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

Stephen Goes into OT

 If you're a sports fan, you know that overtime is crunch time.  OT is where it all happens.  It's at the end of the game where victory is decided.  

In the Bible, the OT is certainly crunch time and where victory is decided.  But there's one big difference, the OT (Old Testament) comes FIRST.

Here Stephen goes into the OT to explain to the Sanhedrin that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah that God has promised (Acts 7:1-8).  He walks through the OT to show them that all of God's interaction with their forefathers was all about Jesus.

We must never forget that the Old Testament is NOT about great heroes.  It's NOT about wonderful examples of morality.  

There is only one Hero of the story in the OT.  Jesus.  The OT is part of a grand narrative about Christ.  The OT is filled with shadows, types, promises and prophecies about Jesus.  

Some call it the Meta Narrative.  That simply means the Big Story.  

Whatever we read in the OT, we must see in light of Jesus.  We must read it in light of how God uses an endless list of sinful, jacked up people to fulfill His promise of salvation through His Son.

The OT is crunch time.  The OT is where the game is decided.  The only difference is that in the Bible, the OT happens FIRST!

 

Stephen's Jewish enemies drag him before the ruling council.  The proceedings begin with the high priest asking our man Steve, "Are these things so?" (v1).  This is the equivalent of the judge asking the defendant, "How do you plead?"

Well, Steve doesn't exactly answer his question.  Rather, he uses it as an opportunity to preach a sermon.  He basicly opens the Old Testament to its first book and begins walking through God's story, explaining that Jesus is Messiah.  

This is a reminder that we must "always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1Pet 3:15).  

Are you and I ready?  We need to be.  Maybe not to preach a sermon, but to share the good news of Jesus.

Let's remember how Luke describes Stephen.  The apostles appointed him for service along with six other dudes (Acts 6:5).  These men were to be "men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom" (Acts 6:3).  

Steve shows that he’s "a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 6:5).  Once he starts serving, he’s "full of grace and power" as well as "doing great wonders and signs" (Acts 6:8).  

When the Jewish leaders confront him and try to debate him, they’re frustrated by his "wisdom and the Spirit" (Acts 6:10).  No wonder.  With God’s Spirit giving him the words and wisdom, they don’t stand a chance.

The only way they could ever beat Stephen was to cheat.  Just like they did with Jesus, his opponents cook up people willing to commit perjury in order to get him out of the picture (Acts 6:11-13).

Stephen begins his impromptu message by flipping back to the opening pages of the OT.  He tells his Jewish brethren how "the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham" (v2).

Let's be clear about one thing.  Steve is NOT sharing a series of stories about characters from the OT.  He's sharing ONE story about GOD!  

Watch how the One moving the story along, the One making everything happen is actually Almighty God.  He's the One appearing (v2), calling, showing (v3), removing (v4), giving, promising (v5), speaking (v6), judging and afflicting (v7).  

Stephen walks his listeners through the story of Abraham in Genesis (Gen 12:1-4; 17:7-8; 48:4; 15:13-14; 17:10-14).  

This is a not-so-subtle reminder that the first book of the Bible is not a story full of legends and fairy tales.  

It is history.  Or rather His Story.  It is the beginning of the story of God's gracious interaction with His creation.

Heroes are made in OT.  And God is THE Hero of the OT.   

©2011

Jay Jennings

The Prophets' Bottom Line

 Peter continues preaching his second sermon, an impromptu gathering of thousands at Solomon's Porch after he and John healed a man who had never walked. 

In the first part of his message (Acts 3:12-16), he taught how Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, the suffering Servant, the Holy and Righteous One and the Author of Life. 

And this Jesus had just used His two apostles to heal this disabled panhandler as yet one more sign of His divinity.

Rocky also boldly spoke truth to them. They denied Jesus. They turned Him over to Pilate. They exchanged Him for a murderer. And they killed Him. 

Despite everything they had done, God raised Him from the dead.

Pete continues preaching and tells his massive audience, "Brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers" (v17). The Greek word here is agnoia/αγνοια, which gives us our word agnostic. 

In other words, they did what they did because they simply didn't know any better. They were actually unaware that Jesus was Messiah. 

He goes on to tell them that "God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He thus fulfilled" (v18). Peter (through Luke's pen) uses the term "prophet(s)" five times in the next nine verses. 

He says that every one of the OT prophets was talking about Jesus! Christ is their bottom line. He is the fulfillment of all covenant promises God has made.

