Acts

Chapter 7
1~~ Then said the high priest, "Do you plead guilt or innocent?"

{Note: Instead of answering the question directly, Stephen gives a discourse in verses 2-47. It took a while for the Sanhedran to realize Stephen is revealing to them that Jesus is the God of Glory and the God of Abraham, but they eventually got it and got so angry they stoned him to death!}

2~~And he said, Public Men {title of honor to the members of the Court}, brethren {fellow Jews racially}, and fathers {Rome's appointed leaders of the people}, listen carefully, "The God of Glory appeared unto our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt according to the norm or standard of human viewpoint in Haran."

{Note: While Abraham was still a Gentile Abraham had believed in the Lord and it was accredited to his account for righteousness . . . he accepted Christ as his savior! Abraham was not 'born' a Jew, but regenerated and a new race began . . . when he accepted Christ as his savior. But NOT all Israel is Israel . . . is therefore explained. Unbelievers are not part of the body of Christ - Jew or Gentile.}

3~~ And said unto him, "Get yourself out of your country {he obeyed}, and from your kindred {away from his father, and Lot, etc. - he did NOT obey - his first failure}, and come into the land {another failure. Abraham did not go directly to Palestine} which I shall show you."

4~~"Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, but he dwelt in Haran. And from thence, when his father was dead, He removed him into this land {Palestine}, wherein you now dwell."

{Note: Part of Stephen's message is that Abraham was temporarily out of fellowship - Haran means 'the dried up place' and Haran represents 'human viewpoint'. An appropriate name for one out of fellowship! And the Sanhedran do not yet realize Stephen is calling them the ones that are full of human viewpoint and are 'dried up' - or as Christ chastised them in Matthew 23 starting in verse 13 - and described them as 'religious hypocrites - "White-washed tombstones full of dead men's bones" - beautiful on the outside, dead on the inside.}

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!"

6~~ And God spoke thusly, "That his seed should sojourn in a strange land {Egypt}. And that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years."

{Note: 75 people go into bondage . . . 400 years later 2 million exit.}

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."

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."

{Note: Joseph and his 11 brothers were the 12 partriarchs}.

9~~"And the patriarchs - moved with envy {Jealousy is one of the worst sins} - sold Joseph into Egypt {into slavery}. But God was with him, 10~~ and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him grace and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And he {king} made him governor {Prime Minister} over Egypt and all his house."

11~~"Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction. And our fathers found no sustenance."

12~~"But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first."

13~~"And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh."

14~~"Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls." {75 people}

15~~"So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died . . . he, and our fathers."

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."

17~~"But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt."

{Note: This means the Jews only prospered once they were under the pressure of slavery.}

18~~"Till another king arose . . . who knew not Joseph."

19~~"The same {new king} dealt subtly with our kindred {he tricked them and threw them into slavery}, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children . . . to the end they might not live."

{Note: The Jews faith-resting in slavery do a very unusual thing - they prosper! They reproduce so greatly that the Pharaoh orders the death of all male Jewish children and Moses should have been killed as a baby.}

20~~"In which time Moses was born, and was 'very, very beautiful as a child'/'an infant pertaining to a city' {asteios} and all his life at every stage of growth, and nourished up in his father's house three months."

{Note: In the Hebrews series, RBT picks up the point that 'asteios', translated 'beautiful' here, is incorrect. Asteios means 'pertaining to a city'. So this should be translated 'Moses was born and was an 'infant pertaining to a city'. The 'New Jerusalem' was the analogy used for Surpassing Grace blessings in eternity future for Abraham and all Jewish Age SuperGrace believers. This is explained fully in Hebrews Chapter 11 in context.}

21~~"And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son."

{Note: She adopted him. Moses was the heir to the throne.}

22~~"And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."

{Side-note: 'Moses' is an Egyptian compound word meaning 'out of the river'. Moses was a fantastic public speaker and a genius in many areas - soldier, builder, engineer, mathematician, composer, astronomer, etc.}

23~~"And when the forty years was fulfilled {40 years old}, it came into his right lobe to visit his brethren the children of Israel."

