The Tent of Witness

Without a doubt Stephen’s speech before the Sanhedrin is the most important event concerning the community of believers since Pentecost in Acts 2. Luke devotes more space to what Stephen says than any address spoken by either Peter or Paul in the Book of Acts. It stands out as a defining point for the Church. From this point on the Gospel will go to the nations. From this point on, less and less emphasis is placed upon Jerusalem as the center of the faith. It is almost as though God dwelt there in Jerusalem until blood began to be shed, after which he led his people out—not quite true, but the principle that showed the presence of God was not in a specific place, but wherever his people happened to be is defined here with Stephen’s words: “The Most High dwells not in Temples made with hands!”

 

The Prophet Like Moses and Worship

Remember that Stephen was accused of blasphemy against Moses (or the Law) and against the Temple (Acts 6:13-14). In the last four blogs I’ve shown how Stephen addressed the first accusation. By and large the fathers had rejected both Moses and Joseph and had no faith in God as their father, Abraham had. Their eyes were always upon the past, traditions, where they had been (e.g. in Egypt etc.) and had no vision for the future (promises to be fulfilled). The five books of Moses are what make up the Law (Torah), so blasphemy against either (Moses/Torah) is blasphemy against the other. Not only did Stephen show a reverence toward Moses, but implied the Prophet who was like him (Acts 7:37) fulfilled Moses’ experiences to the letter, i.e. he fulfilled the Law and was rejected and crucified in doing so.

 

The Prophet Like Moses ~ Savior

As we go through Acts 7, I am emphasizing parts of Stephen’s address before the Sanhedrin, hoping to show how the young Messianic leader put forth not only his defense but that of the Gospel as well. Throughout Stephen’s address he points to Israel’s history—a solidified revelation of how God has interpreted himself and his relationship with mankind in such a manner that God’s people’s eyes were always directed toward the future. It was a history of faith and expectation. The problem in Stephen’s day was the Jewish authorities wrongly defined their present service to God with the past.

 

The Prophet Like Moses ~ His Rejection

Luke, in the person of Stephen, uses four periods in Moses life, beginning with his birth and then separated by 40 years each, to show a correlation between Moses and the Prophet who would be like him (Jesus), and subsequent parallels in the lives of those who would be like Jesus. What happened to Moses reoccurred in Jesus’ life under different circumstances, and, perhaps unexpectedly, we find what happened to Jesus, the Christ (Messiah), also occurred in the “life” of the Body of Christ—the believing community—and this is Stephen’s defense, Moses’ life is Stephen’s vindication and the vindication of the Gospel

 

The Prophet Like Moses ~ His Coming

In chapter seven of Acts Stephen’s defense of the Gospel, which ultimately included proof of his own innocence of the charges of blasphemy brought against him, was presented in the form of a summary of the history of salvation in the persons of Abraham, Joseph and Moses. In a previous blog I wrote of his illustrations of Jesus and the infancy of the Church in the lives of Abraham and Joseph, but by far the main body of Stephen’s testimony lay in his illustration of Moses’ life.

 

Jesus Must Be Lifted Up

I need to revisit Nicodemus’ conversation with Christ once more. Nicodemus couldn’t understand what Jesus was saying mainly because he and all the other teachers of Israel had only investigated a portion of what God had said concerning the coming Messiah through his servants, the Prophets. When Jesus spoke of his death in John 2:19 the rulers of the Jews didn’t understand (John 2:20) and therefore couldn’t believe. When Jesus spoke of man’s need to be reborn spiritually (John 3:3), even Nicodemus, who had come to seek answers, couldn’t understand and therefore couldn’t believe, because the teachers had not considered their need (Ezekiel 11:19: Jeremiah 4:4; 17:9; 31:30-34).

 

Behold the Lamb of God!

In the past few blogs concerning John’s Gospel, we’ve been considering what John the Baptist didn’t know about Jesus. If what I’ve written is true, that is, that John was flabbergasted that Jesus, the carpenter’s Son was the Messiah, and that John fully expected, but was wrong to assume, some really fantastic events would occur through the Messiah in that generation, in order to make the Jewish nation the leading nation in the world. If this is true concerning what John didn’t know, how could he have understood that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36)?

 

Monotheism v/s Polytheism

Until recently, I had been troubled by Aaron and the Israelite people building a calf(s) while Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the Covenant written upon the two tables of stone; and this immediately after God had spoken to the whole nation loudly from the mount—thundering out the Ten Commandments. How could they do this and believe that the calf(s) was God who took them out of Egypt?

