Acts 7

High Priest questions Stephen verse 1

Then said the high priest – Are these things so?

Sermon of Stephen: Abraham verse 2- 8

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

and said unto him – Get thee out of thy country

and from thy kindred

and come into the land which I shall show you

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

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

AND God spoke on this wise

That his seed should sojourn in a strange land

and that they should be in bondage

and entreat them evil

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS

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

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

Sermon of Stephen: Joseph verse 9- 16

And the patriarchs – moved with envy – sold Joseph into Egypt

BUT God was with him

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

NOW there came a dearth

over all the land of Egypt and Canaan

and great affliction

and our fathers found no sustenance

BUT when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt

he sent out our fathers first

and the second time Joseph

was made known to his brethren

and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh

THEN send Joseph – and called his father Jacob to him

and all his kindred – threescore and fifteen souls (75)

so Jacob went down into Egypt – and died

he and our fathers – and were carried over into Sychem

and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought

for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor

the father of Sychem

Sermon of Stephen: Moses verse 17- 38

BUT when the time of the promise drew nigh

which God had sworn to Abraham

the people grew and multiplied in Egypt

till another king arose

which knew not Joseph

The same dealt subtly with our kindred

and evil entreated our fathers

so that they cast out their young children

to the end they might not live

In which time Moses was born – and was exceeding fair

and nourished up in his father’s house three months

and when he was cast out

Pharaoh’s daughter took him up

and nourished him for her own son

And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egyptians

and was mighty in words and deeds

and when he was full forty years old

it came into his heart to visit

his brethren the children of Israel

And seeing one of them suffer wrong – he defended him

and avenged him that was oppressed

and smote the Egyptian

for he supposed his brethren would have understand

how that God by his hand would deliver them

BUT they understood not

And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove

and would have set them at one again – saying

Sirs – you are brethren

Why do ye wrong one to another?

But he hat did his neighbor wrong thrust him away

saying

Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

Wilt you kill me – as thou did the Egyptian yesterday?

Then fled Moses at this saying

and was a stranger in the land of Midian

where he begat two sons

and when forty years were expired

there appeared to him

in the wilderness of mouth Sinai an

angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush

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

saying – I am the God of your fathers

the God of Abraham – Isaac – Jacob

Then Moses tremble – and did not behold

then said the Lord to him

Put off thy shoes from thy feet

for the place where thou stand is HOLY GROUND

I have seen

I have seen the affliction of MY people which are in Egypt

and I have heard their groaning

and am come down to deliver them

AND now come – I will send you into Egypt

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

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

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 you hear

This is he – that was in the church in the wilderness

with the angel which spoke

to him in the mount Sinai – and with our fathers

who received the lively oracles

to give unto us

Sermon of Stephen: Aaron verse 39- 43

To whom our fathers would not obey – BUT thrust him from them

and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt – 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

And they made a calf in those days – and offered sacrifice unto the idol

and rejoiced in the works of their own hands

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?

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

Sermon of Stephen: David verse 44- 50

Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness

as HE had appointed speaking to Moses

that he should make it according

to the FASHION that he had seen

which also our fathers that came after brought in

with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles

whom God drove out before the face of our fathers

unto the days of David

Who found favor before God – and desired

to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob

BUT Solomon built HIM an house

Howbeit the Most High dwells not in temples made with hands

as says the prophet – Heaven is MY throne

and earth is MY footstool

What house will ye build ME? said the Lord

or what is the place of MY rest?

Hath not MY hand made all these things?

Sermon of Stephen: Messiah verse 51- 53

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears

you do always resist the Holy Ghost

as your fathers did – so do you

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 you have been now

the betrayers and murderers

who have received the law by the disposition of angels

and have not kept it

Reaction to sermon by Jewish leaders verse 54- 60

When they heard these things – they were cut to the heart

and they gnashed on him with their teeth

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

And said – BEHOLD – I see the heavens opened

and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God

THEN they cried out with a loud voice – and stopped their ears

and ran upon him with ONE ACCORD

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

And they stoned Stephen – calling upon God – and saying

Lord Jesus – receive my spirit

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

COMMENTARY:

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers

: 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. (1861 “promised” [epaggello] means to announce one is going to do or furnish something, profess, assert, claim, indicate, declare, or report)

DEVOTION: God knows the beginning and the end of each person’s life. HE is omniscient or knows everything. HE is not caught in time but in eternity. There is no past, present or future in HIS life.

