Acts 7:38, commentary and pictures

Stephen spoke these words in his final defense before the council against the charge of blaspheming Moses and the law, rehearsing the history of God's people to vindicate the truth that Jesus is the Messiah to whom Moses and the prophets point. The one who was in the wilderness church with the angel on Mount Sinai was Moses, and the angel who spoke to him and gave him living communications to pass on to the people was Christ himself, Israel's invisible Leader and Mediator. Those delivered from Egypt were made God's church in the wilderness, the representation of his church in all ages and the guardian of his truth to bless the world. The lively oracles he received are God's own living words, the sacred Scriptures and commandments given at Sinai including the Ten Commandments, still living and active to judge and give life. They were entrusted to his people as keepers of the law to preserve and give to others, and every believer is still to receive them firsthand by searching the Word and then faithfully teach and proclaim them.

Stephen's Defense Setting

This is he of Stephen's defense before the council in answer to the charge of blasphemy and of opposing Moses and the law, spoken in a clear, thrilling voice that held the assembly spell-bound as his final testimony while facing hostile judges, whose full significance depends on that occasion and setting. It belongs to his rehearsal of the history of God's chosen people from Abraham through generation to generation to Solomon, drawn from the national records of Israel with the most impressive points selected to vindicate his cause. That rehearsal shows thorough knowledge of the Jewish economy and of its spiritual interpretation as now made manifest through Christ.

Beginning with Moses he showed how God had dealt with Israel and how Christ had been foretold in prophecy. He reasoned from Moses and the prophets to give inspired proof of Christ's mission, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension. Christ is the key which unlocks the Old Testament and gives access to its rich treasures, and it was the voice of Christ which spoke through the prophets and patriarchs from the days of Adam onward. Therefore the Passover cannot be explained without Christ, the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness symbolized Jesus lifted up on the cross, and all religious services and ceremonies are valueless if the Saviour revealed in them and represented by them is rejected.

His testimony presented prophetic evidence that Jesus, though crucified, was the Son of God and the Messiah to whom the Scriptures and ceremonies point. Paul later proclaimed the same truth Stephen had defended. Saul remembered the sermon when Christ was revealed to him, so that what the priests had called blasphemy now appeared to him as truth belonging to the prophetic witness that Jesus was the promised Messiah. That testimony led to Stephen's stoning, at which Saul stood by consenting, after which the same Saul breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples and sought to bind believers before the Lord stopped him on the way to Damascus.

Christ the Angel Leader

The angel who spoke the law, who spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai and called him into the mount, was Christ, the divine mediator through whom God revealed Himself to humanity. Moses was with that angel in the church in the wilderness and received direct communications and living words from him to pass on to the people. Moses and Aaron served as the visible leaders, while Moses' leadership itself depended on Christ's guidance and not merely on his own wisdom.

Christ was Israel's invisible Leader who delivered them from Egypt and pledged to guide them safely to the promised land if they followed Him. They were His people under His direct care, where obedience would have kept them from disease and death while unbelief and rebellion brought punishment. Their failure to value His work showed their failure to appreciate their divine Leader. Israel's sin was failing and refusing to heed the voice of this angel who was Christ. The law they trusted for salvation had not kept them from idolatry.

Christ was the Head of the first church and the Educator of Israel. Jesus Christ Himself, the greatest Teacher the world ever knew, enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, educated His church in the wilderness, with instruction falling from His own lips as the great I AM. That teaching is the divine pattern and the highest knowledge a human being can possess, above all that can be learned in philosophy, mathematics, languages, history, law, medicine, books, experiments, and professors. He gave Israel an education for their highest good in this life to qualify them for the kingdom of God, teaching that to love God and keep His commandments is the whole duty of man. He did this to give the human family a correct knowledge of God, for which He offered up His life, with the Word of God lying at the foundation of all true education. That instruction has been handed down from generation to generation to the present, and Christ is still the Leader of His people rather than any human authority.

