Why Did Stephen Give a History Lesson to the Jewish Leaders?

Please stay with us and at the end of the program we’ll let you know where to send your questions for Dave and Tom to respond to in a future Contending for the Faith.  You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call.  Now, our final segment.             UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES We resume our excursion through the Book of Acts.  Here again are Dave and Tom:  In this, our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts, we are at Acts chapter 7, and we are going to pick up with verse 9.  “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 favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.”  Now, Stephen is giving those who are interrogating him some background from the scriptures.             Dave: Showing them that he is not a heretic, he knows what has gone before, he knows the heritage.  Tom, it’s a bit like what we’ve been talking about in the first segment, psychology, psychological counseling, psychotherapy.  I sometimes, facetiously, maybe I shouldn’t be facetious, but I sometimes say, You know, look at Joseph, he was hated by his brothers, they were going to kill him, his parents didn’t like his dreams, his brothers sold him into Egypt where he was a slave of Potiphar.             Tom: Dysfunctional family, of course.             Dave: Well, very, and he was falsely accused of sexual immorality by Potiphar’s wife because he rejected her, thrown into prison, and yet all this is horrible prison in those days, likely never to get out of there, where he is languishing.  And how is he going to survive all of these trials?  Well, fortunately, there was a local Christian psychologist not to far away who able to come in once a week and build up Joseph’s self esteem, etc., and the audience laughed, you know, when you say that.  Well, if Joseph didn’t need that, look at his problems, why should you need it with problems that are a whole lot less serious than his.  What does Stephen say?  But God was with him!  We need to get back to trust in God and not try to pamper ourselves, or try to take some drugs or psychological counseling, somehow to get out of our troubles.  But the Bible is all about people who have very serious problems, serious troubles, read the faith chapter.  Sawn asunder, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, they were destitute, tormented, afflicted, dwelt in dens and caves of the earth, and who in the world was not worthy?  And they all triumphed through psychological counseling?  No, they all triumphed through faith!             Tom: That’s Hebrews Chapter 11.             Dave: Right, the famous faith chapter.  And Galatians 5:22, starts out, “The fruit of therapy, you know, is love, joy, peace…”  No, no, it says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness and so forth, against such there is no law.”  So, we have Christians today turning from the Spirit, from the Word, to therapy, to counseling, to some drug that will dull them to their problems and prevent them from learning the lesson of faith that God wants them to learn.             Tom: Dave, you know, sometimes I think, if I were a psychotherapist, and my father was a psychiatrist so I have those lines like —I could get into that.             Dave: Sure, and the genes.             Tom: If I put on  my marquee out in front, I’d have a marquee, and I could put on the marquee what I am offering those who would come to me for counseling, and it would be the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, all these things—  I’d be the wealthiest man alive, I think.  People would line up for miles around to come to me.  Yet, the Word of God offers it for free.             Dave: Tom, they wouldn’t line up, and you would starve, because they do not want the truth!  Remember Jesus, John 8:45, he said, “Because I tell you the truth you believe me not.”  So, the truth is the last thing they want.  They don’t want the fruit of the Spirit, Tom.  They want something else.  They want a do-it-yourself kit in religion.  But anyway, I’m sorry, I got us a little off the track.              Tom: Well, let me pick up with verse 11, “Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, 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 Shechem, and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Shechem.”             Dave: Well, Tom, he’s reciting more of the history and I guess we’ll find out why.  He’s giving some examples of course.  He’s building up to how they rejected Christ and he’s pointing out Joseph was rejected by his brother, rejected by his family, but then God used him as the Savior, actually.  Because if Joseph hadn’t been in Egypt they wouldn’t have gathered from those seven years of abundance, gathered enough harvest and stored it away to take care of themselves and others.  So, this is like Christ.  Then there was famine and they had to go and take from what Joseph had stored for them and they didn’t even know who he was.  That’s again another picture of Christ that He came to His own and His own received Him not.  They didn’t know who Joseph was.  But, one day they will know him.  It says, the second time, I think that speaks of the second coming.  That verse 13 says, “And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren.”  So, I think the second coming of Christ He will be known to the Jews who rejected Him the first time.  Then it talks about this cave of Machpelah there in Hebron.  It belongs to the Jews.  All the Jewish patriarchs were buried there.  