Here we find God announcing an inheritance to a man’s descendants when he is old with no child. It is hard to think of having something given to you when you know you won’t be around to receive it. It seems funny to us that God would make a claim to give someone something when it seems it is an empty statement.

God never makes empty statements. HE always speaks the truth. HE always knows what HE is talking about. We see in the present. HE sees our past, present and future. HE knew that Abraham was going to have a child in the future.

Abraham didn’t trust God enough to wait for HIM to provide a descendant. He told God about his servant – God refused him. Sarah had Abraham marry her servant and have a child by her but this wasn’t what God had stated would happen.

When God visited Abraham HE told him that he as an old man was going to have a baby by his wife Sarah. Sarah was listening and laughed. She thought “how can I have a baby when I am past the years when I can have a baby.” She didn’t understand who was talking to her. HE was GOD!! HE can do the impossible and HE did.

When God gives a announcement that HE is going to do something we need to take HIM at HIS word. HE never lies. HE never goes back on HIS Word. HE has made many announcements regarding our life with HIM. We need to trust HIM to keep all that HE said HE would do for us.

CHALLENGE: Understand that God knows your life and will give you all that HE has stated HE would do for you and to you. Our responsibility is to trust in HIS statements of truth!

DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers

: 9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him. (2206 “moved with envy” means zealously affect, to be or become desirous of exclusivity in relationship, be jealous, to desire ardently, covet, or be deeply concerned about)

DEVOTION: Siblings can be jealous of one another. I was the oldest of seven in our original family. Then we added six from my father’s next family and three from my mother’s next family. So I was the oldest of sixteen children.

Many times I was alone with my siblings to get them to do things that they didn’t want to do and I didn’t want to do it either. It caused some interesting times while I was growing up. It seemed that the other six didn’t think I should be telling them what to do even if there was no parent around.

Here is Joseph who had special privileges it seems with God. He had dreams about his siblings bowing down to him. They didn’t like it. They thought their father liked him best. In fact, Jacob did give him a coat of many colors that the other sons thought they should have received.

So with the dreams and the coat they were envious of him. They didn’t like him because their father treated him better than them or at least they thought that way. On one occasion Jacob had sent Joseph to find his brothers. They saw him coming and plotted to kill him. Cooler heads prevailed and they just sold him to a traveling caravan heading to Egypt. So Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers who just wanted to get rid of him.

Well, God was on his side. HE protected him from danger even while he was falsely accused and went to jail because of it. God had the jailer treat him well. He even interpreted dreams while in jail for two of Pharaoh’s servants. It took a while but the servant that lived finally remembered Joseph after two years. That is when he became a ruler in Egypt.

All the bad that was allowed in Joseph’s life was to be used of God to cause the children of Israel to increase in size until they were to be brought into the land that God promised they would have.

CHALLENGE: God had a plan and HE worked HIS plan for HIS glory and the benefit of the children of Israel. God has a plan for us and is working HIS plan for HIS glory in our lifetime.

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: 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 you house of Israel, have you offered to ME slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? (4762 “turned” [strepho] means to change one’s mind, change one’s ways, or reject an existing relationship)

DEVOTION: There are many who think that God forces us to do things that we don’t want to do. He doesn’t give us a choice. HE has a plan for our life that we can’t resist. We have no choices ourselves.

Well here we find a group of people who knew who God was and what HE had done for them but they wanted to worship false gods instead of the one TRUE God of the Bible. They knew that Moses was on the mountain receiving instructions from God but they didn’t want to wait for his return.

So they asked Aaron to build them a golden calf after the god they saw in Egypt. They thought that they had it better in Egypt being slaves then they had following the LORD in the wilderness. They wanted to return to Egypt. They wanted the good life they thought they had in Egypt. They didn’t remember the bad parts only the good parts of being slaves.

