The Big Mo

 Full of the Holy Spirit, Stephen continues to use his trial before the Sanhedrin as a God given opportunity to tell them that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah (Acts 7:17-44).  

He has told the council how Almighty God sovereignly used goofballs like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs and Joseph as players in His divine plan of salvation.

Don't miss two VERY important points.  First, the Old Testament is about Jesus.  All of it.  Second, God is the Hero of the story.  Not the human agents he uses.

Stephen then tells the very familiar story of Moses.  He reminds the council how the clock counted down to "the time of the promise" (v17).  

This is the promise God made to Abraham (Acts 7:5; Gen 17:8; 48:4), what we now call the Abrahamic Covenant.  

As the second hand moves closer to God's fulfillment of His covenant, something amazing happens.  "The people increased and multiplied in Egypt” (v17).  God’s chosen people explode in number.  

Again, this was all part of God's promise to Abe.  The Israelites apparently grew from about 76 people (Acts 7:14) to upwards of a million in their 430 years in Egypt.

There was one big problem for God's people.  There was a new king in town, one "who did not know Joseph" (v18).  This new monarch saw these people as a threat and decided to do a little ethnic cleansing (v19).

This was the scene into which Moses was born.  "And he was beautiful in God's sight” (v20).  Did you know that our heavenly Dad sees each follower of Jesus the very same way?

Steve describes the amazing story of God's hand on this Prince of Egypt.  Set afloat on the Nile to avoid infanticide.  Rescued by Pharaoh's daughter and raised in royalty (v21).  As a result, the Big Mo has life by the tail.  

That will soon change.  At age 40, Moses murders an Egyptian slave driver for abusing an Israelite (v24).  He believed this was the first step in his liberation of his native people (v25).  

But instead of hailing Moses as the leader of the rebellion, the Israelites saw him as a killer (v27-28).  The would-be liberator turned fugitive and headed to Midian (v29).

Fast forward 40 years and we see Moses stumbling onto a burning bush (v30-31).  It turned out to be God's angel (probably pre-incarnate Christ).  

The voice from the flame states, "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob" (v32).  

God Himself has heard the cries of His people in Egypt, "and I have come down to deliver them" (v34).  And He's going to use Moses to do it!  

Once again, God uses jacked up people in jaw-dropping ways.  Moses is in a long line of losers the Lord loves.  

This is what Paul meant when he wrote, "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1Cor 1:27-30).  

Remember, God is the Hero of the story.  Not the Big Mo.

God uses this not-so-mighty Mo as "ruler and redeemer" to His people (v35).  Stephen tells how Moses performed "wonders and signs" just like the apostles in the early church (v36).  

Moses is what theologians call a "type" of Christ.  He exhibits certain characteristics, qualities and behaviors that give us a hint of the One who is to come.  

Moses himself says, "God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers" (v37; Dt 18:15).  Scripture clearly tells us that Mo is talking about Jesus.

After God uses Moses to lead His people from bondage, the Israelites then stun their leader with one of the most ridiculous moments of mutiny in all of history (v38-41).  

While Mo was on the mountain with God receiving the "living oracles" (God's Word is truly living and active according to Hebrews 4:12), they molded a golden cow and began to worship it.  

Stephen describes God's reaction to their rebellion.  It is frightening.  "But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven" (v42).  

This same God was with Joseph (Acts 7:9) rejects the people He graciously chose.  And when He "gave them over” (v42), this is an example of what is called the Passive Wrath of God.  

That means the Lord doesn't punish them directly.  He allows them to suffer the consequences of their disobedience.  This is His way of letting them have their way.  It's God's use of boundaries.

Steve then quotes the prophet Amos.  Through Amos, God warns His people that their rejection and idolatry will have dire consequences.  

"I will send you into exile beyond Babylon” (v42-43; Am 5:25-27).  In other words, He will actively punish them if they continue in their rebellion.  

We have seen how our gracious God has used a series of messed up men in His plan of salvation.  

Now the very people He has chosen and through whom He will raise up His Messiah have fully rejected Him.  His chastisement of them is for their own good.  And ultimately, it is for our good.  