First, the prophets said He must suffer. The list of such passages is a long one. The key texts are Gen 3:15; Ps 22; Is 53; and Zech 12:10. 

God's promised Son of David was not only to come but to suffer. It was all part of God's plan of salvation.

Peter pleads with his audience to repent and turn back to the Lord (v19)! That's the only way to be forgiven for the sin of rejecting Jesus. 

If we make a 180 from sinful and selfish desires back to God, He’ll take care of forgiving and cleaning us (1Jn 1:9).

He tells them God promised His millennial kingdom through the prophets (v20-21). These will be amazing "times of refreshing" where we will know "the presence of the Lord." 

When Christ brings His kingdom at His Second Coming, it will be "the time for restoring all the things." If the people turn back to God, they will enjoy this eternal paradise with the Christ. Again, Jesus is the prophets' bottom line.

Pete flips his Bible back to Moses who said, "The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers" (v22-23; Dt 18:15, 18, 19). The people had understood Moses' words to be fulfilled in God's Messiah. 

Through the prophets, God promised THE Prophet. And don't miss the fact that the prophets not only predicted Jesus' coming but that He is also a prophet as well. Actually, He is THE Prophet. 

Christ fulfills three key offices on our behalf. Prophet. Priest. King. As Prophet, He speaks God's Word and will to us. And we are to be fully obedient to what Jesus commands (Jn 14:15, 21, 23).

"And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days" (v24). Pete repeats how Jesus is clearly the prophets' bottom line. 

They were all talking about Him. Every last one of them. Sure there were warnings of destruction, calls to repentance and strange visions and dreams. 

But everything they predicted revolved around God's gracious plan of salvation in and through His Son.

Peter points out that as the descendants of these prophets, God has promised to bless the earth through His chosen people. 

The Lord pledged to Abraham, "And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (v25; Gen 22:18). 

In other words, one day the direct descendant of Abraham will offer God's blessing to all people groups on the planet. That "offspring" (or "seed") is Jesus. 

While God has a unique relationship with His chosen people, He offers salvation to all. This is the amazing move of God in the book of Acts that continues to this day.

Through the prophets, God pledged to fulfill His promises. 

Simon Peter once again tells the people of Jesus' resurrection (v26). This is a central point of the Gospel. God has "raised up His Servant." 

And He has offered salvation first to His chosen people. He is blessing them "by turning every one of you from your wickedness." 

Once again, don't miss that salvation is God's work. Yes, we are to repent. But He is also doing the turning.

Jesus is the prophets' bottom line. Is He YOUR bottom line? Does everything in your life center around Him? 

It's not about Bible study. It's not about going to church. It's not about prayer. It's not about worship. 

Yeah, all those things are important. But they are all means to an end. 

It's about Jesus. He must be our bottom line.

©2011

Jay Jennings

Pieces of the Puzzle

My Puzzle Problem

Confession time. My wife and I have got a puzzle problem. Jigsaw puzzles to be exact. And the bigger, the better. 

It all started with a few of those 500-piece deals. Before we knew it, we’re putting together puzzles that have 1,000 and 2,000 pieces! We worked on one so big that it took not just two tables but two weeks to complete.

But there’s nothing like those closing moments when those final pieces click into place. After days when you’re totally convinced some are missing and some are from another puzzle, you become almost giddy fitting the last ones together.

Click.

A Picture of Grace

I’m guessing Jesus never put together a table-sized puzzle picture of beer bottles or breakfast cereals from His childhood. But all throughout the Gospels, we see Him putting the pieces together. Pieces of God’s amazing story of salvation.

Christ didn’t do it for Himself. He did it for others. He did it to show how everything God had done, is doing, and will do snaps together into an amazing picture of grace. And get this. When it’s finished, it’s a self-portrait of Jesus.

Tuesday at the Temple

That’s what we see in Mark 12:35-37. These three verses in the second Gospel show our Savior showing how the God who speaks to Moses from a burning bush, the promise of a Hero from heaven, a royal Descendant, and the lyrics of one of King David’s psalms fit together perfectly.

This all happens in the Tuesday before public execution on Friday in Jerusalem. We find Jesus in the temple courts. He’s just wrapped up five rounds of accusatory questions from the chief priests, scribes, elders, Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees (Mk 11:27-12:34).

