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Stephen's Speech to the     Sanhedrin (Acts 7.2-53) 
 
"Brothers and fathers,     listen to me!  
The God of glory appeared to our     father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in     Haran.  
'Leave your country and your     people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.' 
So he left the land of the     Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him     to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not     even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants     after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no     child. 
God spoke to him in this way:     'Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they     will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the     nation they serve as slaves,' God said, 'and afterward they will come out     of that country and worship me in this place.'  
Then he gave Abraham the covenant     of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised     him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob,     and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. Because the     patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into     Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave     Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of     Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. 
Then a famine struck all Egypt     and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food.     When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on     their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he     was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. After this, Joseph sent for     his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. Then Jacob went     down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. Their bodies were brought     back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the     sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money. 
As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly     increased. Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler     of Egypt. He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our     forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they     would die. 
At that time Moses was     born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in     his father's house. When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him     and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of     the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. 
When Moses was forty years old,     he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. He saw one of them being     mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by     killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that     God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came     upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying,     'Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?' 
But the man who was mistreating     the other pushed Moses aside and said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over     us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' When     Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and     had two sons. 
After forty years had passed, an     angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the     desert near Mount Sinai. When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As     he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice: 'I am the God     of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' Moses trembled with     fear and did not dare to look. 
Then the Lord said to him, 'Take     off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have     indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their     groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you     back to Egypt.' 
This is the same Moses whom they     had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' He was sent to     be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared     to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous     signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert. 
This is that Moses who told the     Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.' He     was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount     Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to     us. 
But our fathers refused to obey     him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.     They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow     Moses who led us out of Egypt — we don't know what has happened to him!' That     was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought     sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had     made. But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly     bodies.  
This agrees with what is written     in the book of the prophets:  
'Did you bring me sacrifices and     offerings Forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
 You have lifted up the shrine of Molech
 and the star of your god Rephan,
 the idols you made to worship.
 Therefore I will send you into exile' beyond Babylon.
 
Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in     the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the     pattern he had seen. Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under     Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God     drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David,     who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place     for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built the house for     him. 
However, the Most High does not     live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: 
'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
 What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord.
 Or where will my resting place be?
 Has not my hand made all these things?'
 
You stiff-necked people, with     uncircumcised hearts and ears!     
You are just like your fathers:     You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers     did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the     Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him — you who have     received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not     obeyed it." 
 
Paul continues the story (Acts     13.16-41) 
“Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:
 
The God of this people Israel     chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in     the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. Now     for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness.     And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He     distributed their land to them by allotment.
 After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty     years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they asked for a king; so     God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin,     for forty years. And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David     as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the     son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’
 
From this man’s seed, according     to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior — Jesus — after John     had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the     people of Israel.  
And as John was finishing his     course, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not He. But behold, there     comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.’  
Men and brethren, sons of the family     of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this     salvation has been sent. For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their     rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets     which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him.  
And though they found no cause     for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death.     Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took     Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.  
But God raised Him from the     dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him     from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people. And we     declare to you glad tidings — that promise which was made to the fathers.     God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up     Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm:  
‘You are My Son,Today I have begotten You.
 
And that He raised Him from the     dead, no more to return to corruption,He has spoken thus:
 
‘I will give you the sure     mercies of David.’ 
Therefore He also says in     another Psalm: 
‘You will not allow Your Holy     One to see corruption.’ 
For David, after he had served     his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his     fathers, and saw corruption; but He whom God raised up saw no corruption.  
Therefore let it be known to     you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness     of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things     from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 
Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets     come upon you:  
‘Behold, you despisers,Marvel and perish!
 For I work a work in your days,
 A work which you will by no means believe,
 Though one were to declare it to you.’
 
Copyright © 2008                 by Kenneth Humphreys. |