Ark of the Covenant - Bible History Online
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Acts 7

1 - The high priest said, "Are these things so?"
2 - He said, "Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
3 - and said to him, 'Get out of your land, and from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.'Genesis 12:1
4 - Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living.
5 - He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child.
6 - God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.
7 - 'I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,' said God, 'and after that will they come out, and serve me in this place.'Genesis 15:13-14
8 - He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9 - "The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him,
10 - and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 - Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.
12 - But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.
13 - On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's race was revealed to Pharaoh.
14 - Joseph sent, and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.
15 - Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, himself and our fathers,
16 - and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.
17 - "But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 - until there arose a different king, who didn't know Joseph.
19 - The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn't stay alive.
20 - At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father's house.
21 - When he was thrown out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son.
22 - Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.
23 - But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
24 - Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.
25 - He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn't understand.
26 - "The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, 'Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?'
27 - But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28 - Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'Exodus 2:14
29 - Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 - "When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
31 - When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him,
32 - 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Moses trembled, and dared not look.Exodus 3:6
33 - The Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
34 - I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.'Exodus 3:5,7-8,10
35 - "This Moses, whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'-God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 - This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.
37 - This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, 'The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.'Deuteronomy 18:15
38 - This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,
39 - to whom our fathers wouldn't be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,
40 - saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him.'Exodus 32:1
41 - They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
42 - But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets,'Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrificesforty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 - You took up the tabernacle of Moloch,the star of your god Rephan,the figures which you made to worship.I will carry you away beyond Babylon.'Amos 5:25-27
44 - "Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;
45 - which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David,
46 - who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.
47 - But Solomon built him a house.
48 - However, the Most High doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,
49 - 'heaven is my throne,and the earth a footstool for my feet.What kind of house will you build me?' says the Lord.'Or what is the place of my rest?
50 - Didn't my hand make all these things?'Isaiah 66:1-2
51 - "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
52 - Which of the prophets didn't your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.
53 - You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn't keep it!"
54 - Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
55 - But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56 - and said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"
57 - But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord.
58 - They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 - They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"
60 - He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts Images and Notes

The Book of Acts

Acts 2:1-4 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 9:3-6 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: [it is] hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord [said] unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

Acts in The New Testament - A Brief Overview

Luke by El Greco 1605
Painting of St. Luke by El Greco - 1605

Introduction to The Acts of the Apostles

Brief Summary. Jesus rose again, he told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they are endued with power from on high, power to be his witnesses unto the ends of the earth. When the feast of Pentecost had fully come, the church was born and God poured out his Holy Spirit in Jerusalem. This began a fire which was spread throughout the whole world, Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and all who believe can be saved. This was the message of the gospel in the Book of Acts, and God confirmed his word with signs following. The church in Jerusalem had taken their time in fulfilling the commands of the Lord to go into all the world beginning in Jerusalem and Samaria and even to the uttermost parts of the earth. God called a man named Saul who was a persecutor of the church to be the hero in the Book of Acts. God would change his name to Paul the Apostle, and it was through Paul that the message of Christ would spread to the farthest parts of the known world. The Book of Acts records three of Paul's missionary journeys by which the church was established, the people of God, the Christians who would change the world.

Summary of The Book of Acts

Contents. The Book of Acts clearly focuses on the beginnings of the church, and two people� The apostle Peter, and the one who actually possessed the courage to go to the farthest parts of the known world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, his name was Paul the Apostle. The Gospel spread from Israel, northward to Antioch, and then westward to Asia Minor, Greece, and finally Rome, the heart of the Roman Empire.

The first 12 chapters of the book of Acts deal with Peter, and the remainder of the book, the last 16 chapters is devoted to the apostle Paul.

The major areas of history with which the author has dealt are :
1) The establishment and progress of the church at Jerusalem until the dispersion which arose at the time of Stephen's death (Acts 1-7);
2) The preaching of the gospel to the surrounding area, including its introduction to the Gentiles (Acts 8-12) ;
3) The preaching tours of Paul and the struggle to define the church's position with regard to the law of Moses (Acts 13:1-21:16); and
4) Paul's imprisonment, which began in Jerusalem and was concluded in Rome (Acts 21:17-28 :30).

Audience. The book of Acts is addressed to Theophilus, usually thought to have been a Gentile who was interested in learning more of Christianity and whose name suggests may have been a symbol of all lovers of God.

Authorship. Luke wrote the Book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke and he dedicated his work to a man named Theophilus as mentioned in the summary of the book of Luke. Luke was a companion of Paul on his missionary journeys, and in many parts of the book of Acts it says "we" did this or that (Acts 16:10-17:1; Acts 20:5-21:17; and Acts 27:2-28:31). These Scriptures indicate that Luke joined and left the missionary party on several occasions and that he accompanied Paul on his journey to Rome. Paul's calls Luke his companion in Colossians 4:14, Philemon 1:24, and 2 Timothy 4:11. The medical language in Luke and Acts gives credence to Luke "the beloved physician" (Col. 4:14) as the author of Acts. The early Church writers unanimously agreed that Luke was the author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts, for example Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Tatian, and Irenaeus.

