You pick up your Bible and wonder, is there more here than meets the eye?
Is there anything here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right? Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink. Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own, as we ask God to meet us there in its pages.
Welcome to More Than Ink. Okay, consider this, the life of Moses and the life of Jesus. You know, there is a lot of parallels between their two lives. Well, Moses had said, God will raise up for you a prophet like me. So in what ways?
Yeah, in what ways? And he's talking about Jesus, right? He is. And Stephen will quote that as we look at it today on More Than Ink. Well, good morning. This is Jim.
And I'm Dorothy. And this is indeed More Than Ink, where we walk our way through the scriptures and we explore what's here together and we share our insights and hopefully we give you some clues and tips about how to do this for yourself on your own. So we go through whole books of the Bible. We're in the book of Acts right now. And it's the history of the early church after the resurrection of Jesus. And there's surprises everywhere through it.
And today, we are kind of halfway through something really important. Stephen, who is a figure that comes up in chapter six, has been arrested, basically. Well, he's been called in to give account of himself. Yeah. Some accusations made against him.
The religious leaders, let's just say, are not happy with what he's doing. And so there's charges made. And you know, it's good for us to review those charges. And basically, the charges you can find at the end of chapter 16.
But what they are is two things, basically. The end of chapter six. What did I say? Sixteen. No, six. Chapter six.
Whoa, whoa, yeah. Chapter six. And false witnesses come forward. And they allege two things which are false about what Stephen has been talking about, what he's promoting about Jesus as Messiah. The two things basically lump into the fact that he disrespects the temple and he disrespects the law of Moses.
And most especially, the emphasis seems to be disrespect of the temple itself. And that will be really important as we get near the end of what he's talking about today. So when they asked him, you know, are these things true?
Are these accusations true? Instead of defending himself, he launches into a very long history of the nation of Israel. And we're halfway through that history. Well, and it also he had, they had said, we've heard him say blasphemous things against Moses and against God. So that, you know, is again shorthand for the temple and the law and the temple. But that's why so much of his speech pertains to Moses.
Yes, yeah. So we're gonna see that in a minute. Yeah, and he's gonna finish his speech today. And you'll see how far he goes in the nation of Israel and why it is he goes as far as he does.
So we're gonna make those connections in a second. Anyway, we're halfway through, we're halfway through his statement about the history of Israel as a defense about are these things true that they're saying about you, which actually they're false. And we turned the corner last time in his history, his speech at the introduction of Moses into the story.
So that's where we are today. And just prior to this in his speech, he had talked about Moses at the burning bush and receiving the call of God saying, you're gonna go and be the deliverer for my people. So that's kind of where we're gonna pick up right in the middle of that. Where Moses kind of re-engages with the nation of Israel after running away. So if you're following with us, we're in chapter seven, we're starting in verse 35. And we're gonna listen to Stephen's take on the history of Israel.
He's selective for a purpose, and he'll end at a certain point for a purpose. But this is the history of Israel. So here we are, we're starting in verse 35.
Wanna read for us? And chapter seven, verse 35. Chapter seven. This Moses whom they rejected saying, who made you a ruler and a judge? This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.
This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him but thrust him aside and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven as it's written in the book of the prophets. Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your God, Rephan, and the images you made to worship and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. We need to stop there. That's a lot of stuff. Well it's all of a piece. It's kind of hard to stop. It all goes together. But he's going to turn a corner and begin talking about something else a little bit.
So that's a good place to stop. So this is a very accurate telling of the history of Moses. But he's got a purpose behind telling us. Remember we challenged you the first time we started into Stephen's speech is to try and figure out why he launches into this history of Israel when he's been accused of disrespecting Moses and the temple building itself. And one of the points we brought out last time is it seems as though he's bringing up characters in the story like last time Joseph who have very similar traits and characteristics to Jesus himself. So without bringing Jesus up overtly here he's pointing these things out. So here he's in Moses. Well Moses has a lot of parallels to Jesus.
