Stephen's History Lesson Continues

Gary:

            Please stay tuned and at the end of the program we’ll let you know where to send your question 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. 

            Tom

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment and we are in the Book of Acts chapter 7, and we are going to pick up with verse 24.  Dave, from time to time I think it’s good that we encourage our listeners and exhort them, really to read the scriptures for themselves.  It’s our privilege to be able to go through this and people listen to us.  We want them to check us out, to search the scriptures daily to see if our understanding is true to what the Holy Spirit is teaching them, but they have to read the Word of God.

            Dave:

Well, you have to be born again to have a taste for it.  You can’t get into the kingdom of God, you can’t get into heaven itself unless you are born again.  Jesus said that!  When we came into this earth we became a child of our earthly parents.  To be children of God we have to become children of God through faith in Christ by being born again of the Holy Spirit.  And Peter says, As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.  You don’t have to teach a new born babe to desire its mother’s milk, and that’s whether it’s a human or whether it’s some kind of an animal, it comes naturally.  And so, the scripture indicates that if you are really born again, we’re talking about “examine yourself, are you in the faith” do you really have a taste for the Word of God.  And so we encourage people, but if you really know the Lord you should have a hunger and thirst after this.

            Tom:

And Dave, we get letters all the time from people that came to know the Lord through reading the scriptures.

            Dave:

Amen, yes.

            Tom:

As we’ve mentioned, I grew up Roman Catholic and we were never encouraged to read the Word of God.  But we’ve gotten letters form Catholics, I mean, I have saved many of them in which they—I know it was either through the prayers of others or just the conviction of the Holy Spirit, they sat down and began to read the Word of God and came to know the Lord.  Once you do, then your deeper understanding, that’s the only way you can truly understand the Word of God with any depth at all.

            Dave:

Amen.

            Tom:

So, we are in Acts chapter 7, and we are going to pick up with verse 24.  “And seeing one of them suffer wrong he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian.”

            Dave:

It’s talking about Moses.

            Tom:

Right, forty years in the household of Pharaoh, not living with his Hebrew relatives.

            Dave:

But he knew he was one of them, and now he finally decides, well, let’s get out.  I want to see what’s going on out there.  Tom, it would be an interesting question.  You would think that Pharaoh would know, I mean, his daughter, who picked this baby up out of the Nile River certainly knew, because she gave it back to one of the Hebrew women to nurse.  I don’t remember, I don’t think the scripture tells us exactly in years how long he was with his mother, but she weaned him, and then he is brought up in Pharaoh’s household.  It seems kind of hard to imagine that Pharaoh really knew this was a Jewish boy.  Maybe he did, I don’t know, but probably by this time it would be pretty much forgotten.  I mean, Moses must have very Egyptianized.  He was learned in all the ways of the Egyptians, he was schooled—Maybe Pharaoh even thought this would be the next Pharaoh, I don’t know!  We don’t get those details, but it’s interesting because Stephen is reciting all of this.  You know, sometimes people get the idea that the Israelites, I mean these people back in the days of the prophets, and so forth, days of Daniel, etc., didn’t really have the Bible, the copies of the scriptures.  And yet, Daniel is quoting from them, he’s talking about them, and Daniel, in fact, tells us specifically that he had been reading in the Book of Jeremiah.  And Jeremiah had been written not long before Daniel became a captive.  And some of Jeremiah had even been finished after Daniel became a captive.  And yet, he already had a copy of it.  So, I think these books of scripture had a wider distribution than we sometimes think.  You didn’t just have to go into the temple.  Perhaps, I don’t know, but where did Stephen get this knowledge, how does he know?  He’s reciting all the details of the history of the Jewish people and the Rabbis are not correcting him, they are not complaining.  So apparently, this was a common knowledge.  Maybe it was taught in school, the Jewish children knew very well, but Stephen was certainly well schooled in this.

            Tom:

Well, Dave, that brings up an interesting point about the history of the Israelites, the Jewish people.  Unlike societies around them, they were literate.  Their fathers were to teach, not just the sons, but the children to understand the Word of God.  The Word of God came to the Israelites, as the Word, the written Word, and they had to be able to read it, so their society, whether they be captive in Egypt or wherever they might be, that was part of their teaching and the way they were brought up.  The Egyptians, although they had great knowledge, that was at a higher class of a certain level, not down to the common folk as it were.