Date. Scholars agree that Acts was written around 62 or 63 AD. It is interesting to note that Luke never intimated the event of the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD within the book of Acts. Jerusalem is pictured as a currently thriving center of Judaism, with the temple service and sacrifices being carried out in a normal manner. After 70 AD everything changed and it would have been obvious if Luke had written Acts after 70 AD. Luke concludes Acts with Paul in Rome living in a hired house, and awaiting trial before Caesar (Acts 28:30). This would have been 61 or 62 AD obviously before the great persecution of Christians by Nero and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Place Written. Most scholars believe that the place of the writing of Acts was in Rome. The whole book is an account of the advance of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome and the last events described take place in Rome.

Historical Accuracy. As has been noted in the introduction to Luke, the historical accuracy of the writings of Luke, once questioned widely, has now received extensive substantiation; there is little reason to suppose that the events took place in any way other than that described by Luke.

The Value of Acts. The Book of Acts is of great value to the Christian for many reasons. When Jesus commission His disciples to go into all the world, Acts informs us of the very events of the early Church in carrying out that commission. It tells us of their relationship to one another and to their other co-workers as they dealt with the various problems which faced the young church. It tells of the introduction of Christianity to the Gentile world and of the struggle for unity between Jew and Gentile.

Outline of the Book of Acts

The Gospel is Preached From Jerusalem to All Judea - Chapters 1-7
The Gospel is Preached in Samaria - Chapter 8
The Gospel is Preached to the Gentiles - Chapters 9-12
The Gospel is Preached to the Ends of the Earth - Chapters 13-28

Jesus written in Hebrew
The Name Jesus In Ancient Hebrew Text
"Yeshua" in First Century Hebrew Text. This is how the name "Jesus" would have been written in ancient Hebrew documents. The four letters or consonants from right to left are Yod, Shin, Vav, Ayin (Y, SH, OO, A). Jesus is the Greek name for the Hebrew name Joshua or Y'shua which means "The LORD or Yahweh is Salvation".

Acts Resources

Map of New Testament Israel
Map of the Roman Empire
Map of Paul's First Missionary Journey
Map of Paul's Second Missionary Journey
Map of New Testament Cities
Map of the 7 Churches of Revelation (Asia Minor)
Map of the Roman Empire In the Time of Jesus
Map of Asia in Roman Times

Map of the Roman Empire (14 A.D.) - This map reveals the Roman Empire during the time shortly after the birth of Jesus, in 14 AD at the time of the death of Augustus. The order which prevailed in this extensive empire, the good military roads, and the use of Koine Greek as the general language of culture throughout the area were among the factors which multiplied the rapid spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Color Map)

Map of Paul's First Missionary Journey (48 A.D.) - This map reveals the areas in Asia Minor where Paul visited in his first missionary journey. Around 48 AD, in the springtime, Paul and his companions Barnabas and Mark were sent on a mission from the church in Antioch. This would be the first of Paul's Missionary Journey's. (Color Map)

Map of Paul's Second Missionary Journey (51 A.D.) - This map reveals the areas in Asia and Greece where Paul visited in his second missionary journey. Paul re-visits a couple cities in Asia, one of which was Lystra where he was stoned and left for dead a few years earlier. He later has a vision that leads him over to Greece and Paul and his companions travel and minister in various cities in Greece (Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens and Corinth. Later Paul returns to Ephesus and finally to Caesarea and Antioch. (Color Map)

Map of Paul's Third Missionary Journey (54 A.D.) - This map reveals the areas in Asia and Greece where Paul visited in his third missionary journey. On Paul's third missionary journey he returned to the cities he had first visited on his first missionary journey. During this time he decided to remain in Ephesus for about 3 years, and this city was the main focus of his activities and an important Christian community (Acts 19). (Color Map)

Map of Paul's Voyage to Rome (61 A.D.) - This map reveals the journey of the Apostle Paul to Rome in 61 AD. Paul had appealed to Caesar in Caesarea (Acts 24-25), his goal was to spread the Gospel of Jesus throughout the Roman Empire all the way to her great capital, Rome. He demanded that his case be heard by the Roman Emperor. According to the Book of Acts, after his shipwreck on the Island of Malta (Acts 28) he came to Italy and was put on house arrest for two years (Acts 28:30). (Color Map)

Map of the New Testament World - This map reveals the "Nations" within the ancient world during the first century A.D., the time of the New Testament. The map includes the areas of Israel, Asia, Greece, and Italy. (Color Map)

Map of New Testament Asia - This map shows the cities within Asia Minor during the first century A.D., the time of the New Testament. The map includes the principal cities of Asia including Tarsus, Ephesus, and Colossae, and provinces like Galatia and Pamphilia. (Color Map)

Map of New Testament Greece This map reveals the cities within Greece in the ancient world during the first century A.D.,The map includes the principal cities of Greece like: Athens, Corinth, and Thessalonica, and provinces like Macedonia and Achaia. (Color Map)

Map of New Testament Italy - This map reveals the cities within Italy during the first century A.D., the time of the New Testament. The map includes the principle cities of Italy like Neapolis and Rome. Follow the path of the Apostle