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7
Stephen's Address
1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2 And he said, “Men, brothers and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your relatives, and come to a land which I will show you.’ 4 Then he went forth from the land of the Chaldeans and settled down in Haran. And from there, after his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. 5 And He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a place to put his foot on, and He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him, though he had no child. 6 But God spoke in this way: that his offspring would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would enslave them, and they would treat them badly four hundred years. 7 ‘And the nation which they will serve, I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out and serve Me in this place.’ 8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered the twelve patriarchs.
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9 “And the patriarchs, being jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; and God was with him, 10 and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him ruler over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no provisions. 12 And Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And on the second visit Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent and summoned his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. 16 And they were brought back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb which Abraham bought for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
17 “Now when the time of the promise drew near which God swore to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until there arose a different king, who did not know Joseph. 19 This king took advantage of our race, and oppressed our fathers, to make their babies exposed, in order that they might not preserve their lives. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was well pleasing to God; who was brought up in his father's house for three months. 21 But when he was exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and brought him up for herself as a son. 22 And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in words and deeds.
23 “Now when he had turned forty years old, it came into his heart to look upon his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24 And seeing someone being wronged, he retaliated, and avenged him who was being oppressed, and struck the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brothers understood that God was giving to them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the next day he appeared to them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them to peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But the one wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you desire to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Now Moses, at this saying, fled and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.
30 “And forty years having been fulfilled, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. 31 And Moses, seeing it, marveled at the sight; and as he approached it to observe closely, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32 saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses was trembling and was not bold enough to look closely. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have certainly seen the mistreatment of My people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
Israel Rebels Against God
35 “This Moses whom they denied, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?’ This man God sent as a ruler and redeemer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out, and did wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
37 “This is that Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers.’
38 “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, 39 whom our fathers did not desire to be obedient, but they rejected him and returned in their heart back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us: as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to serve the host of heaven, just as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the
wilderness,
O house of Israel?
43 Indeed you carried up the tabernacle of Moloch,
and the star of your god Remphan,
the images which you made to worship them;
and I will relocate you beyond Babylon.’
God's True Tabernacle
44 “The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, just as the One speaking to Moses commanded him, to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which also our fathers, having received in turn, also brought in with Joshua into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, 46 who found favor before God and asked opportunity to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.
48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in handmade sanctuaries, just as the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven is My throne,
and the earth is My footstool.
What kind of house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
or what is the place of My rest?
50 has not My hand made all these things?’
Israel Resists the Holy Spirit
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, you also do. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold about the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law as the ordinances of angels and you did not keep it.”
Stephen Martyred
54 Now hearing these things they were infuriated in their hearts, and were gnashing their teeth against him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, looking intently into heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and he said, “Behold! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one purpose; 58 and casting him outside the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes beside the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And having said this, he fell asleep.

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© 2014 Dr. Paul W. Esposito