Friday | 21 August 2026
In relation to planting and growing lampstand churches among the Gentiles, Jesus Christ first reached out His right hand to lay hold of the apostle Paul. After the Lord met Paul on the road to Damascus, the Lord sent Ananias to lay hands on Paul so that he would regain his sight. The Lord said to Ananias concerning Paul, ‘Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.’ Act 9:15-16. God had sanctified Paul from his mother’s womb to be a servant in whom Christ would be glorified. Gal 1:15-16.
The Lord declared through the prophet Isaiah, ‘Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles … I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles.’ Isa 42:1,6. Of course, this prophetic statement applied first to Jesus Christ. However, it applied also to the ministry of the apostle Paul. Furthermore, it applies to the ministry of lampstand churches during the church age, and it will apply to the ministry of the 144 000 in the time of the end.
Likewise, the Lord declared, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ Isa 49:5-6. We know that this prophecy was applicable to the apostle Paul because, on his first missionary journey to the region of Galatia, he quoted this passage and applied it directly to his own ministry. Act 13:47.
Further Study:
Acts 13
References:
Act 9:15-16
But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.’
Gal 1:15-16
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.
Isa 42:1
Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
Isa 42:6
I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles.
Isa 49:5-6
And now the LORD says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him (for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and My God shall be My strength); indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’
Act 13:47
For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’