Stephen tells the council that just as they have rejected Jesus, the people rejected God.  He is the Hero of the story. 

©2011

Jay Jennings

God Gives You the Day off

Did you realize that God is very serious about you taking a day off? He knows you need the rest. He knows you need to pump the brakes of your busy life. And a big part of getting this rest is resting in Him. That’s why He created the Sabbath. He’s so serious about the Sabbath that He put it in His Top Ten. So when Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem and finds the people ignoring God’s divinely decreed day off, he hits the roof (Neh 13:15-22). What should be a day kick back and focus on the LORD is a day devoted to looking for bargains. Jerusalem’s gates are open and the city is open for business. But the governor shuts the gates and shuts it all down. This isn’t about rule-keeping but about remembering just how much God faithfully loves His people. He loves you so much that He gives you a day off. 

The scene is Jerusalem. The time is somewhere around 430-420 BC. God has worked to bring home about 60,000 of His chosen people in three waves. First under Zerubbabel (Ez 2:1-2). The second under Ezra the scribe (Ez 7:6). The third under a cupbearer-turned-governor named Nehemiah (Neh 1:11-2:11). Nehemiah serves God and His people for a dozen years in Jerusalem (Neh 5:14). His supervision of the city walls reconstruction project is at the top of his resume (Neh 1:3; 6:15). At the end of his 12-year leave of absence, Nehemiah heads back home to his job as the royal wine steward under the king of Persia (Neh 13:6). But he makes a return trip to the Promised Land to check up on things. 

Nehemiah quickly discovers the situation in the city is falling apart. One of the priests has turned over one of the temple storage units to one of Jewish enemies as his deluxe apartment in the sky (Neh 13:4-7). The angry governor personally kicks Tobiah’s stuff to the curb (Neh 13:8). Because there’s no room to store their food supplies, the Levites and singers leave the temple and head home to get a second job (Neh 13:10). Nehemiah appoints new supervisors over the storerooms and restocks the pantry (Neh 13:11-14).

After all the the chaos at the temple, you can bet Nehemiah was looking forward to kicking back on the Sabbath and setting his heart on the goodness of God. But as the sun goes down Friday night, he notices vendors setting up. “In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day” (v15). Just when God’s people should be winding down, business starts picking up. 

Nehemiah is serious about the Sabbath because God is serious about the Sabbath. He uses the word describing this weekly day off (Heb. shabbat) 10 times in verses 15-21. This holy day goes back to Creation week when God wrapped up His six-day work week to enjoy His supernatural handiwork. “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation” (Gen 2:3). It’s not like our Creator needed the time off. He certainly wasn’t tired. But He gives a pattern to follow. God takes the day off to rest. We’re to take day off to rest.

Fast forward from Creation week to the Exodus. For 400 years, the Egyptians made sure that the Jews never got a day off. Seven days a week, the Israelites went to work as slaves. Generation after generation of God’s people knew nothing of a day off. Ever. Once Yahweh springs the Hebrews from captivity in Egypt, He graciously gives them Saturday off every week. It’s a key part of the Big Ten chiseled in stone for Moses on Mount Sinai (Ex 20:8-11). Just as God took the day off at the end of Creation, He gives His people a day off each week after working 400 years without one. 

He declares each Sabbath Saturday to be holy. The best way to understand this is that is should look VERY different from the other six days of the work week. We’re to rest from our work. We’re to rest in Him. God loads the Bible encouragement to find our rest in Him and Him alone (Ex 33:14; Ps 4:8; Ps 23; Ps 37:7). Jesus makes it clear that we can experience a level of relaxation in Him that can’t be found anywhere else. “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Mt 11:28-30).

Back in Jerusalem, Nehemiah warns the sellers to back off (v15). He also gets in the grill of the movers and shakers of Jewish society, “the nobles of Judah” (v17). They had better realize that they are trashing their God-given day off. “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?” (v17). He uses the Hebrew verb chalal, which means to pollute, defile, desecrate, or dishonor. What should be a wonderful and restful day set aside for setting our hearts on God and His goodness has become a clogged toilet of selfish consumption and consumerism. For Pete’s sake, they had already made a covenant promise not to be Sabbath breakers with local vendors (Neh 10:31). The governor reminds folks that this is exactly one of the reasons God sent them into Babylonian exile in the first place (v18; (Jer 17:19-23, 27).

