Who did God say Saul was chosen to bear His name before?
The Lord told Ananias that Saul was a chosen vessel to bear His name before the Gentiles. This was unheard of in Jewish culture, as they had no idea they were to go to the Gentiles, though they knew the prophets spoke of Israel being a light to the Gentiles.
Les explains that in Acts 9:15, the Lord told Ananias to go, because Saul was a chosen vessel unto Him, to bear His name before the Gentiles. This was something unheard of in the Jewish culture, for they had no idea they were to go to the Gentiles. They knew the prophets spoke of it and that Isaiah spoke of Israel being a light unto the Gentiles, but certainly not their generation. They had the same mentality as Jonah, who would rather walk the plank than go to a Gentile city. And now God tells Ananias this man is going to go to the Gentiles. Les suggests Ananias must have swallowed hard. Up until this time, God had been dealing only with the nation of Israel, only with the Jew. Here is where God takes drastic changes of direction.
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: