Sunday Preview, Text

Acts 7:35-60

35 "This Moses whom they disowned, saying, 'WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?' is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. 36 " This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 "This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, 'GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN.' 38 "This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you. 39 "Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, 40 SAYING TO AARON, 'MAKE FOR US GODS WHO WILL GO BEFORE US; FOR THIS MOSES WHO LED US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT — WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM.' 41 " At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 "But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'IT WAS NOT TO ME THAT YOU OFFERED VICTIMS AND SACRIFICES FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, WAS IT, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL? 43'YOU ALSO TOOK ALONG THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH AND THE STAR OF THE GOD ROMPHA, THE IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP. I ALSO WILL REMOVE YOU BEYOND BABYLON.'

44 "Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. 45 "And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David. 46 "David found favor in God's sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 "But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. 48 "However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

49'HEAVEN IS MY THRONE,
AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET;
WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?' says the Lord,
'OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REPOSE?
50'WAS IT NOT MY HAND WHICH MADE ALL THESE THINGS?'

51 "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 52 " Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; 53 you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it."

54 Stephen Put to Death


Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. 58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" 60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep.
NASU

Sunday May 18, 2008

Acts 7:9-34

9 "The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household.

11 "Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. 12 "But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13 "On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family was disclosed to Pharaoh. 14 "Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all. 15 "And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. 16 "From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

17 "But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 untilTHERE AROSE ANOTHER KING OVER EGYPT WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT JOSEPH. 19 "It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive. 20 "It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father's home. 21 "And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. 22 "Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds. 23 "But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. 24 "And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. 25 "And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 26 " On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, 'Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?' 27 "But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, 'WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND JUDGE OVER US? 28'YOU DO NOT MEAN TO KILL ME AS YOU KILLED THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY, DO YOU?' 29 "At this remark,MOSES FLED AND BECAME AN ALIEN IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN, where he became the father of two sons.

30 "After forty years had passed,AN ANGEL APPEARED TO HIM IN THE WILDERNESS OF MOUNT Sinai, IN THE FLAME OF A BURNING THORN BUSH. 31 "When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord: 32' I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC AND JACOB.' Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. 33 "BUT THE LORD SAID TO HIM, 'TAKE OFF THE SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY GROUND. 34' I HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION OF MY PEOPLE IN EGYPT AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANS, AND I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM;COME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.'

NASU

Acts 7:9-34 exposition

9 "The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him,

This is the summary of all that follows. No matter what catastrophe occurs God remains in control and those who love God may trust that God is with them. We are assured of this in Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God , to those who are called according to His purpose. NASU

The question for those who would be faithful to God's Word then is not one of is God in control but will we believe, and will we live like we believe, that God's promise that He is with us, is true.

10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household.

God has many means at His disposal to accomplish His purposes. To attempt to describe them all here would be an unwise use of this time as whole books could and have been written on the subject. To accomplish His purpose with Joseph several are however, quite visible. The first is Divine permission. God permitted the sinful conspiracy of Joseph's brothers in order to place Joseph where God's purposes would be accomplished. God built into Joseph a character that made Him successful in all he did elevating him in Potiphar's house, and even after disgrace due to the selfish and lustful then spiteful conspiracies of Potiphar's wife, Joseph's character elevated his position in the prison. God intervened directly with Spiritual gifts of interpretation of dreams thus giving him audience with Pharaoh. His character and administrative skill (also called in the New Testament a Spiritual gift) elevated him again to the second position of authority in Egypt. God's hand is seen underneath all of this at times leading (interpretation of dreams), at times intervening (Pharoah's dreams), sometimes equipping (Joseph's character and administrative skills), and other times permitting actions which while sinful and morally accountable (Potiphar's wife's lust, the brothers' conspiracy) or catastrophic (the famine); all the while accomplishing God's purposes.

11 "Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food.

God sets the stage to reunite the brothers now that Pharaoh's dreams have come to prophetic fruition. The brothers find themselves, and their father's household, without food in Canaan, and must travel to Egypt where Joseph's management of Egypts food supply has prepared Egypt to endure. The point here is that God may use affliction to drive us from a comfortable place to the place of His will.

12 "But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.

The brothers are sent to Egypt to buy food.

13 "On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family was disclosed to Pharaoh.

Joseph, after the brothers are forced to return with Benjamin, Jacob's only remaining son by Rachel, (Jacob assuming Joseph to be dead), makes himself known to his brothers and offers them this forgiveness, recorded in Gen 45:4-8

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come closer to me." And they came closer. And he said, "I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 "Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 "For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 " God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. 8 "Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. NASU

Likewise after Jacob died forgiveness is offered again, the brothers fearing revenge, Joseph shows us that He understood God's role in permitting their conspiracy and his own misfortunes. Gen 50:19-21

But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? 20 "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. 21 "So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. NASU

Only a perspective of understanding God's gracious and good will could allow Joseph to offer forgiveness of this degree.

14 "Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all.

Their reconciliation accomplished another purpose, namely the repentance of the brothers. Should God not permit is to sin in ways we can sensibly experience the consequences, we would never know our sinful condition and never confess and repent. We would go to Hell believing we deserve Heaven. Once Joseph made himself known and forgave (as God makes Himself known and forgives) he reunited the family and brought them into the safety of Egypt.

15 "And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died.

Jacob and his household moved to Egypt, into Goshen, to live during the famine.

16 "From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

In hope of God's promise to give them the land of Canaan, their bodies are removed back to the land from which they had been displaced by famine. Abraham, had purchased this land in the same hope that it would be, as God has promised, a land for his descendants.