 

Seeing God’s Glory

Moses once asked God to show him his, i.e. God’s, glory.[1] If we would make the same request of God today, what would we expect to see? Would it be a manifestation of his power? Do we think we would see God seated upon the throne in heaven? Perhaps we may perceive it to be the glorious victory of God over evil when finally all is brought under his authority. What is God’s glory, and what would we actually see, if God chose to reveal his glory to us?

 

Jesus Existed Before John!

John was sent by God to identify Jesus and to prepare the way before him. The Scriptures seem to show John was to comfort the common people, encouraging them and lifting them up because they were oppressed. On the other hand he was to confront the oppressors, those who ruled the Jews and eventually this cost him his life. It seems the Jewish leadership had a bone of contention with John concerning his baptism (John 3:25), because his baptism of repentance probably seemed to them to compete with the ceremonial cleansing performed in the Temple according to the Law of Moses (cp. Luke 2:22). Immediately after the dispute with the Jewish leaders, John was cast into prison (cp. John 3:24; John 4:1-3), so it is very possible that it was through the Pharisees’ conspiring with the Herodians that John was arrested (cp. Mark 3:6; 12:13).

 

A Sabbath Day’s Journey and Jesus

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It is important to understand that once in Bethany, Jesus could not return to Jerusalem until after the Sabbath day was over. The law concerning traveling on the Sabbath can be found in Exodus 16:29, where Moses tells the Israelites that they cannot go out of their “place” on the Sabbath day. The word for “place” (H4725) is maqowm and means “locality, country, or home.” In other words, Moses wasn’t trying to keep everyone in his tent, but no one was permitted to leave the camp. In Numbers 35:5 the Law fixed the limits of the city to its suburbs of 2000 cubits (3000 feet) on every side. This was considered to be a Sabbath day’s journey, set by ancient rabbis and continued to the time of Jesus (Acts 1:12). That Jesus agreed with this prohibition of travel on the Sabbath can be seen in the Olivet Prophecy in Matthew 24:20, where he told the apostles to pray that their flight in persecution would not occur in winter or on the Sabbath day. If we would compare Luke 24:50 with Acts 1:12, we would not find any contradiction as some would have us think:

 

The Two Witnesses

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As I claimed in my previous post the “Two Witnesses” are really Jesus. Yet, you may ask how can Jesus, who is one, be two? Well, Jesus said of himself that he came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. Moses and Elijah appeared to him while he was transfigured before Peter, James and John. Both Moses and Elijah were the two witnesses of the Old Testament. Moses represents the whole Law of God and Elijah, being the first of the prophets of God, represents the Prophets and Writings of the Old Covenant. Jesus embodies the entire witness of God and came to fulfill all. Remember that the book of Revelation is a highly pictorial and apocalyptic book. It is not stretching truth to see him this way.

 

Can Atonement Come Without Blood Sacrifice?

I have met people in discussion groups on the internet who will argue that they forgive others without ever asking for a blood sacrifice. Why can’t God do the same? Is man able to do what God cannot do? Isn’t this a higher form of forgiveness? Doesn’t the system of animal sacrifice represent something ancient cultures used, because they didn’t know any better? In reality, doesn’t the Scripture even allude to this when God didn’t destroy Israel after they rebelled against him and made a golden calf? Doesn’t that it show a blood sacrifice is not necessary? This understanding of God’s mercy just does not make sense. So too, the implication that man’s forgiveness represents a higher form of mercy than that used for God in the Scriptures is out of line.

 

Almighty God – O.T.

The identity of the Angel of the LORD can be viewed through the eyes of Jacob to give us an astonishing perspective. Consider Moses’ first encounter with the Angel of YHWH at the burning bush (Who Appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush?). Remember that it was the Angel of the LORD who appeared to Moses, but the Scripture identifies him as God. As the Angel spoke, he identified himself as Jehovah God or the LORD God (see above, Exodus 3:2, 4-6). As the Angel continued to speak to Moses, he revealed a little more about himself,

 

Who Appeared to Moses in the Bush?

In Exodus we find the story of Moses, his birth, how and where he grew up and the reason he fled for his life to the land of Midian (Exodus 2:11-15). During his exile, Moses married the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian. One day, while tending his father-in-law’s sheep, Moses saw a burning bush on a mountain near the place he had taken the flock, yet the bush was not consumed. Although the text says it was the Angel of the LORD that appeared to Moses in the flame (Exodus 3:2), it was the LORD who called out to Moses when he turned aside to see the bush that was not consumed by the fire: