Israel’s History of Rejecting God’s Favor

Transcript

GR 1594
02/27/11
Israel's History of Rejecting God's Favor
Acts 7:9-29
Gil Rugh

We're going to Acts 7 in your Bibles. These are great days in the early history of the church. The church is centered in Jerusalem; there is really only one church, the church at Jerusalem. Other local churches in other places have not yet come to be. The concept of carrying the gospel to others beyond the Jews has not yet come about, and the apostles don't have a plan for that. God has a plan for it, and what is happening in chapter 7 will move us quickly beyond Jerusalem to Samaria, and prepare the way for carrying the gospel to the Gentiles also.

Stephen has been arrested. His offense basically is being a godly man who is proclaiming the truth of God in the power of the Spirit, and this brings offense to a group of the Jews. And verse 10 of chapter 6 we were told, “But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly induced men to say, ‘We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.’” Verse 13, “They put forward false witnesses who said, ‘This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law.’” And just a reminder, we sometimes think if we are faithful and honest, and open, sincere, people will respect us even though they don't agree with us. But that's not true. The message of the cross can be very offensive and it is offensive to those who will not believe it, and so that's Stephen's condition. It's not that he didn't do it in love; it's not that he didn't do it with wisdom; it's not that he didn't do it in the power of the Spirit. It is that he did all those things and people are willing to resort to deception, deceit and lies to oppose the message.

So he has been called before the Sanhedrin. And you can imagine, even though the church at Jerusalem has grown into the thousands, everyone in the church is aware that Stephen is on trial before the Sanhedrin. They wait to see the outcome of this. As he is given the opportunity to speak, the Sanhedrin asks, are the accusations true? He doesn't turn to give a personal defense of himself, to try to discredit those who are lying against him and approach it that way. He turns attention to God and the work that God has done in Israel's history. He gives an overview of Israel's history for its first thousand years, from the time of Abraham to the time of David and Solomon and the building of the temple. So the focus comes on God, what God has done, how Israel has responded to God throughout its history. And what he demonstrates is that God has repeatedly revealed Himself, made Himself known, and yet Israel has consistently and persistently refused to respond in faith and obedience to the revelation that God has given them. And that will bring it to this point; they have continued right down until the day where Stephen is on trial. And he cuts right to the heart of the matter when it is all said and done; it is your refusal to submit to the God of Israel that is the problem.

So he started out by talking about Abraham and the call of Abraham and the continual faith of Abraham; remarkable faith. He stands out here, the father of the nation and yet he left his homeland in Ur of the Chaldeans and traveled from Ur just because God had told him to leave his country and come to a country I will show you. All I have is this is what God said, so he believed Him and did it. In verse 5 we were told that even when Abraham arrived in that land he had no ownership of it, and to drive it home Stephen says, not even a foot of ground. And he had no child on top of that. So the land that God has promised him, he's a visitor, so to speak. He doesn't own anything. And furthermore God has promised him this inheritance and he has no child to pass it on to if God would give it to him. But we noted (and you probably have it marked in your Bibles), He promised…God promised to him. That's what Abraham had, the promise of God, and Abraham believed God.

And God had told him, in verse 6 that his descendants would leave the land and would be enslaved in a foreign land for 400 years. Abraham's faith keeps getting stretched. Now the land that I am on (I left my homeland where I would have had something), I've come to this strange land and I own none of it. I have no child to inherit anything if I did own any of it. And now you tell me my descendants (that I don't have any of yet), are going to spend 400 years off this land in a foreign land. I mean, this is getting stretched out here. What do I have that would make me think that any of the promises are good? Everything you tell me, Lord, simply stretches me out to believe more but it's not like I gave you this portion of it…now the next. I mean, I have brought you to this land, that's great. But I don't own anything here, so it's not my land to pass on. Then you tell about my descendants, and you don't give me a descendant. And then even when I don't have any land or descendants, you tell me that the descendants I will have are going to get off this land—not for a few years, but for 400 years. Then they'll be brought back and they'll serve Me in this place.

Verse 8, “And He gave him the covenant of circumcision”. We noted that in Genesis 17, the sign of the covenant, the guarantee that God will do what He promised. That's nice, but it's not receiving anything but a further promise and a mark of the promise. But that's all; it's still just a promise. But that's enough for Abraham. So Abraham became the father of Isaac in Genesis 21, years after he was circumcised. And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. Every Jew is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then with the twelve sons of Jacob you divide the nation into twelve tribes. So not every Jew has the same father once you get beyond Jacob, because there are twelve different fathers or patriarchs.

