The Word of God - A survey of the Bible - Part Eleven - G Sep 16, 2018 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T025_20180916.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Acts 7:54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. We will continue today to look at the climactic events of Acts Chapter 7. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button Sunday September 16th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 11G ‘Men and Brethren, What Shall We Do?’ 1). Acts7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And he said, “Brethren 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, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ We had seen last time that as the message concerning the King and His Kingdom spread and many of the priests became obedient to the faith, so Jews from the Synagogue of the Freedmen rose up against Stephen with false accusations presented by false witnesses and brought him before the council -the same religious leaders of Israel who had recently plotted to kill Peter and John for preaching the same message and had been responsible for condemning Jesus to death, also using false witnesses against Him. a). As Stephen addressed the council he made no attempt to refute the allegations against him as there was nothing to refute, instead he took the members of the council to the nation’s history as set forth in the scriptures they knew so well. b). And as we saw in the verses we started with this morning Stephen began with Abraham – the father of the nation. The one to whom had been given the promises concerning a land, an inheritance and rulership, promises confirmed through the covenant of circumcision – a physical sign that everyone there that day possessed – Acts 7:8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs. And so, Stephen had begun by laying the foundation of God’s promises to Abraham and therefore promises belonging to the Jewish people, upon which all that was about to be said would rest. c). If nothing else the religious leaders would have understood that God would fulfill these promises and that these promises had not been fulfilled up to that time. d). However, the circumstances that would bring these promises to fulfillment had been set through the types given in the OT scriptures. e). And it was to the first of 2 foundational types presenting this picture that Stephen then turned – Acts 7:9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. We had seen last time how a pattern is set through the life of Joseph – there was first a rejection of Joseph by his brothers because they were envious of his dreams concerning rulership - Gen 37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. And having sold Joseph into Egypt they thought to see him no more. f). But, God was with Joseph and raised him up to be ruler over all of Egypt and over all of Pharaoh’s house. For the brothers who had rejected him though there was a time of intense suffering during 7 years of famine. g). Deliverance from the famine to save their lives along with elevation of the status of the family and a time of blessing would only come after turning to the brother they had rejected – although at the time they didn’t know that it was Joseph to whom they turned. h). The second of the OT types that Stephen drew from was the life of Moses – the one who had delivered Israel from Egypt and given them the Law. And through the life of Moses Stephen presented to them the same pattern seen through Joseph – Acts 7:23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ Following Moses’ rejection by his brothers there came a period of intense persecution against the people of Israel at the hand of the Assyrian Pharaoh. And so great was the intensity of this persecution that the nation cried out to the God of their fathers. And unbeknown to them God would send Moses, whom they had rejected, to be their deliverer – to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians, to take them to the land promised to Abraham to receive their inheritance within a Theocracy at the head of the nations. i). All of this harking back to the foundation Stephen had laid concerning Abraham as he began. j). The pattern that Stephen set out for the council should have been obvious – there was an individual, Joseph, Moses, Jesus who God had chosen to deliver His people, but this individual had been rejected by his brothers because they did not understand God’s intentions for the individual chosen – just as happened with Joseph and Moses, rejection, had also happened with Jesus. And Just as happened through the types of Joseph and Moses, intense suffering would have to follow the rejection of Jesus until God sent Him back a second time to be the nation’s deliverer. k). Although at the time of their rejection both Joseph and Moses had been despised by their brethren, both were now revered among the people – the implication was that the same would be true for Jesus. Acts 7:44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by 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 to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:49 ‘Heaven is My throne,And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,Or what is the place of My rest?50 Has My hand not made all these things?’ As we see then, having laid the foundation of the promises given to Abraham Stephen then built on this foundation through the lives of Joseph and Moses through both of whom can be seen a pattern of rejection followed by a foreshadowing of the fulfillment of Abraham’s promises. And continuing with this theme, Stephen then turned to the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness – the place where the glory of God dwelt, the very heart of the Theocracy. For without the glory there would be no Theocracy. l). Along with this though, although not stated directly, would be the knowledge of the death of an entire generation, except Joshua and Caleb, who fell short of receiving their inheritance in the land promised to Abraham, because of their refusal to be obedient to the instructions God had given them Num 32:13 So the Lord's anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. And with this in mind we might remember this from Peter’s sermon in – Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ In this the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt provided the example of the consequence for disobedience and Jesus was the Prophet that God raised up, whom God had commanded the people to hear, but the nation as a whole had not heard Him and the consequence for this was set, they would be ‘utterly destroyed from among the people’. Just as with the first generation to come out of Egypt, they would fall short of their inheritance and lose their position of rulership, for which they had been created in Jacob. m). And to present the same picture seen through Joseph and Moses from a slightly different perspective, it was Joshua and the second generation who took the glory of God into the land possessed by the Gentiles – God driving out the Gentiles from before them, not Moses and the first generation. n). And here through Joshua is another foreshadowing of the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. o). And from Joshua Stephen then went to David, the one who was promised the Christ would come from his lineage, the one to whom the earthly realm of the Kingdom had been covenanted, and from David to Solomon, Israel’s 3rd king foreshadowing The King and His Kingdom. p). It was Solomon foreshadowing the Christ who built the Temple in Jerusalem that was filled with the glory of God and to Solomon that God spoke concerning national repentance – 2 Chron 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. Solomon’s Temple was long gone at the time Stephen was giving his address to the council. And the glory of God had been long gone from the camp of Israel, since the days of the Babylonian captivity. The Temple that existed in Stephen’s day didn’t come close to the memory of the magnificence of Solomon’s and God’s glory had never filled it. q). But the One greater than Solomon would build a Temple even greater than Solomon’s, a Temple to which the glory would return bringing to fulfillment the promises given to Abraham and his descendants. And in concluding his address to the council with Solomon and the Temple, Stephen had taken the council from the beginning of the matter to the end, making abundantly clear what was on offer to them and showing them that bringing all things to their God stated conclusion was within their hands. r). And having brought them thus far the Holy Spirit through Stephen then brought the nation’s religious leaders to a climactic point where they would have to make a decision that would have far reaching consequences one way or another. 2). Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart………… There was no political correctness here, but a direct and unequivocal statement of the truth that must produce a response. And the place we have paused in v54 is a place Peter had also brought his audience to in his Pentecost sermon – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart……. But as we will see, there was a contrasting response – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 7:54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” The council didn’t ask, ‘Men and brethren what shall we do?’ Instead they gnashed at Stephen with their teeth – a sign of anguish and anger. a). And then to push matters to the brink Stephen saw and described an open heaven, where he saw the glory of God and ‘the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’. b). The Holy Spirit through Stephen had laid out so powerfully the whole of the matter that it caused heaven itself to move, revealing Jesus, referred to by His Messianic title ‘the Son of Man’ of whom scripture had said Acts 2:34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’ And at that moment the Son of Man was no longer sitting, but standing at the right hand of God, portending His immediate return based on what would happen next – the glory of God was also set to be seen in the camp of Israel once again. All was ripe for Israel to possess the gate of their enemies in fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham. c). The open heaven seen here in Acts Chapter 7 is only seen after this fashion in one other place in the scriptures, described in 2 different ways, but having to do solely with Christ’s return to establish His Kingdom – Rev 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” The heavens will be opened as the Lord breaks the 6th seal on the 7 sealed scroll, so that those dwelling on the earth can see the source of the wrath that will come upon them. d). And then this same scene is depicted after a different fashion in – Rev 19:1 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. So, what was the response of the council to all that the God of their fathers had just laid before them? Acts 7: 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at 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 when he had said this, he fell asleep. 