17 "But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

Recall that God did not just promise Abraham endless blessing and happiness but that the road to the promise would be marked with suffering for his descendants. Gen 15:13-16

God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 "But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 "As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 "Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." NASU

After a season of peace and increase there arose another time when God's people would be tested by suffering in order to see with gratitude God's preserving and guiding hand. In the meantime the Israelites did increase in number preparing a great number of people to be broughtout of Egypt compared to the 75 who entered Egypt to join Joseph.

18 until THERE AROSE ANOTHER KING OVER EGYPT WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT JOSEPH.

The pharaohs should have passed down, not only the stories of their kings, but also of the way in which God had preserved them through a great famine. A nation forgets God's providence to its own peril as we shall see in Egypt. We cannot afford to take credit for greatness and increase and claim it was our own skill which gained our blessings. Egypt's rulers not only forgot gratitude to God but even to the people through whom God's preservation had come.

19 "It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive.

When man forgets God anything is possible. Without God human nature will take any action which seems practical to achieve what it believes to be good ends. Pharaoh saw the growing numbers of Hebrews as a threat to his own race and nation so he proposed history's first “final solution” requiring the killing of all male Hebrew babies at birth to bring an end to the line of the people who he saw as a threat.

20 "It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father's home.

For reasons known only to God, Moses was given favor and permitted to live. Some may consider God cruel to allow some to live while other die. Yet can we not also marvel at God's favor in allowing a few of us to live? The tragedy of death in our world is a consequence of our sinful condition. That we live at all is due to God's grace. Consider how many children are lost to abortion, miscarriage, death in birth and infancy. Consider how vulnerable a human baby is. That any of us survive is something of a miracle. Moses, living in a time where male children were ordered to be killed, yet through God's favor he lived and survived first at home and then in the house of Pharoah.

21 "And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son.

With no other option but to place moses in a basket at the edge of the Nile, hidden in the weeds, his mother entrusted Moses' care to God. She did not comply with the ungodly order to kill her child but instead hid her child and and was found by none other than Pharaoh's own daughter who chose, knowing full well that this was a Hebrew baby, she chose to adopt him as her own. Moses' own mother became his nurse and Pharaoh's daughter became his mother. No doubt God's hand can be seen in the “fortunate circumstances” of his finding.

22 "Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.

He was blessed to receive an education and life unlike his Hebrew brethren. Hebrews 11 in the “Hall of fame of faith” tells of his early life this way. Hebrews 11:23-27

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

NASU

The advantages Moses gained in Egypt were not able to keep him from following God's leading. No blessings of position, wealth or lifestyle should keep us from forsaking it all if Christ so calls.

23 "But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.

Walking among the Hebrew slaves for whatever reason the inspired writer tells us Moses chose to “visit” his brethren and thus begin his own path to owning his place as one of God's people.

24 "And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian.

Taking action on his own without having yet met God at the burning bush, Moses stuck and killed an Egyptian slave master.

25 "And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.

According to the inspired writer of Acts and indeed the inspiration of Stephen's words to the council we are informed that in some way Moses had a sense of his calling before receiving and understanding it directly. Following Stephen's defense we begin to see how the case is being built which will follow in the latter half of Stephen's speech, which shows how the Hebrews would misunderstand and reject the prophets' ministries and ultimately reject them as well as the Christ Himself.

26 " On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, 'Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?'

Attempting to Lead his brethren in righteousness he intercedes in a fight between two Hebrews.

27 "But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, 'WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND JUDGE OVER US?

Even as Moses calls them “brothers” also pointing to their need to live as brethren and not quarrel, he is rejected by these men who valued their quarrel more than righteousness .

28'YOU DO NOT MEAN TO KILL ME AS YOU KILLED THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY, DO YOU?'

Further, they reject Moses on account of his own sin in murdering the Egyptian, thereby rejecting the Truth because of the faults of the messenger. May we avoid this error and never reject what is true from God's Word simply because God uses flawed messengers. The Word remains true.

29 "At this remark, MOSES FLED AND BECAME AN ALIEN IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN, where he became the father of two sons.

Moses had little choice but to flee, his sin having been found out. This was God's own plan however placing Moses in a position to hear anew God's own call and plan for him. In the meantime Moses continued life as he was able, marrying and fathering children.

30 "After forty years had passed,AN ANGEL APPEARED TO HIM IN THE WILDERNESS OF MOUNT Sinai, IN THE FLAME OF A BURNING THORN BUSH.

Now eighty when His former life would have seemed almost forgotten God now appears to Moses having, according to God's own timing, chosen this moment to call Moses to do what Moses sensed a calling to do forty years before. Often God's timing of our call is much later than we would imagine. We must not reject it because it would seem too late.

31 "When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord:

32' I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC AND JACOB.' Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look.

God reveals Himself to Moses as the God of his fathers. Moses shows Holy fear in response, certainly not expecting to encounter Almighty God in the wilderness while tending sheep as a a foreigner and an old man.

33 "BUT THE LORD SAID TO HIM, 'TAKE OFF THE SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY GROUND.

Moses response was fear, yet God instructs him in something better than fear, reverence. True worship is not in the mode of our own response to God but in the reverent response which God calls for. We cannot please God with whatever we choose to offer, but will please God always with obedience in even something as simple as Moses removing his shoes. The point here is that as we encounter God, He instructs us in worship and righteousness.

34' I HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION OF MY PEOPLE IN EGYPT AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANS, AND I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM;COME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.'

Having endured eighty years of life as both a prince and a wilderness dwelling shepherd Moses is informed that God's plans have included all Moses personally and the Hebrews as a people have experienced and that now is God's time for their release. Moses is to be the instrument chosen by God for this task. We may never expect God's timing or path to make perfect sense to us. Our is to obey and in the end to see how God works all things out according to His perfect plan and for our good. I'll finish with a reminder from Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God , to those who are called according to His purpose. NASU

In Christ and on the Shepherd's Path,

Mark