Author Archives: Phillip

Saturday 3 October:  Acts 7: 17-22:

V17-18:  As God’s time of fulfillment drew near, there was a new Pharaoh who “did not know Joseph” – had no regard for how Joseph had been under God Egypt’s deliverer, and how the Israelites were in Egypt at all.

V19:  So, he made the people slaves and treated them harshly, culminating in the order to kill the baby boys ( Exodus 1.) ” Shrewdly” could once carry the sense of cruelty, but in Pharaoh’s eyes he was ” being shrewd” in our sense too.

V20-21:  Then, the birth – and preservation, of Moses. ” Beautiful in God’s sight” surely, not merely physically ( though perhaps he was, to appeal to Pharaoh’s daughter!) but in God’s knowledge of his nature and character as it would be with God’s hand upon him. ( Compare 1 Samuel 16:7.)

V22:  So, Moses grew up as a “prince in Egypt”, receiving all the wisdom of the greatest civilisation of that time ( though a thoroughly pagan one, of course ) This was but the first stage in God’s dealings with him, in preparation for the task He had for him years later. We remember, however, how in God’s overruling, Moses’ own ( Hebrew) mother had an input into his upbringing, ( Exodus 1:7-10) and surely taught him of the true God, to counter the paganism of Egypt.

Friday 2 October: Acts 7: 8-16: 

V8: God established His OT covenant with Abraham, with circumcision as its sign. Isaac was born, then Jacob, and Jacob’s sons, who became the Patriarchs of Israel, and from whom the 12 tribes were descended. ( In all this long tracing of God’s OT purposes and His sovereign power, Stephen is leading to how all the promises led to and were fulfilled in Jesus.)

V9-10:He recounts how Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery – but God was with him, and raised him to eminence in Egypt, working out His purposes in it all.

V11-12:  So, in the outworking of God’s plan, the famine in ( and beyond ) Egypt duly brought Joseph’s brothers down to Egypt to buy grain.

V13-14:  Then how Joseph revealed himself to the brothers, and the whole ( extended ) family came to Egypt.

V15-16:  But on their deaths, Jacob and in due course his sons ( this adds to the Genesis record) were brought back to the Promised Land for burial, in the very tomb that Abraham had purchased there long before to ” bury his dead”. ( Genesis 23:3, Genesis 23:13-20.) Surely, we should marvel at this summary of God’s faithfulness to His promises, and His Sovereign power in bringing them to pass.

Thursday 1 October: Acts 7:1-7:

V1:  The high priest asks if these charges are true? ( He knows they are not, but hopes to get him to condemn himself – again, just as with Jesus.)

V2:  Stephen addresses them courteously and wisely, reverencing the older men ( “fathers”) and asserting his own kinship as a Jew ( ” brothers” ) .He now begins a long account of God’s dealings with His people in the OT, perhaps to refute the charge he is teaching people to depart from the law of Moses. He begins with God’s call to Abraham, when he was still a pagan in Mesopotamia – ” Ur of the Chaldees”, in Genesis 11:27.

V3-4 :  God called Abraham to leave his land and launch out in faith, to a land He would show him, and ultimately brought him into the land  that is now Israel. In all this, God’s sovereign grace is being emphasised.

V5:  But Abraham himself received no physical inheritance in the promised land. He was called to respond in faith to God’s promise – as also in the promise of an heir when he and Sarah were old. (Compare Hebrews 11:1, 8-10)

V6-7:  God then foretold Israel’s later slavery in Egypt and how He Himself would judge the Egyptians and deliver His people in His own time. ( See Genesis 15: 13-14.)

Wednesday 30 September :  Acts 6: 9-15:

V9:  Stephen’s powerful witness rouses bitter opposition, coming we’re told from Jews of the scattered dispersion, though clearly in Jerusalem at this time. ( Scholars tell us the “synagogue of the freedmen” was one of a number of such among the scattered Jews, set up when Jews were freed from slavery in the Roman Empire, some time before – hence, the name.) They take issue with Stephen over his preaching.

V10: Filled with the Spirit, he speaks with a God-given wisdom and their arguments can not prevail against him.

V11:  So, they move to direct ( and murderous ) persecution. They manipulate ( bribe?) some men to bring a charge of blasphemy against him – we are reminded of the false witnesses against Jesus at His ” trial “. By Jewish law, blasphemy was punishable by death by stoning.

V12:  They stir up a mob, involve the Jewish leaders, and bring Stephen before the council. ( Was it already sitting, and was this all set up beforehand?)

V13-14:  With full knowledge that the charges are false, Stephen is accused of saying that Jesus will destroy the temple ( perhaps a twisted version of His Words in John 2:19-21.) and teaching the people to depart from what Moses had taught. ( i.e. the Law of God.) What Jesus actually said is, of course, the very opposite of this – Matthew 5: 17-19.)

V15:  Stephen, as yet silent before His accusers, like his Master before him, nonetheless has a remarkable effect on those who watch him – ” his face like that of an angel”. Did his face shine, like Moses of old? Was it marked by a peace and serenity beyond anything merely human? We’re not actually told.

Monday 28 September: Acts 6:5-8:

V5: 7 men are duly chosen. Of Stephen, we learn more immediately, of Philip in ch 8, of the rest we know nothing more. But significantly, they are all Greek rather than Hebrew names, surely a wise and gracious response by the church, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, to the original complaint of the Hellenists.

V6: They are brought to the Apostles, who set them aside for this ministry with prayer and the laying on of hands.

