Engulfed in the Light

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

ENGULFED BY THE LIGHT

Acts 7:35-36

35 "This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.

NIV

Stephen reminds them, which they surely have not forgotten, but perhaps are ignoring their history because of their wicked hearts. Although Moses was rejected when he first was among his own people, now after forty years God sent him to be their ruler and deliverer. Stephen is getting to the point where he tells them they have done the same thing to the one who God sent to be their ruler and deliverer. Moses was a foreshadowing of Christ in many ways, although he made one act of disobedience where Jesus was obedient even onto to death. It is interesting that out of all the wonders and miraculous signs Moses did in Egypt, Stephen makes sure to mention the Red sea and the forty years in the desert. We wonder if the members of the Sanhedrin understood the significance, or even remembered the miraculous sign at the Red Sea. Once again, the very sign and wonder at the Red Sea were parallel to what just happened in their lifetime. Moses was leading the people out of bondage to a promised land. The parting of the Red Sea formed the pathway which enabled the people to escape the evil that was pursuing them. Although Moses had to lift his arms, it was the righteous right hand of God who separated the waters and caused the dry land to appear, and it was also God who destroyed the evil that came after them. Stephen, in his wisdom, was going to show them that Jesus also came to lead them to a promised land, and who also destroyed the evil that races after them. It was also Jesus who had to lift his arms up, however, they were nailed to the cross, however, it was the mighty right hand of God who ordained their salvation through Christ. Jesus made a dry path for us to walk across which leads to the same promised land. Jesus promised us that he would go and prepare a place for us and that he would return to take us there, himself. It is always God who will lead us to safety and destroy the evil that so eagerly wants to engulf us. It is also interesting that all those Israelites, once they reached the Jordan and simply needed to cross over and they would have possessed the promised land, refused because they feared the evil that awaited them. They did not trust God but looked the physical, so they wandered for forty years until they all perished, and it was their children that took hold of the promise of God. It is still the same in the day of Christ, as Stephen will show the Sanhedrin. Jesus showed them the way, as he still does today, and they, like so many others today, refused to trust God and looked only at the physical they could smell, touch and taste and feast their eyes upon. Their hearts are darkened by the evil which resides within them, and they cannot see the path God has made for them to escape and so they too will perish wandering in the wilderness of this world. But we have put our trust in God, and we have walked across on dry land, and we already have been given citizenship in the promised land through our faith in Jesus, our Lord, ruler, and Savior, deliverer. We have crossed the Red Sea and the wilderness and now we live in the promised land, for we see with spiritual eyes and our hearts have been enlightened, being engulfed by the light. 

Holy Ground

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

HOLY GROUND

Acts 7:33-34

33 "Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.'  

NIV

Stephen is getting to the point he will make about how the high priest, the teachers of the law, the elders, Pharisees, and the Sadducees, who all make up the Sanhedrin whom Stephen is standing before answering their question. So, again, we are staring at another truth through the lens of Exodus and the life of Moses, as he approaches the burning bush. He hears the voice of God telling him to remove his sandals for the place he is standing on is holy ground. This makes us wonder about how we observe holy ground when we come near it? We have heard more recently in our walk with the Lord that a pastor asks if we have prepared ourselves to meet with the living Lord. This would indicate to us that sanctuary might just be holy ground if we are going to meet with, be in the presence of, the living Lord. We have said ourselves that it is good to be in the house of the Lord, which again would imply that we are either standing or sitting in the presence of the living Lord. When we are in God’s house, He is there, and therefore it must be holy ground. The question is whether we respect it as holy ground. Surely, we do not take our sandals off, but could we still disrespect holy ground? So many of the sanctuaries we have entered are more like a social hour before service that a group of believers preparing themselves to meet with the living God. At least, for the most part, the Catholic church instills this need to enter with reverence, even dipping a finger in, water that is considered holy, and bending a knee before sitting, again, for the most part, in relevant silence. We, however, within many of the protestant and even in the evangelical or Holiness churches, in an effort, even if unaware of our opposition to Catholicism, or in our attempt to be different, have removed all the ornateness from the sanctuary and thus made it as plain as possible. This may add to the feeling of the sanctuary being nothing more than a meeting room, and not as holy as it is. Have we lost out? Are we not still meeting with God?  Is He is not present? Because we believe He is, then perhaps we should at least enter in a more reverent fashion, forgoing the chit-chat, and prepare ourselves to worship in spirit and in truth, for that is the kind of worship the Lord is pleased with. We need to see our sanctuary more as holy ground and maybe even enter with a little trembling because we are meeting with the living God, who told us to be holy because He is holy. Then, on the other ground, pun intended, if we, and we do, have the Spirit dwelling within us,  then no matter what ground we stand on, it would be holy, and thus we need to live as though we are always on holy ground. 

