is supposed to accomplish.

That is a very apt description of the average sinner – somewhat sensitive to physical pain, but stupid.

So the Lord referred to SAUL’S KICKING against the pricks.

Instead of bowing to the wishes of its master, this hard-headed ox, fought against him and the goad.

This is one reason why I picture the prick as being over 6 feet in length:

How far can the back kick of some of these big animals reach?

Is the kick of an ox different from the kick of a mule or a horse?

Probably so, but I’m not an expert in such things.

Paul had been under the conviction of the Holy Spirit for some time before his will was broken at Damascus.

His conscience had been plaguing him for months – if not longer.

Perhaps his sleep had fled from him and his dreams were nothing but nightmares.

Perhaps the face of Stephen seemed to jump out at him from the crowd in the market place.

Perhaps, like Mrs. Macbeth, when he looked at his hands they seemed to be covered with blood.

But Paul continued to sneer at the gospel and laughed at the problems that he was causing the saints, despite the pain that he was feeling.

In fact, the more pain of soul that he felt, the more pain that he inflicted on the children of the Lord.

The more doubts that he experienced, the more he hated the faith and peace of the Lord’s people.

Have you ever been under such conviction that you felt sick to your stomach thinking about going back to church again?

Have you ever been under conviction for so long that felt that you were drowning?

At the time, you had no idea where and how it would end, but the Lord did.

I don’t know about you, but I picture the face of Lord with a kind smile as He spoke to Saul:

“Saul, Saul, isn’t it kind of painful to kick against the pricks?

Wake up man and feel the hurt.”

Who knows better what needs to be done: the ox or his master?

You need to yield to the discipline and the leadership of the Lord.

If God is forced to stab you in the flanks to get you to do His will, it is to your good to do it.

If the Lord is in the process of pricking you, it’s because He has something better for you.

This pain is a message from heaven.

This is a message from the Lord.

It is foolish – it is brutish – to continue to rebel.

But one of us could end up as Saul of Tarsus did, if we’ll just stop kicking and follow the commands of the Saviour.

What do you know about kicking against the pricks of the Lord?

What do you know about surrender?