Things come to a head one Friday night at sunset. Since the Sabbath officially starts when the sun goes down on Friday (Lev 23:32), Nehemiah gives the order to shut the city gates to keep out all the Gentile vendors from setting up shop (v19). And nobody gets in until sunset Saturday. The next thing you know, sellers start lining up and camping out just outside the walls (v20). At this point, the governor has had enough and makes it clear that this stops right here, right now. “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you” (v21). Just in case you’re wondering, Nehemiah is not offering to pray over these merchants. He warns them that he will personally kick some booty if they don’t pack up their junk and hit the road. He’s more than happy to engage in a little Sabbath sundown showdown. In the words of the great prophet and theologian Elton John, Saturday’s alright for fighting. Message delivered loud and clear. These local vendors wanted no piece of that action. This was not a problem any longer. 

The crisis ends with Nehemiah telling the Levites to guard the gates and keep the Sabbath (v22). Once things settle down, the governor prays to the One who loves His people so much that He provides this day of rest. “Remember this also in my favor, O God, and spare me according to the greatness of Your steadfast love” (v22). At the end of each of his specific reforms here in chapter 13, Nehemiah humbles himself before God (Neh 13:14, 22, 29). Here he sets his focus on the LORD’s loyal and long-lasting goodness toward His people. This is the awesome Hebew term chesed. It describes God’s faithful, lovingkindness, and unfailing love. It’s the active and never-failing love connected with God’s covenant promise to His people. This love is based on God’s faithfulness not our obedience. His undeserved goodness. The term we see in the New Testament for this very same idea is grace. Tullian Tchividjian likes to call it God’s descending, one-way love. We worship God not because we’re good but because He is. Nehemiah prays to the ever-loving, ever-faithful God who’s behind everything that’s happened in the resettlement and rebuilding of Jerusalem. 

You might get the idea that Nehemiah is some sort of religious fanatic and bully when it comes to keeping the Sabbath. But this is NOT about following the rules. This is about knowing that God wants His best for us. He made us and knows we need rest. He made us for a deep relationship with Him. Observing the Sabbath is a huge part of that. A little more than 400 years later, Jesus would make it clear that God created the Sabbath for man, not the other way around (Mk 2:27). He tells the religious police that they are totally missing the point if they think rule-keeping on the Sabbath and temple worship is the big idea. “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here…For the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath” (Mt 12:6, 8). What’s even better, there’s an ultimate Sabbath in our future (Heb 4:9-11). 

God loves you so much that He gives you a day off. He loves you so much that He wants you to spend that day off with Him.

Exodus 2.0

Long before Christian Bale and even before Charlton Heston, God used the original Moses to lead His people out of Egypt after 400 years of forced labor. While you might have seen the movie, I suggest you read the book. Or should I say The Book. Flip back over and check out Exodus 1-15 for the full story. Hollywood spent millions making these motion pictures but they look like bad straight-to-DVD flicks when compared to the epic true story. Did you know that God wrote a sequel to His original blockbuster? You’ll find it in the second chapter of Ezra. After 70 years of slavery in Babylon, God moves the heart of King Cyrus to send the Israelites back to the Promised Land (Ez 1:1-4). Ezra tells the story of the second Exodus. Exodus 2.0.

Before we get to the roster of who’s headed home, Ezra wants to remind us of just how God’s people got to Babylon in the first place. They were “those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia” (v1). Seventy years before, Nebuchadnezzar was the baddest man on the planet. Seventy years before, God’s people had taken His gift of the Promised Land and turned it into a dumpster fire. So as a result, Yahweh used the Babylonian king to, shall we say, get the Israelites attention. Nebuchadnezzar brutally attacked Jerusalem in one of the most bloody assaults ever recorded (1Ki 24:10-14). Just as God had promised, the brutal king’s troops destroyed the city and the temple, stole the temple treasure, and hauled 10,000 Jews back to Babylon. Seventy years later, God uses the Persians and King Cyrus to kick a little Babylonian booty. Not long after that, it’s time for Exodus 2.0.

