Someone greater than the Torah has been delivered by angels
Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
Stephen again is quoting Old Testament text. Notice that it is no longer “our fathers”, but “your fathers”. If they have any problems identifying with their idolatrous ancestors, Stephen gives them no wiggle room to guess. It was God who first labeled the disobedient Israelites as stiff-necked. Moses, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel equally described their generations as having uncircumcised hearts and ears. The Old Testament is full of examples and allusions to the murderous treatment that prophets received at the hands of Israelites bent on their perverted worship.
It is not Stephen who had disparaged the temple or blasphemed Moses and the law. All through the Old Testament, disobedient and idolatrous Israel had obstinately rejected God’s will for their worship. Before the original tablets were even off of the mountain they were broken in two because, in their desire for worship that they could see, they had rejected the law before it was even handed to them.
This law, represented by the 10 commandments, had been delivered in a blaze of shekinah glory on Sinai. In his last words to Israel, Moses says in Deuteronomy 33, the passage we read earlier that the law had been delivered in glory by angels. This is no ordinary law. This is a covenant that had been written by God’s finger in the Shekinah glory of Sinai, delivered by angels, and proclaimed by Moses with a shining face. It was through this law that Deuteronomy 33:5 tells us that God was declared king. It is through the law and its covenant that God exercised his rule and authority over His people.
Yet Israel, as Stephen has articulated, rejected Moses, the law, and God in his glory. Historically, Israel had no room for Moses. They wanted delivered from the Egyptians, but they were not interested in the deliverer. They wanted a temple, but only as long as they could confine God to a box as their captors had done with their own gods in Egypt. They wanted a covenant, but they did not want a law that convicts of sin, driving them to place their faith in a future Messiah and his provisional sacrifice. They wanted a king, but they did not want a king exercising God’s authority over them. They wanted idols. They wanted Egypt. And they wanted freedom not only from slavery but from God.
And the Israelites wanted a deliverer but they did not want a Messiah. This much was true even in their “pushing aside of Moses”. Stephen shows that the Moses the Sanhedrin thought they thought they held in high esteem preached Christ, the One they had already crucified. Not only had they killed the prophets, but they killed the One of whom the prophets preached. Moses and the prophets spoke of Christ and were killed for it, meaning any pending martyrdom for Stephen would have much precedent.
Stephen, the prosecutor, hands down his indictment. There, before the Sanhedrin with shining face, Stephen places himself within the story of Sinai. Stephen, the one who does signs and wonders like Moses, emphatically proclaims the obvious elephant in the room: “My shining face is a witness against you. In rejecting me, you have rejected Moses and the law.” The indicted becomes the indicter. But there’s more. There is so much more.
Stephen isn’t merely referencing Deuteronomy 33. He is not merely placing himself within the story of Sinai. Luke has already provided the backdrop:
Luke 2:8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory (the shekinah glory) of the Lord shone around them... 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Stephen is placing himself within the story of Bethlehem. Something or Someone greater than the Torah has been delivered by angels. And as the disobedient Israelites rejected what had been delivered by angels, so too, disobedient Israelites, including this Sanhedrin, had rejected the fulfillment of the law which had been accompanied by angels to Bethlehem. Into the Old Testament line of martyred prophets, Stephen places the baby delivered by angels to be the new Torah. It is that baby, who is both Law and Lawgiver who would be martyred. It is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, the Righteous One who numbered himself with the transgressors and made many righteous. It is the Righteous ruler and redeemer that Zechariah says would come riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey that has been betrayed and murdered. Surrounded by a heavenly host giving praise to God, the New Torah had been delivered and subsequently rejected, just as Israel had done to so many prophets who had proclaimed the Messiah’s coming.
Stephen’s defense is at its conclusion. The charges are in tatters. The Sanhedrin has been upstaged. Stephen has used the very Old Testament that is prized by the Sanhedrin to show that the charges are without merit. And he has sealed his own doom by not only affirming Christ’s claim to be the new temple and the law’s fulfillment, but also be masterfully using the sacred scriptures in proving Christ’s point. In rejecting the Messiah, the Sanhedrin and the Jews rejected the very law and the very Old Testament they claimed to honor. In rejecting Christ, the Sanhedrin identifies themselves with the disobedient Israelites that rejected Joseph and Moses and killed the prophets who spoke of Christ. -- crb, Delivered By Angels, mp3
Stephen again is quoting Old Testament text. Notice that it is no longer “our fathers”, but “your fathers”. If they have any problems identifying with their idolatrous ancestors, Stephen gives them no wiggle room to guess. It was God who first labeled the disobedient Israelites as stiff-necked. Moses, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel equally described their generations as having uncircumcised hearts and ears. The Old Testament is full of examples and allusions to the murderous treatment that prophets received at the hands of Israelites bent on their perverted worship.
