Tag: social_justice

  • Stephen: Witness and Martyr

    Stephen: Witness and Martyr

    ‘Call your next witness, counselor.’
    judge and Perry Mason

    Many of us remain fascinated with the testimony of a witness impacting the outcome of a trial.

    μάρτυς – martys – a witness

    WE are simply spectators at a trial, not a familiar rerun of a fictional courtroom scene by Erle Stanley Gardner six decades ago, but an actual ancient trial of an accused defendant, Stephen, from two thousand years ago.

    Like the legal dramas whose complex plots draw us in, we know that the defendant is innocent. His advocate, however, is supernatural and his jury includes dozens of Stephen’s accusing judges.

    And the outcome? Preordained. (Think of it as ‘prerecorded’ by the Author of this great mystery.)

    gold scales of justice "Stephen Witness and Martyr" Acts 7

    μαρτύριον – Testimony

    Strong’s G3142 – martyrion

    • From a presumed derivative of

    μάρτυς (G3144) – martys

    The KJV translates Strong’s G3144 in the following manner: witness (29x), martyr (3x), record (2x).


    Acts of Stephen – Witness for Christ’s Church

    Contemporary summary of Stephen's defense thus far from Luke's transcript in Acts 7:

    You men, brethren, and fathers of the council know the Law of Moses, by which you judge my words.

    I, too, revere Moses and the Prophets, and present their testimony in my defense. WE the people of the Way of Jesus love the same LORD our God and Father, who appeared to Moses before we entered the land of God’s promise. The same Lord who appeared to David before his son brought the tabernacle of witness into the Temple of Solomon.

    Acts 7: continued

    49 ‘Heaven is My throne,
    And the earth is the footstool of My feet;
    What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,
    ‘Or what place is there for My rest?
    50 Was it not My hand that made all these things?’

    Acts 7:49-50 NASB – Stephen quotes the Prophet Isaiah 66;1-2

    Witness to a “stiff-necked people!”

    Here is a courtroom scene with the witness Stephen called to the stand in his own defense. And he seems to confess guilt. But as in most murder mysteries, this twist in the plot is not quite what it seems.

    Public trials laden with false testimony in the temples of stiff-necked people.

    Capitol dome behind gate

    There’s nothing new under the sun, wrote King Solomon, builder of Jerusalem’s first Temple.

    A thousand years later King Herod, who had sought to murder Judea’s Messiah, would build it back better through an alliance with Rome. The Empire already occupied Jerusalem and would soon burn down Herod’s temple in A.D. 70, less than two score years after a trial of thirty-year old Stephen in ~A.D. 33.


    Here's some background investigation from Luke's first century account of Stephen's trial. 
    Many acts have taken place outside the courtroom of Jerusalem's one-hundred-twenty man council.
    
    (This trial scene will play like a mid-sixty's [A.D. 60's] rerun to most of Luke's readers some thirty years later.) 
    
    Some 21st century Christians may be unfamiliar with this current explosive climate of the Capitol City of Jerusalem (in ~A.D. 63), not to mention our ongoing political turmoil in Rome (our Babylon of this era).
    depiction of Jesus in a crowded room on trial by Caiaphas

    Two years earlier the trial of Jesus had been a political public charade staged by the same officials of these whitewashed tombsof the Sanhedrin.

    Then the entire assembly of them set out and brought Him before Pilate.

    And they began to bring charges against Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”

    Gospel of Luke 23:1-2 NASB

    Returning now to our drama of Stephen on trial in ~A.D. 33:

    Witness of the Author

    μάρτυς – martys

    • a witness
      • in a legal sense
      • an historical sense
        • one who is a spectator of anything, e.g. of a contest
      • in an ethical sense
        • those who after his example have proved the strength and genuineness of their faith in Christ by undergoing a violent death

    But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”

    ACTS 1:9 – The instruction of Jesus to the Apostles
    – 1:10 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

    Prior Testimony

    And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.

    Acts 4:33 NASB

    “Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.