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. The council did exactly the same as their fathers had done to the prophets, exactly the same as they had previously done to Jesus – they put to death the one who came with the words of life. e). Now although the reoffer of the Kingdom of the Heavens remained open to Israel for the remainder of the Acts period, until about 62 AD, the rejection we have just seen in Acts Chapter 7 marks a terminal point in the reoffer just as the events of Matthew Chapter 12 had done in the original offer. f). If that which caused the heavens to open, that brought the Christ to His feet could not persuade them then nothing would. There was nothing that could be said or done that could be greater than this. g). And it is right at this terminal point in the reoffer of the Kingdom of the heavens to Israel that a young man is introduced whose name is Saul. 3). Saul, who we know as Paul, who would become the Apostle to the Gentiles, was introduced at this point because of the dramatic shift that was about to take place in God’s focus. The message of the King and His Kingdom would still be to the Jew first all the while the reoffer of the Kingdom remained open to the nation, but the message would now also be for the Gentile. a). And beyond the time covered by the Book of Acts the message would go predominantly, through the ministry of Paul, to the Gentile nations but would also include a ‘remnant’ from Israel – Rom 11:5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. This remnant consists of Jews beyond the Acts period who are eternally saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, hence it is according to the election of grace. b). And having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ these ethnic Jews would become part of the one new man in Christ – a new creation that is neither Jew nor Gentile – Eph 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. But before Paul’s apostolic ministry to the Gentiles could be fully engaged the message had to go from Jerusalem to Samaria just as the Lord had said as recorded in Acts 1:8 – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the end of the earth. And then of course there was the no small matter of Paul’s own conversion and his subsequent training by the Lord regarding the message he would take to the Gentiles. c). So from Jerusalem we need to go to Samaria – Acts 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city. There are several things we will need to take note of from these verses – Saul as we see was consenting to Stephen’s death and was the main instigator of the persecution against the church in Jerusalem making havoc of the church by entering every house and dragging off both men and women to prison who were found to be of the way. d). Now, this persecution was so intense that it caused those in Jerusalem, except the apostles to be ‘scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria’, fleeing for their lives from the hands of Saul and those who fled were ‘preaching the word’ wherever they went – the same word that had been preached by Peter, John and others in Jerusalem from Pentecost onwards. e). We see that Philip, one of the 7 chosen with Stephen, ‘went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them’ – a message that was accompanied by ‘miracles’ that Philip did and multitudes heeding with one accord the things spoken by Philip with a resulting great joy in that city. f). And because of the ‘miracles’ that accompanied Philip’s preaching we can know that the scriptural focus is on the message of the King and His Kingdom, it is not a focus on the Gospel of grace. g). What we can know for certain is that those who received Philip’s preaching of the King and His Kingdom were eternally saved, otherwise they could not have received the message in the first place. h). Now, with the climactic rejection of the King and His Kingdom by the religious leaders in Acts Chapter 7, God’s purpose for Paul would now be revealed – something Paul wrote about in – Gal 1:3 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. What we need to note and note well is that Paul’s conversion and subsequent ministry to the Gentiles marks the beginning of God’s ‘end game’ so to speak. The OT scriptures clearly show that the Gentiles were to be grafted into the natural olive tree and would be the recipients of that rejected by Israel, the Kingdom of the Heavens. The final outworking of God’s purpose was set in motion through Paul and would last only the course of this dispensation. i). We are standing on the cusp of the grand finale when the events depicted in the Book of Revelation will come to pass, when Satan will be overthrown, and Christ will ascend the throne as King of Kings and Lord of lords. m). As we studied the opening chapters of the Book of Acts we were always aware that because of the OT typology there was another card to play, the Gentile Church, the bride of Christ, but there isn’t another – this is it – we are it – are we ready for what is to come? We will continue with this next time – if the Lord is willing. Sunday September 16th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 11G ‘Men and Brethren, What Shall We Do?’ 1). Acts7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And he said, “Brethren 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, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ We had seen last time that as the message concerning the King and His Kingdom spread and many of the priests became obedient to the faith, so Jews from the Synagogue of the Freedmen rose up against Stephen with false accusations presented by false witnesses and brought him before the council -the same religious leaders of Israel who had recently plotted to kill Peter and John for preaching the same message and had been responsible for condemning Jesus to death, also using false witnesses against Him. a). As Stephen addressed the council he made no attempt to refute the allegations against him as there was nothing to refute, instead he took the members of the council to the nation’s history as set forth in the scriptures they knew so well. b). And as we saw in the verses we started with this morning Stephen began with Abraham – the father of the nation. The one to whom had been given the promises concerning a land, an inheritance and rulership, promises confirmed through the covenant of circumcision – a physical sign that everyone there that day possessed – Acts 7:8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs. And so, Stephen had begun by laying the foundation of God’s promises to Abraham and therefore promises belonging to the Jewish people, upon which all that was about to be said would rest. c). If nothing else the religious leaders would have understood that God would fulfill these promises and that these promises had not been fulfilled up to that time. d). However, the circumstances that would bring these promises to fulfillment had been set through the types given in the OT scriptures. e). And it was to the first of 2 foundational types presenting this picture that Stephen then turned – Acts 7:9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. We had seen last time how a pattern is set through the life of Joseph – there was first a rejection of Joseph by his brothers because they were envious of his dreams concerning rulership - Gen 37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. And having sold Joseph into Egypt they thought to see him no more. f). But, God was with Joseph and raised him up to be ruler over all of Egypt and over all of Pharaoh’s house. For the brothers who had rejected him though there was a time of intense suffering during 7 years of famine. g). Deliverance from the famine to save their lives along with elevation of the status of the family and a time of blessing would only come after turning to the brother they had rejected – although at the time they didn’t know that it was Joseph to whom they turned. h). The second of the OT types that Stephen drew from was the life of Moses – the one who had delivered Israel from Egypt and given them the Law. And through the life of Moses Stephen presented to them the same pattern seen through Joseph – Acts 7:23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ Following Moses’ rejection by his brothers there came a period of intense persecution against the people of Israel at the hand of the Assyrian Pharaoh. And so great was the intensity of this persecution that the nation cried out to the God of their fathers. And unbeknown to them God would send Moses, whom they had rejected, to be their deliverer – to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians, to take them to the land promised to Abraham to receive their inheritance within a Theocracy at the head of the nations. i). All of this harking back to the foundation Stephen had laid concerning Abraham as he began. j). The pattern that Stephen set out for the council should have been obvious – there was an individual, Joseph, Moses, Jesus who God had chosen to deliver His people, but this individual had been rejected by his brothers because they did not understand God’s intentions for the individual chosen – just as happened with Joseph and Moses, rejection, had also happened with Jesus. And Just as happened through the types of Joseph and Moses, intense suffering would have to follow the rejection of Jesus until God sent Him back a second time to be the nation’s deliverer. k). Although at the time of their rejection both Joseph and Moses had been despised by their brethren, both were now revered among the people – the implication was that the same would be true for Jesus. Acts 7:44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by 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 to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:49 ‘Heaven is My throne,And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,Or what is the place of My rest?50 Has My hand not made all these things?’ As we see then, having laid the foundation of the promises given to Abraham Stephen then built on this foundation through the lives of Joseph and Moses through both of whom can be seen a pattern of rejection followed by a foreshadowing of the fulfillment of Abraham’s promises. And continuing with this theme, Stephen then turned to the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness – the place where the glory of God dwelt, the very heart of the Theocracy. For without the glory there would be no Theocracy. l). Along with this though, although not stated directly, would be the knowledge of the death of an entire generation, except Joshua and Caleb, who fell short of receiving their inheritance in the land promised to Abraham, because of their refusal to be obedient to the instructions God had given them Num 32:13 So the Lord's anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. And with this in mind we might remember this from Peter’s sermon in – Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ In this the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt provided the example of the consequence for disobedience and Jesus was the Prophet that God raised up, whom God had commanded the people to hear, but the nation as a whole had not heard Him and the consequence for this was set, they would be ‘utterly destroyed from among the people’. Just as with the first generation to come out of Egypt, they would fall short of their inheritance and lose their position of rulership, for which they had been created in Jacob. m). And to present the same picture seen through Joseph and Moses from a slightly different perspective, it was Joshua and the second generation who took the glory of God into the land possessed by the Gentiles – God driving out the Gentiles from before them, not Moses and the first generation. n). And here through Joshua is another foreshadowing of the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. o). And from Joshua Stephen then went to David, the one who was promised the Christ would come from his lineage, the one to whom the earthly realm of the Kingdom had been covenanted, and from David to Solomon, Israel’s 3rd king foreshadowing The King and His Kingdom. p). It was Solomon foreshadowing the Christ who built the Temple in Jerusalem that was filled with the glory of God and to Solomon that God spoke concerning national repentance – 2 Chron 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. Solomon’s Temple was long gone at the time Stephen was giving his address to the council. And the glory of God had been long gone from the camp of Israel, since the days of the Babylonian captivity. The Temple that existed in Stephen’s day didn’t come close to the memory of the magnificence of Solomon’s and God’s glory had never filled it. q). But the One greater than Solomon would build a Temple even greater than Solomon’s, a Temple to which the glory would return bringing to fulfillment the promises given to Abraham and his descendants. And in concluding his address to the council with Solomon and the Temple, Stephen had taken the council from the beginning of the matter to the end, making abundantly clear what was on offer to them and showing them that bringing all things to their God stated conclusion was within their hands. r). And having brought them thus far the Holy Spirit through Stephen then brought the nation’s religious leaders to a climactic point where they would have to make a decision that would have far reaching consequences one way or another. 2). Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart………… There was no political correctness here, but a direct and unequivocal statement of the truth that must produce a response. And the place we have paused in v54 is a place Peter had also brought his audience to in his Pentecost sermon – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart……. But as we will see, there was a contrasting response – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 7:54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” The council didn’t ask, ‘Men and brethren what shall we do?’ Instead they gnashed at Stephen with their teeth – a sign of anguish and anger. a). And then to push matters to the brink Stephen saw and described an open heaven, where he saw the glory of God and ‘the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’. b). The Holy Spirit through Stephen had laid out so powerfully the whole of the matter that it caused heaven itself to move, revealing Jesus, referred to by His Messianic title ‘the Son of Man’ of whom scripture had said Acts 2:34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’ And at that moment the Son of Man was no longer sitting, but standing at the right hand of God, portending His immediate return based on what would happen next – the glory of God was also set to be seen in the camp of Israel once again. All was ripe for Israel to possess the gate of their enemies in fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham. c). The open heaven seen here in Acts Chapter 7 is only seen after this fashion in one other place in the scriptures, described in 2 different ways, but having to do solely with Christ’s return to establish His Kingdom – Rev 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” The heavens will be opened as the Lord breaks the 6th seal on the 7 sealed scroll, so that those dwelling on the earth can see the source of the wrath that will come upon them. d). And then this same scene is depicted after a different fashion in – Rev 19:1 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. So, what was the response of the council to all that the God of their fathers had just laid before them? Acts 7: 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at 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 when he had said this, he fell asleep. 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. The council did exactly the same as their fathers had done to the prophets, exactly the same as they had previously done to Jesus – they put to death the one who came with the words of life. e). Now although the reoffer of the Kingdom of the Heavens remained open to Israel for the remainder of the Acts period, until about 62 AD, the rejection we have just seen in Acts Chapter 7 marks a terminal point in the reoffer just as the events of Matthew Chapter 12 had done in the original offer. f). If that which caused the heavens to open, that brought the Christ to His feet could not persuade them then nothing would. There was nothing that could be said or done that could be greater than this. g). And it is right at this terminal point in the reoffer of the Kingdom of the heavens to Israel that a young man is introduced whose name is Saul. 3). Saul, who we know as Paul, who would become the Apostle to the Gentiles, was introduced at this point because of the dramatic shift that was about to take place in God’s focus. The message of the King and His Kingdom would still be to the Jew first all the while the reoffer of the Kingdom remained open to the nation, but the message would now also be for the Gentile. a). And beyond the time covered by the Book of Acts the message would go predominantly, through the ministry of Paul, to the Gentile nations but would also include a ‘remnant’ from Israel – Rom 11:5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. This remnant consists of Jews beyond the Acts period who are eternally saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, hence it is according to the election of grace. b). And having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ these ethnic Jews would become part of the one new man in Christ – a new creation that is neither Jew nor Gentile – Eph 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. But before Paul’s apostolic ministry to the Gentiles could be fully engaged the message had to go from Jerusalem to Samaria just as the Lord had said as recorded in Acts 1:8 – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the end of the earth. And then of course there was the no small matter of Paul’s own conversion and his subsequent training by the Lord regarding the message he would take to the Gentiles. c). So from Jerusalem we need to go to Samaria – Acts 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city. There are several things we will need to take note of from these verses – Saul as we see was consenting to Stephen’s death and was the main instigator of the persecution against the church in Jerusalem making havoc of the church by entering every house and dragging off both men and women to prison who were found to be of the way. d). Now, this persecution was so intense that it caused those in Jerusalem, except the apostles to be ‘scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria’, fleeing for their lives from the hands of Saul and those who fled were ‘preaching the word’ wherever they went – the same word that had been preached by Peter, John and others in Jerusalem from Pentecost onwards. e). We see that Philip, one of the 7 chosen with Stephen, ‘went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them’ – a message that was accompanied by ‘miracles’ that Philip did and multitudes heeding with one accord the things spoken by Philip with a resulting great joy in that city. f). And because of the ‘miracles’ that accompanied Philip’s preaching we can know that the scriptural focus is on the message of the King and His Kingdom, it is not a focus on the Gospel of grace. g). What we can know for certain is that those who received Philip’s preaching of the King and His Kingdom were eternally saved, otherwise they could not have received the message in the first place. h). Now, with the climactic rejection of the King and His Kingdom by the religious leaders in Acts Chapter 7, God’s purpose for Paul would now be revealed – something Paul wrote about in – Gal 1:3 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. What we need to note and note well is that Paul’s conversion and subsequent ministry to the Gentiles marks the beginning of God’s ‘end game’ so to speak. The OT scriptures clearly show that the Gentiles were to be grafted into the natural olive tree and would be the recipients of that rejected by Israel, the Kingdom of the Heavens. The final outworking of God’s purpose was set in motion through Paul and would last only the course of this dispensation. i). We are standing on the cusp of the grand finale when the events depicted in the Book of Revelation will come to pass, when Satan will be overthrown, and Christ will ascend the throne as King of Kings and Lord of lords. m). As we studied the opening chapters of the Book of Acts we were always aware that because of the OT typology there was another card to play, the Gentile Church, the bride of Christ, but there isn’t another – this is it – we are it – are we ready for what is to come? We will continue with this next time – if the Lord is willing. Sunday September 16th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 11G ‘Men and Brethren, What Shall We Do?’ 1). Acts7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And he said, “Brethren 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, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ We had seen last time that as the message concerning the King and His Kingdom spread and many of the priests became obedient to the faith, so Jews from the Synagogue of the Freedmen rose up against Stephen with false accusations presented by false witnesses and brought him before the council -the same religious leaders of Israel who had recently plotted to kill Peter and John for preaching the same message and had been responsible for condemning Jesus to death, also using false witnesses against Him. a). As Stephen addressed the council he made no attempt to refute the allegations against him as there was nothing to refute, instead he took the members of the council to the nation’s history as set forth in the scriptures they knew so well. b). And as we saw in the verses we started with this morning Stephen