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The first 16 verses of Chapter 7, record Stephens defense. The High Priest was President of the Council and therefore, Moderator of the court. He poses the question, "Are the charges, placed and witnessed against you, are they true or false?" At least a show of fairness was made. Because of the seriousness of the charges, the defendant had an opportunity to respond. His response was very long. It will appear by the time we get to the 53rd. verse, that Stephen would have said much more if his accusers had permitted him.
Lets look at the first 16 verses. The first thing that is evident in these verses is that Stephen was well versed in the scriptures. He quoted scriptural passages that were very pertinent to his defense and he did this from memory. This, of course, was accomplished by the help of the Holy Spirit. The scripture that he quoted was from the Septuagint, the translation used by the Greek speaking Jews, but here, Stephen was speaking in a form of Hebrew, probably Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The difference, I am told, is not material in the translations. The court must have agreed as no protest was made against the translation that Stephen used. Notice how he addressed the court. "Men, Brothers and Fathers, hear me." He did not use their religious titles but rather called them by names that he hoped would generate some fairness within them, saying perhaps, "Listen to me in a brotherly way as a father would to his son." Also suggesting that they look at him as a fellow member of the Jewish community, as one of them, as they give him their undivided attention.
He was about to tell them what they already knew but because of prejudice and fear, they, as we shall see, could not apply it to Stephen's case. He begins by attempting to show them that God was not as attached to the Temple and the Law as they were, rather, He had a Holy Place and a Church in the world many ages before either the Temple or the ceremonial law was given.
First, he begins with the call of Abraham. God set Abraham apart to be the Father of the Old Testament Church. God treated Abraham tenderly and moved him twice before getting him from Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan. In bringing out this point, Stephen was trying to show that if we are called of God, we must be attentive to His leading. We are not always led by a "cloud" or a "pillar of fire" but we are just as assuredly led.
Secondly, the sign and seal of the covenant which was circumcision, and in which they put so much emphasis, was not given until later. We will see later how Paul argues this same truth. The point being that Abraham was justified by faith apart from the Law or circumcision.
Thirdly, if you would consider the place of your beginnings, you would not be so proud, after all, you came from the Chaldees, where your fathers worshipped idols, and besides that, you were not the first to be planted in Canaan. You really are not so big, everything you have was given to you by Divine Grace. God raised up Abraham, a righteous man, but you his seed, have degenerated and God will destroy this place and raise up to Himself another people.
Note: Even though Abraham was a "righteous" man, he endured much before he received the promises of God. He had no heir, he and Sarah were childless. He was a stranger and a sojourner in a strange land. His descendants did not come into possession of the land for almost 400 years. They had to under go great hardship before coming into possession of this land. All of this according to the plan and foreknowledge of God.
Why did Stephen insist on dragging out their "not so illustrious" past? First of all, he wanted to humble them. This great proud nation had very humble beginnings. Secondly, he wanted them to know that the "Promise Land" that Abraham searched for, was not Canaan but rather that for which Canaan was a "type" of. It was, therefore, not blasphemy when Jesus said of Jerusalem, "I shall destroy this place." The Promise Land, of course, for Abraham and for us, is Heaven.
So Stephen having dealt with Abraham in a humbling way, goes on to show that the rest of their ancestors had problems to. Abraham beget Isaac, Isaac beget Jacob, Jacob beget 12 sons that formed the 12 tribes of Israel. Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob and because of this, the other eleven envied him and sold him into slavery into Egypt. This amenity between Joseph and his brothers and their treatment of him, was a foreteller of the amenity of that court and Jesus and their treatment of Him. God protected Joseph and made him great in Egypt while Jacob and the eleven brothers were forced, by famine, to go to Egypt, and there "the son of envy", became their savior.
The parallel between Joseph and Jesus is readily seen by us but not so by these Judges of Israel who were blinded by their prejudice. Then Stephen in verses 17 thru 29, continues his history lesson, relating the story of Moses. The life of Moses can be divided into three 40 year periods. He lived as a Prince of Egypt for 40 years. He lived in Midian, in exile, for 40 years. He returned to Egypt to deliver the Israelites and led them for 40 years in the Wilderness. He died at the age of 120.
