For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Acts 7
The Jews who took Stephen before the Sanhedrin accused him of trying to change the customs of Moses. Stephen let them know that they completely missed the point of Moses!! He reminded them that Moses himself had told the people, “’God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’” (Acts 7:37b). Stephen also reminded them that the Jews of Moses’ day had rejected him, saying, “’Who made you ruler and judge?’” (Acts 7:35b). He went on to state that God Himself sent Moses to be ruler and deliverer for the people.
Stephen’s message is pretty clear. A prophet like Moses would be someone sent by God Himself to rule and deliver but would be rejected by His own people. Now who does that sound like?? But instead of receiving Stephen’s message, the members of the Sanhedrin stopped up their ears and continued to reject God. And now we have these parallel stories to learn from. We have Moses, as the representation of God’s plan and how it will be received. And we have the real thing in Jesus. God has made it as easy as He possibly can for us to trust what He says. He gave us examples of what would happen, then showed us that they happened. All we have to do is believe it and trust that the rest will work out just as He has shown us as well.
Ex. 11-12
Compare (a) the details of the Passover night and the memorial meal associated with it, with (b) the death of Christ and the meal associated with it. I love God’s statement, “when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” (Ex. 12:13). That is our salvation story! Jesus is our Passover lamb. When we take Him in, so that He abides in us and us in Him, we put His sacrificed, righteous blood on the doorposts of our very beings. So when God in His righteous wrath comes to make His final judgment, He will see the blood of His Son and pass over us. We will be forever saved.
Something else I like, that I can’t say I ever really noticed before, is that when the Israelites left Egypt, “many other people went up with them” (Ex. 12:38a). To me, this confirms the fact that Jesus did not come only to save Jews. Note, though, that any foreigner who wanted to participate in the LORD’s Passover had to have all the males in his household circumcised. In God’s new covenant in Christ, it is circumcision of the heart that matters. Which means that anybody who desires to be covered by Christ’s blood for their salvation must stop living in the flesh and take on the character of Jesus. Thankfully, God helps us with that part, too.
Ps. 14
How does Paul use this psalm in Romans 3? Paul uses this Psalm to make the point that whether one is a Jew, who has the law, or a Gentile, who lives apart from the law, none are righteous. This is because the law has no power to make anybody righteous. All the law does is reveal our unrighteousness. Why, then, does this Psalm say, “God is present in the company of the righteous.” (Ps. 14:5b)? I propose the meaning is that those who allow God to be present in their lives are righteous. Righteousness cannot exist apart from God. And, as a variation of the old Clint Black song, “wherever God goes, there He is”.