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Paul Visits Jerusalem
203
and to above five hundred at once, while those whom He brought up
with Him appeared unto many, declaring that Jesus had risen.
Satan had caused the Jews to rebel against God by refusing to
receive His Son, and by staining their hands with His most precious
blood. No matter how powerful the evidence now produced that
Jesus was the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, they had
murdered Him, and would not receive any evidence in His favor.
Their only hope and consolation, like that of Satan after his fall, was
in trying to prevail against the Son of God. They therefore continued
their rebellion by persecuting the disciples of Christ, and putting
them to death. Nothing fell so harshly on their ears as the name of
Jesus whom they had crucified; and they were determined not to
listen to any evidence in His favor. As when the Holy Spirit through
Stephen declared the mighty evidence of Jesus’ being the Son of
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God, they stopped their ears lest they should be convinced. Satan
had the murderers of Jesus fast in his grasp. By wicked works they
had yielded themselves his willing subjects, and through them he
was at work to trouble and annoy the believers in Christ. He worked
through the Jews to stir up the Gentiles against Jesus and against
those who followed Him. But God sent His angels to strengthen the
disciples for their work, that they might testify of the things they had
seen and heard, and at last by their steadfastness, seal their testimony
with their blood.
Satan rejoiced that the Jews were safe in his snare. They still
continued their useless forms, their sacrifices, and ordinances. As
Jesus hung upon the cross and cried, “
It is finished
“, the veil of the
temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, to signify that God
would no longer meet with the priests in the temple, to accept their
sacrifices and ordinances, and also to show that the partition wall
between the Jews and the Gentiles was broken down. Jesus had
made an offering of Himself for both, and if saved at all, both must
believe in Him as the only offering for sin, the Saviour of the world.
When the soldier pierced the side of Jesus as He hung upon the
cross, there came out two distinct streams, one of blood, the other
of water. The blood was to wash away the sins of those who should
believe in His name, and the water was to represent that living water
which is obtained from Jesus to give life to the believer.
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