Don’s Daily Devotions

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.

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.