Notice the increase of the people of Israel. From Abraham to Jacob, a period of 215 years, they had increased only to 70 people. In the next 215 years, they increased to 600,000 plus people. You would think being in slavery and oppressed as they were that they would have decreased in number but not so, God blessed them and they multiplied.
Now Stephen makes another parallel. He reminds them of how the Egyptian Rulers killed their infant children and how they were attempting to do the same unjust deed to the "infant Christian church". "You think that you do rightly in the persecuting of our converts, but in reality, you do as the Egyptians did to the young children of Israel." "You will find out, as the Egyptians did, that it is of no purpose, in spite of your persecutions, the Disciples of Christ will increase, as did the children of Israel, for God sent to the people of Israel, a deliverer."
Stephen had been accused of Blaspheming Moses, here he shows that he respects Moses as much as they do. Notice the parallel that he makes between Moses and Jesus. Moses was born when Israel was greatly persecuted. At his birth, he was in danger of being killed but God saved him by placing him in a wicked basket and floating him down a river. When Jesus was born he was in danger of being killed by Herod and God saved him by warning his parents who took him down to Egypt where He remained until the death of Herod.
Moses was described as being "exceedingly" fair. Jesus was the "fairest of 10,000". Moses was predestined to deliver his people. Jesus was, from the beginning, the Savior of the world. God prepared Moses for the job to which He had called him and at the age of 40, he attempted to do that job, but failed because he attempted it in his own strength. Moses was then forced to flee Egypt and go to Midian where he lived for 40 years. There he married and had two sons. Stephen recounts these events to show these Judges that they, in their unjust treatment of Jesus, was just a guilty as their fathers were in their treatment of Moses in his first attempt to deliver them. "Take heed, lest you fair as your fathers did." "They were left to die in Egypt. Forty years represented a lifetime as a slave in Egypt.
Verses 17 thru 29 cover the second 40 years of the life of Moses. The Israelites rejected Moses in his first attempt to deliver them from bondage in Egypt. God took him away for 40 years, took away their salvation. "Take heed", Stephen warns these Judges, "Less God take away your salvation also." "Less God let you die in your slavery to sin and send your Savior to another people, the Gentiles."
In verses 30 thru 41 Stephen shows that he had nothing but respect for Moses and that the people of Israel were not faithful to Moses or God. He reminds them of the prophecy of Moses concerning one who would be raised up from among them whom they should hear. Stephen told them that it was Jesus that Moses was talking about and that they crucified Him. Then Stephen picked up in the life of Moses when he was 80 years old and had spent the last 40 years in Midian, separated from his people.
After 40 years in Midian, God appeared to Moses. Notice where God appeared and why Stephen made note of this. God appeared to Moses on a mountain in the wilderness and He declared the mountain to be Holy Ground. Stephen reminded them of this to support his case against the Temple and to remind them and those who prided themselves in the Temple that there was other places where God communed with men. He showed them that they deceived themselves when they thought that God was confined in a building. He compared the appearance of God "as a fire in a burning bush", to the people of Israel in Egypt. The fire was on a combustible bush yet the bush was not consumed. Israel was in the "fire of affliction" in Egypt, yet they were not consumed, to the contrary, they multiplied.
Notice Stephen is speaking of Moses as a man, not as a god, at the Priests did, and being a man, he approached the "burning bush" with fear, not being able to look at it after he got there, for he realized that what appeared to be fire was God Himself. Notice the voice from the burning bush verified this. "I am the God of your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." The covenant that God made with them, 275 years before, was not forgotten or cancelled because these men had died. Stephen was making a point here for the sake of the Sadducees who did not believe in life after death. These three men were dead yet God was still their God, therefore, they must still be alive.
Truthfully, isn't this the main thrust of the Gospel, the resurrection, the promise of eternal life? So Moses knew that he was talking to the God of his ancestors, who was still the God of Israel.
