ACTS 7
Act 7:1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
They asked Stephen if the accusations against him were true. Stephen starts from
the time of Abraham to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ in his own defense.
When we read these words we can see how guilt can actually make us angry enough
to kill someone. If the conviction of the Holy Spirit is resisted, it usually
causes anger. If it is received, it will bring forth fruits of repentance and
make a change in the one receiving the gospel. This is why there is a difference
between a believer and an unbeliever. Every time we reject the word of God our
heart gets a little harder. Soon it takes something drastic to change get us
back on the right track. If we would repent and receive the truth the first time
we hear it, it works out better for us and those that have to live with us. This
story is sad but we will see what kind of stuff Stephen is made of.
Act 7:2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory
appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in
Haran,
Act 7:3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,
and come into the land which I shall show thee.
Abraham is called of God to bring forth the seed that will bring salvation to
the whole world. The seed came from an old man and a barren woman and then later
through a virgin.
Act 7:4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Haran:
and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land,
wherein ye now dwell.
Act 7:5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his
foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to
his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
This land was promised to Israel. From this land would come the promised Messiah
born of a virgin and born from the tribe of Judah. The land itself was given to
the children of Israel. That promise has not changed.
Act 7:6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange
land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four
hundred years.
This was prophesied to Abraham years before Joseph was sold into slavery. Israel
would go down into Egypt to abide with Joseph. It would be good years at first
but then prophecy came to pass and they were in bondage to a king who didn't
remember Joseph.
Act 7:7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said
God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
Act 7:8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat
Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob
begat the twelve patriarchs.
Act 7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was
with him,
Actually Joseph's brothers were in bondage more than Joseph was in reality. They
were in bondage to sin. This sin of envy caused them to hate their own brother.
Act 7:10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and
wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over
Egypt and all his house.
Act 7:11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and
great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
Act 7:12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our
fathers first.
Act 7:13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and
Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
Act 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his
kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
Act 7:15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
Act 7:16 And were carried over into Shechem, and laid in the sepulcher that
Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem.
Act 7:17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to
Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
Act 7:18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
Act 7:19 The same dealt subtlely with our kindred, and evil entreated our
fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not
live.
Fear caused this wicked king to enslave and then kill innocent children of
Israel. He didn't realize that he was a pawn in the hand of Satan who has always
tried to kill the children of Israel to keep the promised Messiah from being
born. He tried again with King Herod in the days that Jesus was actually born.
The mass killing of the Jews since then is to keep bible prophecy from coming to
pass and Jesus returning a second time. There has to be Jews on the earth when
Jesus returns.
Act 7:20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished
up in his father's house three months:
Act 7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished
him for her own son.
Act 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was
mighty in words and in deeds.
Act 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit
his brethren the children of Israel.
As Joseph brought them to Egypt, Moses would be used mightily of God to bring
them back out. During these years the sin of the inhabitants of Canaan was
getting to the point of no return and God could bring judgment upon them and
give their land to Israel. God is a just God and never destroys any inhabitants
without reason.
Act 7:24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged
him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
Act 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his
hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
When we are not in the mind to seek out and search for God, we usually will not
recognize His working among us. The word of God will then seem strange to us.
Act 7:26 And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and
would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong
one to another?
This is a hint to the future judge of Israel being Moses whom they rejected at
first. Later they rejected Jesus at first but they will receive Him at His
second coming.
Act 7:27 But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made
thee a ruler and a judge over us?
Act 7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?
Act 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of
Midian, where he begat two sons.
Moses knew that if the Israelites knew of his crime, then the rulers in Egypt
knew or would know shortly.
Act 7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the
wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
Our timing is nothing like God's timing. There is always a reason that God seems
to delay his coming. Moses was forty years in the wilderness before God called
him to go to Egypt to get His people out. Many are even now wondering why the
Lord has not returned and some are thinking that perhaps we have to set up the
kingdom for Him in order for Him to return. That is a bad mistaken idea.
Jesus told of a servant who was thinking the Lord delayed his coming so he begin
to beat his fellow servants and begin to eat and drink with the drunken. This is
a dangerous doctrine because is many cases where this doctrine was taught in
past church history, the gospel was not preached in truth but the religion of
Christianity was forced upon people thinking they were doing God a service by
forcibly setting up His kingdom. Dissenters were often persecuted or put to
death.
Mat 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord
delayeth his coming;
Mat 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink
with the drunken;
Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for
him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the
hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus will come at His appointed time. Peter describes why the Lord delays.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
We must not forget this. The children of Israel did not recognize that Moses was
there to deliver them because they had lost hope of God's deliverance.
The Lord will return when we do not expect Him.
Act 7:31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to
behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
Act 7:32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.
Act 7:33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the
place where thou standest is holy ground.
Act 7:34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt,
and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come,
I will send thee into Egypt.
Act 7:35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a
judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the
angel which appeared to him in the bush.
Act 7:36 He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the
land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
Act 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him
shall ye hear.
Here we see how Stephen connected the story of Moses with Jesus Christ by
reminding them that Moses had promised a prophet would come, sent by God and how
they were to hear Him. This is Jesus.
Act 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel
which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the
lively oracles to give unto us:
Jesus was present in the wilderness although His name Yeshua was not known
to them.
Act 7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in
their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
Act 7:40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses,
which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Act 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the
idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Act 7:42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it
is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to
me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
Act 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god
Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond
Babylon.
After we continually reject God, are minds are given over to believe in false
gods or whatever we attempt to pursue in place of God.
Act 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he
had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the
fashion that he had seen.
Act 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Joshua into the
possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers,
unto the days of David;
Act 7:46 Who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the
God of Jacob.
Act 7:47 But Solomon built him a house.
Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith
the prophet,
Act 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye
build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Act 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
What can we actually make for God. He created all things? God built His own
house. Through Jesus we worship, not in a building but in spirit and in truth.
Act 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always
resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Act 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have
slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have
been now the betrayers and murderers:
Prophets who speak the truth and truly represented God were usually persecuted
and killed.
Act 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not
kept it.
Act 7:54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they
gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into
heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
This is undeniable proof that there is a Father and the Son, Jesus abiding in
heaven. Stephen saw both.
Act 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran
upon him with one accord,
This is the reaction of those the resist God and refuse to repent. They wanted
to hold onto what power they had. They did not desire to confess sins and live
righteous. They did not want to be proven guilty of the blood of Jesus.
Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid
down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit.
Act 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Here we see clearly the heart of Stephen was like the heart of Jesus when he
cried out for God not to lay any sin of his death on those that were killing
him.
Because of that prayer, I believe the apostle Paul was born. Precious Stephen
forgave those that hurt him. His reward in heaven was waiting for him and he is
even now with Jesus whom He saw before He died.
People today get so angry when we try to tell them to repent and believe the
gospel. We try to give them a message that will cause them to live in eternity
in a place where death or sickness can never harm them again but they would
rather hold onto a few pleasures in this life rather than turn away from sin and
turn to Jesus Christ.
He is coming again but like Peter said, He is longsuffering and is not willing
that any should perish.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even
unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
