Acts 7 — Read & Listen Online | Father's Heart Bible™

The Father's Story on Trial

Chapter 7.

Then the high priest asked, "Are these things true?"

And Stephen said: "Brothers and fathers, listen. Our Father of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

and said to him, 'Leave your land and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.'

Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And from there, after his father died, our Father moved him into this land in which you now live. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though as yet he had no child. And our Father spoke to this effect: that his offspring would be foreigners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave and mistreat them four hundred years.

'But I will judge the nation that they serve,' our Father said, 'and after that they will come out and worship me in this place.'

And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but our Father was with him, and rescued him from all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great suffering, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five persons in all.

And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

But as the time of the promise drew near, which our Father had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. This king took advantage of our people and mistreated our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants to die.

At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in our Father's sight. He was brought up for three months in his father's house, And when he was abandoned, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that our Father was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.

And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?' But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?' 'Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' At this word Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight, and as he drew near to look, the voice of our Father came:

'I am the Father of your fathers, the Father of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then our Father said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.' 'I have surely seen the suffering of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.'

This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'—this is the one our Father 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 the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, 'Our Father will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.' This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; he received living words to give to us.

Our fathers refused to obey him, but pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, 'Make 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, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their own hands. But our Father turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: 'Did you bring me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during the forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.'

Our fathers had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, just as the one who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that our Father drove out before them. So it was until the days of David, who found favor with our Father and asked to find a dwelling place for our Father. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says:

'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says our Father, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?'

"You stubborn people, hard of heart and deaf to the truth, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. ^a Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered —you who received the law through angels and yet did not keep it."

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of our Father, and Jesus standing at the right hand of our Father, ^b and he said, "Look, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of our Father."

But they cried out with a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed at him. Then they dragged him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning him, Stephen called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." ^c Then he fell to his knees and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

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