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NOT A HEART TURNED BACK TO EGYPT (I)
MONDAY, JUNE 21
Acts 7:1-53

Psalm 119:33-40

 

“Teach me, O LORD, the way

of thy statutes…”

 

NOT A HEART TURNED BACK TO EGYPT (I)
 
Stephen had been accused of speaking “blasphemous words against this holy place [the temple], and the law” (Acts 6:13). He was charged with saying that “Jesus of Nazareth” would destroy the temple, and “change the customs which Moses delivered” (v 14). When challenged, Stephen essentially preaches a sermon in his defence.
 
The first part of Stephen’s sermon is a marvellous recounting of Israel’s history, from the time of Abraham to the Exodus under Moses. Stephen’s point is that God had been working from the beginning of Israel’s history, through certain men whom He had chosen – first Abraham, then also Jacob and Joseph, and finally Moses. These all believed God’s promise, though they did not personally receive the fullness of it: Abraham, Jacob and Joseph did not even see the multiplication of the people, but in faith they were buried not in Egypt but in the land of Canaan (Acts 7:16-17). Later, however, the people had already begun to disbelieve God’s promise, so that though Moses thought the people would realise that he was their deliverer sent by God, they instead rejected him (vv 25-28), forcing Moses to flee. But “this Moses whom they refused… the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer” (v 35).
 
Stephen then applies his account of Israel’s history to show to his immediate audience their stubbornness and hard-heartedness: Moses prophesied of the coming of Christ (v 37), but the Israelites rejected Moses and God and went after false gods, for which God judged them (vv 39-42). The point is that the present generation of those who are opposing Stephen, are no better than their fathers, who resisted and rejected all those prophets from Moses on whom God had sent to them – and now this present generation have killed the great Prophet Himself, Jesus Christ (v 52).
 
Dear reader, our response to the faithful preaching of God’s Word says much about the condition of our hearts! Do we also “resist the Holy Ghost,” when He speaks to us through the Word?
 
THOUGHT: To reject God’s Word and God’s messengers is to reject God Himself.

PRAYER: Father, make me attentive to Thy preached Word!

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