Well we find that God said “OK” have it your way. You can worship these false gods. You can turn your back on ME. But remember that if you turn your back on ME for too long I will turn my back on you and let you have it your own way. It is a path that leads to destruction and the lake of fire for eternity but you can enjoy your sin for a season.

In the book of Romans chapter one, we see the same thing happening to those who turned their back on God’s general revelation in creation and his special revelation through the Word of God in the Old Testament.

Three times it states that God “gave them up” to their uncleanness, vile affections and reprobate mind. People have not changed from the time of Adam and Eve. They want to do what they want without any regard for the LORD and yet want HIS blessing on their life. It doesn’t work that way.

Either you follow the LORD with the help of the Holy Spirit or you say no to God and go your own way. There is no middle ground. It is either in one camp or the other.

CHALLENGE: We have a choice all the way until we die but once we get in a rut it is hard to change when you are ready to die.

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers

: 51 You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you. (496 “resist” [anthistemi] means to stand against, oppose, withstand, to fall upon or run against)

DEVOTION: Have you ever met an individual who was completely unyielding to persuasion to do right? Have you ever met someone who just didn’t want to hear anything about the LORD? Have you ever met someone who you thought had a heart that would not give in to good advice? Here we find Stephen in this situation. He had given an history of what the LORD had done throughout the history of Israel. During this history there have always been individuals who just wanted to kill the messenger of God. They didn’t want to listen. They didn’t care what the LORD wanted them to do to change their behavior. They were enjoying their life on this earth.

On this occasion the religious leaders enjoyed a good standing with the government of Rome. They were one of the chosen religions. They thought their status with Rome was more important than their status with God.

Stephen gave a history of the LORD working with Israel. He started at the call of Abraham and concluded with Solomon building the Temple. He also taught concerning those in Israel who resisted the prophets of God. Those that he was presently teaching were part of the same group. They didn’t want to hear anything that he had to say. Their hearts were hardened. They were just like the pagans that they thought they were better than. They were on their way to Hell for eternity.

What made them children of Hell? They resisted the Holy Spirit. There is only one unpardonable sin. That sin is not becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. All those who think they will get to heaven on their good works – are wrong. All those who think that because they attend a Bible believing church will get to heaven – are wrong. All those who think that giving money to the church will get them into heaven – are wrong. There is only one way into heaven and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus told the Pharisees that they were of the seed of the devil and not of Abraham. They were lying to themselves and so were the ones who stoned Stephen.

In the group at that time was Saul, who would later become Paul. He would listen to Christ and become a follower of HIM. Probably all the others that were at the stoning will go into the lake of fire for eternity.

We can never give up on our family, friends and neighbors concerning their salvation. Only God knows whose hearts are hardened for eternity. Only God knows whose ears are closed to the gospel for eternity. Our responsibility is to share each chance we get. Our responsibility is to pray until we die for those in that group. I still have a number of men on my prayer list that have wives that are followers of Christ but they are not. I will pray until I know they are in the family of God or I die. Stephen prayed for the men who were stoning him. Can we?

CHALLENGE: Never give up on someone the LORD has put in your world. If they are resisting the work of the LORD in their life help them to understand what HE is doing before it is too late.

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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:

BODY

Chastity (Purity in living)

Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)

Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)

Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)

Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)

SOUL

Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)

Frugality (wise use of resources)

Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)

Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)

Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)

SPIRIT

Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)

Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)

Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)

LORD heard the groaning of Israel verse 34

Stephen’s pray for those stoning him verse 59- 60

Receive my spirit

Lay not this sin to their charge

Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)

Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)

Tabernacle verse 46

Solomon temple verse 47, 48

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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)

Lively oracles verse 38

Written in the book of the prophets verse 42

Says the prophet verse 48

Law verse 53

God the Father (First person of the Godhead)

