Acts 7:17-29. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 11, 2022.
Stephen is still before the Sanhedrin of Israel, and he continues his walk down memory lane. Though the council may find this insulting, it is important to know where you come from. The history of a people is important because it has the kernel of why God has allowed the people to rise among the nations.
Remember, Israel was not one of the original nations that were created at the Tower of Babel (see Genesis 10). To use phraseology from the Apostle Paul, we could say that Israel is like a nation “untimely born.” None of those original nations exist today, though we all come from them.
Israel was created by God for His purposes. Stephen is reminding them of why they are a nation in the first place, and the purpose of God. It is the How and Why of their existence.
It is also important to understand the truth about that history. We know this quite well today as we see a struggle in our own culture over our origin story and how it should be understood. We should not be shocked by this because Israel clearly had people of its own who did not buy the origin story of the Exodus.
As Stephen tells the story, we see that it is full of God’s Spirit trying to lead Israel, and yet only a remnant truly believing and following Him. The others are resistant and even rebellious.
Do we not know that God has allowed these united States of America to rise up for a particular purpose? It should not fill us with arrogance, but rather a humble attitude that asks, “God what are you doing, and what would you have us do?” In a way, God has general purpose in all of the nations, but He does raise up certain nations at certain times for certain purposes, and Israel had a huge role to play in bring salvation to all of the other nations.
May God help us to hear Stephen’s appeal to believe God, and follow Jesus, rather than rejecting The One whom God has sent to save us from our sins.
Let’s get into the passage.
Stephen fast-forwards from Joseph to Moses. Just as God had a call upon the people of Israel, He also had a purpose in Moses. Moses is as important to Israel as Abraham. Abraham is seen as the Father of the faith, a friend of God. Moses is the one who goes up Mt. Sinai and brings The Law down for Israel. He is the mediator of God’s covenant with Israel.
By this time, the first generation of tribal patriarchs had passed away. Israel was coming to the end of the 400 years that they had spent in Egypt. During this time, they had flourished and multiplied in the best area of Egypt, numbering in the millions now. This draws the ire of a new Pharaoh who “did not know Joseph,” at least he did not care about this history. He could only see that there was a large group of foreigners in his land and he felt threatened by this.
We are not told how Israel was pressed into slavery, only that Pharaoh dealt “shrewdly” with Israel. The word basically means “wisely,” but in this negative context, it would have the sense of craftily.
How do you subjugate a free people? This part is skipped over in the narrative, but something happened. Brilliant minds have worked on this problem many different times throughout history. However, in our day and age, it has become a science. It is the science of subjugating large groups of people to become cattle and sheep for the pleasure of the elite. It is a betrayal of humanity by other humans.
Pharaoh thought that subjugation and slavery would slow down the growth of the Israelites, but it did not work. They continued to flourish and multiply under the harsh conditions. This is a big problem for Pharaoh so he then commands that the midwives kill the male children. When the midwives refused to do so, then the command is that the people are to expose their male babies, or pay the price. It is important to see how God’s blessing upon the Israelites was a problem for Pharaoh.
Of course, this brings up the hard question. How can you talk about God’s blessing when they were in slavery? This is the point. God’s blessing was upon Israel all the time that they were in Egypt, not just when they left.
It is interesting how God moves in the light of our trials and difficulties in life. I do not believe that God made Pharaoh make Israel slaves. However, God knew that it would happen.
Logically, there are three possible sources to our trial: God is actively causing it, or God is letting us experience the results of our sin, or God is letting us experience the sin of people or spiritual entities. No matter what the source of our trial, God is committed to helping those who turn to Him, even sinners who are repentant. He will work it to your good if you will just trust Him, and wait upon Him in faith.
Here we might complain that God is letting it last too long and going to a point where children are being put to death. How could he do that? So, when should God step in? If He steps in before any sin happens then we will complain when someone is judged, and God states that they were “going to sin grossly.” If He steps in after a little sin, but nothing big, we will still feel that He is over-reacting when He sends someone into the Lake of Fire. God in His wisdom allows us to experience the effects of our sin and the sinful choices of others. None of us should leave this earth with the Pollyannaish notion that humans are basically good. We have far too much evidence to the contrary. We are the ones who chose the knowledge of good and evil, and God allows things to play out to the degree that He does so that we will understand the true nature of our sin, and His love.
