Murdered For Truth (Acts 7)

Do people generally despise hearing the truth about their own wrongdoing? Are we afraid to call for repentance? Let’s look at Stephen’s example in Acts 7.

How did Stephen defend himself against false accusations?

“Is this true?” the high priest asked. “Brothers and fathers,” he said, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, and said to him: Get out of your country and away from your relatives, and come to the land that I will show you. (Acts 7:1-3 HCSB)

Did Abraham receive the promised land in his lifetime or was he just a transient?

God gave him no property here, not even a foot of land, yet he promised to give it to him and to his descendants after him as a permanent possession, even though he had no child. “This is what God promised: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and its people would enslave them and oppress them for 400 years. ‘But I will punish the nation they serve,’ said God, ‘and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.’ Later, God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. Later, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Then Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered the twelve patriarchs. (Acts 7:5-8 ISV)

How was Joseph central in bringing Abraham’s descendants into Egypt?

And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem. But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. (Acts 7:9-19 KJV)

How did Moses go from a high position in Egypt to fleeing the country?

It was at this time that Moses was born, and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in words and deeds. But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took justice for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. And he supposed that his brothers understood that God was granting them salvation through him, but they did not understand. On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you treating one another unjustly?’ But the one who was treating his neighbor unjustly pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ At this remark, Moses fled and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he was the father of two sons. (Acts 7:20-29 LSB)

How did Moses go from tending sheep to being used by God in rescuing Israel from Egypt?

After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and did not dare to look closely. But the Lord said to him, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them; and now come, I will send you to Egypt.’ (Acts 7:20-34 LSB)