Come back to Genesis 35 and you pick up with verse 23. Now there were twelve sons of Jacob and now they are enumerated. These are the twelve patriarchs. We can refer to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as patriarchs or fathers because every Jew is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You can refer to the twelve sons of Jacob as the patriarchs because together they father all the Jews in their distinction. After that, you don't break them down any further than the patriarchs (the sons of Leah: Reuben, then Simeon and Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulon; the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin, all of these with Jacob as the father, of course; the sons of Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali; the sons of Zilpah: Gad and Asher…these are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram). And then you have recorded the death of Isaac and his burial there at Hebron. So those are the twelve patriarchs. From them every Jew is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—maybe through Simeon, maybe through Issachar, maybe through Levi. So they go back to be the fathers of the nation.

Back in Acts 7, beginning in verse 9, Stephen is going to focus now on Joseph and his brothers and their descent into Egypt. So he picks up an element that had been promised and prophesied to Abraham. He pulls that out and continues the line along about how Israel, the descendants of Abraham, got down into Egypt and then how they'll come out in 400 hundred years a great nation. The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. The attitude of the patriarchs toward Joseph is significant. Stephen says the patriarchs became jealous of him; that's a reference back to Genesis 37:11 where it says they were jealous of Joseph. God had given him revelation through dreams. When Joseph shared what God had revealed with the patriarchs, they were jealous of him and began to hate him. Genesis 37 also says they were not only jealous of him, but they also hated him.

Back up to Acts 5. Here you have the ministry taking place through the apostles, and you have the Sanhedrin here. They lay hands on the apostles in verse 18. Why? Look at the end of verse 17, “they were filled with jealousy”. So with what Stephen picks out you see how well versed in the scripture he is. Now the Spirit of God directs him in what to bring out from the scripture that will drive home the point. And even as when the apostles were before the Sanhedrin, what is motivating the Sanhedrin? Jealousy. Where are we with Stephen before them? They aren't really concerned to find out if there is some truth to the accusations. This whole trial is a hoax; it's their jealousy and desire to put an end to the preaching of the message of Jesus Christ.

When you come back to Acts 7, we are told in verse 9; the patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him and rescued him from all his afflictions; granted him favor of wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, made him governor over Egypt and his entire household. So you see the contrast here. The patriarchs are jealous of Joseph; they sell him into slavery into Egypt because of their jealousy and hatred. But God is with him to deliver him, and so you see what is being brought in. We're making a turn now as Stephen is going to show how even going back to the fathers of the nation, they have reacted in rebellion and unbelief toward the revelation that God brings. God is with Joseph. But with the patriarchs you'll note he doesn't call them Joseph's brothers, he doesn't say Joseph's brothers were jealous; Joseph's brothers sold him because he wants to draw to the nation. These are the patriarchs, these are your fathers—the Sanhedrin sitting here, the patriarchs, your fathers. This is what they did. They were jealous of Joseph; they sold him into slavery. But God was with Joseph. Preparing for what he would drive home at his conclusion: and you are rebellious just like your fathers have always been. So you see the way God is using Stephen and his use of the scripture here to prepare the way for bringing them under greater conviction. He will later accuse them when we get to the end of this in verse 51, they “are always guilty of resisting the Holy Spirit…doing just what your fathers did” (the patriarchs).

Picking up with verse 10, God “rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom…and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household”. There is an emphasis on Egypt here, because God's blessings on Joseph continue even when he is removed from the land. Six times in the next seven verses we're going to have the word “Egypt”, because these Jews sitting on the Sanhedrin were confident that we are in the place of God's blessing. And because we are in the land, we have the temple and we have the law, God's blessing is on us. But he shows that God's blessing didn't stay with the patriarchs in the land, God's blessing was with Joseph in Egypt. And He is prospering Joseph and He is blessing Joseph in spite of the jealousy and hatred of the patriarchs.

Verse 11, “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food”. Again you see the connection; he doesn't say Joseph's family, Joseph's brothers could find no food. That's true that's who the patriarchs are, but the point here, our fathers could find no food. So there is a time of great affliction. Joseph is prepared by God to be the instrument of blessing, to bring salvation and deliverance to the family as one who is faithful to God. So he has been established, we know the story. Stephen is just giving the summary of Joseph in his affliction in Egypt, he had great affliction, we are told here. In the context of this family he is in Egypt having affliction, they are having their own affliction. But Joseph's affliction has ended up resulting in a blessing, where the affliction in Canaan is going to drive them to Egypt and experience the blessing from their brother.