Stop and Look

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

STOP AND LOOK

Acts 7:30-32

30 "After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice: 32'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

NIV

Although it seems like we are in Exodus, we are still in the middle of Stephen’s answer to the question of the high priest as he stands before the Sanhedrin. Stephen is laying out the case of being disobedient to the word to show all the members of the Sanhedrin how they are just like their forefathers, being disobedient to the word. He is recounting that after another forty years of the life of Moses, having time for his spiritual maturity to grow, God calls him to the task that he was born to do. Stephen is showing them, through Moses, that God does call and speaks to his people. He showed Moses a sign that could not be of natural causes, flames in a burning bush that was not consumed by the flames. Then Moses heard the voice of God, still, he did tremble. Stephen has heard the voice of God in some sense, as he was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit as well as full of God’s divine influence upon his heart and of God’s power. A man cannot be so full of all this from God and not have heard God speak. It is interesting how God chooses at times to reveal himself to us through His creation, such as this burning bush. All throughout the Exodus of the people of Israel, God showed signs and wonders through nature. Even all the plagues in Egypt were within the nature that God created. Stephen will continue to demonstrate how he uses men for his purpose through the life of Moses, but at the same time showing these supposed leaders they are just like the people who rejected the words of God. We need to be very careful in our looking at the word of God. It can be easy for us to “cherry-pick” only the truths we want to use for our benefit but overlook those commands that could reveal the needed change in our lives. An example of this is the fact that Jesus told us that we need to change and become like a little child and if we don’t, we would see the kingdom of heaven. Do we do that? Do we have the faith of a little child? Do we believe everything God has told us and act accordingly? If we “cherry pick” then we are not believing everything. Moses questioned at first but then as assured God was with him and still at the end, Moses disbelieved on one issue. It seems men will always struggle with complete undoubting faith, as our humanity gets in the way from time to time. We tend to look through natural eyes and see only what we want to see, but God is there, ready to reveal himself within his creation if we only stop and look. Moses stopped to look at the burning bush, he could have just passed on by, but he did not. We cannot just pass by either; we need to stop and look and we will see and hear from God. Maybe not always in nature, but it could be, but we will see him and hear from him from within his word if we but stop and look. 

Training Continues

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

TRAINING CONTINUES

Acts 7:23-29

23 "When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?' 27 "But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'   29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.

NIV

Although Moses was raised as an Egyptian, he had to know that he was an Israelite. Did the daughter of Pharaoh tell him how she found him, or one of her servant girls? It would appear from researchers the ancient Egyptians were a darker-skinned race, while ancient Israelites were of a lighter skin coloring. From facial reconstructions, there seems to have been differences in facial figures as well. There could be no mistaking that Moses was an Israelite, and he knew his people were being used to build the cities. However, until he was forty years of age, from what we are told, he never went to visit his own people. That is interesting that he spent many years among the Egyptians living like them without ever going to see his fellow Israelites. Why now? Was there something about being forty that brought on this desire to see them? We would think it was the influence of God upon Moses, for God had a call on his life from the beginning although all we are told is that Moses was no ordinary child when he was born. God had his hand upon him from birth and protected him from the decree of the Pharoah. Could Moses have become distracted by all the cares of the world? Could he have been seduced by all the wealth and success of his position among the Egyptians, that he turned a blind eye to his own people’s plot in life? Once again, we see something that seems familiar, the number forty. How many times has God used forty? There are ninety-four times either forty days or forty years appear in the scripture all with reference to something God oversaw to happen. This could not just be a coincidence that it was when Moses was forty that he felt the need to visit his own people. This was a move of God within him and for the first time, Moses saw the pain of his people and was moved to action. However, we have to believe his actions were motivated by God so Moses would have to move on to the next phase of his training to be the liberator of God’s people from their bondage. Moses received all the training he needed in Egypt to be a leader of people, but he still lacked the spiritual training necessary to be a true leader of the people of God. We will see, as Moses escapes to Midian he spends another forty years. What is interesting though is that although he was among the Egyptians for forty years, living among them, being schooled in all their wisdom why did he feel that his life was in danger because he killed a man mistreating an Israelite? Could he not have presented a case simply on caring for another person, that the guard was wrong in his treatment methods? But it was God who put that fear in him so he would move on and leave, going to the next years of his training for God’s purpose. This should give us the idea that we too should always be ready for the next phase of our journey with the Lord. We must remember life is a journey, it is not a campout. We might be in the right place at the right time for the moment, both in our physical and spiritual walk, but it is still a journey, so we always need to be aware of God’s righteous right hand upon us and be willing to move on to the next level of our training so that we will always be able to be of service to Him as He needs or desires to use us. It might not be forty years for the next move, but it could be forty days, forty months, or forty hours or whatever time God sees fit to bring us along in our training to be the person of God he desires us to be. We can be sure of one thing; our training will continue. 