Notice Stephen reminds them of the job that God had for Moses. It was a job with great honor. Stephen was making a point in bringing this out as Israel had previously, 40 years before, scorned Moses. They were wrong then about Moses as they were wrong now about Jesus. This Jesus whom they scorned now sets on the right hand of God and judges and Stephen might well have let them shiver in their boots as they contemplated this, but he didn't, he showed them that in Christ there is forgiveness. God might well have let the Israelites stay in Egypt, but He didn't, He sent Moses and equipped him for the job.
Stephen reminded them of how Moses was equipped. He did signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, God delivered an adulterous and disobedient people out of Egypt in spite of themselves. Israel had a history of disobeying God's Prophets, even as Moses was up on Mt Sinai seeking God's covenant with a disobedient people, they were convincing Aaron to make them a idol to worship. They had accused Stephen of speaking out against Moses, certainly they had, in times past, did an even greater dishonor to Moses than he.
The Law, given to Moses, was only as good as mans ability to observe it. So it became imperfect, therefore it became necessary that God should devise a better plan, one that would do what the Law could not do, provide salvation to man. This He did through Jesus Christ, and anyone who acknowledges this, is not blaspheming Moses but accepting God's new plan of salvation, one that was perfect.
In verses 42 thru 50, Stephen accomplishes two things:
Stephen again reminded them that just as soon as God delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians, they immediately took to idols. Even the Passover, that saved their firstborn in Egypt, was forgotten for 40 years as they wondered in the wilderness. During that time, sacrifices and feasts were very seldom observed, but God forgave them because of their unsettled state.
Matthew Henry says, "After they were delivered, the Law, their customs, their sacrifices and their God were treated as needless things, until they wanted something." After 40 years of wondering in the Wilderness, God gave them the land of Canaan, and to show their gratitude, the people of Israel took up the worship of of the pagan god Moloch. This was the god of the people of Ammon who lived in Canaan before the Israelites. In the worship of Moloch, they sacrificed their own children. They also got involved in Remphan worship, which was the worship of the moon and stars. Because of this disobedience, God sent the Babylonians and the Temple was destroyed and the people taken into captivity.
Jesus had prophesied that this would happen again and Stephen repeating this was charged with blasphemy. Well all of this had been prophesied by the Prophets. Jeremiah had prophesied of its destruction and no one accused him of blasphemy. Micah had prophesied of it also and no one accused him of blasphemy. The point that Stephen was trying to make was that God was not confined to the Temple, He had been best worshipped in the Old Testament, out under the stars in tents with open alters. When Solomon's Temple was demolished, the worship of God was in no way diminished. The Alter gave way to the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle gave way to the Temple, the "material temple" gave way to the "spiritual temple" and the spiritual temple will give way to the eternal temple.
Stephen reminded them that when Solomon dedicated his Temple he acknowledged that God did not dwell in temples made with hands for the whole world was God's Temple, and this was what Jesus was speaking of, a Temple into which all nations would come.
By now, Stephen was beginning to loose some of his "cool", and this begins to show in verses 51 thru 53. Stephen had tried to show that the observance of religion as it had been, was gone forever. The Temple and all of it's services and sacrifices, must go. All the priests and attendants must give way to teachers and ministers. Animal sacrifice must give way to personal sacrifice. The pomp and ceremony of the Law must give way to the simple and meaningful worship of the heart. It was his proclaiming of these truths that changed the councils attitude. As long as he proclaimed the history of Israel, they patiently listened. But now he was about to tell them that their power and hypocrisy was about to come to an end, and they did not want to hear it.
It is probable that Stephen perceived this and seeing that they would have no part of the Gospel, he sharply rebuked them. He makes 5 very important charges against these people:
These people had resolved in their hearts not to comply with God either by the Law
or by His Gospel. We have every reason to believe that Stephen had more to say but
wicked and unreasonable men would not hear it.
