3 *Leave your country and your people,‘ God said, andgo to the land I will show you." - P34
5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enoughground to set his foot on. But God promised him thathe and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. - P35
6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred yearsyourdescendants will be strangers in a country not theirown, and they will be enslaved and mistreated.
7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,‘ Godsaid, ‘and afterward they will come out of that countryand worship me in this place.‘ - P35
9 Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, theysold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill ofPharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler overEgypt and all his palace. - P36
16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem andplaced in the tomb that Abraham had bought from thesons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money." - P37
When the high priest asks Stephen whether these charges are true or not, hereplies with an overview of Israel‘s history starting from Abraham. - P35
God gaveAbraham the promise of land and the covenant of circumcision. The twelvepatriarchs came through his offspring. Then, through Joseph, who was givenwisdom from God, their ancestors escaped famine in Egypt. - P35
Stephen is on trial before the Sanhedrin under the charge of blasphe-my against the temple and the Law. Stephen answers these charges bygiving a speech about the history of Israel. - P38
He starts by recounting thestory of Abraham, to whom God appeared while he was still living inMesopotamia. God called Abraham to leave his home and go to a landwhere his descendants would worship Him. - P38
The point Stephen is start-ing to make is that God‘s presence was never bound by geographicallocation. - P38
In the past, God‘s dwelling place was the temple in Jerusalem, but Stephen preaches of a new era where God‘s presence is not limitedto a single location but resides in the lives of all who believe in His Son,Jesus Christ. - P38
|