God verse 2, 6, 7, 9, 17, 25, 32, 35, 37, 42, 45, 46, 55, 56, 59

God of glory verse 2 , 55

Judge verse 7

God with Joseph verse 9, 10

Gave him favor

Gave him wisdom

God of Abraham verse 32

God of Isaac verse 32

God of Jacob verse 32, 46

Lord verse 33, 37, 49, 60

God’s people Israel verse 34

Lord your God verse 37

God turned and gave them up verse 42

Most High verse 48

Heaven is God’s throne verse 49

Earth is God’s footstool verse 49

Creator verse 50

Glory of God verse 55

Jesus standing at right hand of God verse 55, 56

God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)

Lord verse 30, 31, 33, 59

Angel of the Lord verse 30

Voice of the Lord verse 31

Prophet verse 37

Jesus verse 45, 55, 59

Just One verse 52

Right hand of God verse 55, 56

Son of man verse 56

Lord Jesus verse 59

God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)

Holy Ghost verse 51, 55

Religious leaders resisting verse 51

Stephen full of verse 55

Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)

Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)

Angel of the LORD verse 30

Hand of the angel verse 35

Disposition of angels verse 53

Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)

Mesopotamia verse 2

Chartan verse 2, 4

Land of Chaldaeans verse 4

Egypt verse 9- 12, 17, 24, 34, 36, 39, 40

Pharoah verse 10, 13, 21

Chanaan verse 11

Emmor father of Sychem verse 16

Pharaoh’s daughter verse 21

Land of Madian verse 29

Mount Sina verse 30, 38

Babylon verse 43

Gentiles verse 45

Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)

Evil verse 6, 19

Envy verse 9

Sold Joseph verse 9

Subtly verse 19

Killed children verse 19

Suffered wrong verse 24, 26

Kill verse 28

Not obey lively oracles verse 38, 39

Hearts turn back to Egypt verse 39

False gods verse 40

Idol (golden calf) verse 41

Rejoice in works of your hands verse 41

Worship host of heaven verse 42

Worship Moloch and Remphan verse 43

Stiffnecked verse 51

Uncircumcised in heart and ears verse 51

Resist Holy Ghost verse 51

Persecuted prophets verse 52

Betrayers verse 52

Murderers verse 52

Not kept law verse 53

Killing Stephen verse 58

Sin of murder verse 60

Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)

Promise verse 5, 17

Service verse 7

Deliverance from afflictions verse 10, 11

Church verse 38

Prayer verse 59, 60

Fell asleep verse 60

Israel (Old Testament people of God)

High Priest verse 1

Abraham verse 2, 8, 16, 17

Four hundred years verse 6

Covenant of circumcision verse 8

Isaac verse 8

Jacob verse 8, 12, 15, 46

Twelve patriarchs (fathers) verse 8, 9, 12

Joseph verse 9, 10, 18

Sold into slavery

Delivered from all afflictions

Favor with God

Wisdom of God

Governor

Threescore and fifteen souls in Egypt (75) verse 14

Sychem (tomb of Abraham) verse 16

Time of promise verse 17

Moses verse 20- 44

Learned wisdom of Egypt

Mighty in words and deeds

Forty years old

Killed Egyptian

Forty years away from Egypt

Flame of bush

Lord spoke to him

Ruler

Deliverer

Signs and wonders

Wilderness forty years

Children of Israel verse 23

Church in the wilderness verse 38

Aaron verse 40

House of Israel verse 42

David verse 45

Tabernacle verse 46

Solomon verse 47

Prophets verse 52

Church (New Testament people of God)

Stephen verse 1- 60

History of Israel

Full of Holy Ghost

Looked up stedfastly to heaven

Saw glory of God

Jesus standing at right hand of God

Calling on God: receive my spirit

Saul (Paul) verse 58

Last Things (Future Events)

Fell asleep verse 60

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QUOTES regarding passage

But Moses returned and the once rejected deliverer whom they knew not was after all the one who delivered them and brought them forth. “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. 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” (Verses 35–36). The Holy Spirit pressed home these great foreshadowings. Must they not have been reminded of the words spoken before by Peter? “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour—” (Chapter 5:30). “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner” (Chapter 4:11). These were familiar words to them carried to their consciences by the Holy Spirit and now through the historical record of Moses, the Moses of whom they boasted, the same truth is flashed before them once more. “This Moses”—the one who was rejected “The same did God send” meant “this Jesus, whom you crucified—the same whom God sent and made Prince and Saviour.”