When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. On the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers. Now he refers to them as his brothers, and Joseph's family was disclosed to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob, his father, and all his relatives to come to him (75 persons). So here we are. Now the descendants of Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and the patriarchs and their families—75 people, sum total of the nation Israel at this point—descend into Egypt. Jacob went down to Egypt; there he and our fathers died because they were going to be there 400 years. So Jacob and the sons of Jacob die in Egypt—they go down into Egypt and they die there.

From there they were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamar in Shechem. Now with what Stephen does here, we're not going to go into a lot of the details on going back and comparing. Joseph is buried in Shechem; Jacob is buried in Hebron. So here Stephen just ties it together and the Sanhedrin understands it—they are familiar with the details, where the two burials are. What he does is pull out from the patriarchs, Joseph. Why? Perhaps because he is buried in Shechem; as the Sanhedrin sits here do you know where Shechem is? It's in the land of Samaria. So even though it is within the confines of the land God has promised to Israel, at this time it is a Samaritan area. We come to the Samaritans when we get to Acts 8, and the gospel finally goes there.

So even Joseph, the one blessed of God, (as Stephen addresses this Sanhedrin), his burial is a reminder of something of Israel's history—and it is rebellion. It is within the plan of God to take Joseph to Egypt so that He could fulfill what He said to Abraham and Israel would live in a foreign land for 400 years. But that doesn't excuse in any way the rebellion of the patriarchs against God, the revelation God gave and so on through Joseph. So there is the burial, and Joseph's body, even as they talked, is in Shechem.

Verse 17, but as the time of the promise was approaching. And what happens here now, we have the largest portion of Stephen's sermon. It is devoted to Moses. And maybe this is because Stephen was accused of speaking against Moses in chapter 6, verse 11. We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. He is going to reiterate who is really rebellious against Moses and following the pattern of Israel when they were rebellious against Moses. It's the Sanhedrin sitting there, as he will make clear.

“But as the time of the promise was approaching”, Acts 7 and verse 17. He is going to divide Moses' life into three 40-year segments, mentioning the 40 years for each one—the time Moses lived in Egypt in verses 17-28. And you'll note in verse 23, “But when he was approaching the age of forty”. That's when he is going to have to leave Egypt. So the first 40 years Moses lived in Egypt, then he’s living in Midian in verses 29-35. And in verse 30, after 40 years had passed living in Midian, Moses is prepared to go back to deliver the people. Then in verses 36-43, the time in the wilderness, and at the end of verse 36, “in the wilderness for forty years”. So basically Stephen takes the life of Moses in these three periods of Moses' life and talks about what happened in those times. Three 40-year periods, 120 years of Moses; he was 120 when he died according to Deuteronomy 34:7.

This first section which we are going to look at in the remainder of our time is when he was living in Egypt. Back in verses 6-7 God had spoken to Abraham to the effect that his descendants would be aliens in a foreign land, that they would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years. Not even treated well, but enslaved and mistreated. “‘And whatever nation to which they will be in bondage, I Myself will judge,’ said God, and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’” God would bring judgment on Egypt; we're familiar with the plagues on Egypt. Then He brought Israel out and back to the land. So God is going to fulfill His promises and the details. What happens? How do we get there?

Verse 17, “as the time of the promise was approaching”, and you might underline that because here we are at the time when there is going to be a fulfillment of what God has promised to Israel, and it is in that context that things are really bad. “But the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, until there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so they would expose their infants and they would not survive.” This Pharaoh who arose in Egypt and takes shrewd advantage of our race, the Jews, and mistreated the fathers—and attempts to bring the nation in effect to an end, to stifle its growth by requiring that all male children be killed, not allowed to live. So as the time of the promise was approaching and the people increased and multiplied, the persecution is intensified—part of Satan’s plan to frustrate God's promise (and can't do it or course). So what happens? You have the promise here where does that bring us to? Well verse 20, “It was at this time that Moses was born”. What a horrible time to have a baby boy in Egypt as a Jew. I mean, you talk about poor planning. What were they thinking? But Moses is born. You realize the sovereign hand of God in everything. The worst afflictions that come, they are part of the plan of God for His people, every detail.

“It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God”. And this is more than just that he was a beautiful baby, but it's talking about God's purpose and plan for Moses and the way He was going to use him. “And he was nurtured three months in his father's home”, three months.

