SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/2/2017
9:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 Persecution
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 8:1b-3
Message of the
verses: “And on that day a great
persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Some devout
men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul began
ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and
women, he would put them in prison.”
As we have gone through the last few chapters in the book
of Acts beginning with the end of chapter four we have seen persecution
beginning, but it only was directed at the apostles and those closely
associated with the apostles like Stephen.
Stephen became the first to die a martyr’s death and now the persecution
begins with those who were a part of the church in Jerusalem, and it began on
the very day of Stephen’s death as verse 8:1b states, “on that day a great
persecution began against the church in Jerusalem.” This persecution began with the death of
Stephen and we could state the murder of Stephen. The persecution began with a Hellenist Jew
name Saul of Tarsus. Stephen also was a
Hellenist Jew as we remember the problem concerning the widows in chapter six,
and the choosing of the deacons to solve the problem, and all of them were also
Hellenist Jews. We learn much more about
Saul of Tarsus after he goes by the name of Paul and by that time had become a
believer, but we do know that he was a brilliant Pharisee who sat under the
teaching of Gamaliel who we met in chapter five of Acts.
Ironically this man Saul of Tarsus who consented to
Stephen’s death would suffer much more than Stephen ever suffered as seen in
many of his NT letters, especially 2 Corinthians chapter 11-12. John MacArthur writes:
“Paul’s ministry was in many
ways to parallel that of Stephen.
Stephen preached Christ in the synagogues; so did Paul (Acts
17:1-2). The Jewish people rejected
Stephen’s message, as they did Paul’s (Acts 18:5-6). Stephen was accused of speaking against
Moses, the law, and the temple; so was Paul (Acts 21:28; 24:6; 25:8;
28:17). Stephen was stoned; so was Paul
(although he did not die) (Acts 14:19-20).
Both were tried before the Sanhedrin (Acts 6:12ff.; 22:30ff.) Finally, both died as martyrs.
“Stephen’s death, then, was
the catalyst for the storm of persecution, led by Saul, that broke on the
church. The predictions of the Lord
Jesus Christ were coming true: ‘If they
persecuted Me, they will also persecute you’ (John 15:20); ‘they will make you
outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you
to think that he is offering service to God’ (John 16:2).”
I want to look at the remaining part of verse one and
comment on that before we close this SD and pick up on the rest of the verses
in our next SD. “And they were all
scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” I cannot help but again think of the great
commission Jesus gave to the apostles at the beginning of the book of Acts
where He mentions taking the gospel to Jerusalem, Judah, Samaria, and because
of the persecution this will be accomplished, and later on to the ends of the
known world will also be accomplished by the very man who is doing the
persecution at this time, and so I suppose one could say that the same man,
Saul of Tarsus accomplished the evangelism to spread in Judah, Samaria, and
then to the ends of the known world. Now
when we look at the words “all scattered” it does not actually mean that every
member of the church at Jerusalem left because of the persecution. We know that the apostles were still there as
the verse tells us that. I have a quote
from Charles H. Spurgeon on the word “all” and the entire quote is about “limited
atonement” which I am not going to get into at this time, but the end of the
quote says the following “The words “world” and “all” are used in some seven or
eight senses in Scripture; and it is very rarely that “all” means all people.” I think we can use this quote to help us
understand the meaning of the word “all” in this passage. John MacArthur states that what this means is
that the church was broken up, and many of its members forced to flee. Acts 11:19-20 suggests that those who fled
were primarily Hellenists. Further, ‘from
this time onward the Jerusalem church appears to have consisted almost entirely
of ‘Hebrews’’ (F. F. Bruce, The Book of
the Acts). It was only natural that
the Hellenists of which Stephen was likely one would bear the brunt of the
persecution.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Romans 8:28 seems
to fit here: “And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: My mind is continually on the lesson on the
church at Pergamum as there is much to discuss about this church in the next
couple of Sunday’s.
Memory verses: Philippians 4:1, 8 “Therefore, my beloved brethren
whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my
beloved.” “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever
is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if
there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these
things.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Hezekiah” (2 Kings 19:14-15).
Today’s Bible
question: “What were the Old Testament
people called that interpreted the spiritual truths underlying the spiritual
rituals?”
Answer in our next SD
12/2/2017 10:05 AM
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