Acts 7 – 8
Acts 7 is a speech from Stephen which outlines the history of the Jewish people. In a short time he goes from Abraham to Solomon building the temple. Verse 7:24 reminds us of one of Moses’ flaws, his temper:
And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.
This has him set away because the people no feared him and did not know if he would kill them or not. After 40 years away God determined he was ready and he returned to save the people from slavery and lead them to the Promised Land. Once again his temper flared up and he lost his opportunity to go into the Promised Land, teach us to control ours.
People read the OT and sometimes just used snippets as stories to make a point. You have to take the whole think in context to understand and see that it all points to Jesus. This is what Stephen is pointing out as he concludes his speech. Verse 7:52 is where he ties it together and points out what they did:
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
When they heard this they “were enraged” and stoned Stephen to death. In verse7:60 he dies with class:
And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Could you do this? Just before breathing your last breath, ask God to forgive the people who killed you! That is an example of grace and forgiveness that Jesus wants in all of us. We should not look for vengeance, but let that be in God’s hands. We should learn to follow Stephen’s lead and learn how to truly follow Jesus, not necessarily to death but to say what needs to be said and show grace to those who harm us.
Verse 8:3 introduces us to Saul, later know as Paul:
But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
We often forget that the man, who wrote most of the New Testament and laid the foundation on how we assemble and worship God in the Name of Jesus, persecuted early Christians. Now one thing we also forget is he doing what he thinks is right based on his knowledge of Hebraic Law. We also forget that this man was a person well versed in the Law and traditions of the Israelites, not just a butcher. So he knew scripture and enforced it the way he understood it at that time. The example we learn here is no matter how far we slip away, like the father waiting for his son to return, God will be there with open arms!