            Dave:

Tom, since you brought that up, why don’t we just back and read just a little bit in Deuteronomy 6 to see what God says.  In Exodus 12, God says, well He gave them the Passover and when your children ask “why do we do this every year?” You will tell them, this is the Lord’s Passover, and you will explain the story.  And they brought that down as a heritage and, in fact, Scripture makes it very clear, Genesis 15, that the seed of Abraham who would inherit the land, because Abraham had eight sons as far as we know, Ishmael was the first born and then Isaac was the second born, but through Sarah, Abraham’s wife, the seed who would inherit the land, they were going to be slaves for 400 years in a foreign land, then they would be brought into the land, didn’t happen to the Arabs, didn’t happen to the ancestors of those people who call themselves “Palestinians” today, it happened to the Jews, happened to the Israelites, and who keeps the Passover?  The Jews, and so they were to keep this Passover and it was proof, absolute proof, that their ancestors had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years and were delivered.

            Tom:

Because you don’t do something that’s based on a myth.  There had to be a point in history in which it started.

            Dave:

Exactly.  You couldn’t just make this up and start it.  People say, well we didn’t do it last year.  And, so, every time that their children would ask, “well, why do we do this?”  they were to say, oh, this is the Lord’s Passover. And they would explain it to them, etc.  But, it went even deeper than that, and Tom, what you were saying triggered this thought in my mind.  This is Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they might.”  The Commandments are being given to Israel, and it goes on, it says, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shalt be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”  So, these people were well schooled.

            Tom:

Dave, this a literate society.  I mean, the Scripture lays it out very plainly.

            Dave:

Well, I’m sorry, Tom, I interrupted, but anyway, Stephen is recounting history that they should have all known.  And, of course, the Rabbis at least had the Scriptures and apparently many others did as well.

            Tom:

There’s an interesting question here.  How does Moses say, “….his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them”?  I mean, here he is, forty years among the royal Egyptian hierarchy, as it were, yet he knows he’s going to be the deliverer, and they should know.  Where did they get that?      

            Dave:

Well, God has certainly been speaking to him.  Moses is in touch with God, although, you know, it’s like Samuel.  Was that the Lord’s voice?  Well, go back and listen.  It’s not easy for him to begin to discern and he does the wrong thing, he’s forty years out in the wilderness learning a bit more.  But, he, I suppose, presumes, well everybody else understands this too.  You’re not going to be slaves forever.  Maybe he knew the book of Genesis.  Maybe his mother had taught him this as a little boy, and maybe this story had been passed down before it was put in writing that God had told Abraham that His people would be slaves for 400 years.  That must have been passed down.  Abraham must have told Isaac.  Isaac must have told Jacob.  It must have been passed down.  And, apparently, Moses, it’s revealed to him, he’s the one.  But he must know that this is the time.  The time is about now.

            Gary:

Dave and Tom will resume 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.

 

Are you sincerely seeking the Shepherd? Or simply following the flock.  Can you find the Bible at the box office?  The new book from The Berean Call by T. A. McMahon, Showtime for the Sheep? The Church and the Passion of the Christ, challenges readers.  Is Mel Gibson’s blockbuster film true to the Bible?  Have cinematic biblical ethics become the super tools of today’s evangelism?  This important new book looks at the increasing use of entertainment and amusement to teach the Word of God, and the expanding efforts to make the gospel message more seeker sensitive;  the advancing use of ecumenism and the resultant confusion between Catholicism and Biblical Christianity; the multiplying affect of doctrinal error through increasingly popular paraphrased Bibles, and the proliferation of visual renditions of scripture.  Executive Director of The Berean Call, and co-author of, The Seduction of Christianity, T. A. McMahon:  “The title of the book is a question, Showtime for the Sheep? And I’m asking the question and I have a great concern, having a media background myself, that maybe we are moving into something which, even though it has elements in it that seem to refer to scripture, is it entertainment, is it for amusement, and do those elements draw us away from God’s truth?”

 

                       This book calls the shepherds and the sheep of Christ to reconsider their rush into media driven ways of doing church contrary to God’s ways.  Read this Berean’s response to Bible movie mania, Showtime for the Sheep? The Church and the Passion of the Christ, by T. A. McMahon, available now in paperback and e-book. Information on how to order in just a moment. 

 

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, Bend, Oregon 97708. Call us at our toll free order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org.  If you would like a copy of this broadcast, ask for Program #3105, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station.  Get a pen or pencil ready, we’ll repeat our contact information in just a moment.

 

Next week we’ll wrap up our series of programs entitled, “Selections from Beyond Seduction,” and, “What is the Biblical hope for the Church?”  In Religion in the News, “Christian animal sacrifices?”  We’ll take a look at that story and address the question:  “What is the significance of circumcism?”  We hope you can tune in.  If you have questions or comments about this program we urge you to contact our offices.  Search the Scriptures Radio Ministry is made possible by God’s grace, your prayers and your financial support.  I’m Gary Carmichael and for Dave, Tom and everyone here at The Berean Call, I would like to thank you for joining us and invite you to tune in again next week.  In the meantime, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily.

 

For more information about The Berean Call, write to us at PO Box 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708. Call us toll free at our order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org.