“This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ [Deuteronomy 18:15] (Acts 7:37)
Stephen continues his historical speech of the children of Israel to the Synagogue of Freedmen's council, which we began studying in the previous lesson. (see ACTS: Introduction to Stephen the Martyr, and a Lesson of Israel's History) As a reminder, this was a synagogue for Greek speaking Jews, and they believed just as the Pharisees and scribes believed. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. They also set up false witnesses... (Acts 6:10-13) In his very long testimony, he started with Abraham, and now he had gotten to Moses.
He continues, “This is he [Moses] who was in the congregation in the wilderness [Exodus 19:3-17] with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles [Exodus 21:1, Deuteronomy 5:27-31, 33:4] to give to us, whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ [Exodus 32:1] And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. [Deuteronomy 9:16] Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices
during forty years in the wilderness,
O house of Israel?
You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
And the star of your god Remphan,
Images which you made to worship;
And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’[Amos 5:25-27] (Acts 7:38-43)
during forty years in the wilderness,
O house of Israel?
You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
And the star of your god Remphan,
Images which you made to worship;
And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’[Amos 5:25-27] (Acts 7:38-43)
“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, [Exodus 25:40-26:30] which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles [Joshua 3:14], whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, who found favor before God [I Samuel 16:1] and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. [I Kings 8:17] But Solomon built Him a house. [I Kings 8:20] “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands [I Kings 8:27], as the prophet says:
‘Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest?
Has My hand not made all these things?’[Isaiah 66:1-2] (Acts 7:44-50)
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest?
Has My hand not made all these things?’[Isaiah 66:1-2] (Acts 7:44-50)
Well, to have been falsely accused of speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God, he sure quoted the scriptures accurately. No one can argue with the Truth; they can deny it, but they can't argue with it! We have to learn this same lesson, that when we witness to people, especially non-believers, we can't use our own words; but we have to use the Word of God, and by holding fast the faithful word as he [and we] has been taught, that he [and we] may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. (Titus 1:9)
Stephen concludes by still using the Word of God to accurately tell them about themselves. “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! [Exodus 32:9; Leviticus 26:41] You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming [II Chronicles 36:16] of the Just One [Christ Jesus], of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. [Exodus 20:1]” (Acts 7:51-53)
Jesus had said almost the exact same things to the scribes and Pharisees. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. ... Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ... Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (Matthew 23:1-3, 31-37; see THE GOSPEL: Jesus Last Sermon; From A-Z, Genesis to Revelations)
We know what they Pharisees and scribes did to Jesus for telling them the Truth. Well, we shouldn't be surprised how they respond to Stephen, nor should we be surprised how the world still responds to us. When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:54-56) What a beautiful image, to come to the end of our life and God the Father and Lord God the Son welcome us personally into their eternal presence, because we, just like Stephen are full of faith and the Holy Spirit!
Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:57-60) Just like Christ: Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34) ...He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (John 19:30)
We are not to be surprised by the world's response to the Truth. Jesus warned the disciples, and all of us, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. ... If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me." (John 15:18-26, see THE GOSPEL: World's Hatred to be Expected, but Don't Stumble) R.I.P. children of God!
Stephen concludes by still using the Word of God to accurately tell them about themselves. “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! [Exodus 32:9; Leviticus 26:41] You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming [II Chronicles 36:16] of the Just One [Christ Jesus], of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. [Exodus 20:1]” (Acts 7:51-53)
Jesus had said almost the exact same things to the scribes and Pharisees. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. ... Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ... Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (Matthew 23:1-3, 31-37; see THE GOSPEL: Jesus Last Sermon; From A-Z, Genesis to Revelations)
We know what they Pharisees and scribes did to Jesus for telling them the Truth. Well, we shouldn't be surprised how they respond to Stephen, nor should we be surprised how the world still responds to us. When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:54-56) What a beautiful image, to come to the end of our life and God the Father and Lord God the Son welcome us personally into their eternal presence, because we, just like Stephen are full of faith and the Holy Spirit!
Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:57-60) Just like Christ: Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34) ...He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (John 19:30)
We are not to be surprised by the world's response to the Truth. Jesus warned the disciples, and all of us, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. ... If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me." (John 15:18-26, see THE GOSPEL: World's Hatred to be Expected, but Don't Stumble) R.I.P. children of God!
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