Recap

So far in Acts, we've read through the introduction and started the disciples' time in Jerusalem. We noted how Acts, a sequel to Luke's gospel, explores the birth and growth of the early church. Jesus commissioned his disciples to spread the good news from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). He instructed them to wait for the Holy Spirit to empower them and then ascended to heaven.

While the disciples were waiting, the Holy Spirit came like a rush of wind and tongues of fire. God was making his people his new temples. Empowered to speak in different languages reuniting all peoples, the disciples amazed the crowd, and Peter led over 3,000 to salvation. The church was born, and the believers lived in community, sharing everything and doing life together.

Peter and John, as God's new temples, went to the old temple. There they healed a lame man in Jesus' name, and amazed the crowd. Peter explained that God's presence now dwelt in his people, not the temple, which led to conflict with the priests. They warned Peter and John to stop preaching, but released them.

The believers then came together to pray. Not for their problems to be removed, but for boldness. They also began sharing their possessions to ensure everyone had enough. At the same time, a couple called Ananias and Sapphira lied to make themselves appear more generous than they were. The Holy Spirit struck them down for contaminating what the community was turning into.

This started a section focusing on internal and external struggles that ultimately cause the church to grow. Some complaints rose up concerning how the welfare was being organised amongst the believers. Realising they didn't have time to lead and manage the people, the Apostles chose seven men to take responsibility of managing the day-to-day organising of the believers. This caused the church to grow more.

One of these men, Stephen, drew attention by performing incredible miracles. Before long he was seized by a group of religious fanatics known as the Freedmen and accused of speaking blasphemy. 

Acts 7-8

Stephen responds to these accusations by talking through the history of the Jews. First, God called Abraham and promised him the very land they are standing on now. But God warns Abraham that it will be his descendants that inherit this land, and only after they have been oppressed by a foreign nation for four hundred years. Then God will rescue Abraham’s descendants and lead them to this promised land.

God seals this promise with a sign, circumcision, and Abraham passes this down to his son Isaac, who passes it down to his son Jacob, who passes it down to his twelve sons, the heads of the twelve tribes. Some of the brothers turn on Joseph, even though God was with him. They rejected him and sold him into slavery, but God used this as an opportunity to lift Joseph up, giving him wisdom and authority over all of Egypt (Acts 7:10). And so the family move to Egypt.

Fast forward four hundred years and the Israelites are now oppressed in Egypt. During this time Moses is born, who is favoured by God and filled with wisdom, and might (Acts 7:20, 22). Out one day he sees his people being oppressed and killed the Egyptian oppressing them. But his own people rejected him, and so he fled.

Forty years later, God comes to him in a burning bush and sends him back to Egypt to rescue his people. So the one whom they’d rejected came and saved them out of Egypt. But now in the wilderness, they continue to reject Moses, preferring the oppression they had in Egypt.

During that time, God’s presence lived in a tabernacle that followed them around, and then much later on Solomon built a temple for God to live in. But despite this, the people recognised that God’s presence isn’t limited to a tent or temple.

Now you may think this is a strange way to respond to his accusers, but what Stephen has done here is brilliant. He has established a pattern in the Jews’ own history of an individual being raised up by God, full of wisdom and power, and being rejected by his own people.

They did it to Joseph, and they did it to Moses. In Acts 6:8, 10, we read that Stephen was full of power and wisdom. Stephen has used his accusers' own history to point out that just as their ancestors rejected Joseph and Moses, they are now rejecting him. But more importantly, they are rejecting Jesus, the one who came to save them.

God’s presence doesn’t live in a temple and in rituals, as these Freedmen would believe. It exists in the body of Jesus, and in all of his followers. The crowd is immediately enraged, grab Stephen, and have him stoned. As Stephen is going down, he sees Jesus in heaven and asks him to forgive his attackers for their sin. It’s an incredibly moving scene.

Watching all this is a man named Saul, who begins to persecute the church. This persecution causes the believers to scatter throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, taking their faith with them. While these people had tried to crush the believers, instead they spread them.

This leads us to the next section of the book as Christian faith moves into Judea and Samaria. We see this through two key examples. The first demonstrates God’s divine power.

One of the seven chosen to help the apostles, Philip, goes out to Samaria proclaiming Jesus and performing many miracles. Many are saved, including a man named Simon who practised magic. Hearing about this group in Samaria, the apostles send John and Peter to make sure they are baptised in the Holy Spirit.

Seeing people being filled with this Holy Spirit, Simon tries to buy this power. He’s not yet fully grasped that this is a gift from God and not to be bought, and Peter quickly rebukes him. Realising the error of his way, Simon repents. The point is that the power of Jesus Christ is greater and so far removed from anything this magic could offer.

The second demonstrates God’s divine will. Philip is woken by an angel and told to travel south. On the way he encounters and Ethiopian and the Holy Spirit tells Philip to go speak to him. Drawing close, Philip sees the Ethiopian struggling with a passage in Isaiah (Isaiah 53:7-8).

Philip is able to explain to him that this passage was talking about Jesus and helps the Ethiopian be baptised. Philip is then immediately teleported away to a place named Azotus where he continues preaching. The Ethiopian goes on rejoicing in his new found faith in Jesus. Despite the opposition, the church is growing.

Psalm 120

This psalm isn’t attributed to anyone in particular, but is named as a psalm of ascent. These psalms were sung by worshippers as they ascended to Jerusalem for the three pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Festival of Weeks, and Festival of Tabernacles) or possibly by the Levites as they ascended the steps of the Temple. Psalm 120-134 are all psalms of ascent. Interestingly, this first psalm of ascent is also a lament.

Psalm 120:1-2 - I cry to the Lord in distress

Psalm 120:3-4 - What do the deceitful deserve

Psalm 120:5-7 - I am far from God and seek his peace

The psalmist opens with a cry to the Lord. They ask the Lord to deliver them because they are surrounded by deceitful people. The psalmist then thinks upon those who are deceitful and what they deserve. They deserve to feel the sharp end of an arrow, or the hot end of some burning coals.

Meanwhile, the psalmist is far away from Israel. They are living in Meshech (Asia Minor, in modern day Turkey). It’s unlikely that they are actually living in Meshech. As the first of the ascent psalms, the speaker starts off figuratively far away from Jerusalem and progressively gets closer. They are far away from God’s presence and slowly draw near. As someone who is far away from God, they are not experiencing peace, but conflict.

This psalm sets the scene for the journey the people will go on in their pilgrimage. They start, far away, but with their eyes set on God, who is the source of their salvation and peace.