began with Abraham – the father of the nation. The one to whom had been given the promises concerning a land, an inheritance and rulership, promises confirmed through the covenant of circumcision – a physical sign that everyone there that day possessed – Acts 7:8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs. And so, Stephen had begun by laying the foundation of God’s promises to Abraham and therefore promises belonging to the Jewish people, upon which all that was about to be said would rest. c). If nothing else the religious leaders would have understood that God would fulfill these promises and that these promises had not been fulfilled up to that time. d). However, the circumstances that would bring these promises to fulfillment had been set through the types given in the OT scriptures. e). And it was to the first of 2 foundational types presenting this picture that Stephen then turned – Acts 7:9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. We had seen last time how a pattern is set through the life of Joseph – there was first a rejection of Joseph by his brothers because they were envious of his dreams concerning rulership - Gen 37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. And having sold Joseph into Egypt they thought to see him no more. f). But, God was with Joseph and raised him up to be ruler over all of Egypt and over all of Pharaoh’s house. For the brothers who had rejected him though there was a time of intense suffering during 7 years of famine. g). Deliverance from the famine to save their lives along with elevation of the status of the family and a time of blessing would only come after turning to the brother they had rejected – although at the time they didn’t know that it was Joseph to whom they turned. h). The second of the OT types that Stephen drew from was the life of Moses – the one who had delivered Israel from Egypt and given them the Law. And through the life of Moses Stephen presented to them the same pattern seen through Joseph – Acts 7:23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ Following Moses’ rejection by his brothers there came a period of intense persecution against the people of Israel at the hand of the Assyrian Pharaoh. And so great was the intensity of this persecution that the nation cried out to the God of their fathers. And unbeknown to them God would send Moses, whom they had rejected, to be their deliverer – to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians, to take them to the land promised to Abraham to receive their inheritance within a Theocracy at the head of the nations. i). All of this harking back to the foundation Stephen had laid concerning Abraham as he began. j). The pattern that Stephen set out for the council should have been obvious – there was an individual, Joseph, Moses, Jesus who God had chosen to deliver His people, but this individual had been rejected by his brothers because they did not understand God’s intentions for the individual chosen – just as happened with Joseph and Moses, rejection, had also happened with Jesus. And Just as happened through the types of Joseph and Moses, intense suffering would have to follow the rejection of Jesus until God sent Him back a second time to be the nation’s deliverer. k). Although at the time of their rejection both Joseph and Moses had been despised by their brethren, both were now revered among the people – the implication was that the same would be true for Jesus. Acts 7:44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by 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 to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:49 ‘Heaven is My throne,And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,Or what is the place of My rest?50 Has My hand not made all these things?’ As we see then, having laid the foundation of the promises given to Abraham Stephen then built on this foundation through the lives of Joseph and Moses through both of whom can be seen a pattern of rejection followed by a foreshadowing of the fulfillment of Abraham’s promises. And continuing with this theme, Stephen then turned to the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness – the place where the glory of God dwelt, the very heart of the Theocracy. For without the glory there would be no Theocracy. l). Along with this though, although not stated directly, would be the knowledge of the death of an entire generation, except Joshua and Caleb, who fell short of receiving their inheritance in the land promised to Abraham, because of their refusal to be obedient to the instructions God had given them Num 32:13 So the Lord's anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. And with this in mind we might remember this from Peter’s sermon in – Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ In this the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt provided the example of the consequence for disobedience and Jesus was the Prophet that God raised up, whom God had commanded the people to hear, but the nation as a whole had not heard Him and the consequence for this was set, they would be ‘utterly destroyed from among the people’. Just as with the first generation to come out of Egypt, they would fall short of their inheritance and lose their position of rulership, for which they had been created in Jacob. m). And to present the same picture seen through Joseph and Moses from a slightly different perspective, it was Joshua and the second generation who took the glory of God into the land possessed by the Gentiles – God driving out the Gentiles from before them, not Moses and the first generation. n). And here through Joshua is another foreshadowing of the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. o). And from Joshua Stephen then went to David, the one who was promised the Christ would come from his lineage, the one to whom the earthly realm of the Kingdom had been covenanted, and from David to Solomon, Israel’s 3rd king foreshadowing The King and His Kingdom. p). It was Solomon foreshadowing the Christ who built the Temple in Jerusalem that was filled with the glory of God and to Solomon that God spoke concerning national repentance – 2 Chron 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. Solomon’s Temple was long gone at the time Stephen was giving his address to the council. And the glory of God had been long gone from the camp of Israel, since the days of the Babylonian captivity. The Temple that existed in Stephen’s day didn’t come close to the memory of the magnificence of Solomon’s and God’s glory had never filled it. q). But the One greater than Solomon would build a Temple even greater than Solomon’s, a Temple to which the glory would return bringing to fulfillment the promises given to Abraham and his descendants. And in concluding his address to the council with Solomon and the Temple, Stephen had taken the council from the beginning of the matter to the end, making abundantly clear what was on offer to them and showing them that bringing all things to their God stated conclusion was within their hands. r). And having brought them thus far the Holy Spirit through Stephen then brought the nation’s religious leaders to a climactic point where they would have to make a decision that would have far reaching consequences one way or another. 2). Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart………… There was no political correctness here, but a direct and unequivocal statement of the truth that must produce a response. And the place we have paused in v54 is a place Peter had also brought his audience to in his Pentecost sermon – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart……. But as we will see, there was a contrasting response – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 7:54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” The council didn’t ask, ‘Men and brethren what shall we do?’ Instead they gnashed at Stephen with their teeth – a sign of anguish and anger. a). And then to push matters to the brink Stephen saw and described an open heaven, where he saw the glory of God and ‘the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’. b). The Holy Spirit through Stephen had laid out so powerfully the whole of the matter that it caused heaven itself to move, revealing Jesus, referred to by His Messianic title ‘the Son of Man’ of whom scripture had said Acts 2:34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’ And at that moment the Son of Man was no longer sitting, but standing at the right hand of God, portending His immediate return based on what would happen next – the glory of God was also set to be seen in the camp of Israel once again. All was ripe for Israel to possess the gate of their enemies in fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham. c). The open heaven seen here in Acts Chapter 7 is only seen after this fashion in one other place in the scriptures, described in 2 different ways, but having to do solely with Christ’s return to establish His Kingdom – Rev 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” The heavens will be opened as the Lord breaks the 6th seal on the 7 sealed scroll, so that those dwelling on the earth can see the source of the wrath that will come upon them. d). And then this same scene is depicted after a different fashion in – Rev 19:1 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. So, what was the response of the council to all that the God of their fathers had just laid before them? Acts 7: 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at 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 when he had said this, he fell asleep. 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. The council did exactly the same as their fathers had done to the prophets, exactly the same as they had previously done to Jesus – they put to death the one who came with the words of life. e). Now although the reoffer of the Kingdom of the Heavens remained open to Israel for the remainder of the Acts period, until about 62 AD, the rejection we have just seen in Acts Chapter 7 marks a terminal point in the reoffer just as the events of Matthew Chapter 12 had done in the original offer. f). If that which caused the heavens to open, that brought the Christ to His feet could not persuade them then nothing would. There was nothing that could be said or done that could be greater than this. g). And it is right at this terminal point in the reoffer of the Kingdom of the heavens to Israel that a young man is introduced whose name is Saul. 3). Saul, who we know as Paul, who would become the Apostle to the Gentiles, was introduced at this point because of the dramatic shift that was about to take place in God’s focus. The message of the King and His Kingdom would still be to the Jew first all the while the reoffer of the Kingdom remained open to the nation, but the message would now also be for the Gentile. a). And beyond the time covered by the Book of Acts the message would go predominantly, through the ministry of Paul, to the Gentile nations but would also include a ‘remnant The Word of God - A survey of the Bible - Part Eleven - G Sep 16, 2018 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T025_20180916.