And where we started off in verse 35 is one very apparent one. This Moses whom they rejected. And Jesus himself was rejected. In fact Moses was rejected on his first appearance in Israel. Jesus was rejected in his first appearance of Israel. But in Moses' second appearance he's accepted.
And in Jesus' second appearance he'll be accepted. So there's a lot of close ties that we from our perspective from the New Testament look and go I see a parallel here. But I think that's what Stephen is doing through the Holy Spirit is laying some ground so that these connections can be made to who Jesus is. But right on the surface it's very obvious they charged him with disrespecting Moses and here in this text it looks like he respects Moses.
He keeps saying this man, this one, this guy, this is the one. That sounds like Peter's speech back in chapter three when he says this Jesus, this man, this man. So he's really focusing in on the person of Moses. And you know it struck me how many parallels there are to Jesus. Not only being rejected but God sent, as he says in verse 35, God sent him as both ruler and redeemer.
This man performing signs and wonders. This man received living oracles to give to us in verse 38. But our fathers refused to obey him and thrust him aside. Very Jesus-like in every respect, all the way down the line. But they thrust him aside, in their hearts they turned to Egypt.
Now that's an interesting turn right there. I mean why would the Israelites turn their hearts to Egypt when they had just left Egypt. Well you need to go back and read Exodus for that. You need to read Exodus because that's exactly what they do. I mean we know about the whole event where Moses goes on the top of Mount Sinai when he gets the Ten Commandments and down at the bottom of the mountain there's Aaron his brother and the people are saying you know make us a god that can take us across the desert. Make us a god we can see.
That we can see. Right because we don't know what happened to this guy. He went up the mountain and he's gone. Right so in the story and here pretty accurately represented their fear for that Moses is just out of the picture all of a sudden and they've been stranded in the desert without a god.
But here he makes a link that's even tighter. He says not only were they looking for some kind of god to replace the god of Moses, their hearts went back to Egypt. Right. They basically said at one point did you bring us out here in the desert just so we can die here like they don't have any graves in Egypt. I mean let's go back to Egypt.
Another time they complain about the food. Let's go back to Egypt. So yeah their hearts are remarkably turned because they were so happy to have left Egypt. To have Moses lead them out of Egypt and then just a little bit into the desert and they're saying let's go back. Let's go back.
And so that's what we're talking about here. They made gods in place of the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In place of the god who very clearly used his strength and power to split the Red Sea. I mean it's a remarkable turn for what they did.
Yeah. So they made a calf in those days for 41, offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands which is a fascinating thing. They would prefer the works of their hands than worshiping the god who clearly is with them in the cloud by day and the fire by night.
That's the fascinating thing. God is very present. They can see his presence in the cloud and in the fire. And Moses was up on the top of the mountain where they could see the cloud and the fire even though they couldn't see Moses. But they said no we want a god we can touch, carry around. Essentially we want a god we can control.
Right, right, right. And so what's God's response to the people in the desert in 42? God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven.
That sounds like Roman I. Well that's what I was going to mention. Romans I says that very thing, the opening lines in the first chapter of Romans I talks about the fact that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven and later on when you read through that section that's in verse 18 of chapter 1. When you get down to verse 24 about what the wrath of God looks like, he says therefore God gave them up. So here is the same thing as well.
God does not force himself on these people but the wrath of God is to let you pursue what you want to pursue. You want that, I'll let you have that. I'll let you have it.
See how satisfying it is. Right, tell me how that works out for you. It's interesting that in this speech here Stephen quotes the prophet Amos when he says did you bring me your sacrifices or who did you sacrifice to, right? You were carrying along with you the tent of Moloch who actually was the god of the Canaanites.
Yeah, bad deal. And we don't know who this other god Refn is. There are several options but the images that you made to worship. Right, right. So you know he's taking a big step in Israel's history here when he's quoting Amos and saying and I'll send you into exile beyond Babylon. Well that's quite far forward from where he's talking about Moses.
Yes, yes. But he's got all of Israel's history in view. And yet. And none of it is disputed.