As folks head home “to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town” (v1), we see a list of those leading the way. “They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reeliaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah” (v2). If you’re looking for extensive bios of these dudes, you have come to the wrong place. We just don’t know much about most of this crew. We do know that this is NOT the Nehemiah that we read about later in the book bearing his name. And we know that this is NOT the Mordecai we read about over in the story of Esther. 

However we DO know Zerubabbel and Jeshua. This dynamic duo play similar roles to Moses and Aaron in the prequel. One is the leader and the other is the prophet. The Z Man is the point man for this return and will take office as governor when they arrive. And check out Zerubbabel’s family tree. He’s a descendant of the one and only King David. And that’s not all! Both Matthew and Dr. Luke list him as one of Jesus’ ancestors (Mt 1:12-13; Lk 3:27)!! So he’s kind of a big deal. We’ll see that he’s also credited with playing a key role in the rebuilding of the temple (Zech 4:9). His tag team partner is Jeshua. He’s the high priest who’ll take the lead in the worship of God once the temple is back up and running. Jeshua’s family history is also pretty impressive. He’s a direct descendant of Levi and Aaron. And if that’s not enough, his name means “God saves” in Hebrew. Yeshua is not only the same name as Joshua in the original language but is also what people would have called Jesus. 

This Old Testament connection to Christ is huge. Our Savior said so Himself. Jesus told the Jewish leaders that they were missing the point in how they read the Bible. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me” (Jn 5:39). Later He goes so far as to say that when Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible “he wrote about Me” (Jn 5:46). After His resurrection, Jesus leads two dudes headed back to Emmaus in one of the most spectacular Bible studies in history. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Lk 24:27). The big idea is that it’s all about Jesus. The purpose of God’s Word is to point us to His Son and our Savior. Jesus is THE HERO of THE STORY. Every book of the Bible predicts or points to Christ in some manner. It’s all about Jesus. Period.

Meanwhile back in Ezra, we read the roster of the Jews headed back home from Babylon. First the author lists the families of Israelite citizens (v2-35). Next, the priests (v36-39), the Levites (v40-42), the temple servants (v43-54), and the descendants of King Solomon’s staff (v55-58). Next we see folks in the traveling party that couldn’t trace their ancestry back before the exile (v59-60) as well as folks who were pretty sure they were priests but couldn’t prove it (v61-62). Let’s call these people “undocumented.” I’m not making a political statement on immigration here, but they were allowed to be part of the second Exodus but had limited rights and privileges. Once everybody was back in the Promised Land, the high priest would try to sort everything out using something called the Urim and Thummim (v63). We’re not exactly sure what this was. Would it be sacrilegious for me to think of this as some sort of divine Magic 8 Ball? Whatever the case, they were part of posse that totals 49,697.

Once they hit the city of Jerusalem, it became obvious that they needed to raise funds in order to fix up the temple. Folks stepped up and “made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site” (v68). I’m pretty sure Jewish leaders didn’t bring in consultants to run a capital campaign for the project. These people gave willingly as an act of worship of the One who brought them out of Babylon. They gave abundantly as an act of thanksgiving for all that God had given them. This isn’t duty. This isn’t obligation. This is love. This is worship. They give because He gave. Think back on all that Jesus has done for you and all that He’s given you. Shouldn’t we give because He gave?

So now God’s people are home. It’s the Exodus 2.0. Will there be another episode in the trilogy? Will there be an Exodus 3.0? Of course there is! Just as God freed His people from slavery in both Egypt and Babylon, He has something else up His supernatural sleeve. The first time He used Moses. The second time He used Zerubbabel. The third time He did it Himself. In the final and most thrilling episode, Jesus personally leads us from the slavery of our sin and self into the Promised Land of freedom and salvation. 

Call it Exodus 3.0.