Come back to Exodus 1. You may be familiar with this account, but you stop and think, how was the heart rending impact on Moses' parents? In Exodus 1:22, “Then Pharaoh commanded all his people saying, ‘Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you can keep alive.’ Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.” And God's view of this is as recorded here, but more. “But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch.” And set him in the Nile; she puts him in the Nile but doesn't throw him in the Nile to drown as was the command of Pharaoh.

Now you think about the family here. Three months trying to protect this little infant, not have his cries heard when an Egyptian might be around and so on. Doing all you can to preserve and protect the child; you come to a point that you can't conceal him any longer. You really have to put him in the hands of God. So put him in the basket, float him in the Nile here, he's in the hands of God, and we are familiar with the story.

Come back to Acts 7:21, “And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.” What an awesome God we have. Every detail, the intense persecution of Israel, the birth and the timing of that which seems the worst of time and yet it is the exact time in the plan of God. You know we never have to be frustrated by looking at our circumstances and situation and say, Lord, what is going on? This is the worst time for this to happen. Says who? I mean, God is in charge for us, is He not? It's never the worst time. I mean, we understand, we don't make light of the problems and afflictions, but I never want to lose sight of, God, you are in control. You know that from where I am as I look at this, this is a tragedy for me. But I also know you are in charge of the tragedies that come into my life and I am willing to trust you. I mean, we want to learn from this, too. This is a terrible time to have a baby and you think their heart is not torn as they say, put this baby in a basket, set him in the Nile and let's see what happens? And send his sister to watch. I mean, think about it, who wants to do that? What will we do? We don't have any choice; this is the best option for us. That's all right, God has everything under control.

What happens is this provides the occasion, verse 22 tells us, for Moses to receive the best training and education that was available in Egypt. And Egypt is a mighty nation, a nation of great learning. So it's part of God's plan. Wouldn't it be better to be raised by his own mother and father? And we're familiar with the story how his mother gets to be the wet nurse in effect for her son and God's provision there. But in reality, he couldn't have gotten the training and education that was going to prepare him to be used of God as the leader of a mighty nation many, many years from now. So God's hand is in it.

He's a man of power in words and in deeds. Now we won't go back to Exodus 4:10, but you remember when God called Moses. Moses said I'm not a man who is good with words. And yet we're told here that he was a man of power in words and deeds. You get a little bit of the perspective there. He had learned to be a speaker. We find Moses giving great speeches to Israel, recorded in the law there and the books of Moses. He's a man very capable with words; he just was reluctant to take on the responsibility so his brother Aaron will be joined with him. Isn't it interesting, we're never told how Aaron survived and got through, and everything that goes on. But the Bible just tracks those that are of the main part of the story here, and we know that he didn't get floated in another basket and get to be raised maybe in the same way Moses did. We just don't know what happens to him. Perhaps because of the relationship he has they get some special treatment, we just don't know.

But at any rate, he is a man of power in words and deeds; he is educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. This is for forty years, raised in the household of Pharaoh. We can go back and identify the Pharaoh of this time because we know the date of the exodus and so on. And we can work our way back and we can even find out something about Egypt at that time; who would have been Pharaoh and the kind of household of which Moses would have been a part. And there is even some possibility of being identified, perhaps the one that would have raised Moses in the household of Pharaoh. What an opportunity, forty years being trained to learn. I mean, you know Pharaoh's family gets the best of the training, the best of the education, and the best of the training in every way. God is preparing Moses to lead His people out of Egypt.

Verse 23, “But when he was approaching the age of forty,” and here we are. We know it has been about forty years being trained and educated in Egypt because he was three months old when he was put in the basket. Now he is about forty when these events happen. When he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. So he hasn't lost his identity, perhaps with the contact with his mother as the Lord provided. You are familiar with the story; they keep track of him. He knows that he is a Hebrew, it may be well known around, we don't know. The fact that he is part of Pharaoh's household now gives him a protection regardless of what else is going on to other Jews. Moses knows who he is.

So he decides to go and visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. He saw one of them being treated unjustly. He defended him, took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. Now you know how we function. We wonder what God is doing, and we can be discouraged or frustrated or whatever. Then it seems, now I see what God is doing! I mean, this is a perfect plan, now that it all comes together we can understand it. God is going to have Moses raised in the household of Pharaoh, give him the kind of authority like Joseph had many years earlier so he'll be put in a position of authority. He’ll be able to have the house of Pharaoh and the Pharaoh say that is our family and they ought to be able to go back to their land. Why don't you take them back? Perfect plan. But the problem is it's all going to blow apart. What happens? Moses goes and visits his brethren, and while he is there he sees an Egyptian treating a Jew unjustly, and obviously very severely. This is not just an argument. The Hebrews are slaves and you could beat them, and even if you killed a slave there is nothing lost. There are many of them here, too many. That's why they tried to have the male children killed.