The Lynch Mob
["Click here for Acts 7:54-60"]
Chapter 7, verses 54 thru 60 tell us how those men received the words of Stephen. We see here, two facts of Christian teachings:
We have here the death of the first martyr of the Christian Church. There does not appear to have been any attempt at due process of law, but it is believed that there was a vote of the council called for and Stephen was found guilty of blasphemy. What the sentence of the council was is not clear. Death by stoning was the penalty for blasphemy however, the council did not, under Roman rule, have the authority to kill someone, yet it would appear that the violence of the people without the consent of the Romans, put Stephen to death.
Notice what happened when the accusations of Stephen finally got home. "They were cut to the heart." They had no answer to Stephen's words. Everything that he had said was true. This only filled them with anger and they could not think or act rationally and the more they looked at the face of Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, the more angry they got. "They ground their teeth against him." Gritting their teeth to keep from biting their tongue.
"And they cried out with a loud voice..." unable to speak rationally. But this did not bother Stephen for he was filled with the Holy Spirit and his face reflected the glory of heaven as he looked up and saw the Thrown of God and Jesus seated at the right hand of God. Notice he tried to tell this outraged people what he was seeing, but they cried out with a loud voice and refused to hear.
There is an old saying, "The cry of fools is loud, the words of the wise is quiet." As we said before, they had resolved in their hearts not to hear Stephen. Notice, "They rushed together upon him." Now, who were "they"? It would appear that spectators, properly screened of course, were allowed in the council room, these people and perhaps the Elders, Judges and Prosecutors, all rushed and laid their hands upon him.
They were all of one motive, all led of the Devil, all envious of Stephen's knowledge and understanding. They could not by wisdom and reason defeat Stephen so they used the strength in numbers. Verse 58 says that they cast him out of the city and stoned him to death. This was the Law of Moses, recorded in Lev. 24:16, it reads, "He that blasphemes the name of the Lord, shall be put to death and all the congregation shall stone him." This was the charge against Jesus and the Jews would have stoned Him to death had not God interceded. Stoning could not compare to crucifixion. Crucifixion was the most agonizing form of death ever devised by man. It was prophesied, and so it was, that Christ should die on "a tree".
Notice they treated Stephen as an outsider, they cast him outside the city walls before stoning him to death. In Deut. 17:7 it says, "The hands of the witness shall be first upon him, to put him to death." and so it was. They announced before God and man, that their testimony against Stephen was true. Now the stoning of a man was a laborious job. The stones were sized so as to not kill instantly but still required a great deal of strength to throw and in doing so, they would work us a good sweat. So it was necessary that they remove their outer garments which they laid, for safe keeping, at the feet of one Saul of Tarsus.
This is the first that we hear of this man called Saul. We shall see later how this event changed the life of Saul and caused him much regret. It kept Saul humble and many believe that it was the "thorn in the flesh" that plagued Saul all of his life, the one God would not remove from him.
What about Stephen? He prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." How can anybody read this and not believe in the separation of the body and spirit? The body of Stephen was terribly mutilated, no bones were left unbroken, it was crushed beyond recognition, but his soul was untouched, it went immediately to be with the Lord.
Jesus said, Fear not those who can kill the body, rather fear Him who can kill body and soul." Notice Stephen prayed to Christ and so must we, for it is thru the Son that we have access to the Father. Notice also the position he took to pray. "He knelt down." This is the position of humility. This was in contrast to the standing position of hypocrisy assumed by the Pharisees when they prayed. Notice he also prayed in a "loud voice". In the confusion and noise of his execution, Stephen still sought to witness, having placed his soul in the hands of the Savior, he now sought forgiveness for his persecutors.
"Lord, do not hold this sin against them." "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Here Stephen, with a loud voice, condemns what they were doing as sin, sin that only Divine Grace could forgive. He wanted those who were stoning him to know even though they hated him, he still loved them. Can we, in any way, understand that kind of love?
When he finished his prayer, "He fell asleep." Stephen died praying for those who were stoning him to death. His soul went to be with the Lord. His body went to sleep, with the confidence and assurance of the resurrection. The Latin Bible reads, "Stephen fell asleep in the arms of the Lord." This ends the life and witness of a man called Stephen. It openly condemned the Jewish authorities and headed one Saul of Tarsus toward the cross of Christ.
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