No, no, no, all this is very accurate. And in another kind of interesting connection with Jesus is that here basically you take the high view of this, here's Moses comes in, God uses him to get them out of the slavery of Egypt, they're delivered out into the desert basically and then they reject God's plan for them. But with Jesus as well after Jesus is rejected there is kind of an exile that happens to the Jews. I mean they're scattered into the diaspora, the temple is torn down and so after Moses is rejected and Moses does his full redemptive work they're scattered because they lose their faith. Same thing happens with Jesus as well, he does his full redemptive work and then eventually not even a generation later they're scattered away from Israel. So again it's the same kind of thing.
And why? Well because their hearts don't recognize the hand of God in what's going on. You know I was thinking too of another parallel that's here and that is that when God brought them out into the wilderness under Moses' leadership while they were out there he gave them three very notable things in the history of Israel and Stephen doesn't talk about the manna but he does talk about the law, right? God gave them his law out there and the living oracles that he refers to in verse 38 and God gave them the tabernacle, right? The movable tent which is the place where they could meet with God in the midst. Which he'll talk about next. So yeah he's gonna talk about the tent next. So he's zeroing in on the communication of God, this is how you will live, and the presence of God, this is where I dwell, right?
I'm in your midst. Well Jesus, right, the Gospel of John says in the beginning of verse 14, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And dwelt, right. So there we have both the communication of God, the Word of God, and the dwelling among us in the person of Jesus.
Yeah, yeah. Well we're gonna go on to the tabernacle and temple here and then we'll come back and make some bigger observations and parallels. Why don't I read for us in 44?
Okay, all right, 44. Because we're still sort of on Moses but we're switching over to the actual tabernacle and temple that came about, the tabernacle especially during the time of Moses. So 44, so our fathers, our fathers had a tent of witness in the wilderness just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. Oh, so Moses didn't just make it up.
No. So our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the most high God, the most high does not dwell in houses made by hand as the prophet says, here he quotes, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord?
Or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things? Yeah, so that's quoting Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66.
Yeah. And two, it's really interesting to me that he does not, he stops in the middle of Isaiah's sentence and he does not go on to include the next part of what Isaiah wrote there, right? He stops after, didn't my hand make all these things, but to this one I will look, says the Lord through Isaiah, to him who's humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word.
So I wonder if he didn't stop short there knowing that they would fill in the blank themselves. Well, I think he stopped short because he's trying to make a point about their worship of the temple building itself, the temple building itself. And you know, that's why this whole last section from 44 to 50 seems like a direct address to the fact that they think he's disrespecting the temple building itself. Well, he's saying that the temple building itself was just an outgrowth of the tent. And by the way, David didn't build it, his son did. But then he makes a big deal about the fact, look, the Most High does not dwell in houses like this. And he quotes, he quotes from Isaiah to prove it. So he's making a case in point here about the fact that maybe they're making a little too much about the building of the temple. Because Jesus himself had said at one point, you know, aren't these fastening stones?
He says, well, look, they're all going to be taken apart. Right. And Jesus weathered the same accusation that he had spoken against the temple.
Exactly. You know, tear this temple down in three days, I'll raise it again. And the gospel tells us he's talking about his body, but they thought he was talking about the building.
Yeah, yeah. And so, so here I think this is a direct address he makes. This is the closest thing he gets to in terms of being a defense about him re, I don't know, just dissing the temple in that particular sense. Because he's saying, no, look, I think you guys are making too much out of the temple. And I think you're making too much out of Moses. However, because he just finished talking about Moses, and that's where they're kind of stuck on because that's their chief accusations. Those are the best accusations, false, that they can make that can get this guy in deep weeds is to have him diss Moses and diss the temple building itself. But I think God is saying through the Holy Spirit, through Stephen's message here is the fact that you guys are making too much of this. You're making way too much of this. And you may actually be on the edge of idol worship of the temple building itself with the rationalization. Well, that's where God lives.
So why wouldn't we make a big deal about it? See, I think that's what he's doing right here. That's why he doesn't continue the Isaiah quote. Yes, perhaps. Yeah. You were going to say something?
