01-14-2023, 05:19 PM
Israel never seemed to understand that their national identity was not the DNA of Abraham, but their adherence to the Covenant. They were never very good at inviting others to embrace the revelation they were given for that very purpose. They got worse as time went on. Jesus had told His disciples to take the New Covenant to all nations.
Stephen was the first man to knowingly stretch the initial audience of the gospel of the Messiah. The gospel message went first to Hebrew-speaking Jews in Palestine. At Pentecost, a miracle brought the message to a few Jews who spoke other languages. With the authorizing of the seven Greek-speaking elders, the message began spreading by their reflex to preach among the Hellenized Jews. The Lord Himself was tearing down the wall Jews had built around themselves to keep the world out of the Covenant.
But Stephen had warned his audience that they had also kept themselves outside of the Covenant. They were unable to recognize that Jesus was the Messiah because they had rejected the Covenant He was trying to restore. The accusations against him were only superficially accurate. As he stood before the Sanhedrin, his face aglow, Stephen proceeded to answer the charges against him.
His primary defense was that the nation had been in no position to judge Jesus, nor anyone else, for that matter. The boundaries of their identity as the Chosen were not in the borders, nor the people, nor the Temple, nor the rules they had piled up. It was rooted in God Himself, the One who made the promises on Mount Sinai.
God had made them a nation. He started with Abraham in a far away land. His location, neither at Ur or Haran, prevented him hearing God and obeying, and reaping the promises. He surrendered his inheritance in Haran and went to wander in a land where he never owned more than a burial plot. That's because the real inheritance he passed onto to his descendants was faith in God and His plans.
Those plans included a period of bondage in Egypt. This was to provide their national birth by His miraculous deliverance. But the descendants of Abraham were not good men, selling one of their own brothers into bondage, never realizing it was the first step in their own bondage. Their failures did not prevent God keeping His promises. Joseph prospered in Pharaoh's court. Eventually a new dynasty arose with no sense of gratitude for just how much Joseph had done to save Egypt.
In the midst of an awful oppression, including the forced slaughter of male babies to the Nile gods, Moses not only survived, but was raised in the very courts of the Pharaoh who had tried to have him killed. God was watching over His promises. Still, his own nation rejected Moses when he sought to lead them out. They would rather stay and suffer than do the work of becoming a nomadic people as God intended.
So it took another forty years while Moses doubled his education. Having first learned everything the Egyptians could teach him, Jethro taught him his forgotten Aramaic heritage and the knowledge of Jehovah. After this, he returned to Egypt to lead God's people out. It was a real struggle and they still weren't ready to leave, but were eventually driven out because of the miraculous afflictions God brought on their oppressors. They whined pitifully all the way through incomparable miracle of crossing the sea on dry ground.
All the way through the wilderness of Sinai, they kept up the idolatry they had picked up from other nations, nations that had none of Jehovah's promises. But God was faithful, and His wrath fell only lightly upon them for their sins. He gave them the Tabernacle to build up their sense of identity, all the while keeping the pillar of fire and smoke with them. He gave them the deliverer they rejected, the Law they disobeyed, the Tabernacle they neglected in favor of pagan deities. Still, He drove out the pagan nations under Joshua so they could possess the Promised Land.
Later, while living in that land, He granted them powerful leaders who built the Temple, along with the nation's wealth and power. What did they lack from God's hand to make them a proud nation who might serve His glory? They cared more about the symbols than the God who loved them.
After reciting all of this, Stephen lowered the boom. Which of His prophets had Israel not persecuted or killed? They prophesied of the coming Messiah who, when He came in due time, they promptly rejected and murdered. The Word was delivered by the hands of angels, even in the form of a man, but they refused to obey. When did this nation not reject the God who called and made them from nothing?
When Stephen then claimed to see the vision of Jesus standing in the clouds -- the vision they had already rejected when Jesus promised to return -- they could bear it no longer. They bum rushed Stephen and dragged him outside the city walls. Instead of a proper Hebrew execution of solemnly crushed by stones, they were throwing them wildly at him with visceral hatred.
Luke notes that a certain Saul was there as their official witness, probably the lowest ranking member of their staff, denied the satisfaction of participating in this bloodlust. Stephen's final words was a plea for God's mercy on those who were killing him.