So Moses intervenes, and he took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. He kills the Egyptian. Not necessarily an act of murder since he is acting in defense of a Hebrew here. The Bible doesn't go into that. Is this the right thing? The wrong thing? It's the right thing in the plan of God for Moses here. He acts properly in defending the people of God on this occasion. And you'll note what verse 25 says, “And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.” So Moses recognizes that God has placed him in the position he is in, and he should use that position as a defender and deliverer of Israel. And so he acts on what he should do in his position, and in his position he has a certain authority here. He steps in and intervenes, and it is necessary that the result is the death of the Egyptian.

And the way this is stated here, he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance. That's the same word that’s often translated salvation. And connecting here, he is the savior, if you will, for the nation on this occasion. That will connect obviously to the fact that Christ is the Savior of the nation ultimately. So these connections, the one that God provided to be the savior, small “s,” in their history here is going to be rejected in that role by the nation. So this is all building. You can see the wisdom that Stephen is given by the Spirit to use the word of God, to prepare the hearts of the Sanhedrin for the devastating blow that you are just like your father, when he gets to the end of this sermon.

He supposed his brethren understood that God was granting them salvation through him. But they did not understand. He thought Israel recognized you are my brethren. They evidently know by this time that this man in the house of Pharaoh is himself a Jew, and they would expect that God had placed him there to be their savior from slavery and bring them deliverance. But they don't understand, they are dense to the work of God.

So he kills the Egyptian and buries him in the sand, as we are familiar with the Old Testament account. On the following day Moses comes back. He appeared to them as they were fighting together and he tried to reconcile them in peace saying, men, you are brethren. Why do you injure one another? This is not an argument, this is a fight. Moses thinks this is totally incongruous. It is one thing when the Egyptian was abusing a Hebrew and mistreating him and he had to be dealt with—but now to come and find one Jew doing this to another Jew. Men, you are brethren. Why do you injure one another? But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, who made you a ruler over us? So one is obviously dominant on this and he is physically abusing the other, and his response is to reject Moses. He pushed him away, he rejects him. God had appointed Moses, and of course the Sanhedrin would say that Moses was God's appointed leader. I mean, they have Stephen on trial for saying blasphemous words against Moses. And how did the Jews treat Moses? Well here is the example. They rejected him, pushed him away, rejected him and said who made you ruler and judge over us? Look over in verse 39, “Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him”, rejected him and pushed him away, “and their hearts turned back to Egypt”. You see this pattern that is repeated and this attitude of the Jews toward those that God sends to be leader comes right down to the days of their Messiah. That's what he is building to. So you appreciate the power of this which just seems to be on a superficial reading, just an overview of Israel's first thousand years of history. It's an overview of Israel's first thousand years of history with specific points made that will prepare. When Stephen makes his clear application, it just tears them apart. They are going to be pierced to the heart, and it is so clear, they are doing what has been the pattern of our fathers.

So he pushed him away and said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?” And what will the coming Messiah be? He comes as the ruler and judge of Israel. What happened to Him? He was rejected, pushed away.

“You do not mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?” Is that your plan? And so Moses had to flee, to become an alien in the land of Midian, they drove him out. That's what happened to Joseph, he was driven out of the land by his brothers by selling him into slavery. What happens to Moses? He is driven out of the family even in Egypt, away from the nation, flees to another land. From the patriarchs, the early history with Joseph, they are unwilling to have the man that God has provided. What happens to Moses? They are unwilling to have him as their deliverer, as their judge, their ruler. And then when the Jewish man says, “You do not mean to kill me like you killed the Egyptian…?” this is trouble. The fact that Moses has taken upon himself to kill an Egyptian and become the defender of the Jews now turns the household of Pharaoh and Pharaoh particularly against Moses.