Significant too is the event of the burning bush, the angel of Jehovah had appeared there in His Glory to Moses and it was by the hand of that angel that Moses became the ruler and deliverer (Verse 35). Wonders and signs were then accomplished through him. Of this uncreated angel the council believed that He was Jehovah Himself, while their traditions well known and received at that time, spoke of Him as the Messiah. This same Jehovah had been in their midst and manifested His presence by wonders and signs.

The Holy Spirit witnesses also in this to the truth, so often revealed, that in the future, at the second Coming of Christ (corresponding to the second time in the history of Joseph), the nation will know and accept Him, whom they rejected before. (Gaebelein, A. C. (1912). The Acts of the apostles: an exposition (pp. 132–133). New York: “Our Hope” Publication Office.)

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And so Stephen shows that Moses, in his rejection at first, and acceptance the second time, is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. “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. This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness (that is, the congregation of the Lord of old 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: to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt.” He thus shows how Israel’s history down through the centuries has been that of forgetting God and turning to the ways of the Gentiles, all of which accounts for their continual suffering. “To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt.”

You know, Egypt is a type of the world, and it is quite possible for Christians in their hearts to turn back to Egypt—the world—and not know what crucifixion with Christ means. Many are not able to say with Paul, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” It is one thing to recognize we are dead to the corrupt world, dead to the licentious world, dead to the vulgar world; it is quite another thing to recognize that the cross of Christ comes between the believer and the esthetic world. A great many of us are not tempted by the corrupt world, but we fall under the spell of the esthetic world. We love the world’s songs, its plays, its art; and the result is that our hearts are largely in the world instead of being wrapped up in God Himself. We may learn a lesson from the people of Israel as we continue to read this charge Stephen gave. (Ironside, H. A. (1943). Lectures on the Book of Acts. (pp. 170–171). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)

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Ver. 35. This Moses, whom they refused, &c.] That is, the Israelites, the Ethiopic version reads, his kinsmen denied; those of his own nation, and even of his family: saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge? as Dathan, or whoever said the words in ver. 27 the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer; or a redeemer; so the Jews often call Moses, saying, “as was the first redeemer, so shall be the last Redeemer.” He was an eminent type of the Messiah; and the redemption of the people of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage, by him, was emblematical of redemption from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law by Jesus Christ; and as Moses had his mission and commission from God, so had Jesus Christ, as Mediator; and as Moses was despised by his brethren, and yet made the ruler and deliverer of them, so, though Jesus was set at nought by the Jews, yet he was made both Lord and Christ, and exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. Moses was sent by the hands of the angel, which appeared to him in the bush; and who was the second person in the Godhead; the father sent him by the son, not as an instrument, but as having the power and authority over him, to govern, direct, and assist him. The Alexandrian copy, and the Vulgate Latin version read, with the hand of the angel; he sent Moses along with him to be used by him as an instrument in his hand, to deliver the people of Israel; nor does this at all contradict what the Jews say at the time of the passover: “and the Lord hath brought us out of Egypt, לא על ידי מלאך, not by the hands of an angel, nor by the hands of a seraph, nor by the hands of a messenger, but the holy blessed God, by his own glory, by himself;” for he did not deliver them by a created angel, but by an increated one. (Gill, J. (1809). An Exposition of the New Testament (Vol. 2, p. 204). London: Mathews and Leigh.)

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Such was Israel’s blindness. They had rejected the savior sent to them by God, but God had no other savior. All they had gained by their blind and wicked rejection of Moses was further bondage. In the end the very savior they had spurned was sent back by God to be ruler and deliverer.

Encompassed in this forceful summary of the type are the two comings of Christ with Israel’s age-long rejection sandwiched in between. The Sanhedrin could hardly miss the point Stephen was driving home. (Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring Acts: An Expository Commentary (Ac 7:35). Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.)