    Acts 7:44 NASB – Earlier testimony of Stephen
    gold scales of justice "Stephen Witness and Martyr" Acts 7

    False Witnesses

    Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

    Acts of the Apostles 6:8 CSB

    But some of those who were of the synagogue called “The Libertines,” and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen. They weren’t able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

    Then they secretly induced men to say,

    “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moshe and God.”

    Acts 6:9-11 Hebrew Names Version

    And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, And set up false witnesses, which said,

    This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:

    Acts 6:12-13 KJV

    Stephen’s Indictment of his Accusers

    “You stubborn people!
    You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth.
    Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?
    That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!

    Acts 7:51 NLT – Stephen’s closing argument!

    Does the prophet speaking with the face of an angel, a shining face like that of Moses coming down from the Presence of the LORD on Sinai, not have to speak the TESTIMONY of God’s truth?

    Is Stephen’s WITNESS FOR CHRIST, even in the face of inevitable execution not gospel truth to Law-breakers?

    Of course. By the Power of the Holy Spirit this is exactly what Stephen does as conclusion to his testimony

    .


    Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

    They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One,


    Herod certainly would have had full support of Jerusalem's High Council when he had beheaded John the Baptist, who was witness to the LORD anointing the ministry of Jesus in the Jordan.
    from passion of the Christ film Pilate and Jesus

    and you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him;

    you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

    Acts 7:52-53 – Stephen’s closing argument to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem

    Sentencing!

    The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.

    55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

    “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

    Acts 7:56b NASB – a final witness of Stephen before the Sanhedrin

    57 Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.

    A Jewish Execution of the Law

    Rembrandt-Lapidation-Saint-Etienne-MBA-Lyon
    the Stoning of Stephen- painting by Rembrandt

    24:14 הוֹצֵא אֶת־הַֽמְקַלֵּל אֶל־מִחוּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶה וְסָמְכוּ כָֽל־הַשֹּׁמְעִים אֶת־יְדֵיהֶם עַל־רֹאשׁוֹ וְרָגְמוּ אֹתוֹ כָּל־הָעֵדָֽה׃

    “Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp,
    and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head;
    then have all the congregation stone him.
    Vayikra (Leviticus) 24 ::

    False witnesses against Stephen would have been the first to cast stones against him! Not only were they without sin, but their stiff-necked opposition to the Son of God had brought them by their own testimony to the place of executing an angelic saint of Stephen.

    Their own leaders had arranged false testimony to shield their own sins and covetous clinging to whitewashed leadership image of a PEOPLE already condemned.

    (Of course THAT was twenty-one centuries ago; an opportune ACT that could never happen now... Would it?) 
    
    Unresolved trials WE THE PEOPLE endure daily seem to never end - an unresolved eternity preoccupying this brief life. 

    But Stephen’s case must convince us and convict US: true witness with eternal judgment will come to a conclusion WE must not ignore.


    Witness of a Martyr

    I remind US once more of the definition above, also linked below.

    μάρτυς – martys

    ACTS 7:58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.

    As they were stoning him, Stephen called out to God, “Lord Yeshua! Receive my spirit!”

    Acts 7:59 Hebrew Names Version

    “Father, forgive them..”

    Stephen had heard it before from the parched tongue of Jesus on the Cross. He had preached it with the power of the Holy Spirit.

    But now as his own failing flesh of this short life suffered at the hands of his false accusers, Stephen utters one last word – a lasting impression on a leading disciple of Gamaliel.

    Then he knelt down and began to pray crying out with a loud voice:

    “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”

    Having said this, Stephen died.

    Impressions from an injustice witnessed

    The crowds of officials must have been gloating with gratification as the stone-battered body of Stephen lay lifeless in that pit – like Golgotha, a place of shame beyond the walls of THEIR CITY.

    'WE can justify our ACTS by demonstrating OUR power (like this) over these PEOPLE we represent in their Temple; 
    so WE can say anything and they will believe US, because WE rule this 'chosen' NATION under God.' 
    'I think we can eliminate more of these religious opponents like this. Don't you?
    
