Author Archives: Phillip

Acts chapter 8:14-19:

V14-15: Hearing of the work in Samaria, the Apostles send Peter and John to seek to know if this is indeed of the Lord. Remember, it is a completely new departure, not yet endorsed by the Apostles. Is it truly a work of God’s grace? Peter and John are, it seems, quickly convinced, and pray for the converts to receive the Holy Spirit.

V16-17:  It seems God’s work in the Samaritan believers is ongoing – they have not yet received the Spirit, though they have truly believed in the Lord, and been baptised in His Name. But when Peter and John lay hands on them, they receive the Holy Spirit at once. This is best understood, I think, as God’s outward confirmation that these ” non-Jews ” have had the same experience as their Jewish brothers in all its fullness. We will see this again in the Gentile household of Cornelius in ch10. These early confirmations of salvation come to Samaritans and Gentiles are just that – not an ongoing pattern.

V18-19:  Now Simon comes into the picture again, surely casting doubt on his professed conversion. Amazed by the result of the Apostles laying on of hands ( there must have been tangible outward signs, perhaps like those on the Day of Pentecost ) he offers money to be given the same power. Clearly, he has no real understanding of God’s grace at work and what it means – the outward signs are what he wants. May we never be taken up with externals, of any kind, but pray and long to see real works of grace, to God’s glory.

Acts chapter 8:9-13:

V9:  We read of a man named Simon ( often referred to as Simon the sorcerer ) who has impressed and influenced the Samaritans, and claimed ” great things” for himself. His ” magic”, surely is the result of real but demonic powers. God’s Word warns us of the reality of such powers, and of the spiritual warfare. ( Ephesians 6:12.)

V10-11:  It seems he has claimed to be exercising God’s own power. So Satan often seeks to present his work as if it were of God, one of his devices to deceive the souls of men.( See 2 Corinthians 11:14-15.)

V12:  But as God blesses Philip’s ministry many who had been under Simon’s malign influence turn to Christ, believe and are saved, testifying to this in immediate baptism.

V13:  And Simon himself professes faith, and is baptised. Is this a true work of grace, or a false profession? The next verses suggest the latter, Perhaps Simon himself thought he was a believer, but clearly it was the signs and wonders he saw that impressed him. God grant the gift of discernment to His church today – remember  Matthew 7:16.

Acts chapter 8:1-8:

V1:  Saul’s approval of Stephen’s “execution” is linked at once with a great persecution against the church, in which he is clearly involved ( v3 .) The immediate result is to scatter the believers out from Jerusalem, apart from  the Apostles. Was the persecution then especially targeted against ” ordinary believers”, thinking this would stop their witness?

V2-3:  ” Devout men” take Stephen’s body for burial, grieving for his death, but Saul continues to harass the church, forcing, it seems, entry into homes and throwing both men and women into prison.No wonder he would later  write 1 Corinthians 15:9-10.

V4:  But those ” ordinary believers”, now scattered abroad, take the gospel wherever they go, not so much formal preaching surely, but as it has been put, ” gossiping the gospel”. So God uses the very growth of persecution to begin the wider spread of the gospel, as in Ch 1 v8.

V5:  Now we focus on Philip, like Stephen one of the “seven”, in ch 6 v5, and like him too a man of clear spiritual gifts. He goes to Samaria – almost ” forbidden territory” to pious Jews, remember ( John 4:9.) but led by the Spirit, he powerfully preaches Christ to the Samaritans.

V6-8:  Many heed his preaching, especially as it is attended by signs – exorcism and healing – but it is the Word of God, not these signs, through which the Lord works in their hearts, and the joy spoken of in v8 is surely the joy of salvation by grace.

Saturday 10 October:  Acts  7:55-60 

V55:  Stephen himself, even as he is, before his accusers, is given a vision of heaven and of Jesus “standing at the right hand of God” – the place of honour and authority, but surely seen as waiting to receive His servant.

V56:  He declares what he has seen – they of course have seen nothing.

V57:  This only increases their rage – the “dignified council” now become a frenzied mob, rushing at Stephen.

