Stephen’s Sermon That Surveys God’s Work

We’re reading Acts together. Hopefully this is not a news flash to you.

This week:
Mon Oct 29 Acts 7:1-53
Tues Oct 30 Acts 7:54-8:3 + catchup
Wednesday Oct 31 Acts 8:4-40
Thursday Nov 1 Acts 9
Friday Nov 2 Acts 10
Sat Nov 3 Catchup/reflect/review

Acts 7:1-53
Stephen’s mind had evidently soaked up the Old Testament, for his speech is like a patchwork of allusions to it.

Stephen picked out four major epochs of Israel’s history, dominated by four major characters.

First he highlighted Abraham and the patriarchal age (7:2-8); then Joseph and the Egyptian exile (9-19);
thirdly Moses, the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings (20-44); and lastly David and Solomon, and the establishment of the monarchy (45-50).  The connecting feature of these four epochs is that in none of them was God’s presence limited to any particular place.  On the contrary, the God of the Old Testament was the living God, a God on the move and on the march,
who was always calling his people out to fresh adventures, and always accompanying and directing them as they went.

James Boice: Stephen’s speech is a transition speech that paves the way for presenting the gospel to the Gentiles, which begins in the very next chapter of Acts.