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Acts 7:54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. We will continue today to look at the climactic events of Acts Chapter 7. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button Sunday September 16th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 11G ‘Men and Brethren, What Shall We Do?’ 1). Acts7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And he said, “Brethren 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, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ We had seen last time that as the message concerning the King and His Kingdom spread and many of the priests became obedient to the faith, so Jews from the Synagogue of the Freedmen rose up against Stephen with false accusations presented by false witnesses and brought him before the council -the same religious leaders of Israel who had recently plotted to kill Peter and John for preaching the same message and had been responsible for condemning Jesus to death, also using false witnesses against Him. a). As Stephen addressed the council he made no attempt to refute the allegations against him as there was nothing to refute, instead he took the members of the council to the nation’s history as set forth in the scriptures they knew so well. b). And as we saw in the verses we started with this morning Stephen began with Abraham – the father of the nation. The one to whom had been given the promises concerning a land, an inheritance and rulership, promises confirmed through the covenant of circumcision – a physical sign that everyone there that day possessed – Acts 7:8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs. And so, Stephen had begun by laying the foundation of God’s promises to Abraham and therefore promises belonging to the Jewish people, upon which all that was about to be said would rest. c). If nothing else the religious leaders would have understood that God would fulfill these promises and that these promises had not been fulfilled up to that time. d). However, the circumstances that would bring these promises to fulfillment had been set through the types given in the OT scriptures. e). And it was to the first of 2 foundational types presenting this picture that Stephen then turned – Acts 7:9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. We had seen last time how a pattern is set through the life of Joseph – there was first a rejection of Joseph by his brothers because they were envious of his dreams concerning rulership - Gen 37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. And having sold Joseph into Egypt they thought to see him no more. f). But, God was with Joseph and raised him up to be ruler over all of Egypt and over all of Pharaoh’s house. For the brothers who had rejected him though there was a time of intense suffering during 7 years of famine. g). Deliverance from the famine to save their lives along with elevation of the status of the family and a time of blessing would only come after turning to the brother they had rejected – although at the time they didn’t know that it was Joseph to whom they turned. h). The second of the OT types that Stephen drew from was the life of Moses – the one who had delivered Israel from Egypt and given them the Law. And through the life of Moses Stephen presented to them the same pattern seen through Joseph – Acts 7:23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ Following Moses’ rejection by his brothers there came a period of intense persecution against the people of Israel at the hand of the Assyrian Pharaoh. And so great was the intensity of this persecution that the nation cried out to the God of their fathers. And unbeknown to them God would send Moses, whom they had rejected, to be their deliverer – to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians, to take them to the land promised to Abraham to receive their inheritance within a Theocracy at the head of the nations. i). All of this harking back to the foundation Stephen had laid concerning Abraham as he began. j). The pattern that Stephen set out for the council should have been obvious – there was an individual, Joseph, Moses, Jesus who God had chosen to deliver His people, but this individual had been rejected by his brothers because they did not understand God’s intentions for the individual chosen – just as happened with Joseph and Moses, rejection, had also happened with Jesus. And Just as happened through the types of Joseph and Moses, intense suffering would have to follow the rejection of Jesus until God sent Him back a second time to be the nation’s deliverer. k). Although at the time of their rejection both Joseph and Moses had been despised by their brethren, both were now revered among the people – the implication was that the same would be true for Jesus. Acts 7:44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by 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 to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:49 ‘Heaven is My throne,And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,Or what is the place of My rest?50 Has My hand not made all these things?’ As we see then, having laid the foundation of the promises given to Abraham Stephen then built on this foundation through the lives of Joseph and Moses through both of whom can be seen a pattern of rejection followed by a foreshadowing of the fulfillment of Abraham’s promises. And continuing with this theme, Stephen then turned to the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness – the place where the glory of God dwelt, the very heart of the Theocracy. For without the glory there would be no Theocracy. l). Along with this though, although not stated directly, would be the knowledge of the death of an entire generation, except Joshua and Caleb, who fell short of receiving their inheritance in the land promised to Abraham, because of their refusal to be obedient to the instructions God had given them Num 32:13 So the Lord's anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. And with this in mind we might remember this from Peter’s sermon in – Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ In this the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt provided the example of the consequence for disobedience and Jesus was the Prophet that God raised up, whom God had commanded the people to hear, but the nation as a whole had not heard Him and the consequence for this was set, they would be ‘utterly destroyed from among the people’. Just as with the first generation to come out of Egypt, they would fall short of their inheritance and lose their position of rulership, for which they had been created in Jacob. m). And to present the same picture seen through Joseph and Moses from a slightly different perspective, it was Joshua and the second generation who took the glory of God into the land possessed by the Gentiles – God driving out the Gentiles from before them, not Moses and the first generation. n). And here through Joshua is another foreshadowing of the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. o). And from Joshua Stephen then went to David, the one who was promised the Christ would come from his lineage, the one to whom the earthly realm of the Kingdom had been covenanted, and from David to Solomon, Israel’s 3rd king foreshadowing The King and His Kingdom. p). It was Solomon foreshadowing the Christ who built the Temple in Jerusalem that was filled with the glory of God and to Solomon that God spoke concerning national repentance – 2 Chron 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. Solomon’s Temple was long gone at the time Stephen was giving his address to the council. And the glory of God had been long gone from the camp of Israel, since the days of the Babylonian captivity. The Temple that existed in Stephen’s day didn’t come close to the memory of the magnificence of Solomon’s and God’s glory had never filled it. q). But the One greater than Solomon would build a Temple even greater than Solomon’s, a Temple to which the glory would return bringing to fulfillment the promises given to Abraham and his descendants. And in concluding his address to the council with Solomon and the Temple, Stephen had taken the council from the beginning of the matter to the end, making abundantly clear what was on offer to them and showing them that bringing all things to their God stated conclusion was within their hands. r). And having brought them thus far the Holy Spirit through Stephen then brought the nation’s religious leaders to a climactic point where they would have to make a decision that would have far reaching consequences one way or another. 2). Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart………… There was no political correctness here, but a direct and unequivocal statement of the truth that must produce a response. And the place we have paused in v54 is a place Peter had also brought his audience to in his Pentecost sermon – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart……. But as we will see, there was a contrasting response – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 7:54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” The council didn’t ask, ‘Men and brethren what shall we do?’ Instead they gnashed at Stephen with their teeth – a sign of anguish and anger. a). And then to push matters to the brink Stephen saw and described an open heaven, where he saw the glory of God and ‘the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’. b). The Holy Spirit through Stephen had laid out so powerfully the whole of the matter that it caused heaven itself to move, revealing Jesus, referred to by His Messianic title ‘the Son of Man’ of whom scripture had said Acts 2:34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’ And at that moment the Son of Man was no longer sitting, but standing at the right hand of God, portending His immediate return based on what would happen next – the glory of God was also set to be seen in the camp of Israel once again. All was ripe for Israel to possess the gate of their enemies in fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham. c). The open heaven seen here in Acts Chapter 7 is only seen after this fashion in one other place in the scriptures, described in 2 different ways, but having to do solely with Christ’s return to establish His Kingdom – Rev 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” The heavens will be opened as the Lord breaks the 6th seal on the 7 sealed scroll, so that those dwelling on the earth can see the source of the wrath that will come upon them. d). And then this same scene is depicted after a different fashion in – Rev 19:1 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. So, what was the response of the council to all that the God of their fathers had just laid before them? Acts 7: 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at 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 when he had said this, he fell asleep. 