Are you glad that God never fails to keep any promise that He has made?
Not everybody should be! You see, God has made many promises about judgment against sin, and He cannot change His mind! Does that trouble you?
Let us find out what Stephen had to say as he continued to be on trial for his Christian faith.
He reminded the court that God had kept His promise of judgment to Abraham’s descendants. Their rebellion against God’s will for them led to them suffering terribly as slaves in Egypt. The King even forced them “to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die”. (verse 19.)
It was at that time that Moses was born, and he was secretly cared for at home for three months. When the King’s daughter discovered this beautiful baby, she “took him and brought him up as her own son”. (verses 20-21. Exodus 2:1-10.) “Moses … was powerful in speech and action.” (verse 22.)
When Moses was forty years old, he wanted to rescue his people. He thought they would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand, and he fled from Egypt, rejected by his own people! (verses 23-29.)
The Council that was listening to Stephen speaking about their ancestor’s mistakes, had made an even greater mistake themselves! They had not under¬stood that a greater Prince and Saviour than Moses had come to the rescue for them. God’s Son, Jesus Christ, had come as the Saviour of the world, but they had rejected and crucified Him! (John 1:10-13. 1stJohn 4:14.)
Stephen went on to remind them that it was forty years before Moses returned to Egypt. In the meantime, many more had died in slavery because they had rejected Moses. Moses had come to the rescue, sent by God. Only those who changed their mind about Moses and accepted him as their Prince and Saviour from slavery would be delivered. (verses 30-46.)
But the members of the Council who were listening to Stephen were not willing to change their minds about Jesus Christ - the One whom God had sent to the rescue for them. (Galatians 4:3-5. Acts 10:42-43.)
What about YOU? Will you receive God’s promised forgiveness and salvation today, by putting your trust in JESUS CHRIST as the One God sent to the rescue of mankind? (Hebrews 7:22-27.)
“He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:11-13.)
Those who reject Him, go on to discover that God also keeps His promises of judgment to those who refuse to trust in Jesus alone for salvation. The promise of ETERNAL PUNISHMENT in Hell! (John 3:18,36. Matthew 25:41.)
Read this episode in Acts chapter 7, verses 17-36.
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