Christ led the Hebrews from Egypt to Canaan and in union with the Father proclaimed the law at Sinai. He gave to the wilderness church His good Spirit to instruct them. From the beginning God has worked by His Holy Spirit through human instrumentalities for the fallen race, manifest in the patriarchs, in the wilderness church, and in the apostles. The same power that sustained the patriarchs and gave Caleb and Joshua faith and courage made the apostolic church effective and has upheld God's faithful children in every succeeding age. This includes the Waldensian Christians in the Dark Ages preparing the way for the Reformation and the pioneers of modern missions and Bible translation.

Church in Wilderness

Those who had been bondmen in Egypt were delivered by God's mighty power out of Pharaoh's hand after mighty wonders showing that He is ruler of the whole earth, and were made His church. The church in the wilderness existed in the time of Moses, and God gave to that church His good Spirit to instruct them. That wilderness church was a representation of His church in all ages. Christ had purchased this people, they were His property, and all they held was held in trust from the Lord. From the beginning God has worked by His Holy Spirit through human instrumentalities for the fallen race, manifest in the patriarchs, in the wilderness church, and in the apostles, and the same power that sustained the patriarchs and gave Caleb and Joshua faith and courage made the apostolic church effective and has upheld God's faithful children in every succeeding age, including the Waldensian Christians in the Dark Ages preparing the way for the Reformation and the pioneers of modern missions and Bible translation.

God's church existed in the wilderness and received His truth to pass on. That church in the wilderness, rather than the worldly hierarchy centered in Rome, was the true church of Christ and guardian of the truth entrusted to God's people. The Waldensian Christians held an inherited faith rooted in the written Word and continuous with the apostolic faith. God chose the seed of Abraham and with a high arm delivered them from bondage in Egypt to be stewards of His goods for benevolent purposes. He made them the depositaries of sacred truth, entrusting to them the living oracles as light to be communicated to others for the blessing of the world and for His glory.

Israel received the living oracles as a sacred trust from God to share their light with the world. But its stewards used God's gifts to enrich and exalt themselves instead of blessing others, so that others could not be benefited by the riches and grace of God. They misappropriated their talents, and the Pharisees, filled with self-importance and self-righteousness, were misapplying the goods lent them by God to use for His glory. The virtues required of that wilderness church are necessary for God's approval, and its instructions remain relevant. The church today has greater light and should cherish the pure, holy principles God requires in people's dealings with one another, so that by following them its members can grow in grace and wisdom, be honored as obedient subjects, and adorn the gospel of Christ.

Living Oracles Identified

The lively or living oracles are God's own words, the sacred volume, the Bible, His own voice speaking to give truth to men. They are a Thus saith the Lord, the words of inspiration containing the foundation principles of faith. They are the true guide and counselor to be obeyed rather than human reasoning or authority, keeping God's people safe and uniting workers in gospel harmony when followed, and to study them is to eat Christ's flesh and drink His blood. The Holy Spirit works upon human minds to bring mind and heart to these living oracles, which are received not by chance experience but by most earnest, careful research leading to faith and obedience, as hearing Christ speaking as one having authority and responding with humility, obedience and implicit faith, rooted and grounded and stablished in the faith. They are to be investigated without fear, prejudice, or preconceived opinion, with open ear and open heart to receive what God says, bringing all cherished opinions and long-practiced customs and habits to their test by asking What is truth and What saith the Scriptures, letting human views yield where they oppose them rather than twisting the Scriptures to destruction to favor error, and they are living and true and appealing to understanding, to be presented in simplicity.

They are the words and commandments God gave at Sinai, called lively oracles. They include the Ten Commandments preserved on the stone tablets, whose fourth commandment remains part of the law and identifies the seventh day as the Sabbath. That seventh day is the Sabbath sanctified by Jehovah, not abolished or changed to the first day of the week.

They are the fountain of truth, the word of God where God's free grace is revealed. Studying and teaching them leads people to that truth and to turn to them.

They remain living and active, divine teachings given to Moses to pass on to the people, with the Spirit revealing their neglected truths and bringing fresh meaning from familiar passages to sincere seekers who read reverently desiring to know God's will. They are the wellspring of life, loved by the one yoked with Christ, through whom he becomes a partaker of the divine nature and overcomes every temptation. They are divine instructions and laws, not optional suggestions, and a lamp of life that cannot be altered to suit human wishes; people are to walk in their light and obey them, because God's word will judge them and each will answer for deeds.

