The people of the tribe of Dan had failed to conquer and
receive their inheritance, they were in violation of the covenant. They now decide it is time to go find some
place to settle so they do what their forefathers did, they send out
spies. These men happen upon Micah's
house and recognize the accent of the young Levite who serves as priest there
and so ask him to inquire of God concerning the success of their mission. This young man either inquires via the ephod
concerning their request or does nothing but give his benediction and blessing
upon them and in short order they find a peaceable people in Laish living in
prosperity and their mission, in their minds, is complete, this is easy
pickings as opposed to the report of the first spies. They presume to have their brothers come up,
six hundred of them, to take this land for their own and they also recount that
there is actually a priest nearby along with the accoutrements of worship, an
ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image. Their implied message is that we can not only
have the land, we can have God's favor as well, we have a priest and all the
stuff we need to worship. Does no one
know the ways of Yahweh?
Who is this "another" who bears witness about
Jesus that He knows is true? He quickly
sets aside the notion that He refers to John as He needs no witness from
man. He is clearly speaking of the Holy
Spirit whose testimony is the only truly reliable testimony, the one Jesus
trusts. Do we hear the Holy Spirit
telling us not only who Jesus is but who we are? Why not ask Him to tell you today who you really
are and then walk in the revealed truth?
The truth about Jesus also is told in His works, they clearly point to
divine origin. What do your
"works" say about you to you and to others? Not only do we have the possibility of the
truth about Jesus from these witnesses but we also should see and hear those
same witnesses about ourselves. If we
are born from above then there should be some evidence of that in our lives for
us and the world to see. Let us consider
today that we are the priesthood of all believers and see if we can determine
at whose altar we serve.
Stephen's words and His works gave witness to the power of
Christ in Him. There was congruity
between what He proclaimed with His mouth and what He did. That is an important test for all of us. Whether we are a pastor who preaches the Word
in the pulpit whose words and life outside the pulpit match what he says in it
or whether we are lay people who profess Christ on Sundays whose lives the
other six days should proclaim the excellencies of Christ equally powerfully,
this is an important thing. Peter went
to Samaria, where Jesus had gone in John 4, and reaped a great harvest there
because he preached Jesus and the power of resurrection was evident in his
works. Even one who did magic believed
when he saw that congruity. We can't
serve Him on Sunday and idols all week long and see the power of congruence.
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