Acts 7:39-45 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,… I. ITS MANIFOLD NATURE. 1. Disobedience (ver. 39). There is hardly a phase of Jewish history in which this sin does not appear. It was manifested in the murmurings against Moses, in the wholesale transgression of the law, and in the rejection of the prophets. This is a crime which provokes universal reprobation as against parents; how sad that it should be so universally prevalent, and so loudly extenuated as against God. 2. Ingratitude. They were free, yet they hankered after the poor emoluments of their servitude. They preferred the succulent products of Egypt with slavery to the hard fare of the wilderness and liberty. Nay, even after their instalment in the land flowing with milk and honey, the fascinations of Egypt proved well nigh-irresistible. This was a poor return to God who, in response to their groanings (ver. 34), granted them the deliverance for which they cried. And are there no similar hankerings after, and even conformity to, the present evil world from which Christians have been redeemed? 3. Idolatry. This was the crowning sin and had its marked stages. They worshipped(1) "The works of their own hands" (ver. 41), an imitation of Apis, perhaps, a god of the land from which they came. (2) The works of God's hands (ver. 42), the gods of the surrounding nations, honouring the creature instead of the Creator. (3) Devils (ver. 43). When men renounce the living and true God there is no knowing whom they may be prepared to honour. There are the same stages in the idolatry of modern Christian lands. Men worship (a) Their own fabrications — wealth, social position, fashion, pleasure, etc. (b) God's creatures — natural beauty, others, themselves. (c) Devils. There is not a vice before which some men are not prostrate. II. ITS AGGRAVATIONS. Israel sinned in spite of — 1. The presence and imperial influence of Moses, their mighty leader and God's appointed vicegerent. And so men sin to-day notwithstanding the presence and authority of Christ whom Moses typified (ver. 37), and the influence, strivings, and convictions of the Holy Spirit. 2. The theocracy, "the church in the wilderness" (ver. 38), and its visible centre and symbol "the tabernacle of witness" (ver. 44). They were, however faithless, the people with whom God had entered into solemn covenant, and their periodical services in the tout of meeting were a virtual acknowledgment of the fact that the covenant was still binding. So men sin to-day, notwithstanding the existence, great services, and wide-reaching influence of the Church of Christ, whose origin, nature, history, and destiny are a standing witness for God and against sin, and in spite of churches, visible symbols of the invisible Church. 3. The "lively oracles" which protested against iniquity in all its forms, and were meant to creates encourage, and guide in the life of righteousness. These oracles have since been multiplied and are now completed. They contain all that is needful to give and sustain life, and have the promise of both the life that now is and that which is to come. Yet men sin and doom themselves to death. 4. The most palpable manifestations of God's severity and goodness. Surely one would have thought that the plagues and the overthrow of Pharaoh were sufficient to deter from crime, and that their own precious deliverance and support would have encouraged obedience. Those who so argue forget that all history teems with the same manifestations, and yet men sin. III. ITS PUNISHMENT. 1. Their sins. Their idolatry was at once their crime and their punishment (ver. 42), and as their crimes increased so they held them in the iron chain of sinful habit which grew in strength and intolerableness as the years passed by. "Be sure your sin will find you out," in the misery of a God-forsaken and degraded manhood. 2. The wilderness wandering. Those who murmur against God's dealings with them, and despise the grace which mitigates and blesses the rigour of those dealings, shall be condemned to endure them without alleviation. The Christian's way may be hard — but so is "the way of transgressors." The difference consists in God's presence with the one and His absence from the other. Surely this is enough to make the former a way of pleasantness and a path of peace. 3. The Babylonish Captivity (ver. 43). When the nation cast God off, God cast it off. Eventually Israel showed its preference for the great world powers to Himself, and He handed them over to one of them. A respite came which was unimproved, and the destruction of Jerusalem sealed the fate of Judaism. Of what sinner is that the type as indicated by our Lord? (Matthew 24.-25.). (J. W. Burn.) Parallel Verses KJV: To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, |
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