No, it's not important. So yeah, this is interesting because this is as far as he's going to go in the history of Israel. He's not going to go past this because next time when we get together, he's going to actually go first person and he's going to apply this truth to them.
He's going to come out next time right out of the starting gate and say, you stiff necked people. So this is the question. So we just read in these last two times, we read the entire history of Israel that Stephen wanted to put together. And again, being mindful of the fact that the charge is that he's against Moses and he's against the temple.
When you read this, it doesn't look like he's against any of that stuff. But what he does do is he paints a very clear picture for parallels between Jesus and Moses and the fact that the temple isn't really just a literal house for God. But that's where his name dwells. That's where his presence is chosen to be.
And I think they're making too much about this. He's actually indicting them without them quite knowing it. He's not even using the name of Jesus. No, he's not using Jesus, but he will in a second. But he does draw the parallels though between the fact, especially of Moses, that Moses was not well received. Jesus was not well received. And yet you place Moses on this high pillar of being the redeemer and savior in a sense of Israel. But that's exactly who Jesus is too. Well, and Moses had said, God will raise up for you a prophet like me.
Yeah, let's look at that. By the time of Jesus, at this time in the first century, there was this huge messianic fervor, right? And when you read the gospels, they're always asking, is this the prophet? Is this the prophet, right? Is this the guy that Moses was talking about?
So, excuse me. So, you know, these parallels that Stephen is drawing, he's being very purposeful here to say this one that you rejected is the prophet that God sent, the one that Moses had said, who will be like me. Right.
And greater is kind of between the lines. And it's interesting because Jesus said to his apostles, you know, Moses spoke of me. Right.
And there it is right there. This is the prophet who is to come. And in that account, in the end of Luke, when he's talking to the men on the road to Emmaus, he says, and beginning with Moses, he explained to them all the scriptures about himself.
Yeah, yeah. So 37, they raise up a prophet like me from your brothers. That's one of his first overt drops of the fact that we're connected to Jesus. You know, the other one too in terms of one of the obvious drops about the temple maybe being overvalued is we saw this in the end of verse 41. It's a whole thing that, you know, in the wilderness they were rejoicing in the works of their hands. Right.
How about you guys? Are you rejoicing the work of your hands in the temple here? And is the temple really that functional? Is it really the cornerstone of your faith, the temple building itself? Are you rejoicing in the works of your hands? Are you rejoicing in the God whose name is present here?
I mean, that's really what he's trying to get at in terms of those kind of connections as he's bringing through this entire thing. Well, and the Jewish authorities regarded themselves as the guardians of the temple, right? They were the ones who were behind the purchasing of the right sacrifices that you had to buy when you came in. Yours weren't going to be declared good enough. Yeah.
Excuse me. They were kind of the spiritual police. Well, yeah, and they had a real role in terms of the management of the temple, in terms of the management of the sacrifices, in terms of the being responsible for dealing with the ongoing sin to the nation of Israel. I mean, that was a real responsibility for the Levites and for the sons of Aaron, particularly the temple. So, for anyone to be perceived as dissing the temple was dissing them.
Exactly, and that's really what we're getting at the heart of here. At the time of Jesus in the first century here, the elite who were in charge of Jerusalem and in charge of the nation of Israel were a religious elite. And if indeed they did not have a temple building, they had no job. They had no job.
No identity. They had no sense of elitism either, and yet a time is coming in just 40 years where the temple will be dismantled and their eliteness will be gone and be wiped away. Their whole system will be destroyed. So, I think what God is saying in the Holy Spirit is the fact that you guys have an unhealthy attachment to the temple building and to your own sense of position and worth because that's not where it's at. In fact, He tells the shepherds of Israel, especially in Ezekiel, He says, look, you guys are supposed to take care of the flock.
You're supposed to care for them. And what they're supposed to do really is nurture a deepening relationship with God Himself who lives in their midst. But that's not what they were doing. They were deepening a relationship with the temple and the temple rituals and thinking that those things all by themselves brought life when indeed it was God's presence in their community that brought life and they had completely discarded that. I mean, it just really overlooked it. So since you referenced Ezekiel, Ezekiel really takes aim at the leadership of Israel saying you should have been feeding the sheep, but instead you were eating the sheep.
