ACTS 7
Before I teach ‘the bible’ later- you know- the book that
tells us about justice- and how to do it. I want to make a brief note. The past
2 weeks I mentioned on video how I was going to get sworn testimony from 3
friends about cop abuse. I got a text last night- they just found one of them-
dead.
https://youtu.be/r4cPQHcshCI Acts 7
Acts 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.
Acts 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.
ON VIDEO
.Local and Federal court
.Temple served as ‘county court’ also [1st
Century Rome]
.Abraham homeless?
.Refugio case
.Abrahamic covenant- People and land
.Joseph’s story
.Moses fled
.Bush burns
.Stephen quotes Oral Tradition [which words of Jesus did he
remember?]
.Saul saw the whole thing
PAST TEACHING [Verses below]
These are my past teachings that relate in some way to
today’s post ‘Acts 7’-
(739) ACTS
7- At the end of chapter 6 we saw the accusation against Stephen ‘he teaches
the temple will be torn down and that Jesus will change the laws and customs of
Moses’. There are a few key chapters In Acts, this is one of them! Up until
this point we have seen Peters message of the Messiah thru the lens of
repentance and baptism. You will notice Peter is very strong on ‘you guys need
to repent and show it’. Strong word indeed! Peter also introduced the scripture
‘the Lord your God will raise up a prophet like unto me [Moses speaking of
Christ] whoever doesn’t listen to him will be destroyed’. But Stephen is the
first one to teach publicly the passing away of the law and the temple and the
new ‘house of God’ to be the people. It’s the beginnings of Pauline theology.
Now I have read how this chapter was questioned and doubted as to why Stephen
was teaching this. Some theologians thought the chapter was questionable as
canon because of it’s seeming to be so out of context. These are the times
where I do agree with the ‘seminary as being a cemetery’! This chapter is
absolutely brilliant! I don’t want you to miss the main point. Stephen traces
the history of Israel
and uses the verse from Moses ‘the Lord will raise up a PROPHET LIKE ME’.
Stephen explains that when Moses first showed up on the scene to deliver his
people, that the people said ‘man, who do you think you are! Who made you the boss’?
Then Stephen says ‘yet this Moses, who the people refused. He was actually the
ruler and deliverer that they refused’. Stephen is showing them that the
prophets actually prophesied of the first century reality of Israel
rejecting Jesus because Moses said they would! Don’t miss this point. This is
the main point of Stephens message. He is telling the religious leaders ‘you
simply fulfilled prophecy by rejecting the Messiah’. He even compares the
miracles and great works that were done by Moses to the great miracles Jesus
did. Stephen ends the chapter by also tracing Jewish history to David’s son
Solomon and how the future temple that he would build was simply a shadow of
the New Testament house of God. He quotes David in Psalms ‘God will not dwell
in temples made with hands’. Now, this has nothing to do with ‘church
buildings’. This has everything to do with Stephen’s insight into the
theological truths contained in Jesus teachings about the destruction of the
temple. In today’s ‘church world’ we have a very unbalanced view of temple
rebuilding and the significance of the passages in Matthew that prophesy of its
destruction. In Stephen’s mind the future destruction [that is future from his
time. A.D. 70!] showed the passing away of the old law and its entire system of
worship. The first century Apostles and teachers saw the eschatological
portions of scripture from a redemptive lens. Peter earlier said ‘repent and be
baptized… so your sins will be blotted out at the return of the Lord’ ‘whom the
heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things’. He couched
individual salvation in with Gods ‘full world’ purpose of redemption [Romans].
They saw it from a wider angle than just ‘me and Jesus’. Now Stephen is doing
the same. The whole Apostolic tradition concerning the destruction of the
temple showed the purpose of God in ending the old concept of law and ‘limited
kingship’ [from Jerusalem’s throne] and how God raised up his Son and placed
him at his right hand and made him Lord and Christ. The passing away of the
temple and Stephens preaching on ‘the customs being changed’ was right on! When
I taught Hebrews I tried to bring this out. I realize that some teachers say
Paul didn’t write Hebrews. I attribute it to him simply because no one else had
the revelation he had in these areas. But I wouldn’t argue with saying Stephen
might have penned it [depending on the dates!] Now we end the chapter with
Stephens’s famous martyrdom and him saying ‘lay not this sin to their charge’.
Saul [Paul] is a witness to this killing, he will become the greatest advocate
for grace versus law that the church will ever know. NOTE- I forgot to mention
that Stephen even compares the mass killing of babies at the time of Moses with
the mass killing done under Herod during Jesus time. He shows how Moses and
Jesus were alike in many ways.
VERSES-
Acts 7:1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
Acts 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 Charran,
Acts 7:3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
Acts 7:4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt
in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this
land, wherein ye now dwell.
Acts 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.
Acts 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.
Acts 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.
Acts 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.
Acts 7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into
Egypt: but God was with him,
Acts 7:10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave
him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him
governor over Egypt and all his house.
Acts 7:11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and
Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
Acts 7:12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he
sent out our fathers first.
Acts 7:13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his
brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
Acts 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him,
and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
Acts 7:15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our
fathers,
Acts 7:16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the
sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the
father of Sychem.
Acts 7:17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God
had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
Acts 7:18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
Acts 7:19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil
entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end
they might not live.
Acts 7:20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair,
and nourished up in his father's house three months:
Acts 7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him
up, and nourished him for her own son.
Acts 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
Acts 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his
heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
Acts 7:24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him,
and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
Acts 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how
that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Acts 7:26 And the next day he shewed 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?
Acts 7:27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away,
saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
Acts 7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian
yesterday?
Acts 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in
the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
Acts 7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him
in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a
bush.
Acts 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,
Acts 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.
Acts 7:33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy
feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
Acts 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.
Acts 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.
Acts 7:36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders
and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty
years.
Acts 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.
Acts 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness
with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who
received the lively oracles to give unto us:
Acts 7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from
them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
Acts 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.
Acts 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.
Acts 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?
Acts 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.
Acts 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.
Acts 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with
Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face
of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Acts 7:46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a
tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
Acts 7:47 But Solomon built him an house.
Acts 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; as saith the prophet,
Acts 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?
Acts 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye
do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Acts 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?
and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of
whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Acts 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels,
and have not kept it.
Acts 7:54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the
heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Acts 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up
stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the
right hand of God,
Acts 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son
of man standing on the right hand of God.
Acts 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their
ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
Acts 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.
Acts 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Acts 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.
Genesis
12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:Genesis 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
29 Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the
prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
30 And
say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore
ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed
the prophets.
32 Fill ye
up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye
serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
34 Wherefore,
behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them
ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your
synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35 That
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood
of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew
between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily
I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37 O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which
are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I
say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Note- Please do me a favor, those who read/like the posts-
re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on- Thanks-
John.#
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