Acts 7:1-60
Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin
1 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “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 Harran. 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 Harran. 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 enough ground to set his foot on. 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: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 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.
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 Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all.15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors 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 by his family. 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.
23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the 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 Are you thinking of killing 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.
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 get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 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.
33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for 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.’
35 “This is the same Moses 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 performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.
37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.
39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. 42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
43
You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek
and the star of your god Rephan,
the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.
44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
49
“‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50
Has not my hand made all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Hebrews 11:1-40
Faith in Action
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
John 5:31-47
Believing in Moses
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.
33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing —testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
Luke 9:28-36
The Transfiguration
28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what he was saying.)
34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.
Luke 16:19-31
Listen to Moses and the Prophets
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Jesus often spoke of Moses in the gospels...Jesus met Moses (as well as Elijah) on the sacred mountain during the Transfiguration...And we must learn from Moses and his words...The inner meaning what Moses writes about is that Jesus is much more than a Prophet...And Jesus tells us that our accuser is Moses...This is because, Moses wrote about Him coming in the Old Testament...Moses wrote that God would raise up for us a Prophet from among their fellow Israelites, and God would put His words into this Prophet's mouth...This Prophet will tell us everything that He commands about Him (God)...God will call into account anyone who does not listen to My words that the Prophet speaks in My name...So we learn from Moses that God would send Jesus to earth and to us and for us...And Jesus would testify about God Himself...Jesus would be speaking for God...
Jesus says, “If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not true...There is another who testifies in My favor, and I know that his testimony about Me is true...“You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth...Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved...John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light...“I have testimony weightier than that of John...For the works that the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I AM doing —testify that the Father has sent Me...And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me...You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell in you, for you do not believe the One He sent...You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life...These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life...“I do not accept glory from human beings, but I know you...I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts...I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not accept Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him...How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?...“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father...Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set...If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me...But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”...And Jesus further tells us that we have Moses and the Prophets in the Bible and that we should read about them and listen to them...And if even if Someone comes back from the dead to us and for us, it is very difficult to repent and believe...Jesus says if we do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, we will not be convinced even if Someone rises from the dead...Jesus did rise from the dead, and many still are not convinced He resurrected, is alive, and is the Messiah...
We learn much about Moses in the New Testament...Stephen, the Christian Martyr gives us this brief story of Moses...Stephen said as the time drew near for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased greatly...Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’...The new king treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die....One of the babies was Moses...At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child...For three months he was cared for by his family...When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son...Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action...When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites...He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian...Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not...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?’...“But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?...Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’...When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons...“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai...When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight...As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: ‘I AM the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’...Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look...“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground...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.’...“This is the same Moses 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...He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness...“This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’...He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us...“But our ancestors refused to obey him...Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt...They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us...As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’...That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf...They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made...But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars...This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?...You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship...Therefore. I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon...“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness...It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen...After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought the tabernacle with them when they took the Promised Land from the nations God drove out before them...It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob...It was Moses who built the original tabernacle and Holy of Holies, which would be God's dwelling place...But it was Solomon who built a house, a Great Temple, for Him...
The author of Hebrews, tells us this of Moses...By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict...By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter...He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin...He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward...By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible...By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel...By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned...
Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of Jesus as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt...Moses regarded the sacredness of God and all His glory...Moses was humbled by God's greatness...Moses got many glimpses and slices of God's glory...Moses knows that God demands a reverence, a respect, and to be worshiped...God hand picked Moses to lead His people out of Egypt...Moses was there at the Passover and learned that only God can save us...God does this saving through a Savior, His Son...The ritual of Passover and the inner meaning of Moses writings shows us that Jesus fulfills the Passover...Jesus our Passover Lamb was sacrificed for our sins...