They include the great solemn testing work to be done for this time, including the third angel's message. That message is to be kept in sight and honored, not made little of and put almost out of sight by giving first place to medical missionary work and its appeals. Medical missionary work was ordained to give character to that message by making an impression upon the world, not to replace it.

Entrusted Truth to Share

The Jewish people were chosen as guardians of God's truth and keepers of His law, entrusted with the sacred oracles, the truth, the law and the sacred writings to pass on to others. Both the Old and New Testaments came to the world through them, and every biblical promise and every ray of light from God's Word came through the Jewish nation. Christ's descent from Abraham and the Jewish origin of Scripture do not make Christ, the Bible, or the Sabbath unworthy of acceptance, for to reject the Sabbath as merely Jewish would apply the same argument to Christ and the Bible.

Those who receive that light have a responsibility to use it faithfully, to live by it, to preserve and share sacred truth, to display its beauty through holy character, and to bring messages of warning, comfort, hope and love to people in error and sin. The doctrines of God's Word are living oracles and mighty truth, the source of light and sacred truths received to be given to others. Conduct that exposes believers' weaknesses to unbelievers weakens confidence in these truths and turns people away from them.

The living oracles are God's words and revelations committed to His people and to those who know present truth and the mysteries of God as a stewardship to preserve and use in His cause. Being anchored in Bible doctrines with Thus saith the Lord and It is written, with the anchor cast within the veil, and being individually rooted and grounded, established, strengthened and settled in the faith means loyalty to that trust. Those truly converted reveal as missionaries what truth means in its transforming efficiency and sanctifying power, and those weighted with treasures of eternal truth proclaim to a world perishing in sin the sanctifying, redeeming love of Christ in the soul. They are to be opened and brought to all peoples through united work of people with different gifts, each fulfilling a particular role. As Moses as God's messenger received God's words on Sinai to give to Israel, those who teach must first receive instruction from God's Word and then faithfully and carefully teach what they have learned without changing truth or becoming mediators, pointing instead to Christ the all-sufficient Mediator.

Study Live Proclaim Oracles

The living oracles are the first source from which people are to learn, before learning from fellow men, for this is God's order. The words Moses received from God are living oracles entrusted to be given to the people, a source of light and understanding that every Christian has the right and responsibility to read, examine and search personally, using the ability God gives rather than relying on another person's understanding. All of God's people have in their possession these living oracles, the clear and comprehensive messages given in His Word, so each can and should hear the Word and search for themselves instead of depending on ministers.

The words of ministers are to be respected only when they harmonize with Thus saith the Lord, and are not to be believed when they speak falsehoods following Satan, who was once an exalted angel in the heavenly courts but fell through self-exaltation. False teachers fear to let the people search for themselves, and pastors who do not and will not understand the Scriptures give confusing explanations that pervert and explain away the real truth until its meaning is misconstrued and misstated. The divine teachings given to Moses to pass on remain living and active, and the Spirit reveals their neglected truths and brings fresh meaning from familiar passages to sincere seekers who read reverently desiring to know God's will.

They are heard as the earnest seeker reverently studies the Bible, when the Spirit gives light, reveals neglected truths and brings the conscience to action. The words given at Sinai are living oracles, treasures of Scripture through which God's law and long-obscured truths are brought to light, and those receiving that light gain joy and the life Christ gives. Spiritual truth can be understood even by believers who are as babes in Christ, while learned interpreters may miss it when they do not know the Scriptures and God's power.

The Scriptures are God's living oracles, His own voice speaking to give truth to men, to be investigated without fear, prejudice or preconceived opinion, with open ear and open heart to receive what God says. All cherished opinions and long-practiced customs and habits must be brought to their test by asking What is truth and What saith the Scriptures, and where human views oppose Scripture those views must yield rather than twisting Scripture to destruction to make it seem to favor error. The words received by Moses are not to be judged by human standards or made to appear uncertain before scientific claims, and teachers dealing with them should testify firmly and inspire faith rather than admit uncertainty about their truth. They are to be accepted on God's authority even when divine power cannot be explained or divine wisdom traced, for finite minds cannot grasp infinite purposes and some things must be accepted by faith.