Open to Truth

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

OPEN TO TRUTH

Acts 7:17-22

17 "As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. 18 Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die. 20 "At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father's house. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

NIV

Stephen is laying out a very carefully crafted case against those who are accusing him of blasphemy. Of course, we know he is innocent, and most likely they knew it also, but again; jealousy drives men to act in their self-interest and preservation, and Stephen, a man full of faith, and the Holy Spirit threatens their hold over the people. It seems obvious enough they were not full of faith or of the Holy Spirit. Nor were they doing any wonders or miraculous signs as evidence of being full of God’s grace and power. Stephen is showing the leaders of Israel how they came to be who they are. It is by the power of God, the grace, the divine influence upon the heart of the mother of Moses to hide her child and then to insure he is found by the daughter of Pharaoh. God’s righteous right hand was upon Moses and Stephen recounts the fact that Moses was educated in all the ways of the Egyptians and was a man of powerful speech and action. Is this not much like Stephen? However, it does not appear Stephen is using Moses to show anything about himself, but he is leading them along to the place where the people rejected Moses, rejected all the prophets, and even rejected the anointed one. Men reject anything that interferes with their own agenda. We will get to this point that Stephen makes at the conclusion of his answer. Still, it is interesting that his new Pharoah knew nothing of Joseph and how he not only saved all of Israel but saved the people of Egypt from a seven-year drought. All this new Pharoah was concerned about was his own power and control over the people. There could be a parallel there between this new Pharoah having no knowledge of a man who saved them, and the Sanhedrin, having no knowledge of Jesus, who came to save them. Perhaps the Pharoah had some knowledge about Joseph and the Sanhedrin had some knowledge about Jesus, but both refused to acknowledge their actions. We will see later, as we think ahead, that Pharoah wanted Moses killed, and the Sanhedrin wanted Jesus killed. Men always refuse truth in the face of their traditional thinking. The mind of man is incredibly strong when it comes to holding on to its own thoughts. This type of strength blinds them from seeing the truth. Although Stephen is laying out the truth for them, they will not only refuse to see it but become so irate that evil will fill their minds instead of the truth. We must always be open to the correction and direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We cannot allow our own agenda to sway us from hearing the truth and making the needed changes in ourselves so that we reflect the glory of God in ever-increasing amounts. We must always be open to the truth. 

The Evil of Jealousy

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

THE EVIL OF JEALOUSY

Acts 7:9-10

9 "Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.