Their wives.  Not one Arab was buried there.  And, yet the Arabs have taken over Hebron.  They have had pogroms slaughtering Jews down through history, chasing the Jews out.  They built a mosque there and they claim that this is their land.  This is their cave.  They’re not even related.  Ishmael from whom the Arabs claim to be descendent was buried hundreds of miles away.  There’s no Muslim or Arab buried there.  So, he’s just recounting this for them.  Verse 17, “But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt.”  That was all foretold.  If we go back to Genesis 15:13, God said to Abraham, “Your seed”, now today there’s a controversy.  Who is the seed, the descendents of Ishmael, the descendents of Isaac?  God said, your seed, the seed that will inherit the land, will be slaves for 400 years in a land, a foreign land, and then I will deliver them, then I will bring them to this land.  Well, who did that happen to?  It happened to the Jews.  It didn’t happen to the Arabs.  It didn’t happen to the descendents of Ishmael.  And, it happened exactly as God said. So, it’s rather important what he is laying out.  And, Tom, we need to do this when we’re preaching the Gospel, because the Gospel was foretold.  We have all the signs.  We have the prophesies.  It’s all fulfilled in Christ.  And I love the way Stephen is laying this out.  And, he gave them the feast of the Passover.  The feast of the Passover is kept by Jews, not by Gentiles, not by Muslims, not by Arabs.  And that is the proof that these people, the Jews, are the ones to whom this land belongs.  And, Stephen is going through this history.  It’s terrific what we have in the Bible.             Gary: Dave and Tom will continue their discussion on the topic of salvation next week. We hope you can join us.  This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call.   The Apostle John in Revelation 17 describes in detail characteristics of a beast which comes in the last days.  Virtually all the attention these days is focused on the coming Anti-Christ. But he is only half the story.  Many are amazed to discover that that same passage reveals another mysterious character at the heart of prophesy, a woman who rides the beast.  Who is this woman?  John depicts her as a false church which will be a partner of the Anti-Christ.  Tradition says she is connected with the church of Rome.  But, isn’t such a view outdated?  After all, today’s Vatican is eager to join hands with protestants world-wide.  We are told the Catholic church has changed.  Or has it?  In A Woman Rides the Beast, prophesy expert Dave Hunt sifts through biblical truth and global events to present a well-defined portrait of this woman and her powerful place in the Anti-Christ future empire.  Eight remarkable clues in Revelation prove the woman’s identity beyond any reasonable doubt.  Was John describing the Church of Rome?  To answer this question, Dave has spent years in historical research, primarily from Catholic sources and provides indisputable documentation.  Video host, author and lecturer, Dave Hunt, “There’s over 500 pages and about 800 footnotes, I think, of documentation that will surprise, perhaps, even Catholics, as well as non-Catholics, as to the official teaching and practices of the Roman Catholic church, it’s history, what it really has stood for, and stands for today.  I’m not making it up, I think it is worth while, I think it is something you need to read.             A Woman Rides the Beast, the book and the video are available from The Berean Call, information on how to order in just a moment.  And now, to tell you more about our ministry, here is TBC Executive Director Tom McMahon:  The name, The Berean Call, is taken from the Book of Acts, Chapter 17, Verses 10 and 11, where we find the apostle Paul entering the synagogue in the Greek city of Berea after he had just come from Thessalonica.  To these Bereans he preached that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah sent from God.  They were commended for being noble or fair minded, not only for their willingness to hear what Paul had to say about the matter, but more specifically, because they searched the scriptures daily to find out whether or not what the apostle was saying was found in God’s Word.  That’s what we hope to encourage through this ministry.  Our mission is to alert believers in Christ to unbiblical teachings and practices impacting the church.  We want to exhort believers to give greater heed to biblical discernment and truth regarding what they are accepting as spiritual.  We hope to supply those who profess to be biblical Christians with information and materials that will encourage the love of God’s truth.  Hopefully, we can help mobilize believes in Christ to action in obedience to the scriptural command to earnestly contend for the faith found in Jude 3.  And finally, our prayer is that we can be used of God to stimulate Christians to look to the Bible alone as their rule of faith, authority and practice in living lives pleasing to our Lord and Savior.              Gary: If you are a serious student of God’s Word, we offer a wide variety of items that you will find helpful, from books and tracts to audio and video tapes, CD ROM, our internet website and much more.  For a complete list of materials or to get a copy of today’s broadcast write to us at PO Box 7019. 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Bend, Oregon 97708.  Call us toll free at our order #877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org.