Stephen’s speech in Acts chapter 7. It’s long winded and ends abruptly. He seems to ramble then stops short, screams harsh accusations, beckons their hatred, and secures his own martyrdom.

What exactly was his point? For last words – and a fair amount of them – I’m not sure I’ve ever quite understood what he was trying to say.

After setting the stage for his argument, Stephen begins presenting evidence to the teachers of religious law. He begins with Joseph – technicolor coat guy – and presents three cases in the building of his accusation. From Joseph to Moses and from Moses to the tabernacle.

Joseph’s brothers took two trips to Egypt to buy food before they became aware that the guy supplying it was their brother. I know Egyptian garb likely made him hard to make out and he used a translator so they didn’t know he even spoke their language, but he was their brother, they spent a good bit of time with him on their first visit, and they did sell him to a group that was headed to Egypt to sell him off. Then there’s the whole dream hint. But none of this rung bells for the brothers. They didn’t recognize who he was.

Then there’s Moses. After having been raised in Egyptian affluence, he decides to check on his own people. Believing himself to be their rescuer (so says Stephen), he attacks an Egyptian to save a Jew. Israel, however, fails to see him as a deliverer and 40 years wandering in a sheep brigade follows. They didn’t recognize who he was.

On the second trip to Egypt Joseph’s brothers finally see their brother and deliverer. On his second attempt at delivery, Israel finally sees Moses as theirs.

Then there’s the tabernacle. There was a second one of those too. Two habitations of the God of Israel and we see a repeat of what the prior two stories displayed.

Joseph told his brothers not to quarrel on their way to go get their dad. Israel asked Aaron to find a new leader to take them back to slavery in Egypt. Even after two attempts to create a home among them for the God who would be their Deliverer, Israel insisted on man made rules to hold them in bondage.

Stephen was presenting the case against the religious leaders that Israel had a long history of failing to recognize their redeemers when they saw them. Specifically, they seemed to require a second sighting before even noticing. Then when they did, they tended to want to deny his deliverance and return to their chained and shackled ways every time.

Stephen’s point: you always seem to take too long to see what’s before you and, even then, you fail to fully embrace it.

Now Jesus is the fourth such case. He’s stood before you as Deliverer of your souls and you, again, recklessly refuse to recognize your Rescuer.

The beauty of Stephen’s message lies as much in how he makes it as in what it is. The obvious application: don’t miss Him. Don’t miss the encounters and continually and foolishly deny the Deliverer before you. We don’t just need rescue once. Every day is a battle between the wretched men that we are and the righteous ones He’s renamed us to be. Don’t be dumb, your Deliverer is near.

But there’s more than the obvious here. Stephen presented a case against a sect of people two thousand years ago that could be made against me today. And the evidence he used to win the day was a story ancient in even his own time and so inconceivably detailed and obscure that Broadway put it in technicolor.

Every word of Scripture is God-breathed. It is useful, beautiful, applicable, and worthy of our most ardent attention. For every story, interaction, detail, measurement, and genealogical listing, there is an apt word, an impassioned plea, an eternal truth. Joseph wasn’t just a dreamer in a bright jacket. Moses wasn’t just Charlton Heston’s inspiration. The tabernacle isn’t just a word padded cushion for our left hands while we read the Gospels. It’s all one glorious story. He will knock your socks off if you’ll sit and let Him tell it to you. Don’t be dumb, your Deliverer is near.