“Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Acts 7:56
The history of mankind is a history of rejection of God. As with everything in regard to mankind’s fallen nature it began in the Garden of Eden. Adam rejected God’s word regarding “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9); Cain murdered Abel because he rejected God’s word (Genesis 4:7) and the antediluvian population rejected the word of God that came through Noah.
In Acts seven Stephen recounts Israel’s rejection of the word of God that came through Moses. Rejection of God’s word leads to rejection of the messenger because the word of God convicts the heart (Acts 7:54). Unless a person receives the word of God and acts accordingly that person will endeavour to silence the messenger in order to try and quench the conviction of sin. Israel chose to leave Moses on the mountain and asked Aaron to make them other gods to take them back to Egypt (Acts 7:39, 40). In reality, in their hearts they had never left Egypt.
The Christian church in Australia today is much like Israel was on that day. The outward appearance and testimony may be that it is not part of this world but in reality it has never left the world and longs for the things that pertain to this fallen sinful world. The Lord will not allow His church to sit on the fence for long. He has made it a knife edge fence so that we will either go one way or the other or be destroyed resisting the Holy Spirit (v 51).
The professing church has been steadily blacking out parts of the Bible, deleting verses, tearing out pages and discrediting the God breathed record until they have nothing but faith in the gods of their own imagination. Those gods are forever changing with the whims and fancies of the minds of men. They are part of the ongoing efforts of people to ease the conviction of sin. Instead of the cross of Jesus they look for another god to deliver them from conviction but not from the sin they love.
Unlike the gods created in the minds of men the living God does not change (Malachi 3:6) and He is able to deliver on His promises. Jesus said, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out … everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:37, 40).
Saul at first rejected Jesus and that resulted in him consenting to the murder of Stephen (Acts 8:1). However, as a result of the conviction of the Holy Spirit (9:5) Saul chose to receive God’s word and the Lord Jesus. His life was transformed from that time. Instead of rejecting God’s word he became a channel for God’s word through his letters recorded in the New Testament.
God’s love moves each of us to receive God’s word and Jesus Christ and be a blessing to the world. The default position is rejection. On which side of the fence are you?