And Saul grew stronger and stronger in his spirit and in his words. None of the Jews in Damascus could answer him, as he showed that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Christ. But he did not stay long in Damascus. After a time he left the city, and went away to a quiet place in the desert of Arabia, where he stayed for a year or longer, thinking upon the gospel and learning from the Lord.

And again Saul came to Damascus and again he preached Christ and salvation through his name, not only for Jews, but for Gentiles, all people besides the Jews. This made the Jews in Damascus very angry. They formed a plan to kill Saul, and they watched the gates day and night, hoping to seize him as he went out. But Saul's friends, the disciples of Jesus, brought him by night to a house on the wall, and let him down in a basket to the ground, so that he escaped from his enemies and went away in safety.

Saul now journeyed back to Jerusalem. He had left it three years before, a bitter enemy of Christ; he came to it again a follower of Christ. But when Saul sought to join the believers in Jerusalem, they were all afraid of him; for they could not believe that one whom they had known as the fierce destroyer of the church was now a friend to Jesus. Then Barnabas, the man who had given all his land to the church, as we read in Story 150, believed in Saul when he heard his story, and brought him to Peter, and told how he had seen the Lord in the way, and how boldly he had preached in Damascus in the name of Jesus.

Then Peter took the hand of Saul, and received him as a disciple of Christ. For a few weeks Saul stayed in Jerusalem; and he preached in the synagogues of the Jews, as Stephen had preached before, that Jesus is the Saviour not only of Jews but also of Gentiles ("Gentiles" was the name that Jews gave to people of every other nation except their own).

When Saul preached that Gentiles might be saved in Jesus Christ, it made the Jews angry, just as it had made Saul himself angry in other days to hear Stephen preach this same gospel. They would not listen to Saul, and they sought to kill him, as they had killed Stephen. One day Saul was praying in the Temple and the Lord came to him once again, and Saul saw Jesus and heard his voice saying, "Make haste, and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for the people here will not believe your words about me."

Then Saul said to the Lord, "Lord, they know that I put into prison and beat in the synagogues those who believed on thee. And when thy servant Stephen was slain I was standing by and was keeping the garments of those who stoned him."

And the Lord said to Saul, "Go from this place; for I will send thee far away to preach to the Gentiles."

Then Saul knew that his work was not to preach the gospel to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, the people of other nations. The disciples in Jerusalem helped him to get away from his enemies in the city, and led him down to a place called Caesarea, on the seashore. There Saul found a ship sailing to Tarsus, a city in Asia Minor. Tarsus was Saul's birthplace and his early home. He went again to this place, and in that city he stayed for a few years, safe from the Jews. He was a tent-maker, and he worked at his trade while preaching the gospel in Tarsus. And we may be sure that Saul would not be silent about the good news of the gospel. He preached in Tarsus and in all the places near it.

Now that Saul the enemy had become Saul the friend of the gospel, all the churches in Judea, and Samaria, and Galilee, had rest and peace. The followers of Christ could preach without fear; and the number of those who believed grew rapidly, for the Lord was with them.

All through the land, from Galilee down to the desert on the south, there were meetings of those who believed in Jesus as the Saviour, and the apostles Peter and John went among them to teach them the way of life.