The only mercy God granted was in waiting another generation before pouring His wrath on the remnant of the formerly Chosen People in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. They had closed the door on God's Word for the last time. There was no going back after the hasty execution of Stephen. The Lord was going to send His message to the nations.
Stephen was the first man to knowingly stretch the initial audience of the gospel of the Messiah. The gospel message went first to Hebrew-speaking Jews in Palestine. At Pentecost, a miracle brought the message to a few Jews who spoke other languages. With the authorizing of the seven Greek-speaking elders, the message began spreading by their reflex to preach among the Hellenized Jews. The Lord Himself was tearing down the wall Jews had built around themselves to keep the world out of the Covenant.
But Stephen had warned his audience that they had also kept themselves outside of the Covenant. They were unable to recognize that Jesus was the Messiah because they had rejected the Covenant He was trying to restore. The accusations against him were only superficially accurate. As he stood before the Sanhedrin, his face aglow, Stephen proceeded to answer the charges against him.
His primary defense was that the nation had been in no position to judge Jesus, nor anyone else, for that matter. The boundaries of their identity as the Chosen were not in the borders, nor the people, nor the Temple, nor the rules they had piled up. It was rooted in God Himself, the One who made the promises on Mount Sinai.
God had made them a nation. He started with Abraham in a far away land. His location, neither at Ur or Haran, prevented him hearing God and obeying, and reaping the promises. He surrendered his inheritance in Haran and went to wander in a land where he never owned more than a burial plot. That's because the real inheritance he passed onto to his descendants was faith in God and His plans.
Those plans included a period of bondage in Egypt. This was to provide their national birth by His miraculous deliverance. But the descendants of Abraham were not good men, selling one of their own brothers into bondage, never realizing it was the first step in their own bondage. Their failures did not prevent God keeping His promises. Joseph prospered in Pharaoh's court. Eventually a new dynasty arose with no sense of gratitude for just how much Joseph had done to save Egypt.
In the midst of an awful oppression, including the forced slaughter of male babies to the Nile gods, Moses not only survived, but was raised in the very courts of the Pharaoh who had tried to have him killed. God was watching over His promises. Still, his own nation rejected Moses when he sought to lead them out. They would rather stay and suffer than do the work of becoming a nomadic people as God intended.
So it took another forty years while Moses doubled his education. Having first learned everything the Egyptians could teach him, Jethro taught him his forgotten Aramaic heritage and the knowledge of Jehovah. After this, he returned to Egypt to lead God's people out. It was a real struggle and they still weren't ready to leave, but were eventually driven out because of the miraculous afflictions God brought on their oppressors. They whined pitifully all the way through incomparable miracle of crossing the sea on dry ground.
All the way through the wilderness of Sinai, they kept up the idolatry they had picked up from other nations, nations that had none of Jehovah's promises. But God was faithful, and His wrath fell only lightly upon them for their sins. He gave them the Tabernacle to build up their sense of identity, all the while keeping the pillar of fire and smoke with them. He gave them the deliverer they rejected, the Law they disobeyed, the Tabernacle they neglected in favor of pagan deities. Still, He drove out the pagan nations under Joshua so they could possess the Promised Land.
Later, while living in that land, He granted them powerful leaders who built the Temple, along with the nation's wealth and power. What did they lack from God's hand to make them a proud nation who might serve His glory? They cared more about the symbols than the God who loved them.
After reciting all of this, Stephen lowered the boom. Which of His prophets had Israel not persecuted or killed? They prophesied of the coming Messiah who, when He came in due time, they promptly rejected and murdered. The Word was delivered by the hands of angels, even in the form of a man, but they refused to obey. When did this nation not reject the God who called and made them from nothing?
When Stephen then claimed to see the vision of Jesus standing in the clouds -- the vision they had already rejected when Jesus promised to return -- they could bear it no longer. They bum rushed Stephen and dragged him outside the city walls. Instead of a proper Hebrew execution of solemnly crushed by stones, they were throwing them wildly at him with visceral hatred.
Luke notes that a certain Saul was there as their official witness, probably the lowest ranking member of their staff, denied the satisfaction of participating in this bloodlust. Stephen's final words was a plea for God's mercy on those who were killing him.
The only mercy God granted was in waiting another generation before pouring His wrath on the remnant of the formerly Chosen People in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. They had closed the door on God's Word for the last time. There was no going back after the hasty execution of Stephen. The Lord was going to send His message to the nations.