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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
Acts 6:8-14
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The Book of Acts is full of parallels within its first eight chapters after Jesus ascends and the disciples go into Jerusalem to await the gift of the Holy Spirit as He directed.
Jesus didn’t start His ministry work in earnest until He was baptized in the Jordan by John and then received the Holy Spirit which descended from heaven and entered Him.
The apostles didn’t start their ministry work in Jerusalem until they were baptized by fire and received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
Jesus started His ministry work with preaching, miraculous healing, and amazingly driving out demons from the possessed. As He did, the number of people who followed Him grew daily.
After gaining the Holy Spirit, we read where the apostles had the power to do all the same things and did so in Jerusalem, adding to the number of new Christians in the city every day.
And the more popular became, the more He was seen as a threat by the Jewish religious authorities who persecuted Him and sought to intimidate Him to try and stop His ministry work.
Over the past few devotions, we have found the Sanhedrin trying to do the same to Jesus’ followers, first bringing Peter and John in after they healed a lame man at the temple gate and then all twelve apostles as they preached in the name of Jesus and made more and more disciples as they carried out Jesus’ Great Commission.
With this as a backdrop, we continue to study from the sixth chapter of Acts and once again see parallels present themselves, this time between Jesus and Stephen, one of the seven specially elected men to assist the apostles in handling the social needs of the community. We’ll be looking at three specific similarities between the Savior of the world and His faithful, dedicated servant.
As our scripture passage opens, we read where Stephen had ruffled the feathers of some of the Jewish establishment, particularly the members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen who were “Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia”. We’re told that Stephen, described as a “man full of God’s grace and power”, had “performed great wonders and signs among the people” and his work drew the opposition of the aforementioned synagogue. But despite their efforts to come against Stephen, they were no match for his wisdom, not because he had it naturally but rather because the Holy Spirit was giving it to him as he spoke. . Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
This is reminiscent to how Jesus continuously frustrated those who tried to oppose Him in His ministry. For time after time after time, the Jewish religious leaders tried to oppose Jesus, even scheming to try and catch Him saying something they could use against Him. But every single time, they found themselves frustrated and outwitted by a Man who possessed greater intellectual and supernatural power than they could ever imagine.
And so they made up false charges to bring against Him. The only way they could bring Him down was to fabricate lies, charging Jesus with blaphemy.
Now fast forward to Stephen.
Since the members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen couldn’t legitimately eliminate Stephen, they resorted to wickedness to achieve their purposes. The scriptures tell us they “secretly persuaded some men” to accuse Stephen of speaking “blasphemous words against Moses and against God”, a false allegation that achieved its intent. For we read where “the people and the elders and the teachers of the law” were stirred up, angered to the place where they arrested Stephen and hauled him before the Sanhedrin, just as Jesus was. Once there, false witnesses came forward and brought the following testimony:
“This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
The words were damning against Stephen who faced a difficult path to defend himself, especially when the majority of his accusers had already decided his guilt, not based on a consultation with the God they claimed to love and serve, but rather based on their own desires and understanding. More trust was placed in themselves than the Lord.
It happened with Jesus and now it was happening with Stephen.
Parallels.
Tomorrow, we’ll examine another correlation.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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