Five up, Five down

Christ has taken on all comers and sent them packing. Like an ace pitcher on the mound, He’s sent everyone of them back to the dugout with a strikeout. 

Five up. Five down. 

Mark ends his description of that five-round rout by simply saying, “And after that, no one dared to ask Him any more questions” (Mk 12:34). Are we done here, boys? 

Back to Business

With His enemies speechless, Jesus gets back to business. Let’s see where were we. “Later, as Jesus was teaching in the temple” (v35). That’s what He was doing before He was so rudely interrupted (Mk 11:27).

A quick check in Matthew’s version of the story tells us this went down while the Pharisees are still standing right there…just after Jesus drops the mic on their question on the greatest of God’s commandments (Mt 22:41). 

That’s kind of a big deal since He’s going to talk about them. You see, a big chunk of these teachers are actually Pharisees.

The Hero from Heaven

Christ continues by tossing a question on the table? “Why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David?” (v35).

Most NT translations of these verses will say “Christ” here instead of “Messiah” as the NLT does. What’s up with that? That’s because Christ (Gr. Χριστος/Christos) is the Greek word for Messiah. 

Messiah is the long-awaited and long-promised Hero from heaven. How long? Did you know that God mentions Him for the very first time right after our first parents go rogue in the Garden Eden (Gen 3:15)? 

Putting the Funk in Dysfunction

Anticipation of Messiah is THE Big Story of the Old Testament. It reaches a climax when God tells King David that one of his descendants would eventually rule and reign forever (2Sam 7:11-13).

But have you read about Dave and his crazy family? It’s a dumpster fire of adultery, incest, backstabbing, betrayal, sexual assault, and murder. We’re talking Jerry Springer kinda stuff. They totally put the funk in dysfunction!

Straight Lines and Crooked Sticks

Yet God uses them in a powerful way to bring about His purposes. What an awesome reminder that He can use anyone. Yup, anyone. That includes you and me. 

Oh He knows that we may have our issues. But, as the old saying goes, God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick.

Could HE Be the One?

For thousands of years God’s people waited and watched for the One to come. And in Jesus’ day, it was common knowledge among the Jewish people that Messiah would eventually come from David’s family tree (Jn 7:42).

The radical Rabbi/Carpenter from the boondocks of Galilee had folks scratching their heads. Could HE be the One? In the front half of Mark’s bio of Jesus, there’s a truckload of speculation on just who He really is (Mk 1:1-8:26).

A Peek Behind the Curtain

Eventually the Lord gives His team a peek behind the curtain and lets them in on His true messianic identity (Mk 8:27-10:52). For the rest of the second Gospel, the Lord demonstrates that He’s not the kind of Messiah anyone is expecting (Mk 11-16).

That all comes to a climax when during what we on what we now call Palm Sunday, the first day of Passion Week. The huge crowd in Jerusalem goes bonkers when it clearly sees Jesus as the messianic Son of David. It was part of their cheers and chants on His ticker tape parade into town (Ml 11:10; Mt 21:9).

Inspired Lyrics

Fast forward back to Tuesday at the temple as another big crowd surrounds our Savior. He continues His examination of the Messiah’s identity with a look into one of David’s hit songs.

But before getting to the specific lyrics, Jesus points out something supernatural about the great king’s songwriting process. He tells the crowd, “For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit” (v36).

The Holy Ghost Writer

In other words, the king was truly inspired when he wrote the lyrics to his hit song. And when I say “inspired,” I mean with a capital “I.” As in inspired by the Holy Spirit. Yup, the Third Member of the Godhead.

That’s because God’s Spirit has inspired the human authors to write every single word in the 66 documents we call the Old and New Testament. Think of Him as the Holy Ghost writer ensuring God gets His message across.

Inspired by God

Paul puts it like this. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong with our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare His people to do every good work” (2Tim 3:16).

So who better to drop some knowledge on what God inspired through David than the Son of God and the Son of David? Buckle up, boys and girls. Jesus is about to do some good work with His take on the opening riff of Psalm 110.

The Top of the Org Chart

Christ continues, “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit in the place of honor at My right hand, until I humble Your enemies under Your feet’” (v36). Lordy, it gets a kinda confusing when it comes to all this “Lord” and “Lord” stuff.

Let’s start with a definition of “Lord” (Gr. Κυριος/Kurios). It describes the person in charge, the boss, the owner, the one at the top of the org chart. Pretty easy to see why we say this about Jesus, isn’t it?

