Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 85
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No, you carried your pagan gods—
the shrine of Molech,
the star of your god Rephan,
and the images you made to worship them.
So I will send you into exile
as far away as Babylon.’
“Our ancestors carried the Tabernacle with them through the wilderness. It was constructed according to the plan God had shown to Moses.
Years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the nations that
God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their
new territory. And it stayed there until the time of King David.
“David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a
permanent Temple for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who actually
built it. However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human
hands. As the prophet says,
‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Could you build me a temple as good as that?’
asks the Lord.
‘Could you build me such a resting place?
Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’
“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! 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. You deliberately disobeyed
God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”
The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they
shook their fists at him in rage. 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. And he told them, “Look, I see
the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at
God’s right hand!”
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.
His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man
named Saul.
As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He
fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And
with that, he died.
