"Blind Spots"

Scripture Passage

Acts 6-8:1

Scripture Focus

“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?” (Acts 7:51 NLT)

Observation

I confess—I laughed out loud as Stephen began his defense in Acts 7:2. (Maybe you won’t think it’s funny, but…) Stephen is accused of “always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses.” When asked, “Are these accusations true?” Stephen reaches clear back to Abraham in Mesopotamia to begin his lengthy defense! Can you not imagine the Sanhedrin, eyes rolling back in their heads, thinking to themselves, “A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ would do!”

The beauty of Stephen’s response, however, is that he’s able to show how persistently the descendents of Abraham had resisted God’s voice. Most powerfully, Stephen argues that the Jews resisted Moses’ leadership—someone the Jews, of course, thought they had revered and followed! I noticed particularly, today, references to their rejection of Moses that certainly would have left the Sanhedrin recalling their rejection of Jesus. For example…

“Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t.” (Acts 7:25 NLT)

“But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. (Acts 7:27 NLT)

“So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’” (Acts 7:35 NLT) (Perhaps a subtle reference to Christ’s return?)

Bottom line, Stephen insists that the rejection of God’s voice has been standard operating procedure for Israel from day one. “Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered” (Acts 7:52 NLT). And his challenge to the Sanhedrin serves to challenge me.

Do I think that I resist the Holy Spirit as these men did? No—I don’t *think* so…but that’s the difficulty, isn’t it? Those dirty dogs in the Sanhedrin had their blind spots—and so do I! “Savior, help me to not resist—ever or in any way—your Holy Spirit!”

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