Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Acts 7:52, “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers.”

Background

There is a scene towards the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas, directly after Linus has just explained what Christmas is all about from Luke 2, where Charlie Brown takes his pitiful little tree and decides to decorate it. But when he hangs the first ornament from its top, it droops over to the ground, presumed by Charlie to be destroyed. Watching it fold to its apparent death, he hangs his head and cries out in misery, “I’ve killed it. Oh, everything I touch gets ruined.” Well, based on the respectful but surgically convicting testimony that Stephen has just given to the council in Acts 7, Charlie Brown’s self-declaration is essentially what Stephen thinks about these so-called religious leaders. They failed to understand Moses, missed the mark miserably concerning the law, and thought far too much of the temple that God might simply use as a footstool. But the worst was yet to come. As badly as they corrupted the message of these other aspects of God’s interaction with man, it was nothing compared to what they did to God’s image bearer. Besides the seventeen prophets who wrote books of the Old Testament, there were dozens of others who were called or carried out the role of a prophet. And Stephen says that the ones that this council so proudly boasts as its heritage not only abused the entire lot and disregarded these oracles of God, but they actually had the gall to rise up and kill those who spoke of the Righteous One to come, around whom all of history was intended.

Application

And so, it was no surprise that those following in their footsteps went even further and killed the Holy One sent to save them and the entire world, the Redeemer who was the focus of all the prophecies. Truly, everything they touched regarding God’s relationship with mankind did get ruined. So where does that leave us? Depending on the moment and the circumstance, probably somewhere between Stephen and the misguided council, but always in need of the saving grace and unending mercy of Jesus the Christ. Our pendulum may swing from sincere worship and faithful obedience to hanging our heads in misery, but our Lord can still reach us at either end of the arc. His victory over death made sure of that.

Charge

As we seek Him today, think about and remember and contemplate that your hope rests completely in the saving work of Jesus Christ and not in you or anything you do or don’t do.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words