NIV

Once again, we see jealousy rear its ugly head. We are working our way through this long answer of Stephen, which is to the question of the High Priest of whether the charges against him are true. These charges were brought against him because of jealous men. This was all because Stephen was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and he was also full of God’s grace and power. It isn’t that they could not be the same as Stephen, but they were so stuck in their traditional thinking they preferred the thoughts of men, rather than the thoughts of God. Stephen reminds them that men before them acted in an unrighteous way due to jealousy. Joseph was not that unlike Stephen. Although Joseph was one of twelve and Stephen one of seven, they both had a relationship with God that appeared to be special, although God desires that kind of relationship with all of His creation. God certainly wants us all to be full of faith. He also desires that we all are full of the Holy Spirit. We cannot conceive that God would not want us all to be full of His divine influence, grace, and full of His power. However, it seems right that this would be our choice whether to accept all God has for us. Stephen and Joseph were two men who did accept all that God offered them. This is why the eleven brothers of Joseph were so jealous and acted upon their jealousy and sold Joseph into slavery. However, it did not matter, for God continued to have his righteous right hand upon Joseph as he did on Stephen in giving him all the right words in his answer in front of the whole Sanhedrin. Although the outcomes for both men were quite different. God lifted Joseph up to become the second command in all of Egypt and thus provided for the survival of Israel. Stephen, on the other hand, was killed by jealous men, yet God revealed the kingdom of heaven to Stephen, as we must believe, God, lifted Stephen directly into the kingdom at that very moment. We will see Stephen repeat the very words of Jesus the moment just before his last breath. A man full of faith, the Holy Spirit, God’s grace, and power lived and died a righteous man before God. Yet, for now, God was revealing His wisdom through Stephen through all the right words. What we know is that God does not change and therefore all that was available to Stephen and Joseph is still available to us. Let us shed any of the thinking of men and hear only the thinking of God. Let us allow God to hold us with his mighty righteous right hand and lift us up and reveal the kingdom of heaven to us. Let us see the vision of God within us. In the process, we will undoubtedly rid ourselves of any jealousy that might linger within. 

Evidence of Faith

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

EVIDENCE OF FAITH

Acts 7:1-8

7:1 Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"

2 To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.'  

4 "So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: 'Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,' God said, 'and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.'   8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

NIV

This question by the high priest led to a very long answer by Stephen, in fact, this whole chapter is his answer, which does not end well for him. It would be too much to deal with the entirety of his answer all at once, so we will look at different aspects of what Stephen said as we go. First, we notice that Stephen was very respectful, calling them brothers and fathers. Stephen said the glory of God appeared to our father Abraham. Letting them know that Abraham was his father as well as theirs, which made them brothers. What is interesting is that Stephen indicated that God appeared to Abraham before his father, Terah, took the family from Ur of the Chaldeans to Haran. However, according to the record Moses wrote in Genesis, it was when they were in Haran that God told Abram to leave his family and go to the land, which He would show him. Do we have a conflict of the record? We think not, as Moses included the move in the record of genealogy that came to the narrative about Abram. Then Moses started the story of how God called him to leave and go where He would lead him. This is what Stephen was referring to, and the fact that Abraham never processed any of the lands is not the issue, but that Abraham believed in God, and as everyone knows God accounted Abraham’s faith as righteousness. He did that which God told him and followed where God lead him. Abraham believed what God said about his descendants although he had not even one child, let alone a son, to carry on his lineage. Believing without any evidence at all takes true faith this was still early in Abraham’s walk with God, a God he most likely did not know while living in Ur. It is interesting that Stephen said it was the glory of God that appeared to Abraham. This would give us the impression this was how Abraham came to such faith. He saw the glory of God. It is interesting that later in the narrative when Stephen is being stoned, that he looked up and saw the glory of God. Here we see a parallel, in a sense, between Abraham and Stephen. Both men followed and believed God rather than listening to the reason of men. Stephen reminded them or at least revealed to them that he too was learned in the history of their people and that through Abraham, just as God said, he fathered Isaac who was the father of Jacob who became Israel and fathered the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes of Israel. Faith does not need evidence, otherwise, it is not faith. We believe even if we have no evidence, however, the fact is, some of us have had evidence of the mighty righteous right hand of God, his glory, shown to us. On the day of my public confession of faith, as I knelt at the altar of Stone Church in Palos Heights, Illinois, I felt the righteous right hand of God reach into me wrapping his hand around my heart, and his words spoken into my spirit, “I have you now”. Although I felt I was sweating beyond normal, feeling wringing wet, after I experienced this glory of God, I stood up as dry as a bone. Abraham saw miracles, and Stephen did many wonders and miraculous signs both seeing evidence because of their faith. Could this be our story as well? God rewards our faith and many times it is with evidence.