You should have been caring for them and you were abusing them. So, by even referring to Ezekiel here, that's going to be running through their minds. This guy is insulting us.
Yeah, yeah. So, without really being very direct here, he's making connections for them. And the fact that he closes this whole thing with Isaiah by saying if you think you have standing in the nation of Israel because you're in charge of the temple building and everything that goes on in it, you say that because, well, this is God's house and He lives here. And then he quotes Isaiah and says, no, He does not live here.
He does not live here. It's God's plan to have the temple there. It's God's plan to do the temple rituals.
But you guys have gone way past that. And it's very clear in Jesus' dialogue with the Pharisees that they have put so much trust in the rituals, the rituals and the laws of the temple and all that kind of stuff. And to serve the temple, not so much to serve God Himself.
That their whole emphasis has changed. Instead of celebrating the presence of God, symbolized through the temple, in their midst, living in their midst. That's what the tabernacle tent was for.
I want to go with you in a tent in the middle of your midst. Instead of celebrating the presence of God there, they celebrated the rituals of the temple right there. And Jesus took that apart piece by piece during His ministry. So much so that when God Himself did come in Jesus, in their presence, with them, they missed Him. Because they had lost the whole idea that God is a God who wants to live amongst us. And when He comes in the flesh, they miss Him. Well, they did more than miss Him. They deliberately rejected Him. Just like Moses.
You couldn't possibly be Him. Just like Moses. And that's actually going to become even clearer when we talk at the end of Stephen's speech, which we'll get to next week. And also, Jesus did do some direct confrontations on issues of the law. Like He said, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath.
Well, who can be Lord of the Sabbath? I mean, He really put Himself above the law in so many ways. He said, I didn't come to annihilate the law.
I came to fulfill it. So that's a different kind of thing. But they could sense it in some way, well, in overt ways. He was placing Himself above the law itself. That He was something bigger than the law itself. Which was an amazing claim for anyone to make.
Because for them, their sense of importance came from the law. Well, if you remember, Jesus Himself said, something greater than the temple is here. Something greater than the temple. Right. Referring to Himself.
Right. So His presence was bigger than the law. His presence was bigger than the building. And right here, Stephen's been accused of being against the law and being against the building. And what he's trying to do is make a point for the fact that, well, Jesus is bigger than both of those.
Well, He is the walking fulfillment of both of those. Right. He said, I came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. And He came and tabernacled among us. God with us. Right.
Right. So again, we're seeing two different emphases that after many centuries of the Jews doing the law and being around the temple, they've lost the personal connection with God Himself. And then God comes in Jesus and they miss Him. And they persecute Him. And they see Him as a threat. And they kill Him. Which is going to be part of the next place He goes in the speech.
Yeah. But we're saving that for next week. We're saving that for next week. We'll do that next time when He actually goes off and does this direct confrontation with Him after this. So maybe you can see some of the connections here between why when they charged Him with, you're against Moses and His law and you're against the building. And here as He finishes this with Moses and the building, you start to realize that maybe they're over-invested. Maybe you're actually worshiping the product of your hands, the works of your hands. Maybe something's out of kilter here. But still, you know, Stephen respects the law and he respects the temple.
That they've put it in place of God's presence Himself. Well, next time we'll come back and Stephen will directly confront them at the end of his speech and now that he's finished his history. And he won't make any friends next time when we see what he talks about. So I'm Jim. And I'm Dorothy. And we're glad you're with us. And we hope you come back with us next time as we finish the speech of Stephen in front of his accusers on More Than Inc. There are many more episodes of this broadcast to be found at our website, morethaninc.org. And while you are there, take a moment to drop us a note. Remember, the Bible is God's love letter to you. Pick it up and read it for yourself and you will discover that the words printed there are indeed more than ink. Testing 123. That's my tea. This has been a production of Main Street Church of Brigham City.