{Note: See Hebrews, Chapter 11:24 also for more details.}

24~~"And seeing one of them {a Jewish slave} suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian." {Slugged him so hard he died.}

25~~"For he knew dogmatically himself . . . therefore he thought that his brethren would have understood how that God, by his hand, would deliver them . . . But they understood not. "

{Note: At this point it was Moses' destiny to lead his people out of slavery. But, now he realized they were not ready . . . they did NOT understand Bible Doctrine. So, they have to stay another 40 years in slavery until a new generation grows (Moses goes into the desert instead of leading them). This will be the Exodus generation - who understand doctrine . . . but THEY FAIL to utilize the 'faith-rest' technique {but all things in the hands of the Lord and forget about it} and end up wandering 40 more years in the desert for another generation to grow. This next generation then is mentally and physically strong. They understand doctrine and utilize its power. They go into the land and take it.}

26~~"And the next day he showed himself unto them as they kept on bickering among themselves. And would have set them at one again, saying, 'Sirs, you are brethren, why do you wrong one to another?' "

{Note: With the taskmaster around, he beat ONE of them. With him dead, they each start trying to make 'slaves of the slaves'. They bully and beat each other!}

27~~"But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made YOU a ruler and a judge over us?"

28~~"Will you kill me, as you did the Egyptian yesterday? "

{Note: This Jew was trying to bully the others and become the leader and is questioning Moses - who are you?}

29~~"Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons."

{Note: Moses left not in fear of the bully or fear of the Pharaoh. Moses left because he knew these people did NOT understand Bible Doctrine and were not ready to be led out of captivity!}

{Verses 30-35 the preparation of Moses}
30~~"And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord {actually Jesus Christ} in a flame of fire in a bush."

31-32~~"When Moses saw it, he kept on being totally amazed at the sight. And as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him 32~~saying, 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Then Moses became frightened and he did not dare to observe."

{Note: This is how we know it is actually Jesus.}

33~~"Then said the Lord to him, 'Put off your shoes from your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground.' "

{Note: Steven has been accused of blaspheming against the temple! He is subtly pointing out to these very learned Sanhedran that any place where the Lord is . . . is holy. The Sanhedran believe that only Jerusalem is holy and only the temple is holy.}

34~~ "I have seen . . . I have seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and I am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you into Egypt."

{Note: The Greek word for send (apostello) is a command, but has the connotation of permitting human volition so is really 'I will send you assuming you are willing to go'}.

{Note: Christ said 'I have seen' twice. This refers back to verse 25. Christ was ready to deliver the people 'but they knew not'. 40 years later He sees again and now the people are ready to handle freedom because they have learned Bible Doctrine so now He is sending Moses as His human instrument of deliverance.}

35~~ "This Moses whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' The same one {Moses} did The God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush."

{Note: Steven is again hitting the Sanhedran with an analogy. The Jews questioned Moses, 'Who are you?' and the Sanhedran questioned Jesus, 'Who are YOU!" - it is starting to sink in to the Sanhedran that Steven is judging them instead of them judging Steven!}

{The Exodus generation verses 36-44}
36~~"He {Moses} brought them out, after that he {Moses} had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years."

{Note: Emphasis is on the Grace of God}

{Source of Grace}
37~~"This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, 'A prophet shall the Lord your God {Jehovah the Father} raise up unto you of your brethren . . . like unto me." {Deuteronomy 18:18}

{Note: Christ was a prophet with the same authority as the prophet Moses had. Stephen has been accused of blaspheming Moses -who they considered the greatest prophet, yet the Sanhedran blasphemed Jesus. Stephen is pointing out that Moses stated Jesus was his equal as a prophet which logically put the Sanhedran in a bad position.}

38~~ "THIS IS HE {Jesus Christ}, that was in the assembly in the desert with the angel which spoke to him {Moses} in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers . . . who received the living oracles {doctrine} to give unto us."

39-40~~" To Whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him {Moses} from them, and in the thinking part of the mind {heart or frontal lobes} turned back again to Egypt, 40~~saying unto Aaron, 'Make us gods to go before us. For this Moses {phrase of disdain}, who brought us out of the land of Egypt . . . we do not know what is become of him."

{Note: This generation knew doctrine but would not obey it! They went back to Egypt mentally and worshiped false gods. So they died in the dessert over another 40 years.}

Continued

**************************************************

Joshua_Sozo™ and Syndein ™ are the Trademarks of Syndein a California DBA of Kenneth Sidley & Associates, Inc., a California Corporation. All rights reserved.

Copyright© Syndein 1982-2010. All rights reserved.

This page is sponsored by Kenneth Sidley, CPA, an Orange County California CPA (949) 706-3133. Please call Ken for high quality, low cost CPA services in Orange County California. This includes audit, review, compilation, tax returns, Quickbooks, and business consulting services.

This page is sponsored by Moxxor For Pain Free Living. Moxxor is a highly concentrated Omega 3 product that has reduced inflammation in this writer. Please go to this website to read more about Moxxor.