Truth in them regenerates the soul, so a heart surrendered to God loves the Word, and a renewed mind sees divine beauty and light throughout Scripture. What seems a desolate wilderness to the carnal mind becomes a land of living streams to the spiritual mind, and what seems barren to the unrenewed heart becomes God's garden to the converted soul. Divine beauty and celestial light shine upon the Word with food in every passage, a living pasture and land of living streams where what appeared barren waste becomes God's garden of fragrant buds and blossoming flowers, with new charms seen by converted youth working with Christ in winning souls. That truth is food able to make and keep pure and is to shape every part of life rather than be neglected or pushed aside. The living oracles are the wellspring of life, and one yoked with Christ loves them, thereby partaking of the divine nature and overcoming every temptation.

Placed under as a discipline, they subject the mind to influences forming character aright, producing the inward adorning of God's grace shown in modest apparel, simplicity in dress, shamefacedness and sobriety. They provide infallible guidance, so that placing oneself under their direction and following them brings change while the Holy Spirit counteracts influences hindering spiritual growth. The Word must hold first place rather than be subordinated to human wisdom or inventions, and must be searched and received deeply to purify and prepare people for God's family, serving as the foundational textbook in schools.

Through the Bible and the Bible alone the intellect understands the divine character as revealed in His Word, giving the purest, higher, nobler and more attractive conceptions of God and His attributes than human intellect can form, revealing all moral perfection and all essential in physical attributes. Its precious pearls and gems have scarcely yet been found and appreciated, needing searching and digging by the student to bring them forth to shine like precious pearls. Even superior intellect may be misdirected by introduced human ideas and theories sown as seed that must be rooted out before pure principles of truth find place in mind and heart to make safe teachers.

All done in business lines and ministerial lines presents the living oracles, work of eternal significance with the present moment bound up with reality and time and eternity connected in the ever-present Now. Things seen are temporal, but things unseen require faith to appear as living reality, so everywhere and every moment the unseen must be linked with the seen to complete faith in Christ, for God is unseen and His laws immutable, eternal, from everlasting to everlasting. God has living oracles giving light for reading the sure word of prophecy, and His people educated to read prophecy in that light are to proclaim truth in all its power, strengthened by Christ abiding in the heart. True eloquence is earnest utterance of truth, and when truth possesses a man's heart he can be trusted because he is controlled by truth, the soul receiving light from the Light of life. They provide spiritual food through words spoken from them and remain a source of confidence trustworthy when human plans and judgments fail.

God communicates His messages through His appointed gospel ministry, whose work is to open the living oracles of truth to men and women. The church is therefore to respect the ministry and sustain ministers by prayer and cooperation. To make a tirade against a minister, or to hinder and afflict God's servants by misstatements, false charges and setting oneself up as judge of a course not understood, is to oppose Christ Himself in the person of His messenger and saint.

God's words are living oracles received to be given to others, and one seeking souls must utter words drawn from them with constant growth in knowledge of God and truth. The minister must believe in and expect Christ's cooperation as His servant, hide self and exalt Jesus the Redeemer, and then words will reach hearts and bear divine credentials. The Holy Spirit must be the living agency to convince of sin, presenting the benefits of the sacrifice on the cross, and as truth contacts souls Christ wins them to Himself and works to transform nature, helping infirmities, teaching, leading and inspiring ideas of heavenly birth. Those entrusted with the living oracles as Christ's ambassadors can serve more fully by helping the sick, since practical knowledge of health reform better equips them to proclaim mercy and retribution. This trust makes it a great advantage to understand physiology not merely from books but in practice as medical missionaries, meeting disease not by drugs but from nature's laboratory, teaching the human structure as the house lived in, and using knowledge of health in ministerial labor to enlighten others in proper treatment of physical, mental and moral powers.