Calling of Abraham: Jesus Christ fulfillment of promise made to Abraham.

Acts 7:1-8

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“Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” Acts 7:1

In the previous post on Acts 6:11-15, Stephen was falsely accused of blasphemy, so those of the Jewish council [court] asked him, “Are these things so?” In reply, Stephen begins preaching from the Scriptures to show how Jesus is the Christ and Son of God, whom they rejected, betrayed, and had crucified. He begins by speaking of Abraham, who God promised to multiply his descendants through those who believe in Jesus Christ. The Jewish people rejected Jesus and thereby rejected the promise God made to multiply their descendants. As a result, the Jewish people are cut off from the family of God which is everyone born through Jesus Christ, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29

“And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’” Acts 7:2-3

Stephen is bringing the Scriptures up to date to bring to the Jewish ruler’s consciousness that they are the relatives of Abraham that have been promised the land that God has shown them. God led Abrham away from his relatives to a land that would be shown to him. Stephen is building to the point that the Jewish people were/are to come away from their culture rooted in the laws of Judaism to come to a land that would be shown to them. That land is the eternal promised land through faith in Jesus Christ, whom they rejected and had murdered on the Cross.

“Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him.” Acts 7:4-5

Stephen is bringing the Scriptures up to date to point to the Jewish rulers he was speaking to. That is why he said, “He moved him to this land in which you now dwell”. God moved Abraham to the territory of Jerusalem/Israel after he was led away from the land of the Chaldeans in Haran. Stephen is making the point that the Jewish people were and are living where Abraham stood by the will of God.

Abraham had no inheritance in Jerusalem/Israel because he had no descendants to inhabit the land, there was only him and his wife Sarah [Sarah was unable to have children]. Stephen is making the point that there is no inheritance in the promised land unless God gives the descendants to populate the territory. God promised to give the promised land to Abraham and his descendants. Stephen was making the point that the Jewish culture were/are unable to give birth to the children of God because the fulfillment of the promise of God to multiply their seed comes through Jesus Christ, whom they rejected. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13

“But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years. ‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’” Acts 7:6-7

God fulfilled His promise to Abraham in the Old Testament to multiply his descendants, before the coming of Jesus Christ, and they were brought under bondage in the foreign land of the Egyptians and oppressed. God fulfilled His vow to bring judgment on the oppressors. After that, the Israelites were brought out of bondage, given the Ten Commandments and commandments of sacrifices, and vowed to serve God.

At the time of Stephen’s speech to the Jewish rulers, the Jewish people were under the rule, bondage, and oppression of the Romans. Stephen is bringing the Scriptures up to date to apply aptly to the circumstances of the Jewish people. They were then and are now the descendants of Abraham who are in bondage to worldly forces. God promised to bring judgment upon those of this world through Jesus Christ. God promises that we who put our faith in Jesus, “…will come out and serve Me in this place...”.

The Jewish people, and all of us, are able to experience freedom in the Spirit through Jesus Christ even while being under worldly bondage and oppression by the rulers of this world. That is the life of Holiness as the Holy Spirit sanctifies our inner being from rebellious, bitter, prideful, and vengeful attitudes.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2

The Jewish people will never know the freedom and liberty that comes through Jesus Christ because they reject Him. And Stephen says, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” Acts 7:51-53

“Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.” Acts 7:8

Stephen was making the Jewish rulers he was addressing aware that they were, and are, members of the twelve tribes of Israel. They are the fulfillment of God’s promise to multiply the seed of Abraham, in fleshly terms. In the verses of the next section, Stephen makes it clear that members of the twelve tribes had jealousy, treachery, malice, deceit, evil intent, and murder in their heart against the one whom God loved. They were given the covenant of circumcision, but being circumcised in the flesh did nothing to cleanse their heart from bad intentions towards those that God loved/loves.

“For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” Romans 2:28-29

Holiness comes by the circumcision of ugly attitudes, the cutting away of bad feelings through the process of sanctification. Jesus Christ works in us through the Holy Spirit to bring about Holiness.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11