You know what? It seems like a backward step, doesn't it? You might say, Moses, you blew it. Now he is going to spend forty years in Midian. I mean, it's sort of like what God promises to Abraham, but nothing happens, nothing happens except God keeps promising. And then they have to go down into Egypt for 400 years. We finally get to a point where we could have a deliverer and it could work so smoothly. But you know part of the plan God has in delivering Israel from Egypt, He said He would judge, verse 7, “And whatever nation to which they will be in bondage I Myself will judge”. There are two things that have to happen. Israel has to be delivered, and Egypt has to be judged for what they have done. Now you see how God uses Egypt to fulfill His promises to Abraham that the Jews, the descendants of Abraham, will be in bondage for 400 years. But that does not excuse the action of Egypt in enslaving the Jews and mistreating them. God simply uses the sin of man to accomplish His purposes. So nothing is ever out of control, God has everything under control. That does not mean He is responsible for the sin that Egypt perpetuated here on Israel, but God chose to use the sinful desires. We see that with Pharaoh in response to Moses' action to deliver the people as we'll get to. That's what Pharaoh wanted to do and God used that for the accomplishing of His purposes.

You'll note here, God doesn't put the blame on Pharaoh (even though Moses is going to flee from Pharaoh), He puts it on the Jews. He doesn't go on to say here, so it was Pharaoh who made Moses leave Egypt. Even though that is a cause it's not the direct cause. The direct cause is the rejection of the Jews of Moses' leadership as a deliverer, as a ruler and a judge. So you see how carefully this is constructed. He doesn't say because of Pharaoh now Moses had to flee.

He moves on to the next stage, leaving it that it’s because of the Jews' rejection of him. “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?” Now Moses has to flee. But it's the rejection of the Jews of Moses' leadership that causes Pharaoh to want to kill him. Who instigated the Romans to crucify the Messiah? So you can see what he is building to here. Well the Romans crucified Him because they were the only ones who had the authority, but who instigated the Romans to do it? If it weren't for the action of the Jews, Pilate would have let Him go. He didn't find any fault in Him. So here if the Jews didn't reject him, Pharaoh would not have had any reason to act here.

So Stephen has brought us to that point. So both with Joseph and Moses in these accounts Israel shows a pattern of rejecting the one who has been their deliverer, both with the patriarchs selling Joseph into slavery and now with the action toward Moses. Israel has a stubborn history of rejection, that's a history that can't be denied. That's the penetrating point when we get to the fact, and this is what you did with your Messiah. You just are following what has been the pattern of the history of the Jews. The same pattern continues with people today. They want to put their faith in externals and the truth is found offensive, and they often react violently. So the pattern is the same even though the point being made here is going to be particularly for Israel.

We understand as the people of God how things are working in the plan of God as we represent Him in a world that lies under the control of the evil one. And the people of the world under the control of the evil one are the slaves of the evil one and they always do his will. So we keep that in perspective. We don't go around with a persecution complex, but we go around understanding the sovereign control of God and how God may use us and even bring into our lives the most unpleasant, difficult circumstances. But, they are not circumstances that have overwhelmed us. It's the plan of God for us and they don't overwhelm us because whatever He brings into our lives He provides the strength and grace to enable us. So I just have to be willing to take it from the hand of God, to learn from it and grow. Moses is going to spend forty years in Midian. I might think he would have been a better man in his prime at forty than at eighty to take on the responsibility of the leadership of 2 million people. But that's all right; God will take care of things. When Moses dies at 120 he still didn't need glasses, still didn't need a hearing aid. So I can trust the Lord to do what is right. I find great comfort in that. I can't control the “circumstances” of my life, but I don't have to, God does. I have some great plans for the Lord to utilize, but He utilizes His plans, not my plans. And part of what I want to learn as His child is to accept what He does, learn from it, grow in it, and then I have the privilege of looking back on a life that has had the hand of God directing everything.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the way You led in the history of your people. How sad is that history as Stephen unfolds it. Even as You use him as Your spokesman and the leadership of Your people sits and listens, they are being reminded of constant, consistent rebellion and rejection of those You have provided to bring Your blessings to them. Lord, even as Your people today, we want to learn. Lord, how easy it is for us to chafe against difficulties, trials. We are encouraged, even as we read the history of Your people to see how Your hand is at work in it all. The difficulties are not things that frustrate Your perfect will and plan for us; they are part of that plan. And Lord, we would desire to be faithful and obedient, to follow the example of Abraham. And in our trials that You may bring into our lives, as You brought it into Joseph's life, as You brought it into Moses' life, Lord, even as they were faithful to You, You brought trial and difficulty. Lord, we just thank You that You use us and You use the trials that come into our lives that You bring into our lives to accomplish Your perfect will for our lives. We have the confident assurance when all is said and done, that You will bring us to the appointed conclusion, the appointed end, and the glory of Your presence. And we thank You for it, in Christ's name, amen.