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. The council did exactly the same as their fathers had done to the prophets, exactly the same as they had previously done to Jesus – they put to death the one who came with the words of life. e). Now although the reoffer of the Kingdom of the Heavens remained open to Israel for the remainder of the Acts period, until about 62 AD, the rejection we have just seen in Acts Chapter 7 marks a terminal point in the reoffer just as the events of Matthew Chapter 12 had done in the original offer. f). If that which caused the heavens to open, that brought the Christ to His feet could not persuade them then nothing would. There was nothing that could be said or done that could be greater than this. g). And it is right at this terminal point in the reoffer of the Kingdom of the heavens to Israel that a young man is introduced whose name is Saul. 3). Saul, who we know as Paul, who would become the Apostle to the Gentiles, was introduced at this point because of the dramatic shift that was about to take place in God’s focus. The message of the King and His Kingdom would still be to the Jew first all the while the reoffer of the Kingdom remained open to the nation, but the message would now also be for the Gentile. a). And beyond the time covered by the Book of Acts the message would go predominantly, through the ministry of Paul, to the Gentile nations but would also include a ‘remnant’ from Israel – Rom 11:5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. This remnant consists of Jews beyond the Acts period who are eternally saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, hence it is according to the election of grace. b). And having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ these ethnic Jews would become part of the one new man in Christ – a new creation that is neither Jew nor Gentile – Eph 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. But before Paul’s apostolic ministry to the Gentiles could be fully engaged the message had to go from Jerusalem to Samaria just as the Lord had said as recorded in Acts 1:8 – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the end of the earth. And then of course there was the no small matter of Paul’s own conversion and his subsequent training by the Lord regarding the message he would take to the Gentiles. c). So from Jerusalem we need to go to Samaria – Acts 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city. There are several things we will need to take note of from these verses – Saul as we see was consenting to Stephen’s death and was the main instigator of the persecution against the church in Jerusalem making havoc of the church by entering every house and dragging off both men and women to prison who were found to be of the way. d). Now, this persecution was so intense that it caused those in Jerusalem, except the apostles to be ‘scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria’, fleeing for their lives from the hands of Saul and those who fled were ‘preaching the word’ wherever they went – the same word that had been preached by Peter, John and others in Jerusalem from Pentecost onwards. e). We see that Philip, one of the 7 chosen with Stephen, ‘went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them’ – a message that was accompanied by ‘miracles’ that Philip did and multitudes heeding with one accord the things spoken by Philip with a resulting great joy in that city. f). And because of the ‘miracles’ that accompanied Philip’s preaching we can know that the scriptural focus is on the message of the King and His Kingdom, it is not a focus on the Gospel of grace. g). What we can know for certain is that those who received Philip’s preaching of the King and His Kingdom were eternally saved, otherwise they could not have received the message in the first place. h). Now, with the climactic rejection of the King and His Kingdom by the religious leaders in Acts Chapter 7, God’s purpose for Paul would now be revealed – something Paul wrote about in – Gal 1:3 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. What we need to note and note well is that Paul’s conversion and subsequent ministry to the Gentiles marks the beginning of God’s ‘end game’ so to speak. The OT scriptures clearly show that the Gentiles were to be grafted into the natural olive tree and would be the recipients of that rejected by Israel, the Kingdom of the Heavens. The final outworking of God’s purpose was set in motion through Paul and would last only the course of this dispensation. i). We are standing on the cusp of the grand finale when the events depicted in the Book of Revelation will come to pass, when Satan will be overthrown, and Christ will ascend the throne as King of Kings and Lord of lords. m). As we studied the opening chapters of the Book of Acts we were always aware that because of the OT typology there was another card to play, the Gentile Church, the bride of Christ, but there isn’t another – this is it – we are it – are we ready for what is to come? We will continue with this next time – if the Lord is willing. Sunday September 16th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 11G ‘Men and Brethren, What Shall We Do?’ 1). Acts7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And he said, “Brethren 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, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ We had seen last time that as the message concerning the King and His Kingdom spread and many of the priests became obedient to the faith, so Jews from the Synagogue of the Freedmen rose up against Stephen with false accusations presented by false witnesses and brought him before the council -the same religious leaders of Israel who had recently plotted to kill Peter and John for preaching the same message and had been responsible for condemning Jesus to death, also using false witnesses against Him. a). As Stephen addressed the council he made no attempt to refute the allegations against him as there was nothing to refute, instead he took the members of the council to the nation’s history as set forth in the scriptures they knew so well. b). And as we saw in the verses we started with this morning Stephen began with Abraham – the father of the nation. The one to whom had been given the promises concerning a land, an inheritance and rulership, promises confirmed through the covenant of circumcision – a physical sign that everyone there that day possessed – Acts 7:8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs. And so, Stephen had begun by laying the foundation of God’s promises to Abraham and therefore promises belonging to the Jewish people, upon which all that was about to be said would rest. c). If nothing else the religious leaders would have understood that God would fulfill these promises and that these promises had not been fulfilled up to that time. d). However, the circumstances that would bring these promises to fulfillment had been set through the types given in the OT scriptures. e). And it was to the first of 2 foundational types presenting this picture that Stephen then turned – Acts 7:9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. We had seen last time how a pattern is set through the life of Joseph – there was first a rejection of Joseph by his brothers because they were envious of his dreams concerning rulership - Gen 37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. And having sold Joseph into Egypt they thought to see him no more. f). But, God was with Joseph and raised him up to be ruler over all of Egypt and over all of Pharaoh’s house. For the brothers who had rejected him though there was a time of intense suffering during 7 years of famine. g). Deliverance from the famine to save their lives along with elevation of the status of the family and a time of blessing would only come after turning to the brother they had rejected – although at the time they didn’t know that it was Joseph to whom they turned. h). The second of the OT types that Stephen drew from was the life of Moses – the one who had delivered Israel from Egypt and given them the Law. And through the life of Moses Stephen presented to them the same pattern seen through Joseph – Acts 7:23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ Following Moses’ rejection by his brothers there came a period of intense persecution against the people of Israel at the hand of the Assyrian Pharaoh. And so great was the intensity of this persecution that the nation cried out to the God of their fathers. And unbeknown to them God would send Moses, whom they had rejected, to be their deliverer – to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians, to take them to the land promised to Abraham to receive their inheritance within a Theocracy at the head of the nations. i). All of this harking back to the foundation Stephen had laid concerning Abraham as he began. j). The pattern that Stephen set out for the council should have been obvious – there was an individual, Joseph, Moses, Jesus who God had chosen to deliver His people, but this individual had been rejected by his brothers because they did not understand God’s intentions for the individual chosen – just as happened with Joseph and Moses, rejection, had also happened with Jesus. And Just as happened through the types of Joseph and Moses, intense suffering would have to follow the rejection of Jesus until God sent Him back a second time to be the nation’s deliverer. k). Although at the time of their rejection both Joseph and Moses had been despised by their brethren, both were now revered among the people – the implication was that the same would be true for Jesus. Acts 7:44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by 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 to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:49 ‘Heaven is My throne,And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,Or what is the place of My rest?50 Has My hand not made all these things?’ As we see then, having laid the foundation of the promises given to Abraham Stephen then built on this foundation through the lives of Joseph and Moses through both of whom can be seen a pattern of rejection followed by a foreshadowing of the fulfillment of Abraham’s promises. And continuing with this theme, Stephen then turned to the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness – the place where the glory of God dwelt, the very heart of the Theocracy. For without the glory there would be no Theocracy. l). Along with this though, although not stated directly, would be the knowledge of the death of an entire generation, except Joshua and Caleb, who fell short of receiving their inheritance in the land promised to Abraham, because of their refusal to be obedient to the instructions God had given them Num 32:13 So the Lord's anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. And with this in mind we might remember this from Peter’s sermon in – Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ In this the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt provided the example of the consequence for disobedience and Jesus was the Prophet that God raised up, whom God had commanded the people to hear, but the nation as a whole had not heard Him and the consequence for this was set, they would be ‘utterly destroyed from among the people’. Just as with the first generation to come out of Egypt, they would fall short of their inheritance and lose their position of rulership, for which they had been created in Jacob. m). And to present the same picture seen through Joseph and Moses from a slightly different perspective, it was Joshua and the second generation who took the glory of God into the land possessed by the Gentiles – God driving out the Gentiles from before them, not Moses and the first generation. n). And here through Joshua is another foreshadowing of the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. o). And from Joshua Stephen then went to David, the one who was promised the Christ would come from his lineage, the one to whom the earthly realm of the Kingdom had been covenanted, and from David to Solomon, Israel’s 3rd king foreshadowing The King and His Kingdom. p). It was Solomon foreshadowing the Christ who built the Temple in Jerusalem that was filled with the glory of God and to Solomon that God spoke concerning national repentance – 2 Chron 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. Solomon’s Temple was long gone at the time Stephen was giving his address to the council. And the glory of God had been long gone from the camp of Israel, since the days of the Babylonian captivity. The Temple that existed in Stephen’s day didn’t come close to the memory of the magnificence of Solomon’s and God’s glory had never filled it. q). But the One greater than Solomon would build a Temple even greater than Solomon’s, a Temple to which the glory would return bringing to fulfillment the promises given to Abraham and his descendants. And in concluding his address to the council with Solomon and the Temple, Stephen had taken the council from the beginning of the matter to the end, making abundantly clear what was on offer to them and showing them that bringing all things to their God stated conclusion was within their hands. r). And having brought them thus far the Holy Spirit through Stephen then brought the nation’s religious leaders to a climactic point where they would have to make a decision that would have far reaching consequences one way or another. 2). Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart………… There was no political correctness here, but a direct and unequivocal statement of the truth that must produce a response. And the place we have paused in v54 is a place Peter had also brought his audience to in his Pentecost sermon – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart……. But as we will see, there was a contrasting response – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 7:54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” The council didn’t ask, ‘Men and brethren what shall we do?’ Instead they gnashed at Stephen with their teeth – a sign of anguish and anger. a). And then to push matters to the brink Stephen saw and described an open heaven, where he saw the glory of God and ‘the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’. b). The Holy Spirit through Stephen had laid out so powerfully the whole of the matter that it caused heaven itself to move, revealing Jesus, referred to by His Messianic title ‘the Son of Man’ of whom scripture had said Acts 2:34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’ And at that moment the Son of Man was no longer sitting, but standing at the right hand of God, portending His immediate return based on what would happen next – the glory of God was also set to be seen in the camp of Israel once again. All was ripe for Israel to possess the gate of their enemies in fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham. c). The open heaven seen here in Acts Chapter 7 is only seen after this fashion in one other place in the scriptures, described in 2 different ways, but having to do solely with Christ’s return to establish His Kingdom – Rev 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” The heavens will be opened as the Lord breaks the 6th seal on the 7 sealed scroll, so that those dwelling on the earth can see the source of the wrath that will come upon them. d). And then this same scene is depicted after a different fashion in – Rev 19:1 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. So, what was the response of the council to all that the God of their fathers had just laid before them? Acts 7: 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at 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 when he had said this, he fell asleep. 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. The council did exactly the same as their fathers had done to the prophets, exactly the same as they had previously done to Jesus – they put to death the one who came with the words of life. e). Now although the reoffer of the Kingdom of the Heavens remained open to Israel for the remainder of the Acts period, until about 62 AD, the rejection we have just seen in Acts Chapter 7 marks a terminal point in the reoffer just as the events of Matthew Chapter 12 had done in the original offer. f). If that which caused the heavens to open, that brought the Christ to His feet could not persuade them then nothing would. There was nothing that could be said or done that could be greater than this. g). And it is right at this terminal point in the reoffer of the Kingdom of the heavens to Israel that a young man is introduced whose name is Saul. 3). Saul, who we know as Paul, who would become the Apostle to the Gentiles, was introduced at this point because of the dramatic shift that was about to take place in God’s focus. The message of the King and His Kingdom would still be to the Jew first all the while the reoffer of the Kingdom remained open to the nation, but the message would now also be for the Gentile. a). And beyond the time covered by the Book of Acts the message would go predominantly, through the ministry of Paul, to the Gentile nations but would also include a ‘remnant’ from Israel – Rom 11:5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. This remnant consists of Jews beyond the Acts period who are eternally saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, hence it is according to the election of grace. b). And having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ these ethnic Jews would become part of the one new man in Christ – a new creation that is neither Jew nor Gentile – Eph 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. But before Paul’s apostolic ministry to the Gentiles could be fully engaged the message had to go from Jerusalem to Samaria just as the Lord had said as recorded in Acts 1:8 – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the end of the earth. And then of course there was the no small matter of Paul’s own conversion and his subsequent training by the Lord regarding the message he would take to the Gentiles. c). So from Jerusalem we need to go to Samaria – Acts 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city. There are several things we will need to take note of from these verses – Saul as we see was consenting to Stephen’s death and was the main instigator of the persecution against the church in Jerusalem making havoc of the church by entering every house and dragging off both men and women to prison who were found to be of the way. d). Now, this persecution was so intense that it caused those in Jerusalem, except the apostles to be ‘scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria’, fleeing for their lives from the hands of Saul and those who fled were ‘preaching the word’ wherever they went – the same word that had been preached by Peter, John and others in Jerusalem from Pentecost onwards. e). We see that Philip, one of the 7 chosen with Stephen, ‘went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them’ – a message that was accompanied by ‘miracles’ that Philip did and multitudes heeding with one accord the things spoken by Philip with a resulting great joy in that city. f). And because of the ‘miracles’ that accompanied Philip’s preaching we can know that the scriptural focus is on the message of the King and His Kingdom, it is not a focus on the Gospel of grace. g). What we can know for certain is that those who received Philip’s preaching of the King and His Kingdom were eternally saved, otherwise they could not have received the message in the first place. h). Now, with the climactic rejection of the King and His Kingdom by the religious leaders in Acts Chapter 7, God’s purpose for Paul would now be revealed – something Paul wrote about in – Gal 1:3 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. What we need to note and note well is that Paul’s conversion and subsequent ministry to the Gentiles marks the beginning of God’s ‘end game’ so to speak. The OT scriptures clearly show that the Gentiles were to be grafted into the natural olive tree and would be the recipients of that rejected by Israel, the Kingdom of the Heavens. The final outworking of God’s purpose was set in motion through Paul and would last only the course of this dispensation. i). We are standing on the cusp of the grand finale when the events depicted in the Book of Revelation will come to pass, when Satan will be overthrown, and Christ will ascend the throne as King of Kings and Lord of lords. m). As we studied the opening chapters of the Book of Acts we were always aware that because of the OT typology there was another card to play, the Gentile Church, the bride of Christ, but there isn’t another – this is it – we are it – are we ready for what is to come? We will continue with this next time – if the Lord is willing. Sunday September 16th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 11G ‘Men and Brethren, What Shall We Do?’ 1). Acts7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And he said, “Brethren 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, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ We had seen last time that as the message concerning the King and His Kingdom spread and many of the priests became obedient to the faith, so Jews from the Synagogue of the Freedmen rose up against Stephen with false accusations presented by false witnesses and brought him before the council -the same religious leaders of Israel who had recently plotted to kill Peter and John for preaching the same message and had been responsible for condemning Jesus to death, also using false witnesses against Him. a). As Stephen addressed the council he made no attempt to refute the allegations against him as there was nothing to refute, instead he took the members of the council to the nation’s history as set forth in the scriptures they knew so well. b). And as we saw in the verses we started with this morning Stephen