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1/7 Reading Portions: Genesis 7; Matthew 7; Ezra 7; Acts 7
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“Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered...” Acts 7:52
KILLING the PROPHETS
During His earthly ministry, Jesus told the Jews who sought to kill Him (John 5:18) that the Scriptures bore witness about Him (John 5:39). Years later, after Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, Stephen was brought into the Sanhedrin and was questioned by the high priest (Acts 7:1). Stephen testified of the prophets, from Abraham to Solomon (Acts 7:2-50), because the Scriptures testify of the Lord Jesus Messiah.
Souls who catered to the flesh and coveted the things of the world persecuted the prophets because they opposed the Word of God. As the Word of God bears witness of the Righteous One, the Lord Jesus Christ, it is no surprise that they betrayed and murdered Him. Those who oppose Christ will not abide by or live with God’s Word. Those who oppose God’s Word will not abide by or live with the Lord Jesus Christ.
As those redeemed by God’s grace, we must rightly handle, or rightly divide (KJV) the Word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). The Scriptures cannot be practical instruction for us unless they first bear witness of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus must be exalted from the Scriptures else God will not be glorified. When we don’t see Christ from the Scriptures, we will oppose God’s Word (killed those who announced beforehand); we will not exalt Christ with our lives (the Righteous One… betrayed and murdered); we will stop our ears from hearing truth, just as the members of the Sanhedrin had done (Acts 7:57); and finally, we will silence faithful Christian voices, just as the council silenced Stephen by stoning him to death (Acts 7:59).
We must oppose the killing of
The prophets, God’s pure truth:
Else we oppose God’s Word above
And will not bear Christ’s fruit.
