SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/19/2017
8:49 PM
My Worship Time Focus: “The Law”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 7:38-43
Message of the
verses: “38 "This is the one
who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was
speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received
living oracles to pass on to you. 39 "Our
fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their
hearts turned back to Egypt, 40 SAYING
TO AARON, ’MAKE FOR US GODS WHO WILL GO BEFORE US; FOR THIS MOSES WHO LED US
OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT-WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM.’ 41 “At that time
they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the
works of their hands. 42 "But God turned away and delivered them up to
serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ’IT WAS
NOT TO ME THAT YOU OFFERED VICTIMS AND SACRIFICES FORTY YEARS IN THE
WILDERNESS, WAS IT, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL? 43 ’YOU ALSO TOOK ALONG THE TABERNACLE
OF MOLOCH AND THE STAR OF THE GOD ROMPHA, THE IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP.
I ALSO WILL REMOVE YOU BEYOND BABYLON.’”
I suppose that when one thinks of Moses his next thought
may be the Law for many call the OT Law, the “Law of Moses.” Verse 38 speaks of Moses being in the
congregation with the children of Israel in the wilderness and then with the
angel he was spoken to on Mount Sinai.
Mount Sinai was where God game Moses the Ten Commandments and in the
book of Hebrews we see that angels were involved in the giving of the Old
Testament Law. “For if the word spoken
through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just penalty (Hebrews 2:2).” Why
the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a
mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made (Gal.
3:19).” Now as we look at these two
verses, three including the one in Acts chapter seven we are never told what
the involvement of angels was in the giving of the Law, and so this remains a
mystery. When Luke writes and Stephens
uses the term “living oracles” he is speaking of the Law making this a seamless
transition from Moses to the Law of Moses.
John MacArthur writes “Stephen affirms his belief in the
law, again making a ‘not guilty’ plea.
He declares that God was the author of the law, angels were its mediator,
and Moses was its recipient. That
certainly was not blasphemy, and the Sanhedrin knew it.”
We see Stephen now moving onto the offense as he had
sufficiently defended himself, and even more.
“39 “Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated
him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.”
Stephen was not the one who disobeyed the law, but it was their fathers
of the Sanhedrin who disobeyed the Law as Jesus had told people like this that
they were of their father the devil. It
was the Sanhedrin’s fathers who were the ones who repudiated Moses and the
law. Their fathers in their hearts
wanted to return to Egypt, even though they had been cruelly oppressed there,
they still wanted to return to Egypt.
They were not really making sense then and the Sanhedrin were not making
sense here either.
Most of us know that when Moses was up on the Mountain
with God for forty days that the children of Israel convinced Aaron to make a
golden calf, and idol which represented the god who brought them out of
Egypt. They not only rejected Moses, but
they rejected the Law too. John MacArthur
writes “Calf worship was an integral part of Egyptian religion. Israel’s penchant for idolatry, which began
at Sinai, contradicts the proud claims of the Sanhedrin that Israel was the
people of the law. Before it was even
delivered to them, they had rejected it.”
God had every right to destroy the nation of Israel, but
actually Moses pledged with Him stating that it would not be good for His
character if He destroyed Israel, but what did happen was three thousand souls
died. I have always read that the day
the law was given three thousand people died, but the day the church began on
the Day of Pentecost three thousand souls were saved for “the law kills, but
the Spirit gives life.” “42 "But
God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is
written in the book of the prophets, ’IT WAS NOT TO ME THAT YOU OFFERED VICTIMS
AND SACRIFICES FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, WAS IT, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL?” In Romans 1:24, 26, 28 we read that God had
judicially abandoned the Gentiles and so also did God abandon His people to idolatry. From the time that Israel wondered in the
wilderness until the Babylonian captivity Israel ceaseless had a problem with
idols.
Stephen supports his point by quoting God’s word
beginning with the last part of verse 42 “written in the book of the prophets,
’IT WAS NOT TO ME THAT YOU OFFERED VICTIMS AND SACRIFICES FORTY YEARS IN THE
WILDERNESS, WAS IT, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL? 43 ’YOU ALSO TOOK ALONG THE TABERNACLE
OF MOLOCH AND THE STAR OF THE GOD ROMPHA, THE IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP.
I ALSO WILL REMOVE YOU BEYOND BABYLON’ (Amos 5:25-27).” John MacArthur points out that Amos used the
word Damascus where Stephen uses the word Babylon, and both the Hebrew and the
Septuagint say Damascus. MacArthur adds “Amos
was prophesying the captivity of the northern kingdom at the hands of Assyria—a
deportation which took them beyond Damascus.
Later the southern kingdom was taken captive to Babylon. Stephen, led by the inspiring Spirit, chooses
to expand the text of Amos to embrace the judgment of God on the whole
nation. Stephen’s use of that prophecy succinctly
summarizes the sad, idolatrous history of Israel (cf. Deut. 17:3, 2 Kings
17:16; 21:3; Jer. 8:2; 19:13), which culminated in the Babylonian Captivity.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Pastoral epistles.”
Today’s Bible
question: “How many people were saved in
the ark during the flood?”
Answer in our next SD. 11/19/2017 9:29 PM
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