"As he was traveling,
it happened that he was
approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'
And he said, 'Who are You, Lord?'" (Acts 9:3-5a). Often times, questions posed by the characters in biblical narratives are aimed at the readers as well (e.g., Mark 4:41). "Who are you Lord?" Several strategic allusions to the story of Israel at Mount Sinai help us form a biblically informed response. A blinding light from heaven flashes around Saul (9:3), his traveling companions hear a voice/sound but do not see anyone (9:7), and Saul goes several days without eating or drinking (9:9).
Does any of this sound familiar? It should. When Israel met God at Mount Sinai, fiery light shone from heaven (Deut 4:11), the people with Moses heard a voice/sound but did not see an image (Deut 4:12), and
Moses did not eat or drink for forty days and nights (Deut 9:9). "Who are You, Lord?" Any answer to this question that makes Yeshua anything less than fully God simply misses Luke's intended meaning in light of the Torah! "So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire" (Deut 4:15).
breaking down walls
"Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them" (Acts 8:5). For Jewish and Samaritan followers of Jesus, the gospel brought with it a radical change of heart and mind, a willingness to set aside a centuries' old racial and political conflict. Philip's journey to Samaria was the only solution to irreconcilable differences. Hearts were miraculously changed hearts on both sides of the fence, and the fence itself was miraculously removed. For the Jewish believers, it was an acknowledgement that the Samaritans were just as beloved as they were and part of God's eternal plan. They were no longer to be considered half-breeds, and polluters of the Holy Land. For the Samaritans, it was a willingness to accept a larger biblical canon (the Prophets and the Writings), and to acknowledge the truth that "salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). In a world so politically divided, let us cling with all our might to the only message that has the power to tear down fences and turn our enemies into "mishpacha" (family). "But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike" (Acts 8:12).
Mediator
"So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do!' And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. The LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.' Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD" (Exod 19:7-9). I've heard it time and again: "You need Jesus, but we go directly to God." This belief that the people of Israel can go directly to God sounds nice, but it is a completely foreign concept in the Torah. To reject Moses was to reject God (Num 14:10–11). To believe in Moses was to believe in God (Exod 14:31; 19:9). Moses promised that God would send a prophet like him to whom we must listen (Deut 18:15). This prophet would be the mediator of a better covenant (Deut 30:6, 11-14). From the perspective of the Torah, therefore, any and every person who desires to know and have a relationship with God must believe in Jesus! According to Moses, there is simply no other way! "Moses said,
"THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A
PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN;
TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED
to everything He says to you. ‘And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people'" (Acts 3:22-23).