    (Okay, I confess my most contemporary take on their first century victories which filled crowds with anger, false witnesses and political cover without accountability. 
    Who would believe such lies told by so many of every party and false witness HEADLINED in so many places? - RH)

    The religious and political leaders and their constituancies all return to the comfort of Jerusalem’s walls, with lavish celebrations under watchful eyes of their Roman Centurion ‘friends,’ men like them who seem just a bit more apprehensive about religion and Judean political disagreements lately.

    But some recognize the accusations as false and not all process back to Judea’s Capitol abuzz with tomorrow’s HEADLINES of their victory this day..

    STEPHEN GUILTY! BLASPHEMER EXECUTED IMMEDIATELY!

    JUSTICE DELIVERED IN OUR NATION’S CAPITOL!


    gold scales of justice "Stephen Witness and Martyr" Acts 7

    Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. – Acts 8:1

    And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.

    ACTS 22:20 KJV – Later confession of witness by Saul of Tarsus, who Christ would call as Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul.


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  • Amos – Not immune from judgment

    Amos – Not immune from judgment

    We interrupt the Good News of John for an urgent warning from the Prophet Amos.

    “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom,
    And I will destroy it from the face of the earth

    Amos 9:8a NASB

    We are NOT IMMUNE to the #pandemic of sin!

    A familiar forgotten history

    Even though festival seasons of Passover and Easter approach, our casual celebrations may possibly be banned this year and diminished by the rulers of this world.

    We know little of the first century church in this year of our Lord 2020, and struggles of the saints when Jerusalem fell not so many years after the Sacrifice and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus.

    Yet during this time of Jesus and the Apostles, scripture from Amos and other Prophets of the LORD would have been familiar to some.

    Briefly, the historical background of the time of Amos reads something like more recent times before our most recent struggles of these last days.

    Prosperity before the fall

    • Uzziah is King of Judah (792-740 BC)
    • Jeroboam II is King of Israel (793-753 BC)
    • Both kingdoms were blessed by tremendous wealth
    • Both kingdoms had powerful military which had defeated their enemies.
    • Both kingdoms had an aristocratic class who gained great wealth, enough to loan money to their poor neighbors.
    • Both Israel and Judah believed their kingdom to be permanently blessed by the LORD as a chosen people.
    • Israel and Judah believed themselves immune to judgment by the LORD.

    Sound familiar?

    It will to many of the suppressed working poor of first world nations.

    Yet the LORD sent a poor shepherd of Tekoa, a hillside suburb of Jerusalem, to tell the nations why a judgment of the LORD would fall upon them.

    It was a warning rejected, as we would have rejected such bad news just a short time ago when billionaires bragged of how good we have done under their affluent watch.

    Amos speaks for the LORD

    Perhaps you would like to sit still in dust and ashes, reading everything the Prophet Amos warns from the LORD – every call to repentance to a nation which has strayed far from righteousness. Here I can only list a few which may apply.

    Jesus, the Messiah, and John the Baptist will both echo these same indictments to broods of religious vipers.

    Peter, Paul, John and the Apostles of the first century church all encourage the saints, yet reprove the unrepentant who stray from teachings of the Lord.

    The church witnessed judgment on Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, when the Lord struck them dead for lying to the church!

    The Revelation of Christ to John warns the church. To one local church at Sardis, Christ warns though John:

    I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.

    Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before my God. Remember, then, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent.

    If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come upon you.

    Revelation 3:1a-3 CSB

    Is your church in the the year of our Lord, 2020, like that? Not alert, though your reputation of this life multiplies the flock?

    If so, the warnings of the Prophet Amos and other prophets of the Old Testament may help you to return to the will of the Lord our God.

    Amos 1:

    Various Indictments & Punishments

    • Because they deported an entire population
    • And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
    • because he pursued his brother with the sword.
    • He stifled his compassion,
    • his anger tore at him continually,
    • and he harbored his rage incessantly.
    • Because they ripped open the pregnant women… in order to enlarge their borders.
      • (Was this a barbaric abortion to choose only the boys of their own culture?)

    15 “Their king will go into exile,
    He and his princes together,” says the Lord.

