Daily Scripture Reading Acts 7:42 - 8:3
Most Christians will agree that Yahweh is a merciful and loving God. However, some believers think Yahweh is always merciful and never does anything harsh. That is the basis on which some people have trouble believing God will send some people to hell.
Stephen quoted some verses from Amos where Yahweh threatened to send the Israelites away. This is proof that while Yahweh is merciful, His mercy has a limit. His mercy does not mean He will not punish sinners.
Acts chapter 7 is a long chapter in which Stephen defended himself in front of the Sanhedrin against charges of blasphemy. Stephen began his defense by recounting the history of Israel from Abraham up to Moses. Then Stephen emphasized that God chose Moses to deliver the Israelites from slavery even though the Israelites had rejected Moses. One of the ways the Israelites rejected Moses, and God, was to convince Aaron to make a golden calf, which they then worshipped.
Acts 7:42 But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘DID YOU PRESENT ME WITH SLAIN BEASTS AND SACRIFICES FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL?
Verses 42 and 43 contain a quotation of Amos 5:25-27 in which Yahweh, through the prophet Amos, said the sacrifices the Israelites offered in the wilderness were not really offered to Yahweh because the Israelites also carried other gods with them, and their true allegiance was to their false gods.
Notice the phrases “turned away” and “delivered them up”. These are very sobering phrases. The Israelites were God’s chosen people, and yet Yahweh turned away from them because they served false gods. Even more sobering is the idea that after they engaged in idolatry, Yahweh delivered them into even more idolatry.
Acts 7:43 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.’
Amos prophecied somewhere around 750BC. Within the next two centuries, the Israelites were conquered and exiled into the Mesopotamian Valley.
If Yahweh did that to the Israelites, He can also do it today. Some people have the idea that since God is merciful, He would never do anything harsh that would be a barrier to people returning to Him. However, God was harsh with the Israelites when they engaged in idolatry and made it difficult for them to stop following false gods.
Acts 7:44 ¶ “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.
The concept behind the tabernacle was it was God’s house, in other words, it was where God lived. If a person wanted to find God, they went to the tabernacle.
Acts 7:45 And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.
Acts 7:46 David found favor in the sight of God, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
Up to the time of David, God’s house was a portable tent. David wanted to build a permanent house for God.
Acts 7:47 But Solomon built a house for Him.
Solomon was the one who built the permanent temple of Yahweh.
Acts 7:48 However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says:
Even though the concept behind the temple was it was God’s house, Stephen reminded the Sanhedrin that in reality, God does not actually dwell in a human made house. Then he quoted scripture as proof.
Acts 7:49 ‘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 REST?
Acts 7:50 WAS IT NOT MY HAND WHICH MADE ALL THESE THINGS?’
Verses 49 and 50 are quotations of Isaiah 66. Isaiah quoted Yahweh saying that heaven is His throne, meaning no place on earth can contain Him.
Acts 7:51 ¶ “You men—stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears—are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
This sentence, spoken by Stephen in front of the Sanhedrin, was a sudden and strong change in tone and attitude. We now see why Stephen was reciting Israelite history. All through their history, from the time they left slavery in Egypt, until Jesus walked on earth, the Jewish people resisted God. Just as the Israelites engaged in idolatry mere weeks after God brought plagues upon Egypt to deliver the Israelites out of slavery, so too the Jewish members of the 1st century Sanhedrin rejected Jesus mere weeks after Jesus proved He was God by rising from the dead.
Acts 7:52 And 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;
Acts 7:53 you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not observe it.”
The Sanhedrin thought they were the experts in the law and blameless in their observation of it. For Stephen to accuse them of not observing the law would have been very offensive to them.
We need to ponder if we have the same problem in the 21st century. There are many seminary graduates who make up the leadership of the evangelical-industrial complex. They think they are the experts in the Bible and obedient to its precepts. However, today’s evangelical leaders use many man-made doctrines to invalidate the word of God just as the Jewish leaders in the days of Jesus did.
Acts 7:54 ¶ Now when they heard this, they became furious in their hearts, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.
We see the words “furious” and “gnashing”. They were very angry that Stephen accused them of disobeying the law.
Acts 7:55 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;
Acts 7:56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Acts 7:57 But crying out with a loud voice, they covered their ears and rushed at him with one accord.
Acts 7:58 And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
The 22nd chapter of Acts tells us the purpose of laying their garments at the feet of Saul was so that Saul could guard them. Pay attention to the word “witnesses”. It was the witnesses who laid their garments at the feet of Saul. Deut 17:6-7 stipulated that there had to be at least two witnesses to put someone to death, and the witnesses had to be the first to strike the guilty person. Acts 6:11-13 tell us the witnesses against Stephen were false witnesses. The fact that Saul guarded their garments opens the possibility that Saul is the one who encouraged them to give false testimony.
Acts 7:59 They went on stoning Stephen as he was calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
Acts 7:60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep.
It would take a great amount of love, mercy, and forgiveness to ask God to have mercy on men who were wrongly stoning him.
Acts 8:1 ¶ Now Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. ¶ And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
The disciples were scattered up to 50 miles / 80 kms away from Jerusalem. At the most, they were two days away from Jerusalem.
Acts 8:2 And some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.
Acts 8:3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he was delivering them into prison.
What is the balance between God’s mercy and justice that is taught at your church?
What are some of the sins committed by the church today that might cause God to turn away and deliver us over to more of that sin?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”