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35.] The second τοῦτον is repeated emphatically. So οὗτος again, vv. 36, 37, 38 [to impress on them God’s choice of one whom they rejected].

ἠρνήσαντο, ver. 27. The rejecter of Moses there is regarded as the representative of the nation: see note on αὐτοῖς, ver. 26. In this express mention of the rejection of Moses by the Jews and his election and mission by God, the parallel of Jesus Christ is no doubt in Stephen’s mind, and the inference intended to be drawn, that it does not follow that God rejects those whom THEY REJECTED.

The difficulty of ἀπέσταλκεν has caused it to be altered into the historic tense, ἀπέστειλεν. But the perf. sets forth not only the fact of God’s sending Moses then, but the endurance of his mission till now—him hath God sent: with a closer reference than before, to Him whom God had now exalted as the true ἄρχοντα κ. λυτρωτήν. See ch. 5:31. (Alford, H. (1976). Alford’s Greek Testament: an exegetical and critical commentary (Vol. 2, p. 76). Grand Rapids, MI: Guardian Press.)

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Stephen, in handling the case of Moses, was able to show God’s great plan and purpose for the salvation of his people. In this paragraph that we have been considering, we find this extraordinary, climactic turning point, as it were, in the whole story of Moses, the point at which he was commissioned and when God gave him the message explicitly. We have already seen how God had spoken to him when he was regarded as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, in all the pomp and the ceremony of the Egyptian court, being looked upon as a military genius and a wise man, with the world at his feet. God had already spoken to him and had reminded him of his people, and he had been ready to forsake all the glittering prizes in order not only to do the commands of God but to deliver his people.

But Moses had been rejected and had to flee for his life to the land of Midian, and we are told that he had been there for forty years performing the menial task of a shepherd. Then one afternoon—a dull, drab afternoon, when he had not been expecting anything at all—he had taken the sheep in his care to the back of a certain mountain. Oh, the humdrum ordinariness of life! But there he had been confronted by a phenomenon, a burning bush, a bush aflame and yet not being consumed. So he had gone forward to investigate, and then he had been addressed by the voice of an angel out of the bush.

As we have considered this burning bush, we have seen that the essence of the biblical message of deliverance and salvation is that it is God’s action, and it is miraculous, it is supernatural, it is divine. And now we come to the point at which we are face to face with the message that was delivered to Moses: “I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And what did God say? “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.”

Moses prefigured what God has done supremely in the person of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. So what do we find here? First of all, God has not forgotten or abandoned this world. If I did not believe that, I would have no message, I would be the pessimist of pessimists. But my message is that God Himself announces that He has not abandoned the world.

And this is how God describes Himself: “I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses was familiar with the history and knew exactly what God meant. These words meant that God was the God of the covenant, the God of the promise—and this is the whole message of the Bible. Here we are in this world in trouble—what is the explanation of it all? Has it always been like this? Are we just gradually emerging out of some agony and arriving at perfection by some evolutionary process?

No; it is the exact opposite. God made a perfect world; then man by sin and rebellion brought disorder and chaos into it, and unhappiness to boot. And if it had been left at that, we would not be here now; the world would have long since festered into the oblivion of nothingness. But we are here for one reason only: the great God who made this world, and whose it is, is still interested in it, is still concerned about it, and has pledged Himself to redeem the whole cosmos. He has promised this. He promised it first in the Garden of Eden, but then He made the promise particularly clear to Abraham, to his son Isaac, and to his son Jacob; and here God is renewing this promise with this man Moses and reminding him of it.

God has a plan and a purpose for this world, but the world does not know about it. The world listens to the philosophers or to the statesmen. At one time the statesmen were our idols, until we began to see through them as we read their autobiographies. We idolize the philosophers today. Well, the philosophers are writing their autobiographies also, and I think that after we have read them we shall think a little less of them. Who shall we turn to then? Here we are, with no hope. But God has a purpose and a plan for redemption and for the salvation of the universe; that is the message of the Bible. And God was telling Moses, “That is who I am; I have not forgotten.” He is the unchanging God. He is the same as He was in the days of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob—the everlasting, the eternal God. (Lloyd-Jones, M. (2006). God Has Come Down. In Triumphant Christianity (Vol. 5, pp. 37–39). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.)