    Judgment on Judah and Israel

    4 Thus says the Lord:

    “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four,
    I will not turn away its punishment…

    • Because they rejected the law of the Lord
    • And have not kept His commandments.
    • Their lies lead them astray,
      • Lies which their fathers followed.

    Is your religious tradition more important than obedience to the Lord your God? A better perception of your own righteousness than the Perfect righteousness of the Messiah sacrificed for your redemption?

    6 Thus says the Lord,
    “For three transgressions of Israel and for four
    I will not revoke its punishment…

    • Because they sell the righteous for money
    • and a needy person for a pair of sandals.
    • They trample the heads of the poor on the dust of the ground
    • and obstruct the path of the needy.

    How sad the compassionless ambition of the rich who do not see the sufferings of the poor.

    Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com

    … And you commanded the prophets saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’

    13 Look, I am about to crush you in your place
    as a wagon crushes when full of grain.
    14 Escape will fail the swift,
    the strong one will not maintain his strength,
    and the warrior will not save his life.

    וְשָׁמַרְתָּ אֶת־מִצְוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכָיו וּלְיִרְאָה אֹתֹֽו׃

    “Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

    Deuteronomy 8:6 – Masoretic Text, NASB

    I’m not even certain that christians blinded by science fear the Lord our God, let alone those chosen of Jesus’ and Amos’ times who turned away from scripture.

    Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

    “I and the Father are one.”

    John 8:58, 10:30 NASB

    Authority of the Prophet’s Message

    Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt:

    Indeed, the Lord God does nothing
    without revealing his counsel
    to his servants the prophets.
    A lion has roared;
    who will not fear?
    The Lord God has spoken;
    who will not prophesy?

    11 Therefore, the Lord God says:

    An enemy will surround the land;
    he will destroy your strongholds
    and plunder your citadels.

    13 Listen and testify against the house of Jacob—
    this is the declaration of the Lord God,
    the God of Armies.
    14 I will punish the altars of Bethel
    on the day I punish Israel for its crimes;
    the horns of the altar will be cut off
    and fall to the ground.

    Social and Spiritual Corruption

    Perhaps some in this day will yet hear the indictment of our land, a warning to shepherds who lead the flock astray.
    • [You rich women] Who oppress the poor,
    • Who crush the needy,
    • Who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!”

    Are these not the leadings of rich women who lead their husbands by day and discard them by the darkness of divorce?

    Yet we have not listened to the Lord who places the man over his wife; also father and mother over their children and youth, raised in God’s Law. Raised as rebellious children ourselves, we do not believe God’s warnings to return to fear of His judgment.

    I gave you absolutely nothing to eat
    in all your cities,
    a shortage of food in all your communities,
    yet you did not return to me.
    This is the Lord’s declaration.

    8 Two or three cities staggered
    to another city to drink water
    but were not satisfied,
    yet you did not return to me.
    This is the Lord’s declaration.

    • I struck you with blight and mildew… yet you did not return to me.
    • I sent plagues like those of Egypt;
    • I killed your young men with the sword,

    11 I overthrew some of you
    as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
    and you were like a burning stick
    snatched from a fire,
    yet you did not return to me—
    This is the Lord’s declaration.

    “Therefore thus will I do to you…

    Because I will do this to you,
    Prepare to meet your God…

    13 For behold,
    He who forms mountains,
    And creates the wind,
    Who declares to man what his thought is,
    And makes the morning darkness,
    Who treads the high places of the earth—
    The Lord God of hosts is His name.

    4:13 כִּי הִנֵּה יֹוצֵר הָרִים וּבֹרֵא רוּחַ וּמַגִּיד לְאָדָם מַה־שֵּׂחֹו עֹשֵׂה שַׁחַר עֵיפָה וְדֹרֵךְ עַל־בָּמֳתֵי אָרֶץ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵֽי־צְבָאֹות שְׁמֹֽו׃ ס

    Martin Luther King "I have a dream" speech

    “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” – quoting Amos 6:24

    Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying,

    “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality,

    and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”

    Revelation 17:1-2 NASB
    To be continued... Lord willing...

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