The truth is that we do not like waiting upon the Lord. We think that His timing is generally too late. In fact, if you think that God finally turned things to the good on the day Israel left Egypt, then you are not paying attention to what He is teaching us in His Word. The very difficulties that Israel went through in slavery would prepare them to hear God’s Word later when He tells them not to oppress the stranger in their midst. They were not to have two sets of laws, one for Israelites and one for foreigners. Of course, Israelites would have privileges that foreigners did not, but they should not be mistreated because they are foreigners.
God’s timing is always perfect for His purposes. The reason we do not think it is perfect is because we are focused on our own purposes. My purposes basically are not to have anything in my life that would challenge me to be like Jesus! That would be things like difficulty, trial, rejection, and unbelievers in my face. Part of the trial is to surrender to God’s wisdom and trust, to let Him help you become like Him. Do you believe that the difficult things in your life were to prepare you to grasp and understand God’s Word? At least the potential is there, if you will leave your purposes on the ground and go after His. He loves you too much to give you a “perfect” life where nothing bad ever happens. In fact, the perfect life is one where bad things happen because they teach us about God’s love that went to the cross while we were still sinners.
This does not mean that everything is easy now that I know He is working it for my good. When a person wants to become stronger and begins lifting weights, they soon realize that the benefits that they are seeking can only be had by going through the pain of lifting, “No pain, no gain!” We will discipline ourselves (okay, some people will) in order to gain physical strength, which only profits a little. What pain are you willing to go through in order to be spiritually fit, like the Lord Jesus was? No pain, no gain. I do not just mean pain of being hurt and persecuted. I also mean the pain of saying, “No!” to the lusts and desires of my lazy flesh, in order to obtain something greater spiritually.
What does it mean to be like Jesus? For me, I see 4 important character traits. I need to become a man of the Spirit of God, rather than my flesh, a man of the Word of God, a man of prayer, and a man living out the righteousness of Jesus. Once you receive a clear vision of Jesus hanging on the cross for your sins, you really do not need any more evidence that God loves you and will do whatever it takes to bring you to Himself, the very definition of the ultimate good!
Did you notice in this story that it looked to Israel like God was not doing anything when He was preparing their deliverance. We sometimes act as if we have the omniscient view. Perhaps we have been reading too many novels, or watching too many movies. Who am I, and what do I know? Not only is God’s timing perfect, but He is always working in ways that we cannot see.
I do not know about you, but God does not send me status updates on how He is bringing my situation to the good, like Amazon. To the Israelites, it looked like God was not doing anything about their situation.
Yet, God was actually using the very commands of Pharaoh to bring about their deliverance. Just think of it. The mother of Moses does not have the heart to kill him, so she puts him in a basket on the Nile River. She technically obeys the command of Pharaoh. Exposure was the most common way of taking the life of a child. Only in extremely barbaric places would they strike, burn, and actively kill a child. She casts her son on the water, and entrusts him into the hands of God. She may have had some direction from God. She may have intended Pharaoh’s daughter to find the baby, but she had no guarantees of what would happen.
God had a purpose for Moses that did not include being eaten by a crocodile, or found by an Egyptian who would kill him. God made sure that Moses ended up in the hands of the one person who could protect him from Pharaoh. I can hear her now. “O, daddy, can I keep it? Can I, huh?” Pharaoh ends up bankrolling and training Israel’s deliverer. Of course, we know that Moses does not deliver Israel. God does, but He often uses people in what He does (the righteous and the wicked). God was preparing their deliverance when it looked like He was doing nothing. Thus, waiting on the Lord is a wise thing to do as well as being righteous. Have you ever thought that it is wicked not to trust God who has shown Himself to be more than faithful, and more than able?
Waiting on the Lord requires faith. I cannot always see what He is doing, but I know that He is working all things to the good of those who love Him.