V58:   He is manhandled outside the city. As with Jesus’ own crucifixion, they want to observe the letter of the Law, not to pollute the ” Holy city.” ( See Numbers 15:35; Hebrews 13:11.) Such is the hypocrisy of formal religion, with no sense of the living God. There Stephen is stoned – and a ” young man called Saul” is part of that, and perhaps in some sort of authority. How amazing the grace of God as it will later transform the life of this man.

V59:  Even as he dies – and it must be in agony – Stephen prays for God to receive his spirit, and like his Lord before him, asks forgiveness for his murderers! So, he dies, the first Christian martyr, ” faithful unto death”. Gently the record ends, ” he fell asleep”, for he is safe with his Lord now, waiting for the day spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15.

Friday 9 October: Acts 7:51-54:

V51:  The long record of God’s dealings with His OT people, and increasingly their rebellion and disobedience, is abruptly brought to an end, to accuse  this generation of the same stubborn disbelief and refusal to heed the Holy Spirit their ancestors had shown.

V52-53:  Their fathers have persecuted and killed the prophets God sent to them, rejecting their teaching of the coming of the ” righteous one” – of Jesus, God’s true anointed, whom they have now rejected and killed. ( Compare the Lord’s own parable in Matthew 21:33-39.) This is the culmination and purpose of Stephen’s whole address, showing how this generation have done just as their fathers did – in the ultimate way, by the death of Jesus Himself. Doesn’t this long account show the wonder of God’s long-suffering grace. Yet, as here, sinful hearts still reject His grace.

V54:  They are untouched by all Stephen has said, and only react with fury and hatred.

Thursday 8 October:  Acts 7 : 45b-50:

V45b-46:  Now the account jumps forward to the time of David, and his desire to build a ” permanent house” for God in the midst of Israel, the Temple. Again, the appointed place of meeting with God in worship and to offer sacrifices, and in a sense a visible call to faithfulness and trust, surely.

V47-48:  It was under Solomon that the temple was actually built, but of course God does not actually dwell in a man-made building, He cannot be “contained” or localised. ( Solomon actually realised this, even at the temple dedication – 1 Kings 8:27. )

V49-50:  Stephen quotes from Isaiah 66:1-2 ( and note how Isaiah 66:2 continues!) The tabernacle and then the Temple were God’s gracious provision for a focus of worship and a visible sign of His meeting with them, but could not ” contain” Him. They pointed of course to Jesus – God-with-us. Remember the charges brought against Stephen in Acts 6:13-14.

Wednesday 7 October:  Acts 7: 39-45a :

V39-40:  Israel rebelled in the wilderness, not only against Moses but against God, of course. rejecting God’s messenger they demanded a “visible god” like they had known in Egypt. Again, this mirrors how they have rejected Jesus and turned from God’s way again in the current generation.

V41-43:  So, in their demand for an idol, God gave them over to what they had chosen, with all its consequences. The verses quoted  are in fact from Amos 5:25-27, and this now sums up all Israel’s sad history of turning away from God’s truth right through to the exile in Babylon.

V44-45a:  Yet through Moses God had given a symbolic visible focus for His presence with them, in ” the tent of witness” – the Tabernacle. Under Joshua, this was brought into the Promised Land – witness to God’s presence with His people, despite their so often turning away.

Tuesday 6 October  Acts  7: 33-38

V33:  Moses must learn, and be humbled before, God’s Holiness. Do we always remember that we come to a Holy God, or can we at times be too casual in our approach to Him – though He is the God of all grace?

V34:  God declares He is now about to deliver His people. Again, let us learn His will and His time are not as we would wish, but He is Sovereign, and His time is always right. Moses is His chosen instrument, now being sent to Egypt again.

V35-36:  The one Israel had rejected as a deliverer is now God’s appointed one for that purpose. The clear parallel with Jesus is emphasised in the words ” ruler and redeemer”. Their partial historic application in Moses points us to their absolute fulfilment in Jesus. Do we know Him, by grace, as our ” redeemer king”?

V37:  And Moses foretold the coming of a God-given prophet who, like Moses in his generation, was sent to reveal God’s truth (Deuteronomy 18:15. ) Like Moses, but so much greater (Hebrew 3:3.)

V38:  The ” living oracles” given through Moses were God’s Law, God’s Word – but Jesus is the living Word of God, come to reveal the Father. (John 1:1,John 1:14,John 1:18.) The angel of the Lord who spoke to, and was with Moses again points us to Jesus.