For twenty years the Israelites were under the yoke of the
Philistines and the ark was in a place it didn't belong, Kiriath-jearim. It would certainly seem that the real problem
was that the people were not worshipping Yahweh as Samuel had to tell them to
put away their idols and the gods of the Philistines. It wasn't only the Philistines who were
stubborn and hard-hearted. The people,
however, finally came to a place of repentance and seeking after the Lord after
all these years of difficulty. When the
Philistines came against them they were afraid but they did the right thing,
they asked Samuel to pray for them and then they saw the Lord's hand in favor
of His people in accord with the promise through Moses that if they were
wayward but returned with all their hearts, the covenant would be renewed. They saw their deliverance from these
oppressors and then we are told that Samuel judged the nation like a
circuit-rider all the days of his life.
The new covenant is instituted in connection with the
celebration of the old covenant. At
Passover Jesus re-interprets the symbols of the meal and the feast itself. What was required for all time was the
sacrifice of an animal and the consumption by the assembled family or, if the
family wasn't large enough to consume the entire thing, additional people who
were likewise situated. The feast recollected
the original Passover, brought it into the present in the celebration of what
God had already done since that first night, and looks forward into the blessed
future when they are permanently situated in the Land, the ultimate fulfillment
of the promise of Messiah. Communion
recalls the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, His sacrifice and God's
acceptance of that sacrifice. It also is
a time we recall what blessings we have received since we first accepted Jesus
and looks forward to the eternal bliss. We
need not sacrifice, that is finished once and for all on the cross. We need only offer ourselves, our repentance
and our lives for His service.
The apostles need help with a rapidly growing church so they
come up with the idea of deacons, those who minister or serve. There are certain qualifications that these
men must have. They must be "men of
good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom." Their job is to free the apostles for the
work of prayer and teaching and study.
They handle the temporal matters of the church. One of these men, Stephen, seems to have done
a bit more than that, he was doing great wonders and signs among the people and
it caught the attention of the leaders of the Jews. They conspired against him just as they had
done with Jesus and when they called him before the council, they saw an
interesting sight, "his face was like the face of an angel." Their charge against him was that he was
changing the customs handed down. Jesus
had already done that at this final Passover, Stephen was simply being obedient. Obedience to Jesus sometimes means we will be
out of step with the world and even, at times, out of step with other religious
people, it won't always make sense to everyone.
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