Acts - Week 22

Week 22 Acts 7 

Day 1 

READ 

Acts 7:26-29 

26 “The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’ 27 “But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. 28 ‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born.” 

Stephen continued to tell the high Jewish court about what happened to Moses after he had killed an Egyptian beating up an Israelite. When he was rebuked by an Egyptian the next day, Moses realized what he had done was public knowledge so he fled to Midian and lived as a foreigner there. Stephen adds that two sons were born to Moses in Midian, a desert land south of Canaan. Moses wanted to get as far away as possible. 

REFLECT 

Have you sometime been rejected by others when you were trying to do right? It hurts emotionally and psychologically when motives are misunderstood. 

RESPOND 

With your disciple, read Exodus 2:11-15 to see the account about Moses to which Stephen referred. There you learn additional details. 

Day 2 

READ 

Acts 7:30-32 

30 “Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him, 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look. 

After spending 40 years in the house of Pharaoh, Moses had been in the Midian desert for 40 years. There he saw this bush burning that was not consumed. Stephen told the Jewish high court about this as he told how Israel had rejected not only Joseph but also Moses as their deliverers. From this bush, God spoke to Moses. This was Jehovah and He identified Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Seeing a revelation of God was so awesome that Moses did not dare even look directly at it.  

REFLECT 

As you read the Scripture, have you sometimes been struck by God’s holiness. No one could merit salvation before such a holy God, that’s why He sent His Son to die for lost mankind. 

RESPOND 

Read Exodus 3:1-6 to learn more details about Moses’ experience at the burning bush. Modern English translations capitalize LORD to show it refers to the name Jehovah. The Jewish people thought the name Jehovah (YHWH) was too special to say so in their Scriptures they indicated it should be read as Adonai, meaning Master.  

Day 3 

READ 

Acts 7:33-34 

33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 34 I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’” 

Where a person met God was considered holy ground so Moses was commanded to remove his sandals. Moses had fled Egypt fearing for his life, but now God is telling him he is being sent back to Egypt. Even though the Israelites may have thought He was not aware of their problems, God reveals He was aware of their oppression and He had plans to rescue them. To Moses’ surprise, it would involve him! The Scriptures indicate Moses objected but God prevailed. 

REFLECT 

Have you sometimes thought God should use others to do something—such a telling a friend about Jesus? Then have you felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit that you are the one to do it? 

RESPOND 

With your disciple, read Exodus 3:7-15 that records the conversation between God and Moses. This passage also reveals the meaning and significance of God’s name Yahweh written as YHWH.  

Day 4 

READ 

Acts 7:35-36 

35 “So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and savior. 36 And by means of many wonders and miraculous signs, he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness for forty years.” 

Stephen is building the case against the Jewish nation for rejecting the Messiah and has been showing how Joseph and now Moses had been rejected by the nation. But the rejected one is being sent back to them to be their human savior. Stephen skips the details of how it was done to make the point that Moses led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and through the desert for 40 years. This is another 40 in Moses’ life: 40 in the house of Pharaoh; 40 in the desert as a nomad, and; 40 leading the Israelites in the desert.  

REFLECT 

How has your life been divided into stages? If you are an adult, have you seen a time of preparation, basic spiritual training, and now a more productive spiritual ministry? 

RESPOND 

Talk with your disciple about how God seems to use whatever is in a person’s background in service for the Lord later. Even bad experiences provide good lessons. 

Day 5 

READ 

Acts 7:37-38 

37 “Moses himself told the people of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.’ 38 Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us.” 

Stephen referred to Deuteronomy 18:15 where Moses said a prophet like him would be raised up among the Israelites. This is considered to be a prediction of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Stephen mentions an angel as he did previously. Angels were supernatural beings. Those whom Stephen was addressing in Israel’s highest judicial court did not believe angels existed. Yet they are recorded in Israel’s history. Angels were messengers of God and also announced the birth of the Savior (see Luke 2:8-15). 

REFLECT 

Before the Bible was completed angels sometimes provided revelation. Now that the Bible is complete one need only check it to see what God’s revelation is. 

RESPOND 

With your disciple, read Jude 1:3-4. Jude wrote about the need to defend the faith “once for all” delivered to believers in Christ. There is no need to seek further revelation now that it has been “once for all” given by God.