began with Abraham – the father of the nation. The one to whom had been given the promises concerning a land, an inheritance and rulership, promises confirmed through the covenant of circumcision – a physical sign that everyone there that day possessed – Acts 7:8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs. And so, Stephen had begun by laying the foundation of God’s promises to Abraham and therefore promises belonging to the Jewish people, upon which all that was about to be said would rest. c). If nothing else the religious leaders would have understood that God would fulfill these promises and that these promises had not been fulfilled up to that time. d). However, the circumstances that would bring these promises to fulfillment had been set through the types given in the OT scriptures. e). And it was to the first of 2 foundational types presenting this picture that Stephen then turned – Acts 7:9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. We had seen last time how a pattern is set through the life of Joseph – there was first a rejection of Joseph by his brothers because they were envious of his dreams concerning rulership - Gen 37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. And having sold Joseph into Egypt they thought to see him no more. f). But, God was with Joseph and raised him up to be ruler over all of Egypt and over all of Pharaoh’s house. For the brothers who had rejected him though there was a time of intense suffering during 7 years of famine. g). Deliverance from the famine to save their lives along with elevation of the status of the family and a time of blessing would only come after turning to the brother they had rejected – although at the time they didn’t know that it was Joseph to whom they turned. h). The second of the OT types that Stephen drew from was the life of Moses – the one who had delivered Israel from Egypt and given them the Law. And through the life of Moses Stephen presented to them the same pattern seen through Joseph – Acts 7:23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ Following Moses’ rejection by his brothers there came a period of intense persecution against the people of Israel at the hand of the Assyrian Pharaoh. And so great was the intensity of this persecution that the nation cried out to the God of their fathers. And unbeknown to them God would send Moses, whom they had rejected, to be their deliverer – to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians, to take them to the land promised to Abraham to receive their inheritance within a Theocracy at the head of the nations. i). All of this harking back to the foundation Stephen had laid concerning Abraham as he began. j). The pattern that Stephen set out for the council should have been obvious – there was an individual, Joseph, Moses, Jesus who God had chosen to deliver His people, but this individual had been rejected by his brothers because they did not understand God’s intentions for the individual chosen – just as happened with Joseph and Moses, rejection, had also happened with Jesus. And Just as happened through the types of Joseph and Moses, intense suffering would have to follow the rejection of Jesus until God sent Him back a second time to be the nation’s deliverer. k). Although at the time of their rejection both Joseph and Moses had been despised by their brethren, both were now revered among the people – the implication was that the same would be true for Jesus. Acts 7:44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by 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 to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:49 ‘Heaven is My throne,And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,Or what is the place of My rest?50 Has My hand not made all these things?’ As we see then, having laid the foundation of the promises given to Abraham Stephen then built on this foundation through the lives of Joseph and Moses through both of whom can be seen a pattern of rejection followed by a foreshadowing of the fulfillment of Abraham’s promises. And continuing with this theme, Stephen then turned to the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness – the place where the glory of God dwelt, the very heart of the Theocracy. For without the glory there would be no Theocracy. l). Along with this though, although not stated directly, would be the knowledge of the death of an entire generation, except Joshua and Caleb, who fell short of receiving their inheritance in the land promised to Abraham, because of their refusal to be obedient to the instructions God had given them Num 32:13 So the Lord's anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. And with this in mind we might remember this from Peter’s sermon in – Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ In this the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt provided the example of the consequence for disobedience and Jesus was the Prophet that God raised up, whom God had commanded the people to hear, but the nation as a whole had not heard Him and the consequence for this was set, they would be ‘utterly destroyed from among the people’. Just as with the first generation to come out of Egypt, they would fall short of their inheritance and lose their position of rulership, for which they had been created in Jacob. m). And to present the same picture seen through Joseph and Moses from a slightly different perspective, it was Joshua and the second generation who took the glory of God into the land possessed by the Gentiles – God driving out the Gentiles from before them, not Moses and the first generation. n). And here through Joshua is another foreshadowing of the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. o). And from Joshua Stephen then went to David, the one who was promised the Christ would come from his lineage, the one to whom the earthly realm of the Kingdom had been covenanted, and from David to Solomon, Israel’s 3rd king foreshadowing The King and His Kingdom. p). It was Solomon foreshadowing the Christ who built the Temple in Jerusalem that was filled with the glory of God and to Solomon that God spoke concerning national repentance – 2 Chron 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. Solomon’s Temple was long gone at the time Stephen was giving his address to the council. And the glory of God had been long gone from the camp of Israel, since the days of the Babylonian captivity. The Temple that existed in Stephen’s day didn’t come close to the memory of the magnificence of Solomon’s and God’s glory had never filled it. q). But the One greater than Solomon would build a Temple even greater than Solomon’s, a Temple to which the glory would return bringing to fulfillment the promises given to Abraham and his descendants. And in concluding his address to the council with Solomon and the Temple, Stephen had taken the council from the beginning of the matter to the end, making abundantly clear what was on offer to them and showing them that bringing all things to their God stated conclusion was within their hands. r). And having brought them thus far the Holy Spirit through Stephen then brought the nation’s religious leaders to a climactic point where they would have to make a decision that would have far reaching consequences one way or another. 2). Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart………… There was no political correctness here, but a direct and unequivocal statement of the truth that must produce a response. And the place we have paused in v54 is a place Peter had also brought his audience to in his Pentecost sermon – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart……. But as we will see, there was a contrasting response – Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 7:54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” The council didn’t ask, ‘Men and brethren what shall we do?’ Instead they gnashed at Stephen with their teeth – a sign of anguish and anger. a). And then to push matters to the brink Stephen saw and described an open heaven, where he saw the glory of God and ‘the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’. b). The Holy Spirit through Stephen had laid out so powerfully the whole of the matter that it caused heaven itself to move, revealing Jesus, referred to by His Messianic title ‘the Son of Man’ of whom scripture had said Acts 2:34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’ And at that moment the Son of Man was no longer sitting, but standing at the right hand of God, portending His immediate return based on what would happen next – the glory of God was also set to be seen in the camp of Israel once again. All was ripe for Israel to possess the gate of their enemies in fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham. c). The open heaven seen here in Acts Chapter 7 is only seen after this fashion in one other place in the scriptures, described in 2 different ways, but having to do solely with Christ’s return to establish His Kingdom – Rev 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” The heavens will be opened as the Lord breaks the 6th seal on the 7 sealed scroll, so that those dwelling on the earth can see the source of the wrath that will come upon them. d). And then this same scene is depicted after a different fashion in – Rev 19:1 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. So, what was the response of the council to all that the God of their fathers had just laid before them? Acts 7: 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at 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 when he had said this, he fell asleep. 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. The council did exactly the same as their fathers had done to the prophets, exactly the same as they had previously done to Jesus – they put to death the one who came with the words of life. e). Now although the reoffer of the Kingdom of the Heavens remained open to Israel for the remainder of the Acts period, until about 62 AD, the rejection we have just seen in Acts Chapter 7 marks a terminal point in the reoffer just as the events of Matthew Chapter 12 had done in the original offer. f). If that which caused the heavens to open, that brought the Christ to His feet could not persuade them then nothing would. There was nothing that could be said or done that could be greater than this. g). And it is right at this terminal point in the reoffer of the Kingdom of the heavens to Israel that a young man is introduced whose name is Saul. 3). Saul, who we know as Paul, who would become the Apostle to the Gentiles, was introduced at this point because of the dramatic shift that was about to take place in God’s focus. The message of the King and His Kingdom would still be to the Jew first all the while the reoffer of the Kingdom remained open to the nation, but the message would now also be for the Gentile. a). And beyond the time covered by the Book of Acts the message would go predominantly, through the ministry of Paul, to the Gentile nations but would also include a ‘remnant