Another part that we balk on is this. God allows things to happen that we think He should not. Yet, now we are back to the issue of over-reaction. When God’s plagues start falling on Pharaoh from the God of Israel, he will not be able to feign innocence. His wickedness towards Israel was far worse than anything God righteously did to him. The problem of sin, and what it leads to, is serious and personal.
The Old Testament does not record the age of Moses when he decided to check on his people, but Stephen gives us the traditional view that Moses was 40. For some reason, it comes into his heart to check on his people. Of course, he knows that he is not an Egyptian, but a Hebrew that was spared by Pharaoh’s daughter. I believe that it is God who puts it on his heart, even though Israel is not ready to be delivered yet.
Moses sees that they are not just working hard, but being harshly treated. Moses kills one of the taskmasters who was mercilessly beating a Hebrew slave and hides him in the sand. Even this was part of “preparing their deliverer.” On the next day, he sees to Hebrews fighting with each other, and he tries to help them reconcile. Think of it. You are in a trial of slavery as a people and you are fighting with your own people. You are mistreating your own people. And, we wonder how the enemy is able to keep us in slavery. He only needs to keep you divided and fighting one another. Moses means well, but the bitterness of servitude has embittered the hearts of many Israelites, particularly this one. His acidic response hits Moses like a sucker-punch.
Listen. The enemy knows how to cut you off at the knees. If God puts something in your heart and you go to do it, just know that he will be winding up to give you as many low-blows as he can (and he is good at it). This incident is symbolic of all of Israel. They are not ready to be delivered yet, though they would have said that they were. They had bigger problems than a Pharaoh and his taskmasters. They had gigantic spiritual problems that had built up strongholds in their hearts. The rejection of Moses is symbolized in the question, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?”
God was already stirring the heart of Moses for the plight of his people, but neither he nor they were ready yet. Somethings need to simmer before they are ready. Imagine every day you cry out about your situation, wanting relief, and yet at the same time you are lashing out in anger at the very thing or person God is wanting to use to help you.
Moses would have to come back in 40 years, which is interesting. They would have to wait another 40 years because of their rejection of him. A similar thing happens when they get to the promise land. They refuse to fight the giants at first, and so they go back into the wilderness for 40 more years.
Let me close this by comparing Moses with Jesus. We see many parallels between Moses and Jesus, though no human can perfectly picture Jesus. In fact, this is our job, to image Jesus to the world around us.
Let us first look at ways that Moses is not like Jesus. We might note that Jesus did not kill anybody when he came to Israel. He laid his own life down that they might be set free from sin and death.
Also, Jesus dwelled among his people in their servitude under the Romans. Whereas, Moses was in the palaces of Pharaoh.
Lastly, Jesus did not flee away, but ascended into heaven and sits at the Father’s right hand waiting for the day when it is time to make his enemies his footstool.
All this said, there are some striking parallels. Jesus did spend time in the halls of heaven before he came down, became a kinsman to Israel through the incarnation, and experienced what his people were going through.
Jesus was also rejected the first time he came to Israel. “Who made you judge and ruler over us?” Of course, the answer to this is God the Father did. Peter prophesied before Israel in Acts 2 saying, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Jesus then goes away from Israel and ends up taking a Gentile bride. To be fair there are Jews who are a part of this bride, and even the foundation of it. Yet, the Church has a very Gentile flavor to it. Yet, Jesu will come again, after a long period of time, and deliver all of God’s people.
This world cries out for a savior, but at the same time it rejects the One that God has given, Jesus. Just as the cry of oppression from Israel’s slavery was heard by God, so the cry of sinners suffering under sin is heard by God today. How tragic that God has done everything, but believe for us. Yet, we still say that He is not good enough. Jesus is not good enough. We double down on trying to be our own saviors.
Israel was not saved by its own faithfulness from Egypt. They were saved by the faithfulness of God. May God help us not to look at our circumstances and become stuck in the quagmire of despondency. Rather, let us look up in faith and know that our God is even now working these things for our good. Perhaps He even has some great things He would do right now, if we would only dare to believe!