Lord of All or Not Lord at All

When we call Jesus our Lord, we’re admitting that we should do what He says. If we’re going to place our trust in what He’s DONE for us, we must trust in what He WILL DO for us. 

That means trusting in His leadership and obeying His commands. As the old saying goes, He’s either Lord of all or not Lord at all.

Two Lords

But why are there not one but two Lords here? Okay, hang with me. 

Throughout the Old Testament, God says His personal name is actually Yahweh (or actually YHWH, since these are the four consonants that make up the name in the original Hebrew). 

Transformer or Dinosaur?

Smarter folks than me call this name the Tetragrammaton. Sounds way more like one of the Transformers or a genetically modified dinosaur from the Jurassic Park franchise.

 

Yahweh is kinda hard to define, but it’s basically a form of the Hebrew verb “to be.” That’s where we get the idea of “I Am Who I Am” (Ex 3:14) or “I Will Be Who I Will Be.” You’ve probably heard of God as the Great I Am. This is where we get that.

A Biblical Word Swap

That’s all well and good but where does Lord come in? So glad you asked. When Hebrew scholars translated the Jewish Bible into Greek around 300 BC, they were so worried that they would misuse God’s name that they actually swapped it out for “Lord.” And that’s we see in just about every translation of the OT today.

The Second Lord

So what about the second “Lord” here in verse 36 and Psalm 110:1? You are SO smart and ask all the right questions! This is how the writers of the NT translated the Hebrew word “adonai” from the OT.

The meaning of adonai is almost identical to κυριος/kurios. Again, it’s the boss, the one in charge, or the master. When we understand that, it’s pretty easy to see how this second “Lord” got there, right? Still with me?

The Seat of Honor

Now put yourself in the sandals of a first century Jew hearing or reading the words of David’s psalm in the original Hebrew. They understand it to go a little something like this. “The Great I Am says to my Master.”

Yahweh invites David’s Boss to have a seat next to Him. “Sit in the place of honor at My right hand, until I humble Your enemies under Your feet” (v36). Think of your host inviting you to sit in their favorite chair.

Haters Gonna Lose

Check out the word translated “enemies” (Gr. εχθρος/echthros). It paints a picture of a bitter foe or hostile opposition. It comes from a root word describing hate.

Take a load off, Lord. Allow the Almighty to grab a stool for You. A stool that He’s going to make out of all those who hate You. Haters gonna hate. But haters of Jesus also gonna lose.

That just means that our Savior will eventually get the W over every single one of His enemies. Specifically, we’re talking about Satan, sin, and death. They’ll go down with a whimper while Christ kicks back with His messianic feet on them.

David’s Connection

It’s at this point where Jesus comes back to David’s connection to the Hero from Heaven. “Since David himself calls Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how Messiah be his son?” (v37). 

In other words, how can the king, the guy who’s the ultimate ruler of his world, call his own descendent his own boss? Unlike today, kids and grandkids didn’t tell grownups what to do back in the ancient world.

Jesus says the big idea is that David realized, under the influence of God’s Spirit, that one of his descendants would actually be the One in charge. Someone from his royal lineage would not only be king but THE Messiah!

The Crowd Explodes

Mark lets us know that the mass of people packed into the temple courts knows EXACTLY what Jesus is saying! “And the large crowd listened to Him with great delight” (v37).

I’m sorry but the translation of “great delight” just doesn’t cut it for me when we dive into the original language. This is the Greek word ‘ηδεως/hedeus, which comes from the same root word where we get “hedonism.”

So they don’t give the Son of God some polite golf clap. The crowd explodes when they realize what’s just happened! He leaves them buzzing with excitement. 

The Final Pieces

Our Savior puts the final pieces of the messianic puzzle into place and the crowd goes wild!! After centuries of waiting and wondering how all of these promises and prophecies would eventually come together, Jesus snaps them all together perfectly.

Click. 

It’s at this point in the story where you probably expect the people celebrate Jesus as the Christ. It’s one of those “and they all lived happily ever after” moments. I hate to disappoint you but that’s not how it goes.

A Few More Pieces

There’s just one problem. Friday is coming. In just three days, the same big crowd that is cheering for Him now as the Son of David and Messiah will demand His murder.

You see, there’s still a few more pieces of the puzzle to go. And the picture won’t be complete until Jesus comes strolling out of the cemetery on Sunday morning. 

Click.

©2020

Jay Jennings