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FROM MY READING:

The dispensationalist sees a broader purpose in God’s program for the world than salvation and that purpose is His own glory (p. 106)

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Thus, as stated in chapter 1, the unifying principle of covenant theology is, in practice soteriological. The unifying principle of normative dispensationalism is doxological, or the glory of God, but the dispensations reveal the glory of God as He manifests His character in the differing stewardships given to man. (p. 107)

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Dispensationalism sees the unity, the variety, and the progressiveness of this purpose of God for the world as no other system of theology. (p. 109)

(Dispensationalism by Charles C. Ryrie)

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1 John 5

Faith is the fundamental principle in overcoming the world and giving us eternal life.
INSIGHT

John writes: “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (v. 5). Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. John wants us to have assurance of our salvation. So he writes further: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (vv. 11-13). If you believe in Jesus as Your personal Savior, you have the Son of God and you have eternal life. (Quiet Time)

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THE UNUSUAL AND THE SPECTACULAR

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:13
There is a tendency in mankind to pay great attention to and to concentrate upon the unusual and the spectacular. We seem to do that instinctively; I suppose it is one of the results of the Fall. Anything unusual or exceptional always attracts attention much more than the usual and the ordinary; that is why some sort of calamity or extraordinary thing in nature always attracts and interests us much more than the perpetual and wonderful things of nature from day to day. Wordsworth said about himself at the end of his great ode Intimations of Immortality:
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears
That is right, and we ought all to put it like that. But the trouble with most of us is that because it is always there we do not marvel at it; that little flower in the hedgerow does not give rise in us thoughts that “lie too deep for tears.” But if we see a tree struck by lightning we are interested because it is unusual, because it is exceptional.
Now, we tend to do that self-same thing in the whole matter of Christian experience. I attribute this to the Fall, and, of course, one must point out in passing that this is something that tends to be organized and often becomes a business. Those who produce books know that the spectacular always appeals to the mind; so they pick out exceptional cases and give them great publicity. But this contradicts essential New Testament teaching. The New Testament never lays stress upon the way in which certainty comes to us; what it is interested in is the fact that it has come.
A Thought to Ponder: There is a tendency in mankind to pay great attention to the spectacular. I suppose it is one of the results of the Fall.

(From Life in God, pp. 104-105, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

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Zechariah’s Visions: The Flying Roll
“Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll . . . the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.” (Zechariah 5:1-2)
The large “flying roll” pictured for Zechariah is 30 feet long and 15 feet wide, signifying the enormity of its purpose. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah all speak of a roll in terms of judgment that is coming on Israel and Babylon (Jeremiah 36:2; Ezekiel 2:9-10).
This roll contains the curse that goes forth over the “face of the whole earth” (Zechariah 5:13)—a phrase that is only used five other times in all of Scripture: God warns Noah of the coming Flood (Genesis 6:7), the population under the leadership of Nimrod rebels at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:4), God sends the plague of locusts on Egypt (Exodus 10:15), the vast empire of Greece destroys and overcomes Persia (Daniel 8:5), and a day will come “on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:35).
The parallel to the scroll with the seven seals in Revelation is striking. Revelation 6:1-8 tells of the four horsemen who carry out the judgment of the first four seals that parallel the ninth vision of Zechariah (6:1-8). Revelation 6:12-17 describes the “great earthquake” that is parallel to the earthquake foretold by Haggai (2:6-7, 21-23). Revelation chapters 6–10 describe the judgments that impact both the planet itself and the population.

Zechariah’s roll judges those who steal and swear and will be “cut off.” The implication is that those unfit for the people of God will be “cleansed” from the final kingdom. Since the obvious purpose of these visions is to give assurance of the ultimate victory of God, we can be confident that “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

(HMM III, The Institute for Creation Research)

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