V7:  No more is said of how they discharge their task, but surely we can assume that the potential division is healed. Meanwhile, God continues to bless the preaching of His Word, and again the wonderful growth of those early days continues – so that even “many of the priests” become obedient believers – and surely that must have cost them!

V8:  Now the focus is on Stephen – on his spiritual qualities and gifts, and how God is using him. The “wonders and signs”, like those of the Apostles, continue to point to Jesus, as God vindicates His Son and builds His church. 

Monday 28 September: Acts 6: 1-4

V1:  The first potential division in the church – Satan loves to disrupt if he can – the believers were now both Hebrew speaking Jews and Greek speaking Jews ( Hellenists) – not actual Gentiles as yet. The Hellenists complain that their widows are being neglected in favour of the Hebrew widows. ( We have no way of knowing if this was actually so.) Note, however, that the care of widows was already seen as a Christian responsibility. ( See 1 Timothy 5:3 ; James 1:27.)

V2:  The Apostles summon the body of believers – now a very substantial number – to say that they must  give their full attention to the spiritual and teaching ministry to which they are called, rather than deal with matters like this.

V3:  So they tell the body of believers to select 7 men, well-regarded and clearly full of the Holy Spirit, with gifts of wisdom, to be appointed to this practical ministry. This is widely regarded as the appointment of the first Deacons, though the word is not used. Note, they were to be men of spiritual as well as practical gifts.

V4:  So the Apostles will be free to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word ( still the OT Scriptures, of course – but remembering they are full of Jesus. ( Luke 24:27 ; John 5:39.) Certainly, then, the continuing two-fold offices of Elders and Deacons in the church are prefigured here, if not yet called by those names.

Saturday 26 September: Acts 5:39b-42:

V39b:  So they take Gamaliel’s advice – though only up to a point, for…

V40:  …they have the Apostles beaten ( unlawfully, for they have faced no charges ), forbid them again to speak in the Name of Jesus ( which has proved a fruitless demand 3 times already ) and let them go.

V41:  Leaving the council, they rejoice that they have been ” counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the Saviour’s Name.” They count the beatings as nothing in His cause, rather see it as a privilege, a blessing, to suffer for His sake. ( so, Matthew 5:11-12.)  Would this be our response? How far we seem to be from this in experiencing even minor opposition in these days.

V42:  And they simply continue their gospel witness, and their proclamation that Jesus is truly the Christ, the Messiah, doing this every day, both in the temple and “from house to house” – the beginning of ” door-to door evangelism”?  So, all attempts to suppress the gospel come to nothing, then and ever since, for this is ” the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” ( Romans 1:16.) and it will never be defeated. May we never lose our confidence in this mighty gospel, or our commitment to its spread, under the sovereign hand of God.

Friday 25 September :  Acts 5: 33-39a :

V33:  Enraged by the Apostles’ teaching and testimony, we are told for the first time that the council seek to kill them, as their rage and malice grow.

V34:  But a wise and highly regarded teacher of the law, a Pharisee named Gamaliel – we learn in Acts 22:3 that Paul had once been his pupil – asks for the Apostles to be put out of the room while he addresses the council.

V35-37:  He advises them to be cautious in how they treat the apostles, reminding them of other “popular movements” in recent years which had for a time an enthusiastic following, whose leaders have claimed ” to be somebody” – perhaps Messianic pretenders –  yet the risings they lead came to nothing, and they were executed.

V38-39a:  He argues that this was because their movements were merely human, God was not in them. So he advises to leave the Apostles alone – for if their ” movement” – the teaching and claims of Christ which they declare – is merely of man then it too will come to nothing.But if it is of God, they will not be able to overcome it, but will be fighting against God. 2000 years on, despite all the world and the Devil seek to do against the church it has still not been overthrown, nor ever will be, for this is indeed the work of the living God.

Thursday 24 September: Acts chapter 5:25-32

V25:  They then hear how the men they have arrested and put in prison for preaching about Christ are back in the temple, doing the self-same thing.

V26:  So, temple guards are sent again to bring them before the council – but they will not use force, for fear of the people, who at this time hold the Apostles in high regard and even awe ( v11 and 13.)

V27-28:  Brought before the council ( if more gently ) they are angrily rebuked by the High Priest for doing the very thing he has forbidden, and ” filling Jerusalem” with their teaching about Jesus, and declaring their guilt in His crucifixion. Of course, all their efforts to stop the spread of the gospel will and must come to nothing! Let this be our confidence still today.

V29:  Peter and the others ( he is still the main spokesman, it seems ) reply just as they have in ch 4:19 – they must obey God rather than men. So, when human authorities seek to usurp the place that is God’s alone Christians must obey His Word, whatever the consequences. ( So Mark 12:17.)

V30-31:  Forthright and uncompromising, Peter declares again how these Jewish leaders were instrumental ( humanly ) in  crucifying Jesus. To hang on a tree is of course the “accursed death” in the OT ( Deuteronomy 21:23) But in Galatians 3:13, Paul explains that so Christ bore the curse for us, that we might be delivered. God has raised up and now exalted the One brought so low in His redeeming death to His own right hand ( the place of honour ) and made Him ” Leader and Saviour”, ( compare Hebrews 12 :2.) who alone can bring men to repentance and faith, and forgive their sins.

V32:  Again, the emphasis on the Apostolic witness, on which the truth of the gospel rests – a witness endorsed and enabled by the Holy Spirit Himself, given to the believers. ( ch 1: 8.)