It is not Stephen who had disparaged the temple or blasphemed Moses and the law. All through the Old Testament, disobedient and idolatrous Israel had obstinately rejected God’s will for their worship. Before the original tablets were even off of the mountain they were broken in two because, in their desire for worship that they could see, they had rejected the law before it was even handed to them.
This law, represented by the 10 commandments, had been delivered in a blaze of shekinah glory on Sinai. In his last words to Israel, Moses says in Deuteronomy 33, the passage we read earlier that the law had been delivered in glory by angels. This is no ordinary law. This is a covenant that had been written by God’s finger in the Shekinah glory of Sinai, delivered by angels, and proclaimed by Moses with a shining face. It was through this law that Deuteronomy 33:5 tells us that God was declared king. It is through the law and its covenant that God exercised his rule and authority over His people.
Yet Israel, as Stephen has articulated, rejected Moses, the law, and God in his glory. Historically, Israel had no room for Moses. They wanted delivered from the Egyptians, but they were not interested in the deliverer. They wanted a temple, but only as long as they could confine God to a box as their captors had done with their own gods in Egypt. They wanted a covenant, but they did not want a law that convicts of sin, driving them to place their faith in a future Messiah and his provisional sacrifice. They wanted a king, but they did not want a king exercising God’s authority over them. They wanted idols. They wanted Egypt. And they wanted freedom not only from slavery but from God.
And the Israelites wanted a deliverer but they did not want a Messiah. This much was true even in their “pushing aside of Moses”. Stephen shows that the Moses the Sanhedrin thought they thought they held in high esteem preached Christ, the One they had already crucified. Not only had they killed the prophets, but they killed the One of whom the prophets preached. Moses and the prophets spoke of Christ and were killed for it, meaning any pending martyrdom for Stephen would have much precedent.
Stephen, the prosecutor, hands down his indictment. There, before the Sanhedrin with shining face, Stephen places himself within the story of Sinai. Stephen, the one who does signs and wonders like Moses, emphatically proclaims the obvious elephant in the room: “My shining face is a witness against you. In rejecting me, you have rejected Moses and the law.” The indicted becomes the indicter. But there’s more. There is so much more.
Stephen isn’t merely referencing Deuteronomy 33. He is not merely placing himself within the story of Sinai. Luke has already provided the backdrop:
Luke 2:8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory (the shekinah glory) of the Lord shone around them... 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Stephen is placing himself within the story of Bethlehem. Something or Someone greater than the Torah has been delivered by angels. And as the disobedient Israelites rejected what had been delivered by angels, so too, disobedient Israelites, including this Sanhedrin, had rejected the fulfillment of the law which had been accompanied by angels to Bethlehem. Into the Old Testament line of martyred prophets, Stephen places the baby delivered by angels to be the new Torah. It is that baby, who is both Law and Lawgiver who would be martyred. It is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, the Righteous One who numbered himself with the transgressors and made many righteous. It is the Righteous ruler and redeemer that Zechariah says would come riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey that has been betrayed and murdered. Surrounded by a heavenly host giving praise to God, the New Torah had been delivered and subsequently rejected, just as Israel had done to so many prophets who had proclaimed the Messiah’s coming.
Stephen’s defense is at its conclusion. The charges are in tatters. The Sanhedrin has been upstaged. Stephen has used the very Old Testament that is prized by the Sanhedrin to show that the charges are without merit. And he has sealed his own doom by not only affirming Christ’s claim to be the new temple and the law’s fulfillment, but also be masterfully using the sacred scriptures in proving Christ’s point. In rejecting the Messiah, the Sanhedrin and the Jews rejected the very law and the very Old Testament they claimed to honor. In rejecting Christ, the Sanhedrin identifies themselves with the disobedient Israelites that rejected Joseph and Moses and killed the prophets who spoke of Christ. -- crb, Delivered By Angels, mp3
posted by Chad Richard Bresson at 6/04/2007 06:26:00 PM
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