Stephen, Part 2.
Stephen’s defense to the Jewish leaders, Acts 7.
Many Christians have a hard time understanding the point Stephen is making. It seems like a long meandering, run-on speech, aimed maybe to confuse his audience, so they will let him go, or maybe to buy himself time.
This is absolutely not the case. His discourse is extremely pointed! He shot for the heart and he hit his target!
“When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.” (Acts 7:54)
For too many people it is a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees. We need to take a few steps back, and look at the broad strokes of what he is saying, and in doing that, we well see the genius and power of what he said.
Stephen follows the usual method of Jewish argumentation, he follows the chronological sequence of events.
Make no mistake about it, while we might wonder what point he was trying to make, the Jewish leaders clearly understood, as shown by the level of conviction they experienced, and the hate it engendered.
Stephen wants to make one point, and using several major events in Jewish history, he shows them that just like their fathers rejected the messengers and deliverance God sent to them, so too did they do to Jesus; and actually worse, because Jesus was the promised one, and they killed him. The judgment that is coming upon them from God is legitimate.
FIRST, in speaking about Abraham, Stephen brings out the sovereign choice of God. Abraham was an idol worshipping pagan from Mesopotamia, who was not seeking God. God selected him, elected him, and told him to go the to the promised land; there was no intrinsic value in Abraham, which caused God to select him.
“And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods (idols).” (Joshua 24:2)
Stephen is telling them they are nothing special; God started with a pagan, and by their rejection of the Savior, he will pass them by, and save pagans instead.
The point of speaking about Egypt is obviously that God had a plan, which was their fathers being in slavery. The Jews were in slavery to sin, and their need for God to sovereignty rescue them, was the same need their fathers had when in Egypt: they needed to be rescued. The Jews had lost sight of God’s sovereign grace to them, and felt that since they obeyed his laws, the sacrifices, and the Ten Commandments, plus their hundreds of additions, God owed it to them to help them.
Stephen is telling them that they cannot rescue themselves by their good works, God must rescue them.
“Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” (John 8:34)
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44)
SECOND, Stephen speaks about Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery. The point is that they hated and envied him, and selling him into slavery; they killed him.
“And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.” (Acts 7:9-10)
But then their despised, younger, no-name brother Joseph, ends up being ruler of all Egypt, and they bow before him, in fear of their lives.
Stephen’s audience had looked on Jesus as being a nobody, they despised him, they envied him, and sold him for 30 pieces of silver, so he could be killed.
“For he (Pilate) knew that for envy they (the Jewish leaders) had delivered him (Jesus).” (Matthew 27:18)
This is what Isaiah says about Christ being considered a nobody: “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2)
But it turns out, just like Joseph, Jesus is exalted on high. This is what Peter and the other apostles said to these very same Jewish leaders, just a few weeks previous to Stephen’s defense:
“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 5:29-31)
THIRD, Stephen speaks of Moses, and the point is that the Israelites did not recognize the deliverer God sent.
“For he (Moses) supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.” (Acts 7:25)
“This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.” (Acts 7:35)
How many times did Jesus clearly say he was sent from God to save the world?
Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
These very same Jewish leaders had heard Jesus saying many times “I am the sent one”, but they refused to believe, they willfully rejected him whom God had sent; they treated Jesus, just like their fathers had treated Moses; “Who are you?” “Who made you a ruler over us?”
FORTH, Stephen speaks of the rebellion and faithlessness of the people during the trek in the wilderness. That even though they had seen and experienced great signs and wonders which the Lord had done to deliver them from Egypt, and sustain them in the wilderness, they refused to believe.
“To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.” (Acts 7:39-41)
These Jewish leaders had refused to obey Jesus when he said “come unto me” and “believe in me” and “repent”; those are commands, not requests, not suggestions, but commands, which they refused to obey!
“And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.” (Matthew 22:3)
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37)
They refused to obey in spite of all the miracles Jesus did, just like their fathers refused to obey in spite of all the miracles they had seen.
FIFTH, Stephen speaks of God’s judgment in turning them over to serve idols. We would say, “You are tired of me, I am tired of you; here go do what your hearts desire”
“Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.” (Acts 7:42-43)
They asked Jesus if he was the Son of God, and he clearly said, “Yes.”
“Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Here after shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.” (Matthew 26:64-66)
When Pilate asks them on what basis should he crucify Jesus, this is what they say:
“When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” (John 19:6-7)
They clearly understood Jesus claimed to be God’s son, and they willfully rejected him; just like their fathers willfully rejected God in the wilderness.
Stephen is warning the Jewish leaders, that they are exposed to the wrath of God for rejecting Jesus as Messiah; that just like God judged their fathers for rejecting him, he will judge them for rejecting his son Jesus.
SIXTH, Stephen speaks of the Tabernacle, the tent in the wilderness, which represented what is in heaven; the real thing is in heaven, the representation was on earth! The point being, that while God was with them in the wilderness, his true dwelling place was in heaven ruling and directing their deliverance.
“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Joshua into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;” (Acts 7:44-45)
Stephen was telling them that just like their fathers thought God lived in a tent, they thought God lived in the Temple, like a genie in a bottle; Stephen says “no”, first the Tabernacle, and now the Temple, are just to show you that he is with you, but he really lives in heaven; you do not control him, he is the one in control.
“Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things?” (Acts 7:48-50)
He is the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth, who are you to reject and murder his son whom he has sent? Don’t you fear anything?
LASTLY, he then sums it all up and says:
“Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:” (Acts 7:51-52)
They were worse than pagans.
The envied the one God favored.
They sold him.
They were ignorant of what God was doing
They did not recognize the one God sent.
They rejected and murdered him.
Stephen’s argument is so well ordered and clear, his statements are so powerful that they “were cut to the heart, and covered their ears and gnashed on him.”
BUT they did not kill him because of his defense, they killed Stephen because he then said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:5)
He told them he saw Jesus, THE ONE WHOM THEY HAD CRUCIFIED a short time ago, at that very instant, standing at the right hand of God.
Jesus himself had said to these very people, “nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:64)
Now they hear Stephen saying he sees Jesus at the right hand of God, THE VERY PLACE Jesus had said he would be, and he is looking down on them as they reject what Stephen has just said, just like their fathers had rejected over and over and over again!
They could have repented, but they did not; they could have cried out to Christ for mercy, but they did not; instead they killed the messenger.
They did just what their fathers had done; with willful and stubborn un-belief, they rejected the truth, and killed the messenger!
To anyone reading this who is not a Christian, right now as your read, Jesus, that very same Jesus whom Stephen saw, is standing at the right hand of God, looking down on you reading; will you continue to reject him?